Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the
current President of the United States|President
of the United States. A member of the Republican
Party (United States)|Republican Party, he is part
of the Bush family, which includes his grandfather
(former United States Senate|U.S. Senator Prescott
Bush), his father (former President George H. W.
Bush), and his three younger brothers (Neil Bush,
a Texas businessman, Marvin Bush, and Jeb Bush,
the current governor of Florida).

Before entering politics, he was a businessman,
involved in the oil industry and professional
baseball (he served as managing general partner of
the Texas Rangers) an|oil_and_baseball. He was
elected the 46th Governor of Texas, and won the
nomination of the Republican Party in the U.S.
presidential election, 2000|2000 presidential
election. Bush eventually became President,
defeating Vice President of the United States|Vice
President Al Gore of the Democratic Party (United
States)|Democratic Party in a particularly close
and controversial election.  Bush was elected to a
second term in the U.S. presidential election,
2004|2004 presidential election, defeating
Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.

==Personal life, service and education==
Bush is the son of George H. W. Bush and Barbara
Bush. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut|New
Haven, Connecticut but grew up in Midland,
Texas|Midland and Houston, Texas|Houston, Texas,
with siblings Jeb Bush|Jeb, Neil Bush|Neil, Marvin
Bush|Marvin, and Dorothy Bush|Dorothy. (A younger
sister, Robin, died of leukemia in 1953 at the age
of three.) The family enjoyed the summers and most
holidays at the Bush Compound in Maine.


Bush attended San Jacinto Junior High for seventh
grade. He later moved to the The Kinkaid
School|Kinkaid School in Houston for two years.
Afterward, like his father, Bush attended Phillips
Academy (September 1961–June 1964) and later
Yale University (September 1964–May 1968).
At Yale, he joined Delta Kappa Epsilon (of which
he was president from October 1965 until
graduation) and, like his father George H. W. Bush
(1948) and his grandfather Prescott S. Bush
(1917), the Skull and Bones secret society. He was
a C+ student, scoring 77% (with no As and one D,
in astronomy) with a grade point average of 2.35
out of a possible 4.00. Bush has joked that he was
known more for his social life than for his
grades.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,25229,00.html
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history
in 1968.

After graduating from Yale University, Bush joined
the Texas Air National Guard on May 27, 1968,
during the Vietnam War, with a commitment to serve
until May 26, 1974. He was promoted once, to first
lieutenant, on the November 1970 recommendation of
Texas Air National Guard commander Lt. Col. Jerry
B. Killian. He served as an F-102 pilot until
1972.


In September 1973, he received permission to end
his six-year commitment six months early in order
to attend Harvard Business School. He transferred
to inactive reserve status shortly before being
honorably discharged on October 1, 1973.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/bushdocs/2-Discharge.
pdf(PDF) It has been frequently
alleged that Bush skipped over a waiting list to
receive a National Guard slot, that he did not
report for required duty from 1972 to 1973, and
that he was suspended from flying after he failed
to take a required physical examination and drug
test. These issues were publicized during the 2004
Presidential campaign by the group Texans for
Truth and other Bush critics.  See George W. Bush
military service controversy for details. 

Bush entered Harvard Business School in 1973. He
received a Masters of Business Administration
(MBA) degree in 1975, and is the first U.S.
president to hold an MBA.

On September 4, 1976, Bush was pulled over by
police near his family's summer home in
Kennebunkport, Maine|Kennebunkport, Maine. He was
arrested for Drunk driving (United States)|driving
under the influence, admitted his guilt in the
incident, was fined $150, and had his driving
license suspended for 30 days within the state.
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1
1/02/bush.dui/,
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushdui1.html
News of the arrest was uncovered by the press five
days before the 2000 presidential election. Bush
has described his days before his religious
conversion in his 40s as his "nomadic" period and
"irresponsible youth" and admitted to drinking
"too much" in those years.  He says that he gave
up drinking for good shortly after waking up with
a hangover after his 40th birthday celebration: "I
quit drinking in 1986 and haven't had a drop since
then." He ascribed the change in part to a 1985
meeting with The Reverend Billy Graham.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/camp
aigns/wh2000/stories/bushtext072599.htm,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/camp
aigns/wh2000/stories/bush072599.htm,
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/02/
bush.dui/ 

