Posted on 08/01/2006 12:55:42 PM PDT by SmithL
The Martinez Democrat blamed the bleak state of affairs largely on President Bush as a capacity audience in the Pinole council chamber frequently voiced agreement.
Appearing as part of a nationwide roadshow by Democrats to promote their "New Direction for America," Miller ran through the program's main points -- "Six for '06" -- before offering his own take on them.
Behind him was a poster showing the average price of gas when Bush took office in 2001, $1.47 per gallon, versus today's average of $3.25. Another poster depicted the fact that the foreign debt has more than doubled, to more than $2 trillion, during Bush's time in office.
New Direction's six points are: real security at home and overseas; better American jobs and better pay; college access for all; energy independence and lower gas prices; affordable health care and life-saving science, such as stem cell research; and retirement security.
Miller said energy consumption in California had remained relatively steady over the past decade while it rose dramatically elsewhere in the nation. He urged a "new generation of conservation" in which California should be "a national model" and warned of rising sea levels if the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets should melt.
"Pinole's not even waterfront property at that point," he said.
Miller said Medicare should be allowed to bargain down the cost of medicines the way Veterans Affairs does it.
He advocated more affordable higher education, lamenting the indebtedness of college students that he said averages $17,000 to $18,000 at graduation.
Many audience questions concerned wars in the Middle East. The war in Iraq, Miller said, is the United States' "greatest foreign policy blunder of all time." The destruction it has unleashed on Iraqis is "just hellacious," he said, and the price the young Americans have had to pay for the "misadventure" just unbelievable.
"We should redeploy the troops right now," he said, to Kuwait or Bahrain if not totally out of the area.
Asked whether "lying to the American people for going to war is a treasonous, impeachable offense," Miller replied: "I hold the president in great disdain for misleading the American people about this war."
He called for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. At the same time, he deflected calls from several audience members to denounce Israel for the conflict. He decried what he described as the tragic and mistaken recent bombing of civilians, but said Israel has the right to defend itself against missiles raining down from southern Lebanon and Gaza.
Miller agreed with one questioner that the nation has not done enough to secure its borders and said he favors a program that would allow many illegal immigrants to achieve legal status.
Reach Tom Lochner at 510-262-2760 or tlochner@cctimes.com.
He must be expecting the Dems to win in Nov.
And this is why all branches of the military keeps meeting and exceeding its re-enlistment goals? Because they're breaking? LOL. This guy is a nutjob.
1: Bush's fault
2: Bush's fault
3: Bush's fault
4: Bush's fault
5: Bush's fault
6: Bush's fault
[Ergo] Praised be Alla...oops, elect me.
Wouldn't he be a fun guy to have at a party!
Fits that the donkey is the symbol of the party, they're all Eeyores, "weeeee're aaaaaall goonnnna dieeeeeee..."
Bush responsible for the global warming emergency?
Pshaw! If William Jefferson Clinton had sent the Kyoto Treaty to Congress, the responsible people there would have voted for it, and we would not be in the horrible mess we are in now!
Temp. in Portlandistan right now is 67 degrees; global warming has slowed since last weeks triple digit temps. Thank you President Bush.
You can't be serious. Or maybe you are serious and you're just demonstrating the effects of the Algore Kool Aid. How inconvenient.
He didn't send it, but the Senate, nevertheless, voted 98-0 against its passage.
This is the same 'Rat that President Bush once cited as a strong bipartisan Congressional voice, stroked his ego real good, called him "Big George", all of that backslapping horsesh*t.
Well Mr. President, you invited Teddy Kennedy to the White House, helped him pass that big-ass education bill, and you've seen how Fat Teddy stabbed you in the back for it, looks like "Big George" is upholding the tradition, eh?
The RNC ought to pay me for the ideas I could give them! ;-) Here is more amunition they could use for ads. Democrat Rep. Miller is down on America, says we are weak, failing, etc. This is the attitude Democrats have. Are these the people you want controlling Congress?
The GOP then offers its more optimistic scenario. I think that kind of ad could be effective.
No, I'm not serious. He never sent it to the Senate because they passed a "sense of the senate" vote in which all voting rejected it.
Ted Kennedy and John Kerry voted against it, as did Boxer and everyone else.
But it is Bush's fault that it never got signed...
... parlors where the ice cream melts and falls off the cone, icebergs where natives routinely club baby harp seals to death, teddy bears with the eyes torn out, the thundering hooves of four gaunt horsemen echoing down anarchic city streets, wars and rumors of wars, death, pestilence and mayhem roaring over our communities like a tidal wave of horror ...
I could really get into writing this kind of hysterical boilerplate ...
Rep. George Miller described a wobbly American democracy, an Army close to the breaking point, an exploding Middle East and a world in the grip of global warming during a town hall meeting in Pinole on Monday night.
Wobbly American Democracy?? First we are a Republic. The only thing 'wobbly' about the Elections is that Democrat radicals do not accept the results.
Army close to the breaking point?? Say what?? Thats nutjob talk. Exploding middle east?? Oh , Israel fights back- is that a no no?
Global warming?? prove it, and prove humans cause it and not the sun.
Miller is in the same mold as McDermott, Murtha, Pelosi, et. al. He is a seditious demagogue who would fit right in at a KOS convention or ANSWER rally. I don't know what it is about the east bay area but they send some of the worst leftists to congress: Dellums (now mayor of Oakland), Lee (she replaced Dellums and is even a bigger ignoramous than he is), Stark and this guy to name the ones that spring instantly to mind. You can't just blame it on Berkeley - it's the whole region. Must be something in the air. Maybe some as yet undetected by-product of the local refineries.
Miller is the guy who tried to outlaw homeschooling in his ammendment to the education funding bill in 1994 (pre- revolution)
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