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Prime Time News Conference good time for press/public to hold Bush accountable for false statements

by Open-Publishing - Thursday 28 April 2005
15 comments

Wars and conflicts International Healthcare Television USA

Kucinich: President Must Be Held Accountable
At Prime Time News Conference President Has Made False and Misleading Statements On Iraq and Social Security; The Press And Public Must Hold Him Accountable

http://www.commondreams.org/news200...

WASHINGTON — April 28 — Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) issued the following statement on the President’s prime time press conference scheduled for this evening:

"Tonight, the President will make a rare prime time appearance before the press and the nation. With our troops caught in a quagmire in Iraq, with no exit in sight; our economy weakening; gas prices on the rise; and the President continuing the create a false crisis in Social Security it is time to hold this President, and his Administration, accountable for their failing policies.

"Whether standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier, in an auditorium in Cincinnati, before the United States Congress, or the press at the White House, the President has repeatedly used the media and prime time appearances to mislead the nation.

"Now more than ever, it is urgent that the media and the public hold this Administration accountable:

"For two years, the Untied States has been bogged down in a quagmire in Iraq. Over 1500 US soldiers have died and ten of thousands have been injured. Despite the presence of well over 100,000 US troops, Iraq has become a training ground for terrorists and chaos rules the day. Despite elections, the Iraqi people know that decisions about their future are made in Washington and not in Baghdad. Yet, this Administration has offered the American public no plan for securing Iraq, no end game, and no exit strategy. The American public deserves better, and the press and the public must hold the President accountable.

"For months, the President has traveled the country repeatedly using misinformation in an effort to sell his Social Security privatization scheme. The President has repeatedly asserted that there is ’no Social Security Trust’. Such misleading statements by the President do the debate on Social Security a real disservice. As the President is well aware, the Social Security Trust Fund is not just a filing cabinet, as he claims, but represents $1.7 trillion dollars in solemn obligations of the United States. The President is also all well aware, that the Trust Fund is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States treasury. The American public deserves a honest debate about the future of Social Security, and the President must be held accountable.

"The American public deserves the truth from their government. With a large and captive television audience, it is time for the President to answer the tough questions, and explain his false and misleading statements. The media and the public must not allow this President to continue to use the power of the bully pulpit to mislead the public on the most pressing issues facing our nation today."

(Press and public must hold Bush accountable- because it doesn’t seem congress will do it’s job any time soon...)

from Kucinich.us...

Ways and Means Kills Inquiry into Question on Trust Fund

Last night, in a rare Monday night session, the Ways and Means Committee of the United States House of Representative voted 22-1 against a resolution which would require the President to produce documentation supporting his oft-repeated claim that there is no Social Security Trust.

The action stopped a Resolution of Inquiry from proceeding to the full House for a vote. I introduced the resolution last month after President Bush had claimed in a meeting in New Hampshire that "there is no Social Security trust." He has since repeated the assertion. The implications of the President’s assertions about the Social Security trust fund are quite serious for the 48 million Americans who currently rely on Social Security, and for those who will become recipients in the future.

According to the Social Security Administration’s own trustees, Social Security has $1.68 trillion in the Trust Fund. According to the Social Security Administration the surplus will grow to over $6 trillion.

Most interesting, however, the President’s assertion that there is no Trust Fund comes at a time when the Administration has borrowed over $637.4 billion from the fund obtained in highly regressive taxes on American workers. That borrowed money is, in effect, being used to help fund an illegal war and to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

If the President’s assertions remain unchallenged, the Administration can continue to drain the Trust Fund of its assets and make true its now false claim that Social Security has no Trust Fund and is going bankrupt. They only need the complicity of the Congress.

Now the Congressional committee which has direct jurisdiction over Social Security is refusing to hold the President accountable for his statements. In other words, the Committee itself doesn’t want the President to produce any documents supporting his claim that there is no Social Security Trust.

If Congress had formally asked the President to produce documents backing up his contention that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, he would have been unable to do so and would have lacked a sufficient cause to go to war.

If Congress had formally asked the President to produce documents that the United States could afford massive tax cuts to the wealthy without going into huge deficits, he would have been unable to do so and we would not be cutting funds for education, housing, job-creation and other social services (nor borrowing from Social Security) to mask the increasing inability of the government to balance its budget.