Bush has said that he did not use illegal drugs at
any time since 1974.
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/08/19/
president.2000/bush.drug/ He has denied the
allegation (Hatfield 1999) that family influence
was used to expunge the record of an arrest for
cocaine possession in 1972, but has declined to
discuss whether he used drugs before 1974.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1143/a08.html?
4588 In taped recordings of a conversation with an
old friend, author Doug Wead, Bush said: “I
wouldn’t answer the marijuana question.  You
know why? Because I don’t want some little
kid doing what I tried.”  When Wead reminded
Bush that the latter had publicly denied using
cocaine, Bush replied, "I haven't denied
anything."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4282799.
stm, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6999665/ See also
George W. Bush substance abuse controversy.

Bush married Laura Bush|Laura Welch in 1977. They
have twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna Bush, born
in 1981. In 1986, at the age of 40, he left the
Episcopal Church and joined his wife's
denomination, the United Methodist Church, and has
often been referred to as a "born-again"
Christian.

Bush is 5 feet, 11 inches (180 cm) tall. His most
common nickname is "Dubya", from the colloquial
pronunciation of his middle initial.

==Business and early political career==
In 1978, Bush ran for the United States House of
Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives but
lost to a Texas Legislature|State Senator,
Democrat Kent Hance.  Ronald Reagan, at the time a
former Governor of California, endorsed Bush's
opponent in the Republican primary
election|primary.  
 
Bush began his career in the oil industry in 1979,
when he established Arbusto Energy, an oil and gas
exploration company he formed with leftover funds
from his education trust fund and money from other
investors. The 1979 energy crisis hurt Arbusto
and, after a name change to Bush Exploration Co.,
Bush sold the company in 1984 to Spectrum 7,
another Texas oil and gas exploration firm. Under
the terms of the sale, Spectrum 7 made Bush its
chief executive officer. Spectrum 7 lost revenue
and was merged into Harken Energy Corporation in
1986, with Bush becoming a director of Harken.


After working on his father's successful U.S.
presidential election, 1988|1988 presidential
campaign, he was told by a friend, William DeWitt,
Jr., that another family friend, Eddie Chiles,
wanted to sell the Texas Rangers, his Arlington,
Texas|Arlington-based Major League Baseball
franchise. In April 1989, Bush assembled a group
of investors from his father's close friends; the
group bought 86% of the Rangers for $75 million.
(Bush later appointed one of these partners, Tom
Schieffer, to the post of Ambassador to
Australia.) Bush received a two percent share by
investing $606,302, of which $500,000 was a bank
loan. Bush paid off the loan by selling $848,000
worth of stock in Harken Energy in 1990. As Harken
Energy reported significant financial losses
within a year of this sale (as did much of the
energy industry due to the recession of the early
1990s), the fact that Bush was advised by his own
counsel not to sell his shares later fueled
allegations of insider trading. 
See
George_W._Bush_insider_trading_allegations|George
W. Bush insider trading allegations for more
information. The federal Securities and Exchange
Commission concluded on March 27, 1992 by
Assistant Director of the SEC Herb Janick that
Bush had a "preexisting plan" to sell the Harken
stock and that Bush had a "relatively limited role
in Harken management" and that they did not
believe insider trading took place.
(http://www.publicintegrity.org/docs/harken/harken
_doc5.pdf,
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020717-06233
0-9990r,
http://www.publicintegrity.org/docs/harken/harken_
doc7.pdf,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/camp
aigns/wh2000/stories/bush073099.htm)



Bush served as managing general partner of the
Rangers for five years.  He was active in the
team's media relations and in securing the
construction of a new stadium, which opened in
1994 as Ameriquest Field in Arlington|The Ballpark
in Arlington.
http://www.joenickp.com/texas/teamplayer.html
Bush's prominent role with the Rangers gave him
valuable goodwill and name recognition throughout
Texas. (http://espn.go.com/mlb/bush/friday.html)

In 1994, Bush took a leave of absence from the
Rangers to run for Governor of Texas against the
popular incumbent, Democrat Ann Richards. On
November 8, 1994, he defeated Richards, 53% to
46%. As Governor, Bush forged a legislative
alliance with powerful Texas Lt. Governor Bob
Bullock, a longtime Democrat. Bush went on to
become, in 1998, the first Texas governor to be
elected for two consecutive four-year terms.
(Until 1975, Texas governors served two-year
terms.) During Bush's terms as Governor, he
undertook significant legislative changes in the
areas of criminal justice, tort law, and school
financing. Bush took a hard line on capital
punishment, and received much criticism from
advocates wanting to abolish the death penalty.
Bush's transformative agenda, in combination with
his political and family pedigree, catapulted him
onto the national political radar. As the campaign
to succeed Bill Clinton as president began in
earnest, Bush emerged as a key figure.

