Top Flip Flops

Gipper

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So here are my top ten, which do not include shifts in policy on domestic political issues, such as taxes, health care and the economy.
1. Keeping Guantanamo open
Undoubtedly Obama’s biggest flip-flop, his decision to keep the Guantanamo detention facility in operation has outraged his liberal supporters and ‘shocked’ European governments, who, needless to say, had overwhelmingly declined to take large numbers of dangerous terror suspects off the hands of the US government.
As a presidential candidate in 2008, Obama had condemned President Bush for supposedly “running prisons which lock people away without telling them why they’re there or what they’re charged with”, and signed an executive order shutting the facility down immediately upon taking office. Two years later Guantanamo still holds 172 detainees, and plays a vital role in the long war against Islamist terrorism.
2. Bringing back military tribunals for terror suspects
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama was a firm opponent of the Bush administration’s military tribunals, which he said “failed to establish a legitimate legal framework and undermined our capacity to ensure swift and certain justice.” But, as The New York Times reported last week, “President Obama on Monday reversed his two-year-old order halting new military charges against detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, permitting military trials to resume with revamped procedures but implicitly admitting the failure of his pledge to close the prison camp”, paving the way for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators to face trial at Guantanamo.
3. Continuing renditions of terror suspects
In a 2007 Foreign Affairs article, Senator Obama gave a strong indication that he would end the Bush administration practice of rendition of terror suspects:
“To build a better, freer world, we must first behave in ways that reflect the decency and aspirations of the American people… This means ending the practices of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries, of detaining thousands without charge or trial, of maintaining a network of secret prisons to jail people beyond the reach of the law.”
But, as The New York Times reported in August 2009, the Obama administration’s Interrogation and Transfer Task Force announced that it would retain renditions, but with what The Times referred to as “more oversight”.
4. Ordering military action in Libya without seeking Congressional authorisation
President Obama has shown a striking lack of consistency with regard to the question of Congressional authorisation and the use of force. In a 2007 interview with The Boston Globe, then Senator Obama declared:
“The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the Legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action.”
However, as president in March 2011, Barack Obama authorised military action against the Libyan regime without consulting Congress, a decision which drew heavy fire on Capitol Hill.
5. Dropping Third Site missile defences in order to appease the Russians
In his Prague speech in April 2009, President Obama pledged to move forward with the Bush-era plans for Third Site missile defences in Poland and the Czech Republic:
6. In 2004, Senator Obama was a prominent supporter of a “humanitarian intervention” to halt state-sponsored mass killing in Darfur, declaring in a speech that “we cannot, in good conscience, stand by and let the genocide continue.” He advocated tough UN sanctions against the brutal regime of Omar Hassan al-Bashir, which “should freeze the assets of the Sudanese government, its leaders and business affiliates; outlaw arms sales and transfers to Sudan; and prohibit the purchase of Chinese oil.”
However, as president, Obama dramatically changed his tune, extending the hand of friendship to Bashir, despite the fact the Sudanese government and its proxy Janjaweed Arab militias had butchered hundreds of thousands of people. As Obama’s special envoy to Sudan, retired Air Force Major General J. Scott Gration put it, describing the new strategy of appeasement:
“We’ve got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries — they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement.”
7. Backing a federal Europe after defending national sovereignty
In July 2009 the president made a striking defence of the principle of national sovereignty in a speech he gave at the New Economic School in Moscow. President Obama spoke in eloquent terms of:
“America’s interest in an international system that advances cooperation while respecting the sovereignty of all nations. State sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order. Just as all states should have the right to choose their leaders, states must have the right to borders that are secure, and to their own foreign policies. That is true for Russia, just as it is true for the United States. Any system that cedes those rights will lead to anarchy.”
His administration, however, has done all it can to advance the pooling of national sovereignty in Europe, and the rise of a European superstate. In her meeting with EU Foreign Policy chief Baroness Ashton in January, Hillary Clinton described the Lisbon Treaty, a blueprint for a European federal superstate, as “a major milestone in our world’s history”, and Obama’s Ambassador to London, Louis Susman, told a group of MEPs in Brussels that “all key issues must run through Europe.”
8. Pledging to restore America’s standing in the world but lowering it instead
A key foreign policy theme of the Obama presidential election campaign was the notion that President Bush had damaged America’s image on the world stage, with his supposedly ‘cowboy’ policies
. In the words of a campaign document, “Barack Obama and Joe Biden will restore America’s standing in the world by providing a new American leadership to meet the challenges of a new century”.
As president, however, Obama has done exactly the opposite, insulting key allies such as Great Britain, Israel and Poland, projecting weak leadership, and undermining the standing of the United States as the world’s only superpower. As I’ve noted before:
No American president in modern times has invested less effort in maintaining US alliances than Barack Obama. Whether it is siding with Marxists in Honduras against pro-American forces, condemning Israel, throwing the Poles and Czechs under the bus, or trashing the Anglo-American Special Relationship, the Obama administration has gone out of its way to kick its allies in the teeth while kowtowing to America’s enemies. For a president who boasted in his election campaign of restoring America’s “standing” in the world, Obama has done a spectacularly bad job of preserving friendships with Washington’s closest friends.
9. Dumping Mubarak in Egypt after calling him a “stalwart ally”
Big picture foreign policy strategy has not been a forté of this administration, as demonstrated by its inconsistent policy on Egypt and the Middle East. In an interview with the BBC’s Justin Webb in June 2009, when asked if he viewed President Mubarak as an authoritarian ruler, President Obama declared:
No, I tend not to use labels for folks. I haven’t met him; I’ve spoken to him on the phone. He has been a stalwart ally, in many respects, to the United States. He has sustained peace with Israel, which is a very difficult thing to do in that region, but he has never resorted to unnecessary demagoguing of the issue and has tried to maintain that relationship. So I think he has been a force for stability and good in the region.
20 months later, the White House emphatically called for Mubarak to go.
10. Killing the NASA manned space programme
In August 2008, Senator Obama announced, as The Washington Post noted, “a detailed comprehensive space plan that includes $2 billion in new funding to reinvigorate NASA”. In the president’s words:
“As president, I’ll make our space program a priority again by devoting the attention and resources needed to not only inspire the world with feats of exploration but also improve life here on Earth.”
But, as The Washington Post reported in March 2010, President Obama later shattered the dreams of the NASA community with a decision “to kill NASA’s Constellation program, crafted during the Bush administration with an ambitious goal of putting astronauts back on the moon by 2020.” In the words of Harrison Schmitt, a former US senator and Apollo 17 astronaut: “It’s bad for the country. This administration really doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism.”
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100083104/the-u-turn-president-barack-obama-top-ten-flip-flops/

