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We've all known guys who have a hard time telling the truth. They never even see the fish, but they swear it was five foot long if it was an inch! It's not usually a big deal, unless they happen to be running for President. This year we see that kind of guy in George W. Bush. Whether it's out of malice or simply ignorance, it's hard to tell. But one thing's obvious: George W. Bush is way beyond just stretching-the-truth and is nothing but a baldfaced liar. The second debate with Al Gore (Oct. 2000) brought forth a few more of George W. Bush's whoppers! 25 Bush Flubs in the Second Debate. 1. Bush: "We went into Russia, we said, 'Here's some IMF money,' and it ended up in Viktor Chernomyrdin's pocket and others." Fact: "Bush appears to have tangled up whispers about possible wrongdoing by Chernomyrdin--who co-chaired a commission with Gore on U.S.-Russian relations--with other unrelated allegations concerning the diversion of International Monetary Fund money. While there has been speculation that Chernomyrdin profited from his relationship with Gazprom, a big Russian energy concern, there have been no allegations that he stole IMF money." Washingon Post, 10/12/00 2. Bush:"We got one [a hate crime law] in Texas, and guess what? The three men who murdered James Byrd, guess what's going to happen to them? They're going to be put to death... It's going to be hard to punish them any worse after they get put to death....We're happy with our laws on our books." Fact: "The three were convicted under Texas' capital murder statute...The state has a hate crime statute, but it is vague." LA Times, 10/12/00. "The original Texas hate-crimes bill, signed into law by Democrat Ann Richards, boosted penalties for crimes motivated by bigotry. As Gore correctly noted, Bush maneuvered to make sure a new hate-crimes law related to the Byrd killing did not make it to his desk. The new bill would have included homosexuals among the groups covered, which would have been anathema to social conservatives in the state." Washington Post, 10/12/00 3. Bush: "Bragged that in Texas he was signing up children for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as "fast as any other state." Fact: "As governor he fought to unsuccessfully to limit access to the program. He would have limited its coverage to children with family incomes up to 150 percent of the poverty level, though federal law permitted up to 200 percent. The practical effect of Bush's efforts would have been to exclude 200,000 of the 500,000 possible enrollees." Washington Post, 10/12/00 4. Bush: "He [Gore] is for registration of guns." Fact: "Gore actually favors licensing for new handgun purchasers but nothing as vast as registering all guns." Salon, 10/12/00 5. Bush: Said he found Gore's tendency to exaggerate "an issue in trying to defend my tax relief package. There was some exaggeration about the numbers" in the first debate. Fact: "No, there wasn't, and Bush himself acknowledged that the next day on ABC's "Good Morning America" when Charlie Gibson pinned him on it." Salon, 10/12/00 6. Bush: "I felt during his debate with Senator [Bill] Bradley saying he [Gore] authored the EITC [earned-income tax credit] when it didn't happen." Fact: "Actually, Gore had claimed to have authored an "expansion of the earned-income tax credit," which he did in 1991." Salon, 10/12/00 7. Fact: Gore noted that "Texas "ranks 49th out of the 50 states in healthcare in children with healthcare, 49th for women with healthcare and 50th for families with healthcare" Bush: "You can quote all the numbers you want but I'm telling you we care about our people in Texas. We spent a lot of money to make sure people get healthcare in the state of Texas." 8. Fact: Gore said, ""I'm no expert on the Texas procedures, but what my friends there tell me is that the governor opposed a measure put forward by Democrats in the Legislature to expand the number of children that would be covered....And instead [he] directed the money toward a tax cut, a significant part of which went to wealthy interests." Bush: "If he's trying to allege I'm a hardhearted person and don't care about children, he's absolutely wrong." 