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2000 ABQ Journal Endorsement of Bush Irresponsible

A friend recently sent us a copy of our letter to the Albuquerque Journal on October 30, 2000, regarding the newspaper's endoursement of George W. Bush for President of the United States. At the time, many people criticized InfoImagination's position on GWB and our support for the democratic candidate, Al Gore.

As we know, Mr. Gore has received numerous accolades from national and international groups for his humanitarian efforts to advance human kind. Conversely, George W. Bush has put this nation on a path to bankruptcy, divided the American public as well as the world, and alienated most of our major allies. In sum, his presidency has been a disaster. We now debate whether George W. Bush will go down in history as the "worst American president ever."

It is important to document the individuals and groups who were able to reason without being blinded by ideology and demonstrate leadership and judgment. InfoImagination, we thank you!
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From: Scott and AnnMarie Goold
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2000 9:44 AM
To: opinion@abqjournal.com
Subject: Journal Endorsement of Bush Irresponsible

In your Sunday edition, October 29th, the Albuquerque Journal officially announced their support of George W. Bush for president. This was irresponsible, as your listed reasons do not support such an endorsement.

The Journal states the world is a "more dangerous world now." We agree. George W has little experience in foreign affairs. The world of George W's father is ancient history. Gore spent the past eight years serving with the National Security Council. Bush relies on his running mate, Dick Cheney, who has been out of the loop for most of the 90s.

The Journal claims George W stands on a "strong record as governor of Texas, particularly in education." Some argue previous Texas governor Ann Richards set these changes in motion. Some argue Texas now focuses too heavily on preparing for standardized tests and not enough time teaching (CBS 60 Minutes report). A number of Texas schools "cheated" during the testing process to improve their overall scores. Most importantly, the Texas school system still ranks as one on the nation's worst.

Al Gore is a strong environmentalist. Houston, Texas is now the most polluted city in the nation. George W owes much of his political success to big oil and gas companies.

Concerning tax cuts, the Journal states they advocate "plowing surpluses into debt reduction" instead of returning a major portion to the electorate. George W's proposal returns an estimated $1.6 trillion dollars to taxpayers; Gore's proposal returns less than a third of this amount -- about $500 billion. Gore's plan allocates more to reducing the nation's debt.

Bush claims his tax proposal contains across-the-board relief. Yet, the king's share goes to the most wealthy. As a middle class family, we will save about a hundred dollars a year under the Bush scheme. On November 7th, we vote on a number of local bond and public spending initiatives. These increase our property taxes. Under Gore's proposal, we could apply the tax savings from our federal returns to the local initiatives. We will not have this luxury under Bush's plan.

The Journal claims "this is a campaign for president, not king. And the president must work with Congress, a decision factor in supporting Bush." George W has never worked with the national congress. He is untested. Al Gore has a long history of bipartisan accomplishments in both the U.S. House and Senate.

On Sunday, the Journal also reported a feature by Jonathan Coopersmith, an associate professor at Texas A&M University. The article is titled, "Don't Laugh: Gore Did Father 'Net." George W continues to harass Gore about allegedly inventing the Internet. Gore did not say this. Al Gore did sponsor a 1991 bill that laid much of the foundation for what is today the World Wide Web. Coopersmith writes that Gore envisioned a national network that would "provide for teleconferencing, link your computer to millions of computers around the country, give you access to huge 'digital libraries' of information, and deliver services we cannot yet imagine." He adds, "Gore's early initiatives helped shape the Internet into a more open and universal system with more access to federal and university databases than it would have otherwise. We, the citizens, have benefited directly because of this."

George W claims our nation remains gridlocked due to partisan politics. Was the system less gridlocked under the leadership of his father? Our founding fathers designed the political process to be a system of conflict. As Americans, we champion competition and diversity in opinion. We distrust concentrations of power. Will we be better off with a Republican president and Republican-controlled Congress?

The Journal ends their endorsement stating, "the decision to support Bush is clinched by the man -- steady, consistent, dependable." Al Gore's twenty-plus years of public service are marked by steady, confident and visionary leadership. George W offers only unsubstantiated boasts of his own capabilities and unfounded criticisms of the vice president and others.

Scott and AnnMarie Goold
4513 Oahu Dr. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87111

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