The President has a Constitutional obligation to uphold the public debt of the United States. Social Security’s financial obligations are, according to the Social Security Trustees, backed by the "full faith and credit of the United States". If, indeed, there is no Social Security trust - as the President asserts with the political protection of his Congressional majority - then it is clear that the President is heading towards a direct challenge to his own constitutional authority and legal responsibilities to affirm the financial obligations of Social Security.

http://www.kucinich.us/index.php

Forum posts

  • Well the leaders are still talking on cspan (addressing the house about these issues), which will be ignored by the MSM. There was crickets coming from the MSM this evening on these subjects, I expected that from them.

  • Never happen.................

  • What George means when he says there is no trust fund is that he intends to make sure there isn’t one....because his gang of thugs are going to steal it from us.

    • Well, our favorite assclown has stumbled his way through another scripted news conference, we all needed a good laugh. What a lying sack of shit that bastard is....and then his last STUPID remark: "Thank you for all of your answers" which leaves one to ask did they have to submit the questions as well as the answers for this fool? Or is he still on the sauce?

  • I noticed Bush didn’t actually say there was no trust fund last night, perhaps someone is coaching him. But he appears to be blaming congress now... ""Yet there’s a hole in the safety net because Congresses have made promises it cannot keep for a younger generation" which is convenient however congress hasn’t been going around explaining that the money they borrowed from SS for tax cuts and war is actually only backed by worthless IOU’s that the government has no intention of paying back. And did we really need those tax cuts because I’m positive we didn’t need that war? I’m not sure but I think it was Bush that pushed for these things, not congress. Congress deserves responsibility for letting Bush make them look like incompetent fools that have never read the constitution but that’s a story for another day.

    Bush State of the union 2001-"To make sure the retirement savings of America’s seniors are not diverted to any other program, my budget protects all $2.6 trillion of the Social Security surplus for Social Security, and for Social Security alone."

    Bush 2005- "Some in our country think that Social Security is a trust fund — in other words, there’s a pile of money being accumulated. That’s just simply not true. The money — payroll taxes going into the Social Security are spent. They’re spent on benefits and they’re spent on government programs. There is no trust."

    • The promise that congress made was to pay back all of the money they have "borrowed" for their warmongering and to give themselves and their friends a tax cut. Now it turns they borrowed it on the no return plan....suckers.

  • I think the public gets it...the more Bush ’explains’ his plans- the worse his polls get....might have something to do with his speaking style must listen MP3 of Bush on social security

    Do you understand Bush’s Social Security plan?
    Yes 69%
    No 31%
    Do you support it?
    No 74%
    Yes 26%

    Do you understand Bush’s energy plan?
    Yes 64%
    No 36%
    Do you support it?
    No 72%
    Yes 28%

    Do you approve of Bush’s handling of Iraq?
    No 70%
    Yes 30%

    Do you approve of Bush’s handling of the economy?
    No 74%
    Yes 26%

    Total Votes: 153,387
    http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/art...

  • My Press Conference Experience-by Ida Briggs at DemocraticUnderground

    I wasn’t going to watch the press conference; the sound of HIS voice is too much like nails on a chalkboard for me to handle, while his pompous smirk as he lies through his teeth isn’t good for my blood pressure. And, to be fair, I heard it was going to start at 8:30 p.m. which left my biggest concern "is it going to interfere with The Apprentice?"

    So, it was really an accident. You see, I was on my way to pick up Chinese food for a late dinner, and NPR was broadcasting it. It was only about 8:15 p.m., so I should have been safe.

    I tuned in when a reporter asked, "How will your Energy Bill help lower the record gas prices?" to which Smirk gave an extremely lame Song-and-Dance routine, followed up with one of the most STUPID and IDIOTIC responses I have *EVER* heard just as I was pulling into the parking lot.

    I got out of the car, raised my hands to heaven, and yowled the following:

    "AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!! I CAN’T STAND THAT IDIOT!!!!!"

    Two patrons were leaving the restaurant, and saw this. They also heard me, as I wasn’t being all that quiet. They stopped dead in their tracks, looked at each other, looked at me (nearly jumping up and down in my fury, but trying not to look like a total idiot), and the woman very tentatively asked "Bush?"

    "Yes," I said with a modicum of must-get-myself-under-control-because-there-are-other-people here. "I made the mistake of turning on the press conference. This man is A TOTAL MORON!"

    They started laughing. "They have it on in the restaurant, so we had to leave," said the woman. "What got you going?" asked the man.

    "Oh-My-God! The man actually had THE NERVE to say, ’we don’t have an energy policy in this country!’ Well, who the (expletive) has been in charge for the last FOUR YEARS?!!! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!"

