This Election Is about the Failures of Bush and the Republican Congress

Former Nixon counsel, John Dean, thinks there's something wrong in Washington via FindLaw):

...Consider legislative fiascos, like the way representatives broke House rules to twist arms to vote for Medicare changes that benefit special interests. Or consider the embarrassing and improper intervention by Congress into the end-of-life care controversy regarding brain-damaged Terri Schiavo. Or think of energy legislation that takes better care of energy producers than consumers. The list is long and unpleasant, for these are only few examples.

Civility is gone in the House. Fiscal responsibility has been abandoned. Congress has allowed the nation to be taken to war in Iraq as if it had no will of its own. Serious scandals, relating to influence peddling and conflicts of interest, are rampant at the highest levels of the GOP leadership.

Former President Jimmy Carter thinks there's something wrong in Washington (via ABC News):

"First of all, I thought it was a horrible mistake to abandon Afghanistan and the war against al Qaeda and the effort to capture Osama bin Laden. And left that half undone and go into Iraq, which was an unjustified war," Carter said.

"Since then, of course, terrorism has increased in the world," Carter continued. "And that was the main reason I was against the war in Iraq."

Reagan's Navy Secretary Jim Webb thinks there's something wrong in Washington (via The Connection):

National security policy under the Bush-Cheney Administration is in total disarray. There is no end in sight to the conflict in Iraq, the Middle East is out of control, Al Qaeda is stronger today than it was five years ago, and homeland security is being neglected. These difficulties have come about, in large part, because those who are leading us lack the kind of strategic vision that has served our country so well in past eras. George Allen, by blindly following the Bush Administration and neglecting his constitutional duty as a senator, bears a great amount of responsibility for the state of American foreign policy.

As evidenced by the failed terror plot in London this summer we need to be able to fight terrorists wherever they may be. This requires our troops to be a mobile fighting force, something that cannot happen as long as we are bogged down in Iraq.

The first President Bush's National Security Adviser, Brent Scowcroft, thinks there's something wrong in Washington (via the New Yorker):

When Scowcroft published his Wall Street Journal article, Rice telephoned him, according to several people with knowledge of the call. “She said, ‘How could you do this to us?’ ” a Scowcroft friend recalled. “What bothered Brent more than Condi yelling at him was the fact that here she is, the national-security adviser, and she’s not interested in hearing what a former national-security adviser had to say.”

Other advisers of the first President Bush think there's something wrong in Washington (via New York Daily News):

...one of the worst-kept secrets in Bush World is the dismay, in some cases disdain, harbored by many senior aides of the former President toward the administration of his son - 41 and 43, as many call them, political shorthand that refers to their numerical places in American presidential history.

For five years, the 41s have bit their collective tongues as, they complain, the 43s ignored their counsel. But as the war in Iraq has worsened and public support for the current administration has tanked, loyalists of the elder Bush have found it impossible to suppress their disillusionment - particularly their belief that many of 43's policies are a stick in the eye of his father.

Former President Bill Clinton thinks there's something wrong in Washington (via Raw Story):

...Clinton said Saturday that voters "know something is wrong" in Washington and urged Democrats to create change in the November elections.

"I have never seen the American people so serious," said Clinton. "I think I know why. People know things are out of whack. The rhythm of our public life and our common life in America has been disturbed."

Former Bush aide David Kuo thinks there's something wrong in Washington (via Chicago Sun-Times):

A former Bush aide claims that evangelical Christians were embraced for political gain at the White House but derided privately as ''nuts,'' ''ridiculous'' and ''goofy.''

The allegations -- denied by the White House on Friday -- are in a new book by David Kuo, a conservative Christian who was deputy director of President Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives until 2003.

Former aide to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Larry Wilkerson, thinks there's something wrong in Washington (via Ventura County Star):

"We have departed radically from the successful foreign policy to one of radicalism, and we have decided to be the world's headline," he said.

Advocating a hard return to diplomacy instead of immediate military intervention, Wilkerson said the first step to success in the Middle East now comes from admitting the effort has failed, something he said Cheney would never acknowledge.

"We did it (invaded Iraq) because the president and vice president won out, with the vice president underlined here," he said, detailing a conversation where Cheney said the United States would win.

(snip)

"This administration has made a politics of fear just to keep in power, and I'm telling you it's not necessary," he said.

Former Senator and Vice Presidential Candidate, John Edwards thinks there's something wrong in Washington (via Charlotte Observer):

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards on Saturday bashed the Bush administration for "proactive stupidity" by sticking with a failed policy in Iraq and being unable to admit the mistake.

He predicted the Iraq war and a wave of scandals in a Republican-run Congress will prompt voters to demand change in November.

Senator John Kerry thinks there's something wrong in Washington (via Raw Story):

They tell us we’re making progress in Iraq and that there is no civil war. That is a lie. There is a civil war and it is costing American and Iraqi lives every single day and we must change course in Iraq.

They tell us the Congressional Page scandal is a Democratic plot to win the mid term elections. That is a lie. This issue is here because of a Republican cover-up. And those from the Party that preaches moral values that covered this up, have no right to preach moral values any more.

At least two presidents, and possibly three, are critical of George W. Bush. This is unprecendented. I included Kerry and Edwards who might have given us a very different course in the last two years. There are many more officials, including more Republicans, and including a number who have served under George W. Bush who have similar complaints about Bush and what is going on in Washington. This too is unprecendented.

There are still three weeks to the election. The choices that voters make have consequences. Bush and his fellow right wing Republicans have the best public relations that money can buy. But no amount of money or campaign tricks can undo the sheer fact of Bush's failed presidency. As we have seen so dramatically in recent weeks, the Republican Congressional leadership isn't any better. It's time for change.