Time for Bush Republicans to Go

The United States hasn't seen Republicans this dishonest since the 1920s when government officials were running scams on oil and rigging the stock market for their friends. The 1920s were simpler days and have long passed into history. We need people in Washington who will mind the store. Think Progress offers a 109 reasons to reject the 109th Republican Congress; here's a few of them:

1. Congress set a record for the fewest number of days worked — 218 between the House and Senate combined.

2. The Senate voted down a measure that urged the administration to start a phased redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq by the end of 2006.

3. Congress failed to raise the minimum wage, leaving it at its lowest inflation-adjusted level since 1955.

4. Congress gave itself a two percent pay raise.

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9. Congress fired the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the lone effective federal watchdog for Iraq spending, effective Oct. 1, 2007.

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15. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said Donald Rumsfeld “is the best thing that’s happened to the Pentagon in 25 years.”

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33. Both the House and Senate voted to open up our coasts to more oil drilling, “by far the slowest, dirtiest, most expensive way to meet our energy needs.”

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36. Only 16 percent of Americans think Congress is doing a good job.

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39. Congress raised the debt limit by $800 billion, to $9 trillion. [!!!]

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53. Conservatives repeatedly tried to privatize Social Security, a change that would lead to sharp cuts in guaranteed benefits. [Bush hasn't given up this radical idea]

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74. Congress refused to swear in oil executives testifying about high prices.

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85. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) said “if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two children, you don’t pay any taxes,” even though it isn’t true.

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101. Congress won’t let the government negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs for people on Medicare.

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109. There were just 12 hours of hearings on Abu Ghraib. (There were more than 100 hours of hearings on alleged misuse of the Clinton Christmas card list.)

These are the ones that caught my eye but all the reasons Think Progress gave are good and they give links for each one. I suspect another twenty or thirty could have been added. For example, the Republicans in Congress have shown no interest in any kind of real energy bill or the kind of hearings necessary to find out what's going on. Aren't Republicans even curious about our future? We need change.

I hope the voters come out tomorrow and send a powerful message to Bush that we've had enough of his incompetence and divisiveness. Our children and grandchildren deserve a future.