9. Bush: "The three men who murdered James Byrd, guess what's going to happen to them? They'll be put to death. A jury found them guilty." Fact: Two of the three are being put to death. The other was given life. Bush Watch, 10/12/00 10. Bush: said he favored "equal" rights for gays and lesbians, bu not "special" rights. Fact: "Bush has supported a Texas law that allows the state to take adopted children from gay and lesbian couples to place the kids with straight couples." Salon, 10/12/00. "Bush supports hate crime protections for other minorities! So Bush doesn't believe that gays should have the same "special" rights in this regard as blacks, Jews, Wiccans and others. Employment discrimination? Again, Bush supports those rights for other Americans, but not gays. Military service? Bush again supports the right to military service for all qualified people--as long as they don't tell anyone they're gay. Marriage? How on earth is that a special right when every heterosexual in America already has it? But again, Bush thinks it should be out-of-bounds for gays. What else is there? The right to privacy? Nuh-huh. Bush supports a gays-only sodomy law in his own state that criminalizes consensual sex in private between two homosexuals. New Republic, 10/13/00 11. Bush. "We ought to do everything we can to end racial profiling." Fact: The Texas Department of Public Safety has just this year begun keeping detailed information about the race and sex of all people stopped by its troopers, the sixth year Bush has been in office. Salon, 10/12/00 12. Bush: "Got caught not giving the full story on Texas air pollution laws. He was correct in saying the 1999 utility deregulation bill he signed into law had mandatory emissions standards. Fact: "What was missing, as Gore's campaign pointed out, was that many more non-utility industrial plants are not mandated to reduce air quality. The issue is an important one because Texas ranks near the bottom in air-quality standards. Bush instead approved a voluntary program allowing grandfathered oil, coal, and other industrial plants to cut down on pollution." Boston Globe, 10/12/00 13. Bush: About the Balkans, "I think it ought to be one of our priorities to work with our European friends to convince them to put troops on the ground." Fact: "European forces already make up a large majority of the peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Kosovo." Washington Post, 10/12/00 14. Bush: "One of the problems we have in the military is we're in a lot of places around the world" and cited Haiti as an example. "Though approximately 20,000 U.S. troops went to Haiti in 1994, as of late August this year, there were only 109 U.S. troops in Haiti and most were rotating through as part of an exercise." Washington Post, 10/12/00 15. Bush: "I don't think we ought to be selling guns to people who shouldn't have them. That's why I support instant background checks at gun shows. One of the reasons we have an instant background check is so that we instantly know whether or not someone should have a gun or not." Fact: "Bush overstates the effectiveness of instant background checks for people trying to buy guns.... The Los Angeles Times reported on Oct. 3 that during Bush's term as governor, Texas granted licenses for carrying concealed guns to hundreds of people with criminal records and histories of drug problems, violence or psychological disorders." Washington Post, 10/12/00 "He didn't mention that Texas failed to perform full background checks on 407 people who had prior criminal convictions but were granted concealed handgun licenses under a law he signed in 1995. Of those, 71 had convictions that should have excluded them from having a concealed gun permit, the Texas Department of Public Safety acknowledged." AP, 10/12/00 16. Bush:"Said the number of Texans without health insurance had declined while the number in the United States had risen." Fact: " A new Census Bureau report says the number of uninsured Americans declined last year for the first time since statistics were kept in 1987. About 42.5 million people, or 15.5 percent of the population, lacked insurance in 1999, compared with 44.2 million, or 16.3 percent, in 1998, the agency reported. Texas ranked next-to-last in the nation last year with 23.3 percent of its residents uninsured. But that was an improvement from 1998, when it ranked 50th at 24.5 percent." AP, 10/12/00 17. Bush:"Some of the scientists, I believe, Mr. Vice President, haven't they been changing their opinion a little bit on global warming?" Fact: "Bush's dismissive comments about global warming could bolster the charge that he and fellow oilman Dick Cheney are in the pocket of the oil industry, which likewise pooh-poohs the issue. [While] there is no consensus about the impact of global warming,...most scientists agree that humans are contributing to the rising global temperature. "Most climate experts are certain that global warming is real and that it threatens ecology and human prosperity, and a growing