Not my top ten, but they work.

His actions make Jimma blush...hahahaha...that is so true. Along with lowering our standing in the world.

Thanks to foolish liberals, moderates, and independents we must continue to suffer through this long nightmare.
 
Werbung:
..yeah...sure

FLIP: A week after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush said he wanted Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive."

FLOP: But he told reporters six months later, "I truly am not that concerned about him. It's not that important. It's not our priority." He also did not mention bin Laden in his hour-long convention acceptance speech this year.

Bush didn't order U.S. troops into Tora Bora to capture Osama Bin Laden right after the Afghanistan invasion. Instead, he relied on warlords who were of dubious loyalty and ability to find Osama Bin Laden and other members of Al Qaeda in that mountainous region. Later, when Iraq became this administration's priority, it shifted special forces from Afghanistan (where they had been searching for Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda members to Iraq).

What Bush has said about bin Laden at various points in time, depending on how he was trying to spin things:

FLIP: Capturing Osama Bin Laden is the number one priority:

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." G.W. Bush, 9/13/01

Washington Post, 9/17/01, UPI: Bush said he wants accused terrorist leader Osama bin Laden "dead or alive.” “I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'"- G.W. Bush, 9/17/01, UPI

AP, 12/14/01: President Bush pledged anew Friday that Osama bin Laden will be taken "dead or alive."

FLOP: Capturing OBL no longer a priority:

G.W. Bush, 3/13/02: I don't know where Bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."

"...Secondly, he is not escaping us. This is a guy, who, three months ago, was in control of a county [sic]. Now he's maybe in control of a cave. He's on the run. Listen, a while ago I said to the American people, our objective is more than bin Laden. But one of the things for certain is we're going to get him running and keep him running, and bring him to justice. And that's what's happening. He's on the run, if he's running at all. So we don't know whether he's in cave with the door shut, or a cave with the door open -- we just don't know...."
- Bush, in remarks in a Press Availability with the Press Travel Pool, The Prairie Chapel Ranch, Crawford TX, 12/28/01, as reported on official White House site

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

"I am truly not that concerned about him."
- G.W. Bush, responding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts, 3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02) ]

Secondary Sources: A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY by Karen What Bush has said about bin laden... spin: http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/11/13_Laden.html and "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263
(2) Bush flip-flopped on whether former Baathists could participate in the new Iraq government.

FLIP: May 16, 2003: U.S. civil administrator L. Paul Bremer announces a sweeping operation to ensure that Baath Party members are removed from critical positions in the public sector. This ban could affect as many as 30,000 senior Baath Party members.

