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Originally Posted by jconnolly
I think the claim that Bush hired a company to get rid of as many Democratic voting blacks as possible is a big point in the movie. So is the 42% vacation time. Hell, all of them are pretty big, sans maybe the veterans one.
Are you not just dismissing him out of hand because he went and got some facts to try and pry the tinfoil hat off your head with?
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If the material that I have included in the "quote" boxes below is not Bush's
record, I invite you to make a link referenced rebuttal.
Here are some referenced points to reinforce the argument that Moore made
credible claims in his Fahrenheit 9/11 film with respect to Bush spending 42%
of his pre-9/11/2001 presidential term "on vacation".
This must be the report that Moore cited in Fahrenheit 9/11. It was filed
just 11 months after Bush declared himself the "war president" :
(Even though the administration is sensitive about the subject of the president's "time off", as you can see, in the 34 months after 9/11, Bush
did not change the consistancy of the percentage of his vacation time)
Quote:
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27592-2002Sep2.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27592-2002Sep2.html</a>
Bush by the Numbers, as Told by a Diligent Scorekeeper
By Dana Milbank
Tuesday, September 3, 2002; Page A15
The statistics Knoller assembles produce many revealing portraits of the Bush presidency:
.......Bush has spent a whopping total of 250 days of his presidency at Camp David (123 days), Kennebunkport (12) and his Texas ranch (115). That means Bush has spent 42 percent of his term so far at one of his three leisure destinations.
To date, the president has devoted far more time to golf (15 rounds) than to solo news conferences (six). The numbers also show that Bush, after holding three news conferences in his first four months, has had only three more in the last 15 months -- not counting the 37 Q&A sessions he has had with foreign leaders during his term.
Bush has raised $114.8 million this year at 48 GOP events, surpassing Clinton's record of $105 million in 2000 from 203 events. The Bush White House has challenged his tally only once, and Knoller countered with voluminous evidence.
"The judge's decision is final," he says. ..................
......During the Bush administration, which practices the none-of-your-business theory of public disclosure, the logs have become even more valuable. "They don't want to talk about their strategy themselves, but they reveal it by what they do," says the keeper of the stats.......
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Quote:
<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/august01/2001-08-03-bush-vacation.htm#more">http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/august01/2001-08-03-bush-vacation.htm#more</a>
08/03/2001 - Updated 12:02 PM ET
White House to move to Texas for a while
By Laurence McQuillan, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Six months after taking office, President Bush will begin a month-long vacation Saturday that is significantly longer than the average American's annual getaway. If Bush returns as scheduled on Labor Day, he'll tie the modern record for presidential absence from the White House, held by Richard Nixon at 30 days. Ronald Reagan took trips as long as 28 days.
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And.....23 months after declaring himself a "war president" :
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A15546-2003Aug2?language=printer">http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A15546-2003Aug2?language=printer</a>
Bush Aces Physical, Begins a Month at Ranch
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 3, 2003
..........A CBS News tally shows this is Bush's 26th presidential trip to Crawford. He has spent all or part of 166 days at the ranch or en route -- the equivalent of 51/2 months. When Bush's trips to Camp David and Kennebunkport, Maine, are added, according to the CBS figures, Bush has spent 250 full or partial days at his getaway spots -- 27 percent of his presidency so far.
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The following report, filed 34 months after declaring himself a "war president" reinforces Moore's "on vacation 42% of Bush's presidency" :
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18516-2004Aug20.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18516-2004Aug20.html</a>
Just Don't Call It a Vacation
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, August 20, 2004; 11:09 AM
President Bush spent the day yesterday on his Texas ranch riding his mountain bike and watching the Olympics on TV. But don't call it a vacation......
......CBS Radio's Mark Knoller keeps meticulous tabs on Bush's every move and files this report for the cbsnews.com Web site:
"A CBS News tally shows that President Bush is now making his 38th visit to his Prairie Chapel ranch since taking office. Add up the number of full or partial days he has been there -- it comes out to 254.
<b>
"That's about 20 percent of his presidency. Add in his time at Camp David and the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, and the percentage more than doubles. </b>And the White House is self-conscious about it."
Knoller concludes: "Though it's definitely worth noting how much time Mr. Bush spends at his ranch -- it's unfair to say it's all vacation -- it's certainly a vacation atmosphere."
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With his 44 day "streak", can Bush credibly attend to all his responsibilities?
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<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,132437,00.html">http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,132437,00.html</a>
Bush Spends Rare Full Day at White House
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
WASHINGTON — Wednesday finds President Bush doing a rare thing: spending a full day in the nation's capital. But he won't be around for long — he hits the road again the next day.
Aug. 2 was Bush's last full day in Washington, when he appeared in the Rose Garden to announce his support for intelligence reforms. Locked in a tight race for re-election with Democrat John Kerry (search), Bush is roaming the country instead.
And politics won't be far away even as Bush breaks his 44-day, outside-the-Beltway streak. He gets a chance to appeal to a key constituency at a White House concert and reception Wednesday in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month ..........
.........On Thursday, he heads for Minnesota and several more days of travel.
Bush visited a total of 21 states during the 44 days, including three stays at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and time at his family's home on the Maine coast..........
The number of Bush travel days has been in double digits every month since February. And he has spent just a handful of full days in Washington all summer — just 10 since Memorial Day............
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Question for Bush supporters. Why do you exhibit more indignation towards
Michael Moore for highlighting these facts about your "war president" in his
film, than you do towards Bush for drawing this type of attention from the
news media? Is this really an acceptable tone for Bush to set for his presidency, <br>before and after 9/11? Can you just dismiss these reports as
biased and unfair press coverage? These reports come from reliable sources
and offer a core argument that Bush did not show an earnest effort as a
comparatively previously inexperienced new president, pre-9/11, to spend
the time necessary to master the intricacies and responsibilities of his office,
and more alarmingly, at least to me, has not shown an earnest effort to
live a life as the "war president" he declared himself to be. Is it unreasonable
to accuse Bush of spending too much time in political fund raising and
partisan campaign activities since 9/11, especially in view of the threats and
challenges of terrorism that he and Cheney have frequently described to us?
In his Hannity interview, Bush said that "because we have to be right 100 percent of the time in disrupting any plot and they have to be right once."