number say it is well under way," wrote New York Times science writer Andrew Revkin." Salon, 10/13/00 18. Bush: When Jim Lehrer asked Bush if he approved of the U.S. intervention in Lebanon during the Reagan years, Bush answered a quick "yes" and moved on. Fact: "Lebanon was a disaster in the history of American foreign affairs. Next to Iran-Contra, it was the Reagan administration's greatest overseas fiasco. Quoting from the Encyclopedia of the American Presidency: '[In 1983] Reagan stumbled into a disastrous intervention in the Middle East when he sent U.S. Marines into Lebanon on an ill-defined mission as part of an international peacekeeping force.' In December, according to Reagan biographer Edmund Morris, 'two days before Christmas, a Pentagon commission of inquiry into the Beirut barracks bombing humiliated [Secretary of State] Shultz [who had backed the intervention], and embarrassed Reagan, by concluding that the dead Marines had been victims of a myopic Middle Eastern policy.'" Tom Paine, 10/11/00 19. Bush: "I thought the president made the right decision in joining NATO and bombing Serbia. I supported him when they did so." Fact: The bombing of Serbia began on March 24, 1999, and Bush did not express even measured support until April 8, 1999 - nearly two weeks later. Prior to April 8, 1999, every comment by Bush about the bombing was non-committal. Finally, he offered a measured endorsement: "It's important for the United States to be slow to engage the military, but once the military is engaged, it must be engaged with one thing in mind, and that is victory," he said after being pressed by reporters. A Houston Chronicle story documented the Governor’s statements on the crisis and reported that "Bush has been widely criticized for being slow to adopt a position on Kosovo and then for making vague statements on the subject." Houston Chronicle, 4/9/99 20. Bush: Discussing International Loans: "And there's some pretty egregious examples recently, one being Russia where we had IMF loans that ended up in the pockets of a lot of powerful people and didn't help the nation." Fact: Bush’s own vice presidential candidate, Dick Cheney, lobbied for U.S.-backed loan to Russia that helped his own company. "Halliburton Co. lobbied for and received $ 292 million in loan guarantees to develop one of the world's largest oil fields in Russia. Cheney said: 'This is exactly the type of project we should be encouraging if Russia is to succeed in reforming its economy...We at Halliburton appreciate the support of the Export-Import Bank and look forward to beginning work on this important project.’" PR Newswire 4/6/2000. The State Department, armed with a CIA report detailing corruption by Halliburton’s Russian partner, invoked a seldom-used prerogative and ordered suspension of the loan. The loan guarantee "ran counter to America's ‘national interest,’" the State Department ruled. New Republic, 8/7/00 21. Bush "There's a lot of talk about trigger locks being on guns sold in the future. I support that." Fact: When asked in 1999, if he was in support of mandatory safety locks, Bush said, "No, I'm not, I'm for voluntary safety locks on guns." In March of 2000, Bush said he would not push for trigger lock legislation, but would sign it if it passed. [Washington Post, 3/3/00;ABC, "Good Morning America," 5/10/99] Bush Let Trigger Locks Bill Die in Texas. When Bush was asked, "when two bills were introduced in the Texas legislature to require the sale of child safety locks with newly purchased handguns, and you never addressed the issue with the legislature, and both bills died. If you support it, why did that happen?" Bush said, "Because those bills had no votes in committee." When asked again if he supported the bills, Bush said, "I wasn't even aware of those bills because they never even got out of committee." NBC, "Today Show," 5/12/00 22. Bush: "Africa is important and we've got to do a lot of work in Africa to promote democracy and trade." Fact "While Africa may be important, it doesn't fit into the national strategic interests, as far as I can see them," Bush said earlier. When he was asked for his vision of the U.S. national interests, he named every continent except Africa. According to Time magazine, "[Bush] focused exclusively on big ticket issues ... Huge chunks of the globe -- Africa and Latin America, for example -- were not addressed at all." Time, 12/6/99; PBS "News Hour," 2/16/00; Toronto Star, 2/16/00 23. Bush: "There's only been one governor ever elected to back-to-back four year terms and that was me." Fact:Prior to Bill Clements, governors of Texas served, by