FOX News Host: Bush Very Much Kept Broadly To The Governing Philosophy He Ran On
Reported by Ellen - December 6, 2008 -
Hannity & Colmes offered a segment last night (12/5/08) about Obama's supposed abandonment of the windfall profits tax on oil companies. With Karl Rove as the only guest, one can only conclude that it was the producers' intention to cast Barack Obama in a negative light. Trying to unfavorably compare Obama to George W. Bush, guest host Mark Steyn (substituting for Sean Hannity) announced that Bush “very much kept broadly to the governing philosophy he ran on.” In fact, Bush did a complete turn around on much of the philosophy he ran on. Also in the segment, Alan Colmes asked Karl Rove about reports that he's working on a Bush legacy project. Rove's cagey non-denial makes it seem quite likely that he is. With video.
During his turn with Rove, Steyn said about Obama, “There is beginning to attach to him the idea that every campaign promise is meaningless. Now whatever people felt about your guy (George W. Bush), on the whole he ran on No Child Left Behind and he stuck with No Child Left Behind. I mean, he very much kept broadly to the governing philosophy he ran on.”
Not really. In May, 1999, then-candidate Bush told Salon.com,
I showed the people of Texas that I'm a uniter, not a divider. I refuse to play the politics of putting people into groups and pitting one group against another.
Instead of uniting the country, Bush's presidency has been one of the most divisive in our history.
In 2004, CBS News prepared a list of other Bush flip-flops. They include:
1. In the second presidential debate in the 2000 campaign, Bush said, "I'm not so sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say, 'This is the way it's got to be.'"
That's quite a contrast to his "you're either with us or against us" stance during his presidency.
2. During the 2000 presidential election, Mr. Bush championed free trade. Then, eyeing campaign concerns that allowed him to win West Virginia, he imposed 30 percent tariffs on foreign steel products from Europe and other nations in March 2002.Twenty-one months later, Mr. Bush changed his mind and rescinded the steel tariffs. Choosing to stand on social issues instead of tariffs in steel country – Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia – the Bush campaign decided it could afford to upset the steel industry rather than further estrange old alliances.
3. During the 2000 campaign, Mr. Bush said he was against federal intervention regarding the issue of same-sex marriage. In an interview with CNN's Larry King, he said, states "can do what they want to do" on the issue. Four year later, ...Mr. Bush announced his support for an amendment to the Constitution that defines marriage as being exclusively between men and women. The amendment would forbid states from doing "what they want to do" on same-sex marriage.During his turn, Colmes asked Rove, “There's some report out of the Weekly Standard that you're taking part in something called the Bush Legacy Project, having meetings in the White House about the Bush legacy. Is that true and what is it?” (Comment: I think Colmes meant that Stephen Hayes from the Weekly Standard spoke about this on CNN. It was then picked up by Think Progress.)
Rove disingenuously answered that he could not comment because he hasn't seen the reports. He added “Am I out there defending George W. Bush? You bet.”
Colmes pressed, “Are you working, literally, on a project to shore up (George W. Bush's) legacy? To make him look good for posterity? Is that part of what you're involved with right now?”
Rove: "What I'm involved in is helping set the record straight."
