Bush Warns Americans They Are 'Still Not Safe'

[Nambe]

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (Reuters)

President Bush on Saturday warned Americans this week's terrorism alert was another sign the country was still not safe but said he was taking steps to prevent future attacks.

Alert levels were raised earlier this week for specific locations in New York City, Washington and New Jersey after a top-level review of information that al Qaeda may be plotting to attack financial institutions including the New York Stock Exchange, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

"We're doing everything we can in our power to confront the danger," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "We're making good progress in protecting our people and bringing our enemies to account."

The administration has been facing tough questions after it became known that some of the information that led to the elevated alert was three years old. ..

Ride Don’t Drive It’s Global Cool

[SpiralHawk]

1. Indeed - With George AWOL Bush in charge

We are not safe.


"People say, how can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you."

- George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

[Kierkegaard]

6. Not for long

I'll tell you how to fight evil - Vote Kerry/Edwards in November!

[saigon68]

41. "BRING EM ON" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

"And Bring IT ON" they did.

[lottie244]

47. Did he add: "...as long as I am in office."

We will never be safe as long as this regime is in the White House and everywhere else in the world. I say, bring all our soldiers home and let them work on our highways, clean up our waterways, and build and rebuild our public schools.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. But we'll be MUCH safer after your sorry ass is booted from office, chimpy

Bet on it!

[Kierkegaard]

5. 2 cents

One of the things that I find most fascinating is the contradictory ploy this loser wraps himself in:

"You're in danger"


"You're safe, because I'm on the job. That's why I should be re-elected, because I'll protect you."


"You're in danger"

[UpInArms]

12. Welcome to DU bushbash!

Glad to have you here :hi:

What you hear is the sound of a dying fish on the dock -

flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop

[Kierkegaard]

21. Thanks, UpInArms

It's a convenient little haven this monkey has built for himself. Spends almost 4 years embedded in shameless cronyism, and right before the election we get this:

"What have you been up to Georgie?"

"Ah, er, fighting terrorism! Yeah, that's what I've been doing. Remember 9/11? You should be reeeeeeeelly scairt."

"What about all the money you spent on an unprovoked attack of a soverign nation based on, at best, dubious information? The elevation of healthcare costs on your watch? The no-bid contracts to Hallibuton? The civil liberties you've compromised? The decline in wages, loss of jobs, tax cuts putting more money into already overstuffed pockets? Shall I go on?"

"The important question you should be asking is 'as an American citizen, am I safe as a result of the actions of this administration', and I say to that, yes you are, except for those times when people ask the tough questions that make me look bad, and then I say, 'DANGER, DANGER, DANGER!"

[louis-t]

29. or "is our children safer?"

[phantom power]

26. This really is a risky strategy for Bush

The entire strategy hinges on keeping people worried about terrorism, but simultaneously keeping them convinced that he's the man to keep them safe. He has to keep people from wondering why he hasn't made them feel safer.

This must be doubly difficult, considering that his opponent is a war veteran, and Bush isn't.

It's a sad commentary on what insane times we live in, that we even have to worry that he could pull it off.

[Kierkegaard]

37. Right-o

Absolutely sad commentary, indeed. That anyone could be so hoodwinked to stand up for what * has done over the last 4 years is a testament to how well this administration has been able to divide and conquer Americans.

The increase in political activity on the web(at places like DU!), in the media and elsewhere, is indicative that we are finally willing to stand up and say 'bullshit!' to these pirates and take every action necessary to see that they are exposed for what they really are and boot their sorry behinds out of our White House.

[ilovenicepeople]

38. HOWDY!!

:hi:

[Catch22Dem]

3. Didn't he just say recently

"Americans are SAFER"

I recall a speech where he said it about 10 times. Jon Stewart even played the video.

[MichiganVote]

4. Yeah, me too. Are you sure his head doesn't swivel? I could swear....

the rooms turn colder and there is a faint smell of Bullshit whenever he on the telly.

[Poiuyt]

7. And they say that Kerry is a flip-flopper!

:)

[Kierkegaard]

9. Fish on a hot sidewalk

It strikes me as odd why the GOP would use flip-flopping as a point of contention considerig their pet chimp has essentially made a living at it throughout his entire career.

[goclark]

11. Bush is a Pancake Breakfast

He flips more Pancakes in one hour than Kerry did in his whole life.

Flip Flop Flip Flop

The Kerry Camp needs to call him on this one big time.