law, 2 year terms, not four year terms. Alan Shivers, for example, served four two-year terms, or 2 consecutive 4-year terms. The governors who served consecutive two-year terms adding up to 2 consecutive 4-year terms follows. While Bush was elected twice, each of the others were elected four times: Coke R. Stevenson (2 consecutive 4-year terms) August 4, 1941-January 21, 1947. Allan Shivers (2 consecutive four-year terms) July 11, 1949-January 15, 1957. Price Daniel (2 consecutive four-year terms) January 15, 1957-January 15, 1963. John Connally (2 consecutive four-year terms) January 15, 1963-January 21, 1969. Dolph Briscoe (2 consecutive four-year terms) January 16, 1973-January 16, 1979. George W. Bush (2 consecutive four-year terms) January 17, 1995 to present. Texas State Libraries and Archives Commission. 24. Bush: "We spend $4.7 billion a year on the uninsured in the state of Texas." Fact: The state of Texas came up with less than $1B for this purpose. $3.5 came from local governments, private providers, and charities, $198M from the federal government, and just less than $1B from Texas state agencies. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts 25. Bush: ""Our CHIPS (children's health insurance) program got a late start because our government meets only four months out of every two years, Mr. Vice President. May come for a shock for somebody's been in Washington for so long, but actually limited government can work in the second largest state in the Union, and therefore Congress passes the bill after our session in 1970 --'97 ended. We passed the enabling legislation in '99." Fact: Texas governors can call special sessions of the legislature to pass specific legislation at any time. Bush could have done so with CHIPS. "But more important is that Bush could have gotten CHIP sign-ups under way without the Legislature. As governor, Bush could have drawn up plans for enrolling kids, lined up providers and filed an amendment to Texas' Medicaid Plan with the Health Care Finance Administration, which handles Medicaid and CHIP nationally. With HCFA's approval, he could have started enrollment at once.Instead he waited for the Legislature to convene in January 1999. Then, Bush failed to exercise another gubernatorial option to speed things up. CHIP would have been among the first things considered by the Legislature had he declared it "an emergency," as he did with his tax cut for oil producers. Instead, Bush sparred with legislators about how much a family could earn for their kids to qualify for the program. His first proposal was to make CHIP available to families whose earnings are between 100 percent and 133 percent of the poverty level. Those whose earnings are at or below the poverty level supposedly qualify for Medicaid, but Texas' record in enrolling those eligible has been so bad federal courts have twice ordered the state to clean up its act. When even the Republican legislators balked at Bush's miserly eligibility proposal, he raised it to 150 percent, which would have made about 280,000 kids CHIP-eligible. It was well into the 1999 Legislature that the 200 percent of the poverty level eligibility was approved, which expanded the number of eligible kids to 500,000.Now that it is a national embarrassment, state officials are rushing to sign them up, but at last count, only 100,000 kids have CHIP.Bush could have started signing up poor kids 15 months earlier." San Antonio Express News, 10/15/00 Note: Thanks go out to the many Bush Watchers who contributed to this report. Politex, Bush Watch, www.bushwatch.com     Bush Exaggerates, Misinforms 17 Times in One Debate 1. Bush: "We went into Russia, we said, 'Here's some IMF money,' and it ended up in Viktor Chernomyrdin's pocket and others." Fact: "Bush appears to have tangled up whispers about possible wrongdoing by Chernomyrdin--who co-chaired a commission with Gore on U.S.-Russian relations--with other unrelated allegations concerning the diversion of International Monetary Fund money. While there has been speculation that Chernomyrdin profited from his relationship with Gazprom, a big Russian energy concern, there have been no allegations that he stole IMF money." Washingon Post, 10/12/00 2. Bush:"We got one [a hate crime law] in Texas, and guess what? The three men who murdered James Byrd, guess what's going to happen to them? They're going to be put to death... It's going to be hard to punish them any worse after they get put to death....We're happy with our laws on our books." Fact: "The three were convicted under Texas' capital murder statute...The state has a hate crime statute, but