Long Flip-Flop List

(11) Bush argued for free trade, then imposed three-year tariffs on steel imports in 2002, only to withdraw them after 21 months.

FLIP: BUSH SUPPORTS FREE TRADE... "I believe strongly that if we promote trade, and when we promote trade, it will help workers on both sides of this issue." [President Bush in Peru, 3/23/02]
FLOP: BUSH SUPPORTS RESTRICTIONS ON TRADE "In a decision largely driven by his political advisers, President Bush set aside his free-trade principles last year and imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel to help out struggling mills in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, two states crucial for his reelection." [ Washington Post, 9/19/03]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263
FLIP:After instating the tariffs, he ultimately lifted the restrictions on trade in response to the threat of WTO sanctions. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23899-2003Nov30?language=printer
(12) Bush and Cheney have been hypocritical flip-floppers on the question of whether we should prosecute the war on terrorism and assert our national power in a way that is "sensitive."

Bush and Cheney have attacked John Kerry for saying that America needs to fight "a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror," highlighting and ridiculing Kerry's use of the word "sensitive." The fact is that Cheney and Bush have used the word in the same context.
FLIP: Cheney said, " America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive."
FLOP: Cheney neglected to mention that President Bush and other top administration officials - including Cheney himself - have publicly called for "sensitive" use of American military power.
Here is a selection:
On 3/4/01, at the christening of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, President Bush said, "because America is powerful, we must be "sensitive" about expressing our power and influence."
On 1/7/03, Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the president's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the administration asks "our troops to go out there and be, on the one hand, very "sensitive" to cultural issues, on the other hand, be ready to respond in self-defense to a very ticklish situation."
On 4/13/03, Cheney said, "We recognize that the presence of U.S. forces can in some cases present a burden on the local community. We're not "insensitive" to that. We work almost on a continual basis with the local officials to remove points of friction and reduce the extent to which problems arise in terms of those relationships."
Sources:
1. "Cheney blasts Kerry for 'sensitive' remark," Chicago Sun-Times, 08/13/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1167279&l=50430
2."Remarks by the President at Christening Ceremony for the USS Ronald Reagan," The White House, 03/04/01, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1167279&l=50431
3. "DoD News Briefing - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers," U.S. Department of Defense, 01/07/03, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1167279&l=50432
4. "Remarks by the Vice President at the Washington Post-Yomiuri Shimbun Symposium," The White House, 04/13/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1167279&l=50433
(13) Bush has flip-flopped on whether his legacy will be as a war president or a peace president.

"I'm a war president," Bush told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Feb. 8. But in a July 20 speech in Iowa, he said: "Nobody wants to be the war president. I want to be the peace president."
(14) Bush keeps revising his Iraq war rationale.

The need to seize Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction until none were found; liberating the Iraqi people from a brutal dictator; fighting terrorists in Iraq not at home; spreading democracy throughout the Middle East. Now it's a safer America and a safer world.
(15) Bush has changed his positions on new Clean Air Act restrictions.

(16) Bush has changed his positions on protecting the Social Security surplus.

FLIP: BUSH PLEDGES NOT TO TOUCH SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS... "We're going to keep the promise of Social Security and keep the government from raiding the Social Security surplus." [President Bush, 3/3/01]
FLOP: BUSH SPENDS SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS The New York Times reported that "the president's new budget uses Social Security surpluses to pay for other programs every year through 2013, ultimately diverting more than $1.4 trillion in Social Security funds to other purposes." [The New York Times, 2/6/02]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" (September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263
(17) Bush has flip-flopped on tobacco buyouts.

FLIP: BUSH SUPPORTS CURRENT TOBACCO FARMERS' QUOTA SYSTEM... "They've got the quota system in place -- the allotment system -- and I don't think that needs to be changed." [President Bush, 5/04]
FLOP: BUSH ADMINISTRATION WILL SUPPORT FEDERAL BUYOUT OF TOBACCO QUOTAS "The administration is open to a buyout." [White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo, 6/18/04]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263
(18) Bush has changed his positions on the level of assistance to help combat AIDS in Africa.

(19) Bush has changed his positions on campaign finance reform.

FLIP: BUSH OPPOSES MCCAIN-FEINGOLD... "George W. Bush opposes McCain-Feingold...as an infringement on free expression." [ Washington Post, 3/28/2000]
FLOP: BUSH SIGNS MCCAIN-FEINGOLD INTO LAW "[T]his bill improves the current system of financing for Federal campaigns, and therefore I have signed it into law." [President Bush, at the McCain-Feingold signing ceremony, 03/27/02]
(20) Bush has changed his positions on whether to negotiate with North Korean officials. While he has been dithering, North Korea has been moving forward with their nuclear program.

FLIP: BUSH WILL NOT OFFER NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA INCENTIVES TO DISARM... "We developed a bold approach under which, if the North addressed our long-standing concerns, the United States was prepared to take important steps that would have significantly improved the lives of the North Korean people. Now that North Korea's covert nuclear weapons program has come to light, we are unable to pursue this approach." [President's Statement, 11/15/02]
FLOP: BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFERS NORTH KOREA NCENTIVES TO DISARM "Well, we will work to take steps to ease their political and economic isolation. So there would be -- what you would see would be some provisional or temporary proposals that would only lead to lasting benefit after North Korea dismantles its nuclear programs. So there would be some provisional or temporary efforts of that nature." [White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, 6/23/04]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" (September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263

(11) Bush argued for free trade, then imposed three-year tariffs on steel imports in 2002, only to withdraw them after 21 months.

(12) Bush and Cheney have been hypocritical flip-floppers on the question of whether we should prosecute the war on terrorism and assert our national power in a way that is "sensitive."

(13) Bush has flip-flopped on whether his legacy will be as a war president or a peace president.

(14) Bush keeps revising his Iraq war rationale.

(15) Bush has changed his positions on new Clean Air Act restrictions.

(16) Bush has changed his positions on protecting the Social Security surplus.

(17) Bush has flip-flopped on tobacco buyouts.

(18) Bush has changed his positions on the level of assistance to help combat AIDS in Africa.

(19) Bush has changed his positions on campaign finance reform.

(20) Bush has changed his positions on whether to negotiate with North Korean officials. While he has been dithering, North Korea has been moving forward with their nuclear program.