The "Make Us Safer" is their last stand so Kerry --- hit um now.


He needs to have someone else hold up a Pancake flipper and say it....l "Are we safer or aren't we GWB!!!"

Al Franken would be a good person to say it or Michael Moore/Bill Maher could say it! Somebody needs to say it now.

[sandraj]

33. I don't have a link - radio interview

but former IL gov Jim Thompson spun the safe vs. safer thing this way (paraphrasing):

Bush has made Americans **safer,** but America is not **safe** because this is a different world and we are still vulnerable to future attacks.

Of course this obvious contradiction is bullsh*t.

It also comes from a guy who's been named in the Hollinger scandal, so there's definitely some credibility missing there I think.

GOP Hypocrite of the Week: James Thompson
http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/04/04/edi04025.html

"But if you look at some of "Big Jim's" recent activities, as reported in the media, you might think he has some of his own credibility problems.

First of all, Thompson headed the auditing committee of the embattled Hollinger Corporation at a time that pro-Bush media baron Conrad Black and another company executive have been charged with taking shareholders to the cleaners. Thompson's committee had to approve the deals first, but "Big Jim" claims he wasn't aware of what was going on. Let's just say, at this point, there were a lot of serious alleged financial shenanigans that passed through Thompson's committee like feed through a pig.

No one is accusing Thompson of personally profiting from the Hollinger mess, just of closing his eyes to the worst kind of crony capitalism."


I don't believe a word these people say. They don't do or say anything without some kind of self-serving motive.

[llmart]

8. Keep the masses afraid.....

with constant terra alerts that are based on 3-year old info. Too bad it isn't working 'cause no one I know or run into pays any attention to these stupid color coded alerts.

Kerry/Edwards will keep us safer.

[54anickel]

15. And hateful, and he's the ONLY one that understands terrorism, and

anyone of a different ideology is a terrorist, blah, blah. I'm trying to find a transcript of his speech to UNITY yesterday. There were some "hate & fear mongering" statements buried in that.

[Keirsey]

19. Unity transcript

54anickel, the transcript can be found here:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/08-06-2004/0002226945&EDATE=

[54anickel]

20. Thank you!!!!

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Bu$h's Summer of Fear Campaign

is right on schedule. Step right up, get your daily dose.

[leesa]

13. This could be a whole new flip-flop thread

Hasn't he been bending over backwards assuring us we are safer?

[cmd]

16. That's what I was hearing - another FLOP

[ixion]

14. that's right! we must surrender ALL civil liberties to be 'safe'

nothing but thugs, these guys.

:puke: :eyes: :crazy: :puke: :freak: :grr:

[Mokito]

17. Yup, the only right they want you to have

Is the right to fear.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. 'Crap Your Pants for America'

From BBC radio:

We live in troubled times
Our enemies surround us
We must be vigilant
To the dangers all around us
There's evil little furr'ners
And perverts here as well
It's your patriotic duty
To be as scared as hell

So crap your pants for America
Foul yourself for freedom
Soil your shorts for the USA
Crap your pants for America
Only Dubya can save us
And we'll hide beneath our beds, and quake and pray

It could happen any minute
It could happen any place
So gaze with deep suspicion
In every stranger's face
Your government is struggling
They've run out of ideas
They've run out of excuses
All they've got left is fear

So crap your pants for America
Foul yourself for freedom
Soil your shorts for the USA
Crap your pants for America
The land of the paranoid
The panic-stricken, jittery, and free

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/comedy.shtml?nowshow# (24m50 into it)

[progressivebydesign]

22. He sure knows how to give those warm and fuzzies!

I'm really shocked that he would spend so much time highlighting his war on terror. I guess they're counting on the fact that the terrorism report showed terror was down, worldwide.. but that they didn't see the retraction Powell had to make, when it was challenged and terrorism had actuall INCREASED. That's how they operate, put the lies in the paper, then quietely retract them... like the Berger fiasco.

Bush has nothing to fear from his faithful voters, the ones that wouldn't vote for Kerry no matter what.. they are as vehement as we are about voting for Kerry. What he DOES have to worry about are the ones that will simply stay home, or the Kerry Republicans. His faithful is lapping this terror war shit up, and the religious hyperbole, it's his moderates he needs to be concerned with.