As governor, one of his accomplishments was the
Texas Futile Care Law.



==Presidential campaigns==
In George W. Bush presidential campaign,
2000|Bush's 2000 presidential election campaign,
he declared himself to be a Compassionate
conservativism|"compassionate conservative". He
Political campaign|campaigned on, among other
issues, allowing religious charities to
participate in federally funded programs, cutting
taxes, promoting the use of education
voucher|education vouchers, supporting oil
drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
maintaining a balanced United States budget
process|federal budget, and restructuring the
United States armed forces|armed forces. In
foreign policy, he stated that he was against
using the U.S. armed forces in nation building
attempts abroad. 

After winning the Republican nomination, Bush
faced Democratic candidate Vice President of the
United States|Vice President Al Gore. Bush took
271 U.S. Electoral College|electoral votes to
Gore's 266, including the electoral votes of 30 of
the 50 U.S. state|states. Neither candidate
received a majority of the popular vote -- Bush
took 47.9 percent; Gore, 48.4 percent -- but Gore
received a Plurality|plurality of about 540,000
more of the 105 million votes cast.  Most of the
votes that neither Bush nor Gore won went to Green
Party (United States)|Green Party candidate Ralph
Nader (2,695,696 votes/2.7%), Reform Party of the
United States of America|Reform Party candidate
Pat Buchanan, (449,895/0.4%), and Libertarian
Party (United States)|Libertarian Party candidate
Harry Browne (386,024 votes/0.4%). 


It was the first presidential election since
Benjamin Harrison was elected President in U.S.
presidential election, 1888|1888 in which the
winning candidate received fewer popular votes
than his opponent.  It was the first since
Rutherford Hayes was elected in U.S. presidential
election, 1876|1876 in which the winner of the
electoral vote was in dispute and affected by a
Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court
decision. The Florida vote, which favored Bush by
a slim margin in the initial count, was hotly
contested after concerns were raised about flaws
and irregularities in the voting and tabulation
processes.  A series of contentious court cases
ensued regarding the legality of county-specific
and statewide recounts. After machine and manual
recounts in four counties, and with Bush still
prevailing, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a
statewide manual recount of all counties. The Bush
campaign appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court,
which, in its mid-December decision in Bush v.
Gore, overturned the decision and halted all
recounts.  Gore then conceded the election. 

In the final official count, Bush won Florida by
only 537 votes (2,912,790 for Bush to 2,912,253
for
Gore)http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/2000presgeresults.h
tm, giving him the state's 25 electoral votes and
the presidency. See U.S. presidential election,
2000 and  U.S. presidential election, 2000#The
Florida Ballot Project recounts|The 2000 Florida
Ballot Project. Bush was inaugurated President on
January 20, 2001.

In the U.S. presidential election, 2004|2004
election Bush won a second term, carrying 31 of 50
states for a total of 286 Electoral College votes.
Bush also won a majority of the popular vote:
50.73% to Kerry's 48.27%. Bush's popular vote
total, at 62 million, is the largest ever, with
Kerry's total of 59 million being the second
largest.  Bush was the first presidential
candidate since his father, George H.W. Bush in
U.S. presidential election, 1988|1988 to receive a
majority of the popular vote. As in the 2000
election, there were charges raised alleging 2004
U.S. presidential election controversy and
irregularities|voting irregularities, especially
in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In 2004 they
did not lead to recounts that were expected to
affect the result. After a 2004 U.S. presidential
election recounts and legal challenges#Ohio: U.S.
Congress electoral contest|congressional electoral
contest -- the second in American history --
failed, a Moss v. Bush|lawsuit challenging the
result in Ohio was withdrawn, because the
congressional certification of the electoral votes
had rendered the case Mootness|moot. 