it is vague." LA Times, 10/12/00. "The original Texas hate-crimes bill, signed into law by Democrat Ann Richards, boosted penalties for crimes motivated by bigotry. As Gore correctly noted, Bush maneuvered to make sure a new hate-crimes law related to the Byrd killing did not make it to his desk. The new bill would have included homosexuals among the groups covered, which would have been anathema to social conservatives in the state." Washington Post, 10/12/00 3. Bush: "Bragged that in Texas he was signing up children for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as "fast as any other state." Fact: "As governor he fought to unsuccessfully to limit access to the program. He would have limited its coverage to children with family incomes up to 150 percent of the poverty level, though federal law permitted up to 200 percent. The practical effect of Bush's efforts would have been to exclude 200,000 of the 500,000 possible enrollees." Washington Post, 1012/00 4. Bush: "He [Gore] is for registration of guns." Fact: "Gore actually favors licensing for new handgun purchasers but nothing as vast as registering all guns." Salon, 10/12/00 5. Bush: Said he found Gore's tendency to exaggerate "an issue in trying to defend my tax relief package. There was some exaggeration about the numbers" in the first debate. Fact: "No, there wasn't, and Bush himself acknowledged that the next day on ABC's "Good Morning America" when Charlie Gibson pinned him on it." Salon, 10/12/00 6. Bush: "I felt during his debate with Senator [Bill] Bradley saying he [Gore] authored the EITC [earned-income tax credit] when it didn't happen." Fact: "Actually, Gore had claimed to have authored an "expansion of the earned-income tax credit," which he did in 1991." Salon, 10/12/00 7. Fact: Gore noted that "Texas "ranks 49th out of the 50 states in healthcare in children with healthcare, 49th for women with healthcare and 50th for families with healthcare" Bush: "You can quote all the numbers you want but I'm telling you we care about our people in Texas. We spent a lot of money to make sure people get healthcare in the state of Texas." 8. Fact: Gore said, ""I'm no expert on the Texas procedures, but what my friends there tell me is that the governor opposed a measure put forward by Democrats in the Legislature to expand the number of children that would be covered....And instead [he] directed the money toward a tax cut, a significant part of which went to wealthy interests." Bush: "If he's trying to allege I'm a hardhearted person and don't care about children, he's absolutely wrong." 9. Bush: "The three men who murdered James Byrd, guess what's going to happen to them? They'll be put to death. A jury found them guilty." Fact: Two of the three are being put to death. The other was given life. 10. Bush: said he favored "equal" rights for gays and lesbians, bu not "special" rights. Fact: "Bush has supported a Texas law that allows the state to take adopted children from gay and lesbian couples to place the kids with straight couples." Salon, 10/12/00 11. Bush. "We ought to do everything we can to end racial profiling." Fact: The Texas Department of Public Safety has just this year begun keeping detailed information about the race and sex of all people stopped by its troopers, the sixth year Bush has been in office. Salon, 10/12/00 12. Bush: "Got caught not giving the full story on Texas air pollution laws. He was correct in saying the 1999 utility deregulation bill he signed into law had mandatory emissions standards. Fact: "What was missing, as Gore's campaign pointed out, was that many more non-utility industrial plants are not mandated to reduce air quality. The issue is an important one because Texas ranks near the bottom in air-quality standards. Bush instead approved a voluntary program allowing grandfathered oil, coal, and other industrial plants to cut down on pollution." Boston Globe, 10/12/00 13. Bush: About the Balkans, "I think it ought to be one of our priorities to work with our European friends to convince them to put troops on the ground." Fact: "European forces already make up a large majority of the peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Kosovo." Washington Post, 10/12/00 14. Bush: "One of the problems we have in the military is we're in a lot of places around the world" and cited Haiti as an example. "Though approximately 20,000 U.S. troops went to Haiti in 1994, as of late August this year, there were only 109 U.S. troops in Haiti and most were rotating through as part of an exercise." Washington Post, 10/12/00 15. Bush: "I don't think we ought to be selling