Posted on 10/05/2003 8:13:30 PM PDT by PhiKapMom
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Lieberman Claims Clear Skies “Gives More Kids Asthma” And Increases “Number Of People Who Will Die Earlier Than They Otherwise Would.” LIEBERMAN: “The Clear Skies Initiative becomes a program that actually pollutes the air more and gives more kids asthma. …” FOX NEWS’ TONY SNOW: “Air quality today is cleaner than it’s been in 30 years. Is it not?…” LIEBERMAN: “…the Clear Skies Initiative that the administration has proposed, actually would increase pollution and the number of people, kids particularly, but people who get asthma, and the number of people who will die earlier than they otherwise would, particularly the elderly who have lung problems, as a result of greater air pollution.” (“Fox News Sunday,” 10/5/03)
Clear Skies Would Deliver Benefits To Human Health And Environment Beginning With Its Passage:
* “Human health benefits that EPA can quantify grow to approximately $110 billion per year by 2020, substantially outweighing the annual costs of $6.3 billion.
* “EPA projected that, by 2020, the public health benefits from Clear Skies would include 14,000 avoided premature deaths. An alternative methodology for calculating health-related benefits projects over 8,400 premature deaths prevented and $21 billion in health benefits - still far greater than the costs.
* “Americans would also experience approximately 30,000 fewer visits to the hospital and emergency room and 12.5 million fewer days with respiratory symptoms (including work loss days and school absences) each year under Clear Skies by 2020.
* “Under Clear Skies, more than 18 million additional people would be breathing air that meets the national ozoneand fine particle standards in 2020.” (Environmental Protection Agency, “Clear Skies Act of 2003,” 7/03)
Clear Skies Enjoys Support From Environmental Advocates. “The Adirondack Council . . . praised President George W. Bush for making acid rain legislation a top domestic priority for Congress in the 2003 session. . . . ‘By making deep cuts in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury pollution from the nation’s smokestacks, we can protect our public lands and waters, and improve the lives of tens of thousands of Americans suffering from air pollution-related lung diseases,’ [said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian Houseal].” (Adirondack Council, Press Release, 1/29/03)
Lieberman Still Charges People Were Prevented From Voting In Florida During 2000. LIEBERMAN: “Well, there was a no holds barred attempt [in Florida in 2000] to one, stop some people from voting that should of voted - should have been able to vote.” FOX NEWS’ TONY SNOW: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Senator, those were allegations that were looked into and I don’t believe any of those has ever panned out. Do you have proof that there were affirmative efforts on the part of Republicans to prevent voting in the state of Florida?” LIEBERMAN: “Yes, I do. I think some of it - it depends on how you read those reports, but I think there were concerted efforts to diminish turnout in both African-American and Haitian-American areas.” SNOW: “But wasn’t African-American turnout up in Florida in the year 2000?” LIEBERMAN: “Uh, it was up in some places, but clearly in a lot places, people were discouraged from voting. The whole effort to stop the election - the votes from being counted, which was what we were talking about there I thought was the beginning of an attempt not to accept - and after all, Al Gore and I did get more votes that year - an attempt to not respect the openness and legitimacy of the electoral process.” (“Fox News Sunday,” 10/5/03)
Widely Reported Incidents Of African Americans Being Turned Away From Polls Turned Out To Be Unfounded. “Though many real problems occurred, some of the most widely reported incidents on Election Day have turned out on closer inspection to be unfounded. In the weeks since, the allegations have taken on a life of their own, repeated endlessly by politicians and the media.” (Deborah Sharp “Some Black Voters Say Election Excluded Them,” USA Today, 12/8/00)
Examination Disproved Bias Against African American Voters. “Yet in some instances there was a surprising twist: the link between the percentage of voters who were African-American and non-voted ballots was stronger when the county election supervisor was a Democrat than when the supervisor was a Republican. This more or less proves that any bias against African-Americans cannot have been the result of intentional discrimination; for it is not plausible that African-American, Democratic election supervisors would consciously keep fellow African-Americans, also overwhelmingly Democrats, from voting.” (John R. Lott Jr., Op-Ed, “Election Numbers Tell Intriguing Tale,” The Boston Herald, 7/31/01)