Bush was inaugurated for his second term on
January 20, 2005. The oath was administered by
Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice
William Rehnquist. Bush's inaugural speech
centered mainly on a theme of spreading freedom
and democracy around the world. Bush stated in his
second inauguration on January 20, 2005:

:"From the perspective of a single day, including
this day of dedication, the issues and questions
before our country are many. From the viewpoint of
centuries, the questions that come to us are
narrowed and few. Did our generation advance the
cause of freedom? And did our character bring
credit to that cause?"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/20
050120-1.html

==Presidency==
* main article|George W. Bush's first term as
President of the United States
* main article|George W. Bush's second term as
President of the United States


===Foreign policy and security===
mainarticle|Foreign policy of the George W. Bush
administration
During his first presidential visit to Europe in
June 2001, Bush came under harsh criticism from
European leaders for his rejection of the Kyoto
Protocol. In 1997, while representatives of the
United States and other countries were still
negotiating the Kyoto Protocol, the U.S. Senate
had, by a vote of 95-0, opposed any global warming
treaty that did not require binding commitments
from developing nations.  Although the Kyoto
Protocol was symbolically signed by Peter
Burleigh, the acting U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations, in 1998, the Clinton administration never
presented it to the Senate for ratification. 
http://www.aaas.org/spp/cstc/pne/pubs/stc/bulletin
/articles/12-98/kyoto.htm In 2002, Bush came out
strongly against the treaty as harmful to economic
growth in the United States, stating: "My approach
recognizes that economic growth is the solution,
not the problem."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/02/20
020214-5.html  The administration also disputed
the scientific basis for the treaty.
http://www.alternet.org/story/11054/ In November
2004, Russia ratified the treaty, giving it the
required minimum of nations to put it into force
without ratification by the United States.

In July of 2002, Bush cut off all funding to the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Bush
claimed that the UNFPA supported forced abortions
and Sterilization (surgical
procedure)|sterilizations in People's Republic of
China|China.


During his campaign, Bush's foreign policy
platform included support of a stronger economic
and political relationship with Latin America,
especially Mexico, and a reduction in involvement
in "nation-building" and other small-scale
military engagements that were not directly
related to U.S. interests. However, after the
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, the
administration focused much more on foreign policy
in the Middle East. Nearly a month after the
attacks, on October 7, 2001, the United States and
its allies commenced aerial bombing and launched a
war against Afghanistan to topple the Taliban,
which the Bush Administration charged with
harboring Osama bin Laden. This action had strong
international support, and the Taliban government
folded quickly after the invasion. Subsequent
nation-building efforts in concert with the United
Nations under Afghan president Hamid Karzai have
had mixed results; bin Laden was not apprehended
or killed, and (as of 2005) is still at large. A
sizeable contingent of troops and advisors remains
into 2005. See U.S. invasion of Afghanistan for
details. Afghan presidential election,
2004|Democratic elections were held on October 9,
2004. There were allegations of flawed
registration and validation, and 15 of the 18
presidential candidates threatened to withdraw,
but international observers called the elections
"fairly democratic" at the "overall majority" of
polling centers. 



On December 14, 2001, Bush withdrew from the 1972
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which had been a
bedrock of U.S.-Soviet Union|Soviet nuclear
stability during the Cold War, arguing it was no
longer relevant. Bush has since then focused
resources on a ballistic missile defense system.
The proposed system has been the subject of much
National_Missile_Defense#July 2003 Report of the
American Physical Society|scientific criticism.
Field tests have been mixed, with both some
successes and failures. It is scheduled to start
deployment in 2005. A ballistic missile defense
system will not stop cruise missiles, or missiles
transported by boat or land vehicle. Hence, many
critics of the system believe it is an expensive
mistake, built for the least likely attack, a
nuclear tipped ballistic missile. Bush has also
increased spending on military research and
development and the modernization of weapons
systems, but cancelled programs such as the XM2001
Crusader|Crusader self-propelled artillery system.
The administration also began initial research
into bunker-busting nuclear missiles.