guns to people who shouldn't have them. That's why I support instant background checks at gun shows. One of the reasons we have an instant background check is so that we instantly know whether or not someone should have a gun or not." Fact: "Bush overstates the effectiveness of instant background checks for people trying to buy guns.... The Los Angeles Times reported on Oct. 3 that during Bush's term as governor, Texas granted licenses for carrying concealed guns to hundreds of people with criminal records and histories of drug problems, violence or psychological disorders." Washington Post, 10/12/00 "He didn't mention that Texas failed to perform full background checks on 407 people who had prior criminal convictions but were granted concealed handgun licenses under a law he signed in 1995. Of those, 71 had convictions that should have excluded them from having a concealed gun permit, the Texas Department of Public Safety acknowledged." AP, 10/12/00 16. Bush:"Said the number of Texans without health insurance had declined while the number in the United States had risen." Fact: " A new Census Bureau report says the number of uninsured Americans declined last year for the first time since statistics were kept in 1987. About 42.5 million people, or 15.5 percent of the population, lacked insurance in 1999, compared with 44.2 million, or 16.3 percent, in 1998, the agency reported. Texas ranked next-to-last in the nation last year with 23.3 percent of its residents uninsured. But that was an improvement from 1998, when it ranked 50th at 24.5 percent." AP, 10/12/00 17. Bush:"Some of the scientists, I believe, Mr. Vice President, haven't they been changing their opinion a little bit on global warming?" Fact: "Bush's dismissive comments about global warming could bolster the charge that he and fellow oilman Dick Cheney are in the pocket of the oil industry, which likewise pooh-poohs the issue. [While] there is no consensus about the impact of global warming,...most scientists agree that humans are contributing to the rising global temperature. "Most climate experts are certain that global warming is real and that it threatens ecology and human prosperity, and a growing number say it is well under way," wrote New York Times science writer Andrew Revkin." Salon, 10/13/00 CONCLUSION: GEORGE W. BUSH - A BIG REPUBLICAN LEMON, IF NOT A LIE-ME

MORE INFORMATION ON HOW BUSH BUMBLED AND LIED THROUGH HIS TEETH IN THE OCT. 11 DEBATE (Borrowed from joinhugs.org, which a guy called Ray Dubuque sent us...we haven't actually read all this stuff but just glancing through it, the upshot seems to be that George W. Bush is a a scoundrel and baldfaced liar, which of course is the main contention of this page.) FOREIGN POLICY -- BUSH BUMBLED ON THE BALKANS   RHETORIC: "[Discussing the Balkans] I think it ought to be one of our priorities to work with our European friends to convince them to put troops on the ground."   REALITY: The Europeans are on the ground in the Balkans. European forces make up the vast majority of the peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Kosovo. "The U.S. effort in the Balkans - involving less than 20 percent than the total number of troops and about 10 percent of the economic aid cost - is neither large nor inappropriate." At its height, KFOR - the NATO-led Kosovo force -reached its full strength of 50,000 men and women, "nearly 42,500 troops from over 30 countries are deployed in Kosovo and another 7,500 provide rear support through contingents based in the Former Yugoslav Republic." [www.brook.edu The United States and the Balkans; www.kforonline.com] FOREIGN POLICY -- BUSH WAFFLED ON KOSOVO   RHETORIC: "I thought the president made the right decision in joining NATO and bombing Serbia. I supported him when they did so."   REALITY: Bush Commented on Kosovo After Rivals Did. Bush did not speak out on Kosovo until the day after his GOP presidential rivals had and, according to the Austin American-Statesman, "it took more than one attempt by reporters to get Bush to respond to questions about the bombing." [Austin American-Statesman, 3/26/99] Bush "Crapped Out" on Life-and-Death Kosovo Stance. According to Boston Globe columnist Nyhan, "George W. crapped out big time on Kosovo, waffling, weaving, dodging, and ducking, never taking a position on a life?and?death national issue till the matter was decided." [Boston Globe, 9/1/99] Bush "Failed" the Kosovo Test. "We've just seen him on the question of Kosovo, where it seems to me he failed the test. ... He didn't step up. [He] put his head in the sand," said reporter Carl Bernstein. [CNBC, "Hardball" 6/8/99] FOREIGN POLICY --GUNS -- BUSH WAFFLED ON TRIGGER LOCKS   RHETORIC: "There's a lot of talk about trigger locks being on guns sold in the future. I support that."   