A 2001 USA Today Study Found President Bush Would Have Won Florida Recount Even If Supreme Court Permitted Recount. “George W. Bush would have won a hand count of Florida’s disputed ballots if the standard advocated by Al Gore had been used, the first full study of the ballots reveals. Bush would have won by 1,665 votes -- more than triple his official 537-vote margin -- if every dimple, hanging chad and mark on the ballots had been counted as votes…” (Dennis Cauchon, “Special Report Newspapers’ Recount Shows Bush Prevailed In Fla. Vote,” USA Today, 4/4/01)
JOE WILSON CLAIMS RNC CHAIRMAN ED GILLESPIE “MALIGNED” HIM
Wilson Claims He Only Became Democrat After RNC Chairman ‘Maligned’ Him, He Was Non-Partisan In 2002, And He’s Not Anti-Bush. NBC’s TIM RUSSERT: “Do you consider yourself a Democrat?” JOE WILSON: “I certainly do now. Particularly since [RNC Chairman] Ed Gillespie is running around maligning my character. That said, anything that I had to do in 2002, for this government, was done as an American, it was done on a nonpartisan basis. … I don’t consider myself to be anti-Bush. …” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 10/5/03)
THE TRUTH ABOUT JOE WILSON’S PARTISAN BACKGROUND
RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie Didn’t ‘Malign’ Wilson, He Just Pointed Out Wilson Is Partisan Advisor. “I think that there’s a lot more to play in here. There is a lot of politics. The fact is that Ambassador Wilson is not only a … former foreign service officer, former ambassador, he is himself a partisan Democrat who is a contributor and supporter of Senator Kerry’s presidential campaign. He [has,] in the past, spoken to a group called Win Without War … It’s part of MoveOn.org, and the Greenpeace and other organizations that are opposed to the President’s agenda …” (RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie On CNN’s “Inside Politics,” 9/30/03)
* Today Wilson Said He Will “Certainly” Work To Defeat Bush In 2004. RUSSERT: “Will you work to defeat the re-election of George Bush?” WILSON: “Yes. I certainly will.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 10/5/03)
Gillespie Also Noted Wilson Tried To Blame Karl Rove But Had To Back Away From Claim. “The fellow at the center of this, Ambassador Joe Wilson, you know, said earlier that Karl Rove did this and he ought to be frog walked from the White House in handcuffs, and then had to come out and say, well, actually I don’t have any indication at all or any knowledge that Karl Rove did this. And look, we are all affected by our political viewpoint. He has a political viewpoint, Joe Wilson does. He is a supporter of Senator Kerry’s. He’s a maxed-out contributor to him. I am sure he thinks less of Republicans than his fellow Democrats.” (RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie On MSNBC’s “Hardball,” 9/30/03)
* Wilson Now Says He “Would Amend” His Attack On Karl Rove. RUSSERT: “‘Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs?’” WILSON: “That particular comment is taken a little bit out of context. … [I]t was taken in response to a question about whether or not I was interested in seeing the investigation go forward, which, of course, I am. Additionally, at that time, that was before The Washington Post article, which cited two other leakers. So my wife thinks I probably got carried away in the spirit of the moment. So I would amend and extend my remarks. …” RUSSERT: “But by using the name Karl Rove at that time, you had no basis to identify him as a leaker.” WILSON: “The CIA is an executive branch agency that reports to the president of the United States. The act of leaking my wife’s name was a political act. The political office resides in the White House. It seems to me to be a useful place to begin any investigation in the White House political office, which is headed by Karl Rove. Now, I don’t know if he leaked it. I don’t know if he authorized it. But I have every confidence in the world that he and the communications office of the White House continued to push this story, gave it legs, for a week after, until I appeared on an NBC program, and said this might be a violation of federal law.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 10/5/03)
And Wilson’s Partisan Democrat Affiliation Goes Back Before Gillespie’s Comments And Before 2002. Wilson donated $1,000 to Senator Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) PAC just before leaving for Niger in February 2002, and in 1999 he and his wife gave $2,000 to Al Gore and he gave $1,000 to Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA). He gave $2,000 to Senator John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign in May. (Center For Responsive Politics, www.opensecrets.org , Accessed 9/29/03; Political Money Line, www.tray.com, Accessed 9/30/03; FOX’s “Fox And Friends,” 9/30/03)
Wilson Spoke At Win Without War Press Conference In January 2003. “Why risk increased terror attacks on American soil when we can contain and disarm Saddam Hussein without an invasion?” said Ambassador Joe Wilson...” (Win Without War, “Organized Antiwar Effort Grows - National Campaign Intensifies,” Press Release, 1/31/03)
