Bush’s Double-Speak: Deceiving the Public, One Lie at a Time

With unemployment reaching its highest level in years, the national deficit setting new records, constitutional rights disappearing, and an ever-worsening situation in Iraq, one cannot help but wonder just how George W. Bush still has such a high public approval rating.

Upon closer examination, it appears that the administration’s clever manipulation of the media distorts the public’s perception of Bush’s policies. For while Bush draws applause for touting vital programs when the cameras are rolling, the reality is that those programs are headed for the slaughterhouse. The mainstream media refuses to call the President a liar. Below are some of Bush’s promises, and the sad reality behind them. You be the judge.

Taxes

[rhetoric]
In his 2003 State of the Union address, Bush states: “The tax relief is for everyone who pays income taxes – and it will help our economy immediately: 92 million Americans will keep, this year, an average of almost $1,000 more of their own money.”

[reality]
A study by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution found that 8.1 million taxpayers got left out of the tax cut. Another analysis, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, concluded the following:
1. Nationwide, the bottom 60 percent of taxpayers will receive, an average of $350 over the next four years, or less than $100 per year.
2. During the same time period the wealthiest 1 percent will receive an average of $96,634.

Education

[rhetoric]
On January 8, 2003, the one-year anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, Bush talks up the need for education funding, saying: “This administration is committed to your effort. And with the support of Congress, we will continue to work to provide the resources schools need to fund the era of reform.”

[reality]
Bush’s 2003 budget – the first one after he signed the No Child Left Behind Act – proposed to cut the Act’s funding by $90 million, leaving it more than $7 billion short of what Congress authorized. Bush’s 2004 budget for the Act is just 1.9 percent above what he proposed in 2003, less than what is needed to offset inflation.

Children’s Health

[rhetoric]
On March 1, 2001, at Egleston Children’s Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, Bush said: “This is a hospital, but it’s also – it’s a place full of love. And I was most touched by meeting the parents and the kids and the nurses and the docs, all of whom are working hard to save lives.… I’m here to talk about the budget. My job as the President is to submit a budget to the Congress and to set priorities, and one of the priorities that we’ve talked about is making sure the healthcare systems are funded.”

[reality]
Bush’s first budget proposed cutting grants to children’s hospitals like the one he visited by 15 percent ($34 million). His 2004 budget additionally proposes to cut 30 percent ($86 million) out of grants to children’s hospitals.

Veterans’ Health

[rhetoric]
Speaking at Walter Reed Army Hospital on January 17, 2003, Bush said: “Having been here and seeing the care that these troops get is comforting for me and Laura. We are –- should and must provide the best care for anybody who is willing to put their life in harm’s way.”