Backfire for Bush

Jackie Mason | January 16, 2004
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Scott Hardie | January 16, 2004
Well, I do appreciate the irony of a defiantly pro-war president visiting the grave of one of the most pro-peace activists this country has ever raised, but that's about it. I wish that MLK was above being used for politics, but very little is any more. Even if it is just a campaign-trail photo op, I'd rather see the president honoring MLK on his 75th birthday than not.

Jackie Mason | January 16, 2004
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Erik Bates | January 16, 2004
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Mike Eberhart | January 16, 2004
Well said, Eric....

Scott Hardie | January 16, 2004
If it's a photo op for Bush, it's also one for the protesters, who got more press for the event than Bush did.

Anna Gregoline | January 16, 2004
First term Presidents do everything they can to get re-elected. If this was in his second term, I would be extremely inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Erik Bates | January 16, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | January 16, 2004
Which makes me kind of want Presidential terms to only be 4 years. I know that it's not a lot of time, but if the first term is so often spent (at least the last year of it) trying to get reelected, that's just silly. Everyone could relax, know that the guy is going to be gone in 4 years if you don't like him, and they could stop worrying about popularity and just get down to brass tacks. Whatever that means.

Scott Hardie | January 16, 2004
I agree. I've thought about that often. Isn't there a small movement to change the presidency to a single six-year term?

Jackie Mason | January 16, 2004
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Anthony Lewis | January 17, 2004
I wonder what Bush was doing at that point LAST year? Or the year before that?

You know, as much as I want to say that this was politically motivated, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt (although it's REALLY hard to do so).

Jackie: It's like I heard someone say once...holding a high elective office is about the three "P"s
Power, Perks, and (the slang word for vagina). Why else would anyone spend so much money for a job that only pays $500,000 per?

Erik Bates | January 17, 2004
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Kris Weberg | January 17, 2004
Last year, Bush spent the day making a speech attacking the University of Michigan's afffirmative action program in accepting students.

This year, after the wreath-laying, he appointed Charles Pickering to a federal judiciary post in a manner that effectively sidesteps the Congressional approval process. Pickering has a long history of criticizing civil rights legislation, and wrote a supporting opinion for the defendant in a cross-burning case. He has since solicited letters of recommendation from that defendant's lawyers during the confirmation process Bush ultimately helped him avoid. The defendant burned a cross on the lawn of an interracial couple, and Pickering has since solicited letters of recommendation for his confirmation for that defendant's defense attorneys.

MLK's thoughts on affirmative action? Reporter: "Do you feel it's fair to request a multi-billion dollar program of preferential treatment for the Negro, or any other minority?"

Dr. King: "I do indeed...Within common law, we have ample precedents for special compensatory programs. ... America adopted a policy of special treatment for her millions of veterans...They could negotiate loans from banks to launch businesses. They could receive special points to place them ahead in competition for civil service jobs...There was no appreciable resentment of the preferential treatment being given to the special group." -- (Interview,1965, p.367)

from Testament of Hope: Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, edited by James M. Washington, (Harper, 1986).

"Whenever the issue of compensatory treatment for the Negro is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree, but he should ask nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic." -- 1964, Why We Can't Wait

"A society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for the Negro..." quoted by Stephen B.Oates, Let The Trumpet Sound

Jackie Mason | January 21, 2004
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Erik Bates | January 21, 2004
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Jackie Mason | February 4, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | February 4, 2004
Doesn't really matter, he'll just cheat again.

Scott Hardie | February 4, 2004
It all depends on what happens in the news between now and November. The capture of Osama bin Laden would change Bush's numbers real quick.

Anna Gregoline | February 4, 2004
Yeah, I'm worried about that. I mean, I'd like to see Osama captured. Oh geez. Who knows anymore?