fresno elections 2008

The biggest mistake of the bush administration was to use lies, ½ truths, sophistry and misdirection to manipulate American’s Patriotism in order to get us into an invasion of a country which was of no threat to us and to erode our personal liberties. I don’t think that most American really realize the attack that has and continues to take place on our civil liberties. Of course, we never do really understand until the banging on the door in the middle of the night – and then it becomes crystal clear, albeit way too late.

I cannot think of any “best” accomplishment of this administration unless it is its departure at the end of its term.

President Bush's biggest mistake has been his failure to wield the veto pen on the excesses of Congress --- largely under Republican control, sadly --- during the first six years of his term. My party is paying for that today. I will work hard to restore fiscal responsibility in Congress. We must see that the Republican Party is rebranded as the party of economic growth, the party of limitations on the excesses of government, the party standing for freedom around the world — the party of Ronald Reagan's Shining City on the Hill.

President Bush’s best accomplishment has been his resolute stand in defense of this country against the treats of terrorism. While Democrats and ultraliberal factions incessantly criticize and attempt to undermine him, he has not wavered in his first Constitutional duty — the protection of this nation.

The biggest mistake of the Bush administration has been its failed management of the war in Iraq. It has been clear for some time now that our brave men and women serving in Iraq are sacrificing in a war their commander-in-chief has no clear, realistic plan to win with no end in sight.
Not long after the invasion of Iraq I wrote to President Bush asking him to clearly define our military's mission in Iraq and to explain his eventual exit strategy. To this day I have still not received a response from the President. The US invasion of Iraq has been extremely costly to our country in blood, treasure, and international standing.
The Bush administration’s greatest accomplishment was attempting to implement the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission to create the cabinet level position of Director of National Intelligence (DNI). It is vital that our intelligence gathering activities are centralized under one director and pertinent information is shared with the relevant agencies. Unfortunately President Bush declined to give the DNI budgetary authority over all intelligence activities and our intelligence gathering agencies are not as centralized as they need to be to ensure our security.

Bush’s biggest accomplishment: pursuit of terrorists

Despite what the common public perception may be, and in sharp contrast to the daily rants of political pundits, I believe the best accomplishment of the Bush administration has been the safety of the American people through a tireless pursuit of terrorists.

The President’s initiatives overseas and his commitment to seek out and eliminate threats against our nation are held in stark contrast to previous administrations. Presidents of our recent past failed to recognize the gathering storm and left our nation vulnerable to the mass murder perpetrated on 9/11. To some extent, the people of Europe are being confronted with a similar challenge even today. London, Madrid, and other European cities have long harbored Islamic radicals. The failure of our allies to take decisive action has left them vulnerable in ways that Americans would find shocking.

It is important to recognize the enormous successes we have had in preventing attacks against Americans, both here in the United States and overseas. There are countless examples, some high profile, others less well known. I have had the opportunity to witness the work of our intelligence and military personnel during visits to the Middle East. They are doing amazing work, particularly our Special Forces, and are locating and eliminating terrorists in very challenging regions around the world.

Bush’s biggest mistake: not holding Congress accountable on energy

The President has not held Congress accountable for the energy crisis we are facing. Although he has offered a number of solutions to our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, he has completely failed to convince the American public of the importance of these solutions and has done little to hold Congress accountable for today’s high energy prices.

Congress is directly responsible for the high prices paid at the pump today. Energy prices across the spectrum have risen, including home utility bills, and Congress has done nothing. In fact, what Congress has done is attempted to pass into law legislation that would increase taxes on domestic energy production, and raise prices on fossil fuels. At the same time, lawmakers have sold the American public on fairytale solutions involving alternative energy.

With 86% of our nation’s energy coming from fossil fuels, and 1% coming from renewable power, there is no person in his or her right mind who could suggest the United States is capable of transitioning away from oil in the near future. It will take many years. And while we need to make investments to achieve a transition away from oil, we must continue to power our economy until that day comes. There is only one way to achieve this. Our nation must drill for oil and gas within our territory and use the revenues from this exploration to fund massive investments in alternative energy development. If we fail to do this, we will face rationing and economically ruinous high energy prices.

The dirty little secret is that the people who control Democrat lawmakers in Washington actually believe high energy prices are a good thing. In 1981, an activist by the name of Steven Wilson said, “…our perception of the ‘energy crisis’ is different from many. We feel that Americans have had too much fuel available, that less will be better. I see it as the ‘effects of too much energy’ crisis.”

Wilson, of the Etheos Mountain Agriculture Institute, was unabashed in his views. Over the more than 25 years since his public statement, radical activists have crusaded to make their dream of an oil free America come true and have driven energy development out of the United States.

When lawmakers say “we can’t explore for fossil fuels and we can only invest in renewable energy,” what they are saying is that “high gas prices are not a problem and we are not going to do anything about it.” The bottom line is that Democrat lawmakers can’t win elections unless they cater to radical environmentalists. The political courage necessary for most Democrats to speak the truth about energy policy is quickly doused by the very real prospect of an electoral defeat.

President Bush has failed to make the case to the American public that we can bridge our transition to alternative energy with our own domestic fossil fuel resources, while protecting Americans from out-of-control energy prices. He has allowed the agenda of radicals to dominate the energy debate and as a result, most Americans do not realize that the people in power today have a record of supporting high oil prices.

In short, thanks to an absence of leadership from the White House, Congress is not being held accountable and the American people have not been presented with the facts about how we arrived at our current situation. As a result, a lot of pundits and too many Americans have a flawed and simplistic understanding of our energy crisis.

Unfortunately, this question continues to perpetuate the media’s chronic need to pit the two parties against each other in an effort to boost TV ratings or increase newspaper sales. This divisiveness goes to the heart of why this Congress has an all time low national approval rating of 18 percent. Washington is fundamentally broken and cannot be fixed unless we elect leaders willing to work together for the common good of the Nation. I’m supporting John McCain for President for this exact reason—Senator McCain has 23 years of bipartisan leadership experience that can deliver Washington the change American deserves.

The Bush Administration had no plan to stabilize Iraq or Afghanistan following the defeat of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban. This complete lack of foresight has hurt our efforts to bring real progress to either country. However, the President’s push to bring both parties to the table to solve immigration issues was his best effort. It’s unfortunate that the extremes in both parties turned this opportunity into a political wedge issue, thus killing any future opportunities to revisit it during this election year.