[Triana]

23. NO We're not safe when the inmates are driving the bus (n/t)

[smirkymonkey]

24. Hah, neither are you, Monkey Boy!

Burn in Hell.........bwahahahahahah....:nuke:

[imax2268]

25. Washington Post article...

Bush: Safely in Denial

Back in the good ol' days of the Cold War, I returned from a visit to East Germany and was instantly berated by one of its diplomats in Washington. He wanted to know how I could have written that East Berlin was bleak and dismal when everyone knew that West Berlin was really that way. For years, I've wondered what happened to that man. Now I think he's the president of the United States.

When it comes to telling you right to your face that black is white, maybe no one compares with George W. Bush. Last week, for example, he responded to yet another report that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction by saying that it didn't matter. "Although we have not found stockpiles of weapons, I believe we were right to go into Iraq," Bush said. "America is safer today because we did."

"America is safer today because we did." The statement is worth repeating because it ranks up there with the insistence that the sour East of Berlin out-dazzled the West. Just the day before, in fact, senior administration officials were saying that Osama bin Laden and his top guys were planning a terrorist attack in the United States sometime before the November presidential election. How's that for safer?

Read More here

[Bullshot]

27. We are safer. We are still not safe.

We are safer. We are still not safe. We are safer. We are still not safe. We are safer. We are still not safe.

[TankLV]

28. Not as long as you and your criminal thugs are in charge, we aren't!

Don't worrym you lyingn, AWOL, incompetant, treasonous bastard -
President Kerry will fix all that.

[Malva Zebrina]

30. Too bad the sommabitch didn't know how to "warn" before Sept. 11

he had every reason to alert us before that--instead he took vacations--played golf--went fishing and shooting, and generally played the goof ball president.

Don't even mention Condi Rice.

[primavera]

31. Nor will we be

... so long as our foreign poilicy is oriented exclusively towards pissing off everyone on the planet rather than addressing the problem.

[drdtroit]

32. GWB = POS

[Eurobabe]

34. But we're turning a corner...

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht.

[sendero]

35. Dear Bush*.

Because we are not safe, your job isn't safe either. Get it?

[truth2power]

36. I'm so confused.

I thought he said, just last week, that we were safer, er...uh..something like that. I can't keep up anymore.

[54anickel]

39. Al Qaeda seeking to launch new US attacks: Bush aide

Didn't think this deserved it's own thread, but they are making th Sunday rounds of fear-mongering. Funny how Townsend doesn't mention that perhaps the OUTING OF KHAN may have had something to do with the disruption. :eyes:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/s1171553.htm

Al Qaeda militants are hoping to launch a major attack in the United States that will be even deadlier and more spectacular than the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, a top White House adviser said today.

"They want something bigger than 9/11, they want a catastrophic attack," Frances Townsend, US President George W Bush's homeland security adviser, told the Fox News Sunday program.

Ms Townsend made her remarks one week after US officials raised the terror alert levels in the financial sectors of Washington and the New York area, after receiving intelligence of an impending Al Qaeda strike.

The Bush administration's decision was criticised because of its reliance on three-year-old intelligence, but Ms Townsend said that the threat was current and real, and said raising the alert appeared to have slowed the planning for a strike.

"The question is did we disrupt all of it or a part of it," Ms Townsend said.

[fortyfeetunder]

40. Hey Dubya, your JOB is not safe!!!

No more years...I hope you can find a job in Crawford after we send your a$$ back there November 2.

Edited to clarify and keep strange visitors from the door.

[arwalden]

42. We're In Danger? Oh My God We're In Danger!!

I thought we were safe! What happened to being safe? All this time they told me that things were under control and we were safe.

Now we're in DANGER??? OH NO!

[Nancy Waterman]

44. My latest favorite bumper sticker

DEFEND AMERICA
DEFEAT BUSH!

[drscm]

43. You're safe. No! You're not safe. No! You're safe. No! You're not safe.

No! You're safe. No! You're not safe. No! You're safe. No! You're not safe. No! You're safe. No! You're not safe. No! You're safe. No! You're not safe. No! You're safe. No! You're not safe. No!

[Swamp Rat]

45. George Orwell was a prophet.

You are in danger!

Big Brother will keep you safe.

You are in danger!

Big Brother will keep you safe.

Go to sleep.

[sweetheart]

46. Nobody is safe from death

So what. We all live with the potential for a car accident, or
a mortal medical problem which will get us all in the end if not
sky diving and great white sharks first.