*Iraq
Since the 1998 enactment of the Iraq Liberation
Act, stated U.S. policy had been to remove Saddam
Hussein from power in Iraq. After the 9/11
attacks, the Bush administration argued that the
Iraq situation had now become urgent. Every person
from the Clinton and Bush Administrations believed
at the time that Saddam Hussein was a threat to
U.S. interests, destablized the Middle East,
inflamed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and gave
financial support to terrorists.  All subsequent
reports confirmed these events and they have
genearated little controversy.  Another reason
given, however, has generated much controversy. 
Conflicting intelligence reports noted that
Saddam's regime had tried to acquire nuclear
material and the U.S. argued that it had not
properly accounted for biological
weapons|biological and chemical weapons|chemical
material that it was known to possess, potential
weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in violation of
Iraq sanctions|U.N. sanctions. There is debate
between supporters and opponents of the war about
whether the U.S. had any evidence that Iraq
possessed WMD and whether they had any evidence of
ties between Iraq and Al-Qaeda.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd/Iraq_Oct_2
002.htm,http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20
87-1593607,00.html However, on September 30, 2004,
the U.S. Iraq Survey Group Final Report concluded
that, "ISG has not found evidence that Saddam
Husayn (sic) possessed WMD stocks in 2003, but the
available evidence from its
investigation—including detainee interviews
and document exploitation—leaves open the
possibility that some weapons existed in Iraq
although not of a militarily significant
capability."
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/2
004/isg-final-report/isg-final-report_vol1_rsi-06.
htm See Iraq and weapons of mass destruction and
Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda for full coverage.

Bush contended that Saddam might deliver WMD to
terrorists such as Al-Qaeda.  Beginning in 2002
and escalating in spring 2003, Bush pressed the UN
to act on its disarmament mandates to Iraq,
precipitating a Iraq disarmament crisis|diplomatic
crisis. He began by pushing for UN weapons
inspections in Iraq, which the UN instituted under
UN Security Council Resolution 1441. Hans Blix and
Mohamed ElBaradei led UN weapons inspectors in
Iraq. There were occasional lapses in cooperation
and limits on inspections set by the Iraqi
government, leading to intense debate over the
efficacy of inspections. Four days before the
commencement of full-scale hostilities, the United
States advised U.N. weapons inspectors to leave
Iraq, and they departed the country.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-03-17
-inspectors-iraq_x.htm After Saddam's capture,
interrogators asked him, "If you had no weapons of
mass destruction then why not let the U.N.
inspectors into your facilities?" Saddam replied,
"We didn’t want them to go into the
presidential areas and intrude on our privacy."

Within the Bush administration, United States
Secretary of State|Secretary of State Colin Powell
urged that the United States not go to war without
clear UN approval.  The administration examined
the possibility of seeking an additional UN
Security Council|Security Council resolution to
authorize the use of military force (pursuant to
http://www.worldpress.org/specials/iraq/chapterVII
.htm Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter),
but abandoned the idea in the face of opposition
from the majority of Security Council members and
the public threat of a veto from France (cf. The
UN Security Council and the Iraq war). Instead,
the United States assembled a group of about forty
nations, including the United Kingdom, Spain,
Italy, and Poland, which Bush called the
"coalition of the willing".

The coalition invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003,
citing many Security Council resolutions regarding
Iraq
(http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=
S/RES/1441%20(2002)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC 1441,
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S
/RES/1205%20(1998)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC 1205,
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S
/RES/1137%20(1997)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC 1137,
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S
/RES/1134%20(1997)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC 1134, 
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S
/RES/1115%20(1997)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC 1115, 
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S
/RES/1060%20(1996)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC 1060, 
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S
/RES/949%20(1994)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC 949, 
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S
/RES/778%20(1992)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC 778, 
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S
/RES/715%20(1991)&Lang=E&Area=RESOLUTION 715), the
current and past lack of Iraqi cooperation with
those resolutions, Saddam's intermittent refusal
to co-operate with UN weapons inspectors, Saddam's
alleged attempt to assassinate former president
George H. W. Bush|George Bush in Kuwait, and
Saddam's violation of the 1991 cease fire
agreement. The coalition argued that these
resolutions authorized the use of force.  Other
world leaders, such as Secretary General of the
United Nations|U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan,
disagreed and called the war illegal.  The primary
stated goal of the war was to stop Iraq from
deploying and developing WMD by removing Saddam
from power. See 2003 invasion of Iraq for full
coverage. 