FLOP: Thursday, April 22, 2004: "The White House confirmed Thursday that the administration is moving to change a postwar policy that blocked members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from Iraqi government and military positions. . . . The sweeping ban was put in place by civilian administrator Paul Bremer, but he now wants to change the policy as part of an effort to convince Sunnis, who dominate the party, that they are welcome members of the postwar political transition in Iraq.""

Sources:
"Policy easing to bring Baathists into new Iraq" by John King (CNN Washington Bureau) Thursday, April 22, 2004 http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/22/iraq.baathist/

"U.S. Reaches Out to Former Members of Baath Party and Senior Iraqi Military Officers" http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA9ZDB9DTD.html
(3) Bush opposed the creation of an independent Sept. 11 commission, then supported it.

FLIP: BUSH OPPOSES CREATION OF INDEPENDENT 9/11 COMMISSION... "President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11." [CBS News, 5/23/02]

FLOP: BUSH SUPPORTS CREATION OF INDEPENDENT 9/11 COMMISSION "President Bush said today he now supports establishing an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." [ABC News, 09/20/02]
(4) Bush has waffled on whether to adopt the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

(5) Bush has flip-flopped on whether the War on Terrorism is winnable.

FLIP: First Bush claimed he can win the war on terror: "One of the interesting things people ask me, now that we're asking questions, is, can you ever win the war on terror? Of course, you can." [President Bush, 4/13/04]

FLOP: Bush says war on terror is unwinnable: "I don't think you can win [the war on terror]." [President Bush, 8/30/04]

FLIP: Bush then says he will win the war on terror: "Make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win [the war on terror]." [President Bush, 8/31/04]

Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263

more ...
 
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(6) Bush has flip-flopped on Yucca Mountain.

FLIP: Bush Said He Would Listen to Local and State Officials When Deciding on Yucca Mountain. In late May 2000, Bush released the following statement in regard to storing nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain: "I believe sound science, and not politics, must prevail in the designation of any high-level nuclear waste repository. As president, I would not sign legislation that would send nuclear waste to any proposed site unless it's been deemed scientifically safe. I also believe the federal government must work with the local and state governments that will be affected to address safety and transportation issues." [Associated Press, 5/23/00]

FLOP: Bush Decided to Send Waste to Nevada Despite Sufficient Science or Agreement with Local and State Officials. In February 2002, Bush decided to send nuclear waste to Nevada despite opposition from local and state officials and without sound science to prove it would be safe at Yucca Mountain. "President Bush said today that a 57-year accumulation of nuclear waste from power plants and weapons should be buried in the Nevada desert at Yucca Mountain, declaring that an end to the 40-year search for a place to isolate radioactive waste was necessary to 'protect public safety, health and the nation's security.'" [ New York Times, 2/16/02] Source:

Source: http://democrats.org/news/200408100002.html
(7) Bush has attempted to have it both ways on assault weapons.

FLIP: Bush promised in 2000 to renew the assault weapons ban.

FLOP: Then he said and did nothing as Congress let it lapse.
(8) In 2000, Bush argued against new military entanglements and nation building. He's done both in Iraq.

FLIP: BUSH OPPOSES NATION BUILDING... "If we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road." [Gov. George W. Bush, 10/3/00]

FLOP: BUSH SUPPORTS NATION BUILDING "We will be changing the regime of Iraq, for the good of the Iraqi people." [President Bush, 3/6/03]

Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263

[More on the nation building flip-flop: Nation building: During the 2000 campaign, Bush called for a “humble” foreign policy and disparaged President Clinton’s interventions to bring stability to international hot spots as fuzzy-headed “nation-building.”

Here's what Bush said about nation building during the October 3, 2000 debate with Gore:

"MODERATOR: New question. How would you go about as president deciding when it was in the national interest to use U.S. force, generally?

BUSH: Well, if it's in our vital national interest, and that means whether our territory is threatened or people could be harmed, whether or not the alliances are -- our defense alliances are threatened, whether or not our friends in the Middle East are threatened. That would be a time to seriously consider the use of force. Secondly, whether or not the mission was clear. Whether or not it was a clear understanding as to what the mission would be. Thirdly, whether or not we were prepared and trained to win. Whether or not our forces were of high morale and high standing and well-equipped. And finally, whether or not there was an exit strategy. I would take the use of force very seriously. I would be guarded in my approach. I don't think we can be all things to all people in the world. I think we've got to be very careful when we commit our troops. The vice president and I have a disagreement about the use of troops. He believes in nation building. I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders. "

Source: Transcript of October 3, 2000 debate http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2000a.html
(9) Bush opposed the creation of a Homeland Security Department, then embraced it.

