Powell, a career military soldier and former Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, knows a hell of a lot more about war than George W.
Bush, who evaded service in Vietnam by using his then-Congressman
father's connections to land a safe spot in the Texas Air Guard only
to fail to even complete that nominal service.

So does McCain, a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict.


http://www.capitolhillblue.com/content/2006/09/bushs_bullying.html

Friday , September 15 , 2006

Bush's bullying, erratic behavior, spurs more GOP defections

By Doug Thompson


As Republicans continue to distance themselves from the political
suicide of George W. Bush's policies and his failed war in Iraq, some
are also privately expressing doubts about his mental stability,
saying the President's erratic actions show a man increasingly out of
control.

Even Bush's former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, tells confidants
he feels the President has "buckled under the pressure" of the
administration's increasingly unpopular and often contradictory
actions.

That concern prompted Powell this week to publicly oppose Bush's
proposed plan to ignore the guidelines of the Geneva Convention and
give the military and Central Intelligence Agency the right to torture
suspects in the so-called "war on terror."

"The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against
terrorism," Powell said in a letter to Sen. John McCain, one of the
Republican Senators opposing Bush's push for the right to torture.

"To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore,
it would put our own troops at risk."

Powell, a career military soldier and former Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, knows a hell of a lot more about war than George W.
Bush, who evaded service in Vietnam by using his then-Congressman
father's connections to land a safe spot in the Texas Air Guard only
to fail to even complete that nominal service.

So does McCain, a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict.

McCain is another Republican who tells aides that he is "increasingly
disturbed" by the President's actions.

McCain, Congressional sources say, was upset to learn the Bush White
House pressured military lawyers who testified against the bill to
sign a new letter expressing support.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who joined McCain in
opposing the President's plan, confirmed the military lawyers were
forced to sign the letter.

Graham is also a former military lawyer and a colonel in the Air Force
Reserve.

"It's a bridge too far, and it's not necessary," Graham says of Bush's
proposals.

"It will result in putting us in legal jeopardy and erode our standing
in the world community."

Other Republicans object to Bush's strong push to pass his plan
quickly with little time for consideration or debate.

It reminds them of the headlong rush to pass the USA Patriot Act, a
bill that stripped away most of the protections of the Constitution
and was rushed into a law by a post-9/11 shell-shocked Congress.

Many who voted for the bill admitted later they hadn't even read the
legislation.

Graham did take time to read the bill.

"I fell over when I read it," he said.

A growing number of Republicans admit shock at the President's
actions.

"The White House has lost its way on a number of important issues,"
says Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. Bush's Iraq war, Hagel
adds, "is a replay of Vietnam."

Republican Tom Kean Jr., running for Senate in New Jersey, says Bush
has been dishonest with the American people about the war in Iraq.

"There have been horrendous mistakes made in the war in Iraq," Kean
told the Newark Star-Ledger.

"The president should acknowledge that. He needs to level with the
American people."

Asked if such a step might bring down the wrath of the President, Kean
shrugged his shoulders and added:

"If it means that I'm angering the White House, so be it."

__________________________________________________________

That's what you get for voting for a mental case, folks.

Harry