The coalition was highly successful against the
Conventional weapon|conventional Iraqi armed
forces, and soon defeated the recognized Iraqi
military. After the declared end of major combat
operations on May 1, 2003, however, an insurgency
caused substantially more problems than U.S.
leaders had originally anticipated.  The American
public's support for Bush's handling of the Iraq
War declined as an armed insurgency against
coalition forces became more organized. A
bipartisan Intelligence (information
gathering)|intelligence review found no credible
evidence that Saddam Hussein possessed WMD,
although the report did conclude that Hussein's
government was actively attempting to acquire
technology that would allow Iraq to produce WMD's
as soon as U.N. sanctions were lifted. The report
also concluded that Saddam's missiles had a range
greater than that allowed by the UN sanctions. The
report found "no collaborative relationship"
between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda. Bush has
defended his decision, arguing that "The world is
safer today."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/artic
les/2003/09/28/blair_echoes_bush_no_regrets_over_i
raq_war?mode=PF Other disputed issues have
included questions about the confirmation
bias|biased selection and/or distortion of pre-war
intelligence reports, democratization of the
Middle East, relationship to the War on Terror,
effect on the United States' relationship with
European powers and on the role and function of
the United Nations, debate over nation building,
and the impact on nearby countries such as Iran,
Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey.

The decision-making process of the Bush
administration was the subject of a classified
British document from July 22, 2002, known as the
"Downing Street memo", which became public in May
2005. In it, the British Head of the Secret
Intelligence Service, Sir Richard Dearlove,
reported on his visit to Washington, D.C. in the
summer of 2002:
:There was a perceptible shift in attitude.
Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush
wanted to remove Saddam, through military action,
justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD.
But the intelligence and facts were being fixed
around the policy. The National Security
Council|NSC had no patience with the UN route, and
no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi
regime's record. There was little discussion in
Washington of the aftermath after military action.


Some critics charged that the "Downing Street
memo" was a "smoking gun", claiming it proved that
Bush already committed to attacking Iraq at a time
when he publicly stated that he had not yet made
up his mind on the issue.  Bush denied this aspect
of the Downing Street memo, re-asserting that he
had not yet made up his mind to go to war at the
time in question.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20
050607-2.html Several political pundits claimed
that the phrase "fixed around the policy" was
ambiguous and did not insinuate that
administration was cherry picking the evidence,
rather it simply meant the administration was
"preparing" the intelligence for presentation. 

From June until October, 2002, there were long,
protracted negotiations with members of the
Security Council. The U.S. finally received a
unanimous vote for UN Security Council Resolution
1441|U.N. Resolution 1441. Then, there were
further negotiations to secure a second resolution
culminating in Colin Powell's presentation to the
U.N. in February 2003. The information in the
"Downing Street memo" does seem to fit the
timeline for information gathering operations
within the Bush Administration.

*Military spending
Of the $2.4 trillion budgeted for 2005, about $401
billion
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2004/nr2004020
2-0301.html is planned to be spent on Defense
(military)|defense. Adjusted for inflation, this
sum is the highest military budget since the late
1990s, but is roughly comparable to the average
during the Cold War.
http://www.d-n-i.net/charts_data/evolution_of_the_
fy_2003_budget.htm

*Political ideology
Bush's political ideology is generally referred to
as conservatism|conservative or compassionate
conservatism|compassionate conservative, the
latter being a term he has used to describe
himself; conservatives have criticized Bush for
his willingness to incur large budget deficits. In
his 2005 inaugural address he outlined his new
foreign policy set forth in the
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.pdf National
Security Strategy of the United States of America
(pdf). Supporters of Bush see this policy as a
necessary rejection of "balance of power" politics
and a redefinition of America's role in the
global|international forum. Critics of Bush see it
as a withdrawal of America from the international
forum.

Bush's foreign policy is heavily influenced by the
Neoconservatism_(United_States)|neo-conservative
think tank Project for the New American Century
(PNAC), as evidenced by the presence of PNAC
founders Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld at the
highest positions in his administration, and the
fact that PNAC's Clinton-era position that
"American policy cannot continue to be crippled by
a misguided insistence on unanimity in the UN
Security
Council"http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclin
tonletter.htm that the President should the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein without support of the
United Nations, was subsequently implemented, over
the objections of non-PNAC members of the National
Security Council, in the invasion and occupation
of Iraq.

