Congressman Jackson Comments on President Bush's State of the Union Address

Bush's 'State Of Deception' Address

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., tonight said, "President Bush's State of the Union address was, in reality, more like a State of Deception address. This is a President who has consistently not allowed the facts to get in the way of a good story, or reality to interfere with good spin."

"Bush is deceptive on the economy. He says he wants the economy to continue to grow by giving tax cuts to the top 1% of Americans and hope that it trickles down to the other 99%. The real state of the economy is generating slow economic growth (1.1% in the 4th quarter of 2005), historically-low job growth (4.2% unemployment when he came into office, now it's 4.9%, a 17% increase), historically-high budget deficits (he inherited a $281 billion surplus now he's running a $400 billion deficit), workers who are experiencing declining wages, more Americans in poverty, and the worst deterioration of America's fiscal situation in history (the debt is now up 44% to $8.2 trillion from $5.7 trillion when he assumed office).

"Bush is deceptive on health care. All he had to offer was more privatization schemes. The real state of health care is that we spend more money than any other industrialized nation in the world ($1.7 trillion, nearly 16% of our GDP), yet rank 37th in the world with regard to the health of our citizens. An additional 6.2 million Americans are without health insurance (out of a total of 46 million) since George Bush assumed office (or more people than 24 states and Washington, DC combined). And the Bush administration's new Medicare prescription drug plan is confusing, costly, and an unworkable disaster. Yesterday the American College of Physicians said America's primary care system is on the verge of collapsing.

"Bush is deceptive on Iraq. He continues to argue that we're making progress - even as journalists Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt lay wounded in a hospital, another journalist, Jill Carroll, is being held captive and crying out in anguish on national television, along with over 16,000 Americans wounded, nearly 2,400 dead, plus thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians dead and wounded. The truth on Iraq is that President Bush took us to war on deception and lies, continues to be less than candid on the costs of the war (materially, morally and diplomatically), and has arrogantly mismanaged it.

"Bush is deceptive on energy. This is a President who says he understands Americans concerns about our dependency on imported oil, yet has increased our dependence from 58% (2000) to 60% during his administration.

"Bush is deceptive on national security. This is a President who promised security, but has used `political fear tactics' to frighten Americans rather than providing real national security through securing our ports, nuclear power and chemical plants - and uses fear in a time of war to put himself above the law by illegally spying on thousands of Americans.

"Bush is deceptive on domestic issues. This is a President who showed up late for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, then promised to reconstruct the region, but has mismanaged the reconstruction process all along the way.

"This was not a real State of the Union address but a continuation of the State of Deception that has come to characterize the Bush Administration," Jackson concluded.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/il02_jackson/060131BushStateOfDeceptionAddress.html