    More laughter, and sympathetic comments followed. Turns out they still had a Kerry sticker on their car (like I do, but I was driving my husband’s car with his ’Somewhere in Texas, a village is missing its Idiot’ sticker instead), they both did volunteer work for the Kerry Campaign, and their son went to Ohio to help out. They had some stories to tell about that, while I shared some election fraud information. We parted on a friendly note, with them warning me one more time about the press conference being played in the restaurant. (Its a small place.) Buttressed by my positive experience in the parking lot, and hungry, I went in to get my food.

    HE was talking again. I honestly don’t remember what he was saying this time (did I mention ’nails on a chalkboard’ for me?), and I burst out again (as I handed my credit card to the owner) "I HATE THAT GUY!"

    "Why is that?" asked the owner, in a very polite, neutral way.

    "BECAUSE HE IS A LYING SACK OF SHIT, WHO IS A TRAITOR TO AMERICA, WHO HAS GOTTEN MORE AMERICANS KILLED IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS THAN I CAN COUNT, WHO WANTS TO DESTROY SOCIAL SECURITY, AND I CAN’T STAND HIM!" My voice, which did start out in a pseudo calm way, got progressively louder, and to be fair, I tossed in a couple of other points too, but I think you get the gist of my comments.

    As I finished my little rant, one of the other patrons loudly proclaimed, "I’M WITH YOU!" while another one started applauding!!! There was NO negative response to my outburst!!!

    We all exchanged a few, "God, that man is an IDIOT" type comments, and I left with dinner (Sweet & Sour Chicken for Bob, Sesame Chicken for me). I turned the radio OFF for my drive home, which made life better, and the food sweeter. I am proud of Michigan, but especially pleased that this story comes from one of the most Republican areas in the state. Go, America! Go, Michigan!

    http://www.democraticunderground.co...

    • We have a major disconnect between DC and the rest of America going on here....
      another story from DU

      "I filled up my car today, and as I replaced the nozzle I sighed in disgust at my $32.00 tab.

      Well, the guy (mid 30’s) beside me noticed and said, "you can thank Bush for that!". I smiled, rolled my eyes and said, "don’t I know!". Then the lady (60’s I’m guessing) behind me said, "and now he wants to cut our Social Security. It’s disgusting."

      The place was packed, and several people starting chiming in, making little comments critical of Bush, laughing and shaking their heads in disgust.

      I went in and paid, and on my way out the guy that was beside me was pulling out. I noticed he had a Bush sticker on the back of his truck. I glanced over at him and he saw that I saw, and said, "that’s coming off today! I tried to rip it off earlier but it’s stuck on there pretty good." So we had a brief discussion on how to remove stubborn stickers, and off he went.

      May not seem like a big deal, but I was blown away by it. In a red state (KY), it’s definitely a positive sign."

  • Sorry you had a Disney moment. "OUR" MSM aren’t going to raise questions and speak up until this country is completely bancrupt and we’ve managed to alienate everyone but Israelhell.

    Sorry, babe, it’s almost over.

  • Maybe the time is appropriate to inform the public about all the election fraud.

    Are laws passed by a fraudulent administration legal?

    Maybe the time is ripe to propose impeachment.

    • With all of the lawyers out there in this country, why hasn’t any of them started a class action suit on behalf of the citizens/tax payers in this country? Even if we all lost in the Supreme Court, the publicity would go a long way toward bringing some hope back into people’s lives about restoring our country to a government by the people, of the people, and for the people.

    • There is a judiacry group formed, they are the reason a lot of things get declassified. I can’t find their link, but they are handling a few cases dealing with 911 and Iraq. I do know they are having a hard time getting things heard in court and papers declassified

      C-span oddly enough if you watch is covering a lot of things. A bit dry at times, but so what, news isn’t supposed to be a three ring circus. You get to watch your reps being themselves, and they have interesting speakers and topics. They aired something on 9-11 skeptics a few nights ago. I understand Lamb (the owner and CEO) is getting some flack for airing some of the things he does. Which is good, it means he’s hitting a real nerve.

    • Isn’t it amazing that hysteria breaks out if anyone publicly questions any of the "Warren Commission" style OFFICIAL account of the events surrounding 9/11. The government is so afraid that the illusion they have created of this unprovoked attack while we were just minding our own business and trying to get along when wham Saddam’s Henchmen got in some airplanes out of the clear blue sky and drove them right into the towers without any warning and before NORAD pilots could get their pants on and take the bus down to the air base and unfortunatly the bus got a flat tire and so they were a few hours late so they couldn’t shoot Saddam’s Taliban. Condi would have warned someone but she thought they were just kidding since they wouldn’t give here an exact time and a flight plan. How dare anyone question this story, you un-American prick.

    • Forget impeachment... just find a strong rope and a lamp-post.