FLIP: BUSH OPPOSES THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY..."So, creating a Cabinet office doesn't solve the problem. You still will have agencies within the federal government that have to be coordinated. So the answer is that creating a Cabinet post doesn't solve anything." [White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, 3/19/02]

FLOP: BUSH SUPPORTS THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY "So tonight, I ask the Congress to join me in creating a single, permanent department with an overriding and urgent mission: securing the homeland of America and protecting the American people." [President Bush, Address to the Nation, 6/6/02]

Secondary source: "President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief" ( September 2, 2004, Updated)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263
(10) Bush first refused to speak to the members of the 911 Commission, then agreed only if Vice President Dick Cheney came with him and provided that their testimony was secret and not under oath.

more...
 
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(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


plus another THIRTY-EIGHT FLIP FLOPS from the egregious Bush II

http://www.50bushflipflops.com/Lecture_Outline/index.html

plus his dad's immortal "...read my lips...No MORE TAXES" ..or something like that

Comrade Stalin of Flipflopistan
 
Sorry, Stalin, but your links betray you. Find some non-political agendized links and maybe I'll believe that more than half of what you cut and pasted is accurate.

Even if half of what you cut and pasted is true about Bush (and based on my recollections, that is probably an accurate assumption), then as Dr.Who stated, we need to not elect any more liars and flip-floppers and political puppets, regardless of their political affiliation.
 
Our lil' boy Stalin is under the common misconception held by many commies and socialists. They seem to think conservatives/libertarians liked Bush.

Hey Lil' Joe, Bush was a progressive. He wasn't as foolish as the dude in the WH now, but you should learn to love him since he is on the left with you on many issues.
 
Sorry, Stalin, but your links betray you. Find some non-political agendized links and maybe I'll believe that more than half of what you cut and pasted is accurate.

So what quotes are incorrect ?

Comrade Stalin
 
Obama did absolutely everything he could to close Guantanamo. Smart people know this.
Obama showed more compassion on Guantanamo inmates than he did on American soldiers who survived the Ft. Hood "workplace violence" incident, denying the US service members benefits due to survivors of terror attacks.



Obama betrays victims of Fort Hood terror​

Exclusive: William Murray hopes a President Romney would award Purple Hearts​

William Murray
By William Murray
Published October 22, 2012 at 7:48pm


Will Gov. Mitt Romney reverse the decision of President Barack Hussein Obama and issue the Purple Heart to the victims of the jihad attack on Fort Hood in 2009?
The day before the general election, Nov 5, is the third anniversary of the jihad attack by Maj. Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas. Thirteen of our service members, as well as one unborn baby, died under Hasan's gunfire. None of our service personnel was armed, making them easy targets as Hasan screamed "Allah Akbar!" and began shooting.
President Barack Hussein Obama refuses to designate Hasan's assault on Fort Hood as terrorism even though Hasan referred to himself as a "soldier of Islam." As a result of Obama's refusal, the families of the dead and the injured have been refused combat compensation.
 
What a stupid post! There is not a contest involved here.
Obama did what his military advisors told him to do.
One guy going apesh!t is not terrorism.

Did the government pay compensation to the parents of any other mass shooter incident? No, it did not.
 
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What a stupid post! There is not a contest involved here.
Obama did what his military advisors told him to do.
One guy going apesh!t is not terrorism.

Did the government pay compensation to the parents of any other mass shooter incident? No, it did not.
Obama should not have listened to his advisors who told him to screw the American servicemen and women impacted by the mass-murdering Muslim jihadist at Ft. Hood.


On November 5, 2009, a terrorist mass shooting took place at Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos), near Killeen, Texas.[1] Nidal Hasan, a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist, fatally shot 13 people and injured more than 30 others.[2][3] It was the deadliest mass shooting on an American military base and the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since the September 11 attacks until it was surpassed by the San Bernardino attack in 2015.[4]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

To make matters worse, Obama refused to classify the attack as a terrorist attack, thus depriving the victims of additional help previously designed by law for victims of terrorist attacks.




Hasan Exposes Obama's False Workplace Violence Claim​

ISS1a_130607.jpg

ET 06/06/2013
War On Terror: The Army major on trial for murdering 13 at Ft. Hood in 2009 plans to argue that he acted in defense of the Taliban. So much for the administration calling the shootings "workplace violence."
One of the great scandals of the Obama administration has been its shameful designation of the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at the Army base in Killeen, Texas, by Maj. Nidal Hasan as "workplace violence."
While Hasan continues to draw his pay, this designation has denied the dead and the survivors the benefits they would have been entitled to had the attack been properly labeled an act of terror.
 
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