*Management style
Bush is famous for placing a high value on
loyalty, and the result has been an administration
with peerless 
Message_Discipline|message discipline. However,
critics contend that Bush is willing to overlook
mistakeshttp://www.newshounds.us/2004/05/28/gen_sa
nchez_gets_promoted.phphttp://devilstower.dailykos
.com/story/2005/7/14/131832/042 made by
subordinates, as long as they are loyal, and that
Bush has surrounded himself with yes
menhttp://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/11/16/ci
a/index_np.html.

===Domestic policy===

*Faith-based initiatives
In early 2001, Bush worked with Republicans and
social conservatives in Congress to pass
legislation changing the way the Federal
government of the United States|federal government
regulated, taxed and funded charities and
non-profit initiatives run by religion|religious
organizations. Although prior to the legislation
it was possible for these organizations to receive
federal assistance, the new legislation removed
reporting requirements that required the
organizations to separate their charitable
functions from their religious functions. Bush
also created the
http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/ White
House Office of Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives. Several organizations such as the
American Civil Liberties Union have criticized
Bush's faith-based initiative program, arguing
that it involves government entanglement with
religion and favoritism to religion in violation
of the Establishment Clause of the First
Amendment.

*Diversity and civil rights
Bush is opposed to the legal recognition of
same-sex marriages, but supports the establishment
of civil unions ("I don't think we should deny
people rights to a civil union, a legal
arrangement" - ABC News October 26, 2004), and has
endorsed the Federal Marriage Amendment, a
proposed constitutional amendment|amendment to the
United States Constitution that would define
marriage as being the union of one man and one
woman. Bush reiterated his disagreement with the
Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party
political platform|platform that opposed civil
unions, and said that the issue of civil unions
should be left up to individual U.S. state|states.
In his February 2, 2005 State of the Union address
he repeated his support for the constitutional
amendment. While not the first president in
history to do so, it should be noted that Bush is
the first Republican president to appoint an
openly gay man to serve in his administration
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch
ronicle/archive/2001/04/10/MN198145.DTL.

Some claim Bush has opposed most forms of
affirmative action, but expressed appreciation for
the Supreme Court's ruling upholding the selection
of college applicants for purposes of diversity.
Bush has met with the National Urban League as
President, but has not yet met with the NAACP as a
group since he became president, though he did
address the NAACP at its 2000 convention in
Baltimore as a presidential candidate, and he met
with outgoing NAACP President Kweisi Mfume on
December 21, 2004. Colin Powell became the first
African-American man to serve as United States
Secretary of State|Secretary of State during
Bush's first term in office. In 2005 he was
succeeded by Condoleezza Rice, who became the
first African-American woman to hold the post.

*Economy
During his first term Bush sought and obtained
Congressional approval for three major tax cuts,
which increased the standard income tax Standard
deduction|deduction for married couples,
eliminated the estate tax, and reduced marginal
tax rates, and are scheduled to expire a decade
after passage. Bush has asked Congress to make the
tax cuts permanent. According to the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities, by 2003 these tax
cuts had reduced total federal revenue, as a
percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), to
the lowest level since 1959.
http://www.cbpp.org/10-21-03tax.htm

The effect of the tax cuts and simultaneous
increases in spending was to create record budget
deficits. The annual deficit reached record
current-dollar levels of $374 billion in 2003 and
$413 billion in 2004, though as a percentage of
GDP these deficits are lower than the post-World
War II record set under the Ronald Reagan| Reagan
administration in the 1980s.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/26/politics
/main570166.shtml,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-10-14
-deficit_x.htm

In an open letter to Bush in 2004, more than 100
professors of business and economics at U.S.
business schools ascribed this "fiscal reversal"
to Bush's "policy of slashing taxes - primarily
for those at the upper reaches of the income
distribution".
http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_1428
3.shtml Bush's supporters have countered that,
primarily because of the doubling of the value of
the child tax credit, "7.8 million low and
middle-income families had their entire income tax
liabilities erased by the cuts."
http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/102
.html