REALITY: Bush Waffled on Trigger Locks. When asked in 1999, if he was in support of mandatory safety locks, Bush said, "No, I'm not, I'm for voluntary safety locks on guns." In March of 2000, Bush said he would not push for trigger lock legislation, but would sign it if it passed. [Washington Post, 3/3/00;ABC, "Good Morning America," 5/10/99] Bush Let Trigger Locks Bill Die in Texas. When Bush was asked, "when two bills were introduced in the Texas legislature to require the sale of child safety locks with newly purchased handguns, and you never addressed the issue with the legislature, and both bills died. If you support it, why did that happen?" Bush said, "Because those bills had no votes in committee." When asked again if he supported the bills, Bush said, "I wasn't even aware of those bills because they never even got out of committee." [NBC, "Today Show," 5/12/00] FOREIGN POLICY -- BUSH SAID AFRICA NOT IN OUR STRATEGIC INTERESTS   RHETORIC: "Africa is important and we've got to do a lot of work in Africa to promote democracy and trade."   REALITY: Bush Has Ignored Africa. Bush has said, "While Africa may be important, it doesn't fit into the national strategic interests, as far as I can see them." When Bush was asked for his vision of the U.S. national interests, he named every continent except Africa. According to Time magazine, "[Bush] focused exclusively on big ticket issues ... Huge chunks of the globe -- Africa and Latin America, for example -- were not addressed at all." [Time, 12/6/99; PBS "News Hour," 2/16/00; Toronto Star, 2/16/00] FOREIGN POLICY -- CORRUPTION IN RUSSIA   RHETORIC: "I think a lot of times we just spend aid, say we feel better about it and it ends up being spent the wrong way. And there's some pretty egregious examples, like Russia where we had loans that end up in the pockets of powerful people and didn't help the nation."   REALITY: Al Gore Has Helped Protect Americans from Nuclear Weapons, and Promote Economic and Political Reform. Immediately upon taking office, the current Administration moved quickly to seize the historic opportunity to end global superpower competition and help Russia become a market democracy. None of the nightmare scenarios predicted in the early '90s have come true: there have been no "loose nukes," no new Russian empire, no extremists or communists taking the reigns of power, and no societal implosions. On the contrary, the Administration's policies have helped safeguard Americans from the former Soviet nuclear arsenal and have helped Russia transform itself to a market democracy. The Administration helped deactivate more than 5,000 nuclear warheads from the former Soviet Union. Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan - which were all "born nuclear" - are now nuclear free. Russia is also transforming itself to an electoral democracy, as evidenced by the parliamentary elections in 1999 and 1995 and the presidential elections in 1996 and 2000. The Administration has promoted the rule of law, private property, privatization, and the growth of civil society. There are now more than 65,000 NGOs in Russia - in 1989, there were none. Today, there are upwards of 900,000 small businesses in Russia - in 1991, the small business sector was virtually non-existent. The Administration has also worked with Russian law enforcement to fight crime and corruption. [White House Release 6/26/2000] Cheney's Company Benefited From Loans to Russia; Cheney Praised Loans as "Exactly the Type of Project We Should Be Encouraging." "Dallas-based Halliburton Co. will use $ 292 million in loan guarantees for Tyumen Oil's portion of Samotlor, one of the world's largest oil fields with proven reserves of approximately 4 billion barrels, in an estimated three-year project scheduled to begin in May. Tyumen Oil is also getting about $ 140 million in syndicated bank loans for the project. Tyumen's goal is to maintain production of the portion of the field it controls at 350,000 barrels per day. Modernizing this important oil reserve with Western technology will make Halliburton a leading provider of petroleum services in Russia. "Halliburton Chairman and CEO Dick Cheney, a former US defense secretary, emphasized the broader implications of the approval of the loan guarantees. 'This is exactly the type of project we should be encouraging if Russia is to succeed in reforming its economy,' Cheney said. 