George W Bush

President George W. Bush has been skipping around the country accusing Sen. John Kerry of "flip-flops." Well ... I gotchyer flip-flop right here. It's a doozy. And it threatens not only the privacy but also, in a quite direct way, the privates of the citizens of these United States.

In 2000, Bush ran on a platform that loudly supported medical privacy. He has said, "I believe privacy is a fundamental right." In April 2001, he promised to protect, he said, "the right of every American to have confidence that his or her personal medical records would remain private." Tommy G. Thompson, secretary of health and human services, chimed in: "We are giving patients peace of mind in knowing that their medical records are confidential and their privacy is not vulnerable to intrusion."

That promise has been broken. On March 6, The New York Times ran a polite headline on page eight: "Administration Sets Forth a Limited View on Privacy." Decide for yourself the extent of the flip-flop ? and whether the story didn't call for starker headlines on page one.

I'm not a particular fan of abortion, but I think it lies in the moral grey area that says only the woman in question can make the choice as to what to do. I am not sufficiently arrogant to impose my opinion upon millions of people facing choices that are very tough, very traumatic, and have nothing to do with me personally. On this matter, Bush is an ass, and he's clearly trying to pander to the religious right. The way he's chosen to do it is about as bad as it gets; invading private medical records is unacceptable. Not that that has ever stopped him before.

Here is a link to the full text of Cheney's speech at the 2004 NRA member's meeting. The NRA has pretty much thrown its full support behind Bush, as expected. Cheney, as expected, gives good speech on this issue. However, giving good speech isn't enough, so take this with a grain of salt; the Bush campaign has been more gun-friendly than the immediate predecessor but has done little to actually advance our cause.

An influential gun-rights group known for backing Republicans is unlikely to endorse President Bush until after the federal assault-weapons ban expires in September. Bush supports the renewal of the 10-year ban but has not called on the GOP-controlled Congress to act. If he does so, the move would probably cost him the endorsement of the National Rifle Association (NRA).

In an earlier article, I spoke about how Internet-based activists (both bloggers and some organizations), with help from the Gun Owners of America and other no-compromise, pro-gun groups, convinced the Senate to vote down the liability protection bill after poison-pill amendments were added -- including a renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban.

One of the messages going around stated that the NRA was doing backroom deals to get the liability bill passed, and then try to remove it in the House. This is a risky strategy that had already backfired once, and the efforts of activists convinced the NRA to abandon the strategy shortly before the final vote.

Now, we are seeing more fallout from that push. It appears the NRA is putting their 2004 endorsement on the bargaining table for Bush. The implication is that they will endorse him once the AWB expires, and refuse to do so if he signs a renewal. That's powerful mojo. That's the NRA maybe thinking that it has this spine thing that it might be able to use. Wow.