* Win Without War And Moveon.Org Took Out A Full Page Ad In The New York Times Attacking The President. The ad “labeled Bush a ‘misleader’ and demanded an independent commission to determine the truth about US intelligence on Iraq. ‘It would be a tragedy if young men and women were sent to die for a lie,’ the ad concluded.”(Robert Schlesinger, “Antiwar Groups Turn Their Focus To Bush,” The Boston Globe, 6/20/03)<>/font>
Wilson Mulling Movie Deal And Enjoying Media Spotlight. “As the world now knows, Wilson is married to … ‘She is really quite amazing,’ Wilson said. ‘We were just discussing today who would play her in the movie,’ he cracked. Wilson himself seems to have a theatrical streak. He is the son of journalists and calls himself a ‘former hippie, surf bum and ski bum.’ He is far more obliging of the spotlight than most diplomats, active or retired, and more flamboyant, wearing his graying mane on the shaggy side, slinging his feet onto his desk while taking calls -- more than 50 before noon -- from the media.” (Richard Leiby, “Man Behind The Furor,” The Washington Post, 10/1/03)
According To CIA, Wilson Reported Nigerian Officials Were “Unaware” Of Specific Iraqi Attempt To Obtain Uranium, But That Iraqi Delegation Did Attempt To Meet With Nigerians Regarding “Expanding Commercial Relations.” “There was fragmentary intelligence gathered in late 2001 and early 2002 on the allegations of Saddam’s efforts to obtain additional raw uranium from Africa, beyond the 550 metric tons already in Iraq. In an effort to inquire about certain reports involving Niger, CIA’s counter-proliferation experts, on their own initiative, asked an individual with ties to the region [Joe Wilson] to make a visit to see what he could learn. He reported back to us that one of the former Nigerian officials he met stated that he was unaware of any contract being signed between Niger and rogue states for the sale of uranium during his tenure in office. The same former official also said that in June 1999 a businessman approached him and insisted that the former official meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss “expanding commercial relations” between Iraq and Niger. The former official interpreted the overture as an attempt to discuss uranium sales.” (Statement By George J. Tenet Director Of Central Intelligence, 7/11/03)
CIA Differed With British Report On “Iraqi AttemptsTo Obtain Uranium,” But Confirmed Wilson’s “Inconclusive” Report Did Not Disprove British Intelligence. “[Wilson’s] report, in our view, did not resolve whether Iraq was or was not seeking uranium from abroad … [I]n the fall of 2002, our British colleagues told us they were planning to publish an unclassified dossier that mentioned reports of Iraqi attempts to obtain uranium in Africa. Because we viewed the reporting on such acquisition attempts to be inconclusive, we expressed reservations about its inclusion but our colleagues said they were confident in their reports and left it in their document. “ (Statement By George J. Tenet Director Of Central Intelligence, 7/11/03)
British Government Inquiry Confirms British Intelligence Report’s Uranium Claim Was “Reasonable.” “The British government inquiries also disclosed new intelligence about Iraq’s alleged attempts to purchase uranium in Africa … The president used the British dossier to support the 16-word statement in his 2003 State of the Union address … [The British Secret Intelligence Service] had two independent sources for reporting the uranium purchase attempts, according to the Intelligence and Security Committee report: One source provided the information in June 2002 and the other just as the dossier was being finalized that September. One of the two was described as ‘documentary evidence.’ … [T]he committee said that after questioning the SIS ‘about the basis of its judgment,’ it had determined the dossier statement on Iraq seeking uranium in Africa was ‘reasonable.’” (Walter Pincus, “U.S.-British Differences Show Iraq Intelligence Gap,” The Washington Post, 9/30/03)
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wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams - |
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Joe Lieberman = lying fraud
"So my wife thinks I probably got carried away in the spirit of the moment. So I would amend and extend my remarks. "
He is the son of journalists and calls himself a ‘former hippie, surf bum and ski bum.’ He is far more obliging of the spotlight than most diplomats, active or retired, and more flamboyant, wearing his graying mane on the shaggy side, slinging his feet onto his desk while taking calls -- more than 50 before noon -- from the media
He's some real ambassador material, all right.
Separated at birth?...
Funny, I thought the White House was headed by President Bush. This guy was an AMBASSODOR? He doesn't even know how the government he's representing is run. No more evidence needed to prove Wilson's a partisan hack.
More like a cross between Chancellor Palpatine and Elmer Fudd. If you want a DEAD RINGER for Chancellor Palpatine, it is Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. Not just in looks but in attitude too.
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