'We at Halliburton appreciate the support of the Export-Import Bank and look forward to beginning work on this important project.'" [PR Newswire 4/6/2000] FOREIGN POLICY -- HAITI   RHETORIC: "I wouldn't have sent troops to Haiti. I didn't think it was a mission worthwhile. It was a nation-building mission and it wasn't very successful. It cost us billions, a couple billion dollars and I'm not so sure democracy is any better off in Haiti than it was before.   REALITY: James Baker, President Bush's Secretary of State, considered the restoration of democracy in Haiti in the U.S. national interest. Baker was determined to restore Aristide's democratically-elected government, and called the military coup that overthrew Aristide, a "test" for the hemisphere, and declared "this coup must not and will not succeed." The Bush Administration left office with the Haitian military still in power, leaving the current Administration to inherit this problem. In 1993, U.S. diplomacy, backed by military force, helped restore democracy to Haiti. Had the Administration ignored the military takeover of the island, it would have dealt a blow to democracy in this hemisphere and risked a major refugee crisis off U.S. shores. The Administration deployed more than 20,000 troops to Haiti as part of a multi-national force made up of 30 nations. The force dismantled the regime and the paramilitary organizations, and made the streets of Port-au-Prince safe in a matter of months. The military presence paved the way for three rounds of national elections, culminating in the internationally monitored free and fair election of President Prreview in December 1995. This was the first democratic transition of power from one president to another in Haiti's history. In March 1995, the multi-national force turned over peacekeeping operations to the U.N. Today, there are only 34 U.S. troops assigned to Haiti, and although problems remain, democracy is taking root. [Department of State, "Statement by the Hon. James A. Baker III to the OAS Meeting of Foreign Ministers on The Situation in Haiti," Oct. 2, 1991, pp. 1, 3. Rise to Globalism, by Ambrose and Brinkley, 417-18, FOREIGN POLICY -- IRAQ COALITION   RHETORIC: "The coalition against Saddam has fallen apart -- or it's unraveling, let's put it that way."   REALITY: The Administration Has Contained Saddam and Worked to See Him Out of Power. President Bush made the decision to leave Saddam Hussein in power in the aftermath of the Gulf War. That decision has forced the Clinton-Gore Administration to contend with Saddam Hussein on various fronts. The Administration has kept Saddam boxed in by retaliating against him with air-strikes, using military force to downgrade his weapons programs, and using American influence in international organizations to keep him isolated. In 1993, the U.S. destroyed Baghdad intelligence headquarters in retaliation for Iraq's assassination plot against President Bush. In 1994, the U.S. deployed nearly 30,000 U.S. troops to the Gulf in response to Saddam's renewed threat to invade Kuwait. In 1996, the U.S. responded to Iraq's aggression against the Kurds by launching Operation Desert Strike and expanding the southern No Fly Zone. In 1998, the Administration signed into law the Iraq Liberation Act, and in 1999, the President signed Presidential Directive 99-13 to provide assistance to Iraqi opposition groups. In 1998, the U.S. launched Operation Desert Fox, a 4-day assault on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, air defenses and regime protection forces that successfully downgraded Iraq's conventional and unconventional arsenal and diminished the Iraqi threat to the region. The U.S. continues to work with international partners to enforce UN Sanctions and to patrol the No Fly Zone. [White House Release, 6/26/00] Hussein Was More In Control a Year After the War than He Was Before the War. "After the fighting stopped in 1991, the U.S. expected the Iraqi people to revolt and overthrow Saddam. But "Hussein put down the Kurd and Shi'a revolt with brutal and bloody efficiency. The American-led coalition . . . watched as Iraqi helicopter gunships and artillery devastated the rebels . . . . Within a year of Desert Storm, Baghdad had managed to repair much of the destruction, the rebels were crushed, Iraq was intact, Hussein was apparently more firmly in control than before the war . . . [O]ver the next year the United States stood supinely aside as Iraq committed acts of aggression against the Kurds and Shi'a . . . ." [Rise to Globalism by Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Brinkley, p. 396-97] "

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