(31) Bush flip-flopped on Ahmed Chalabi.
FLIP: BUSH INVITES CHALABI TO STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS...President Bush also met with Chalabi during his brief trip to Iraq last Thanksgiving [White House Documents 1/20/04, 11/27/03]
FLOP: BUSH MILITARY ASSISTS IN RAID OF CHALABI'S HOUSE " U.S. soldiers raided the home of America's one-time ally Ahmad Chalabi on Thursday and seized documents and computers." [Washington Post, 5/20/04]
Bush then denied that he had ever really known "Chalabi:
THE PRESIDENT: My meetings with him were very brief. I mean, I think I met with him at the State of the Union and just kind of working through the rope line, and he might have come with a group of leaders. But I haven't had any extensive conversations with him.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040601-2.html: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" (September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263(32) Bush has flip-flopped on whether Weapons of Mass Destruction have been discovered in Iraq.
FLIP: BUSH SAYS WE FOUND THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION..."We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories...for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them." [President Bush, Interview in Poland, 5/29/03]
FLOP: BUSH SAYS WE HAVEN'T FOUND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION "David Kay has found the capacity to produce weapons. And when David Kay goes in and says we haven't found stockpiles yet, and there's theories as to where the weapons went. They could have been destroyed during the war. Saddam and his henchmen could have destroyed them as we entered into Iraq. They could be hidden. They could have been transported to another country, and we'll find out." [President Bush, Meet the Press, 2/7/04]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263(33) Bush has flip-flopped on the Environment.
FLIP: BUSH SUPPORTS MANDATORY CAPS ON CARBON DIOXIDE... "[If elected], Governor Bush will work to...establish mandatory reduction targets for emissions of four main pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide." [Bush Environmental Plan, 9/29/00]
FLOP: BUSH OPPOSES MANDATORY CAPS ON CARBON DIOXIDE "I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a 'pollutant' under the Clean Air Act." [President Bush, Letter to Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), 3/13/03]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263[It should be noted that George W. Bush has compiled one of the worst environmental records of any President in the history of the United States. His improperly named "Clear Skies" initiative repeals and weakens public health protections of the Clean Air Act, diluting standards while extending the time in which companies are required to comply with reductions.
Under "Clear Skies," individual facilities will actually be allowed to boost their pollution emissions, the amount of coal that will be burned by power companies over the next 20 years will increase, and greater emissions of mercury and smog-forming nitrogen oxide will occur. In November 2002 and again in August 2003, the Bush administration altered a provision of the Clean Air Act known as "New Source Review" (NSR) to weaken emission control standards for polluting coal-fired power plants, chemical plants, oil refineries, and other facilities. In every proposed budget, the Bush administration has recommended reducing environmental enforcement funding, undermining the EPA's ability to enforce environmental laws and regulate corporate polluters. In fact, the total number of EPA staff conducting inspections and enforcing environmental regulations is currently at its lowest level since the agency's founding.]
Sources:
(a) Page on Sierra Club's website:
http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/presidential_endorsement/profile_bush.asp(b) Page on website of the League of Conservation Voters:
http://www.lcv.org/fedfocus/fedfocusList.cfm?c=5(34) Bush has flip-flopped on a WMD Commission.
FLIP: BUSH RESISTS AN OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION ON WMD INTELLIGENCE FAILURE... "The White House immediately turned aside the calls from Kay and many Democrats for an immediate outside investigation, seeking to head off any new wide-ranging election-year inquiry that might go beyond reports already being assembled by congressional committees and the Central Intelligence Agency." [NY Times, 1/29/04]
FLOP: BUSH SUPPORTS AN OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION ON WMD INTELLIGENCE FAILURE "Today, by executive order, I am creating an independent commission, chaired by Governor and former Senator Chuck Robb, Judge Laurence Silberman, to look at American intelligence capabilities, especially our intelligence about weapons of mass destruction." [President Bush, 2/6/04]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263(35) Bush flip-flopped on whether to grant a Time Extension for the 9/11 Commission.
FLIP: BUSH OPPOSES TIME EXTENSION FOR 9/11 COMMISSION... "President Bush and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) have decided to oppose granting more time to an independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." [Washington Post, 1/19/04]
FLOP: BUSH SUPPORTS TIME EXTENSION FOR 9/11 COMMISSION "The White House announced Wednesday its support for a request from the commission investigating the September 11, 2001 attacks for more time to complete its work." [CNN, 2/4/04]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263)(36) Bush flip-flopped on whether to impose a one Hour Limit for 9/11 Commission Testimony.
FLIP: BUSH LIMITS TESTIMONY IN FRONT OF 9/11 COMMISSION TO ONE HOUR... "President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have placed strict limits on the private interviews they will grant to the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, saying that they will meet only with the panel's top two officials and that Mr. Bush will submit to only a single hour of questioning, commission members said Wednesday." [NY Times, 2/26/04]
FLOP: BUSH SETS NO TIMELIMIT FOR TESTIMONY "The president's going to answer all of the questions they want to raise. Nobody's watching the clock." [White House spokesman Scott McClellan, 3/10/04]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263(37) Bush has flip-flopped on Gay Marriage.
FLIP: BUSH SAYS GAY MARRIAGE IS A STATE ISSUE... "The state can do what they want to do. Don't try to trap me in this state's issue like you're trying to get me into." [Gov. George W. Bush on Gay Marriage, Larry King Live, 2/15/00]
FLOP: BUSH SUPPORTS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BANNING GAY MARRIAGE "Today I call upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of man and woman as husband and wife." [President Bush, 2/24/04]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263(38) Bush has flip-flopped on whether there was a Saddam/al Qaeda Link.
FLIP: BUSH SAYS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEEN AL QAEDA AND SADDAM... "You can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror." [President Bush, 9/25/02]
FLOP: SAYS SADDAM HAD NO ROLE IN AL QAEDA PLOT "We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in Sept. 11." [President Bush, 9/17/03]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263(39) Bush has flip-flopped on whether a U.N. Resolution was necessary and desirable before the Iraq war
FLIP: BUSH VOWS TO HAVE A UN VOTE NO MATTER WHAT... "No matter what the whip count is, we're calling for the vote. We want to see people stand up and say what their opinion is about Saddam Hussein and the utility of the United Nations Security Council. And so, you bet. It's time for people to show their cards, to let the world know where they stand when it comes to Saddam." [President Bush 3/6/03]
FLOP: BUSH WITHDRAWS REQUEST FOR VOTE "At a National Security Council meeting convened at the White House at 8:55 a.m., Bush finalized the decision to withdraw the resolution from consideration and prepared to deliver an address to the nation that had already been written." [ Washington Post, 3/18/03]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263(40) Bush has flip-flopped on whether the U.S. should be involved in trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
FLIP: BUSH OPPOSES SUMMITS... "Well, we've tried summits in the past, as you may remember. It wasn't all that long ago where a summit was called and nothing happened, and as a result we had significant intifada in the area." [President Bush, 04/05/02]
FLOP: BUSH SUPPORTS SUMMITS "If a meeting advances progress toward two states living side by side in peace, I will strongly consider such a meeting. I'm committed to working toward peace in the Middle East." [President Bush, 5/23/03]
Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263