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Bush Flip Flop Watch – Part IV

This is the fourth installment of our series on Bush flip flops. We began with a song parody. Our second installment listed eight flip flops. Those eight involved:

Mr. Bush's broken promise to retire $2 trillion of the national debt;

Mr. Bush’s broken promise not to spend the Social Security surplus;

Mr. Bush’s violation of his alleged free trade principles by imposing tariffs on imported steel and then his lifting of those same tariffs;

Mr. Bush’s inconsistent position on stem cells and the destruction of human embryos;

Mr. Bush’s opposition to and then support of a cabinet level Homeland Security Department;

Mr. Bush’s broken promise on control of carbon dioxide emissions;

Mr. Bush’s ever changing position of negotiations with North Korea; and

Mr. Bush’s waffling between a policy of disarmament and a policy of regime change in Iraq.

Yesterday, we added three more to the list including:

Mr. Bush’s reneging on a promise to fully fund the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP);

Mr. Bush’s flip flop on apologizing to China when China forced a US spy plane to land without permission; and

Mr. Bush’s flip flop on the abortion issue. Mr. Bush once said that the abortion issue should be left up to the woman and her doctor. Now, of course, Mr. Bush claims to be pro-life.

That brings our total to eleven. Today we add three more. First up is campaign finance reform.

During the campaign, Mr. Bush appeared on ABC’s This Week. As reported by Rich Lowry of the National Review, George Will asked Mr. Bush a direct question:

WILL: In which case, would you veto the McCain-Feingold bill, or the Shays-Meehan bill?

BUSH: That's an interesting question. I — I — yes I would…

Once in office, Mr. Bush flipped flopped and signed the McCain-Feingold bill into law. Mr. Lowry, before the fact, noted that if Mr. Bush signed the bill:

he will be committing his first bona fide, no-doubt-about-it, can't-be-spun flip-flop and broken campaign promise.

Our second flip flop involves same sex marriage. During the 2000 campaign, Then Governor Bush appeared on Larry King Live. King asked Mr. Bush, "If a state were voting on gay marriage, you would suggest to that state not to approve it?"

Bush took the states right approach, responding “the state can do what they want to do.” Now, of course, Mr. Bush wants a constitutional amendment to make sure that states can not do anything they want.

Our third flip flop involves affirmative action. When the University of Michigan affirmative action cases were before the Supreme Court, the Bush administration filed a brief opposing the programs. Mr. Bush said that the “method used by the University of Michigan …is fundamentally flawed."

After the Supreme Court upheld the law school admissions program and reaffirmed that race can be one criterion in such decisions, CNN reported that Mr. Bush said he was “happy the nation's highest court recognized the value of diversity.”

That brings our list of Bush flip flops to a total of 14. I will be back tomorrow with three more.

Posted by Dwight Meredith at March 9, 2004 10:22 AM | TrackBack