According to the "baseline" forecast of federal
revenue and spending by the Congressional Budget
Office (in its January 2005 Baseline Budget
Projections,
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=6060&sequence
=2), the trend of growing deficits under Bush's
first term will become shrinking deficits in his
second term.  In this projection the deficit will
fall to $368 billion in 2005, $261 billion in
2007, and $207 billion in 2009, with a small
surplus by 2012.  The CBO noted, however, that
this projection "omits a significant amount of
spending that will occur this year--and possibly
for some time to come--for U.S. military
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other
activities related to the global War on
Terrorism."  The projection also assumes that the
Bush tax cuts "will expire as scheduled on
December 31, 2010."  If, as Bush has urged, the
tax cuts were to be extended, then "the budget
outlook for 2015 would change from a surplus of
$141 billion to a deficit of $282 billion."

Inflation under Bush has remained low.  The
Early_2000s_recession|recession and a drop in some
prices led to concern about Deflation
(economics)|deflation from mid-2001 to late-2003. 
More recently, Oil_price_increases_of_2005|high
oil prices have caused concern about increasing
inflation.  So far, the economy has withstood
these threats.



Private employment has decreased significantly
under Bush according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. After private employment (seasonally
adjusted) peaked at 111,680,000 in December 2000,
it dropped to 108,250,000 in mid-2003. The
percentage drop in jobs was the largest since
1981-1983.

The rise in GDP in 2004 was undergirded by
substantial gains in labor productivity. The
economy suffered from a sharp increase in energy
prices in the second half of 2004. Long-term
problems include inadequate investment in economic
infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension
costs of an aging population, sizable trade and
budget deficits, and stagnation of family income
in the lower economic groups.

The economy has added jobs for 25 consecutive
months, but the employment level remained below
the pre-Bush level until June 2005 when it reached
111,823,000 (preliminary). Considering population
growth, that still represents a 4.6% decrease in
employment since Bush took office. By comparison,
employment increased under Bill Clinton in 8 years
by 23% (or 12% more than population growth).

Unemployment levels under Bush started at 3.9% in
December 2000, peaked at 6.3% in June 2003,
retreated to 5.0% in July 2005, and appear to be
generally declining. The economy has added 1.924
million jobs so far in 2005.



*Social Security
main|Social Security debate (United States)
Bush called for major changes in Social Security
(United States)|Social Security, identifying the
issue as a priority early in his second term. From
January through April of 2005, he toured the
country, stopping in over 50 cities across the
union with an argument that there is a "crisis", a
view disputed by critics.  Initially, Bush
emphasized his proposal for partial privatization,
which would allow individual workers to invest a
portion of their Social Security Tax|taxes in
personal retirement accounts.  One criticism of
this approach was that it would actually worsen
the imbalance between revenues and expenses that
Bush pointed to as a looming problem.  The main
idea behind this privatization of social security
is to allow workers to actually own the money they
place into retirement. With the existing social
security system, a person who passes on loses all
Social welfare|benefits they paid for, and the
benefits are non-transferable, even to family. 
Many Democrats opposed changes that they felt were
turning Social Security into a welfare program
that would be politically vulnerable. 



*Health
Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug,
Improvement, and Modernization Act|Medicare Act of
2003, which added prescription drug coverage to
Medicare (United States)|Medicare, subsidized
pharmaceutical corporations, and prohibited the
Federal government from negotiating discounts with
drug companies. President Bush said the law,
estimated to cost $400 billion over the first 10
years, would give the elderly "better choices and
more control over their health care." Seniors can
buy a Medicare-approved discount card for $30 or
less to help offset the increasing costs of
prescription drugs. The legislation also adds
prescription drug coverage to the federal health
insurance program for the elderly, starting in
2006. The bill encourages insurance companies to
offer private plans to millions of older Americans
who now receive health care benefits under terms
fixed by the government, an idea against which
several Democrats have lashed out. 

Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in
2003, having declared his aim to "promote a
culture of life." The federal law prohibits Intact
dilation and extraction procedures in which the
fetus's head or trunk is partially outside of the
mother's body when aborted. Several liberal and
conservative critics feel that the law is merely a
political gesture as a fetus could technically be
killed inside of the womb and removed thereafter.

*Education
In January of 2002, Bush signed the No Child Left
Behind Act, with Senator Ted Kennedy as chief
sponsorhttp://www.boston.com/news/nation/washingto
n/articles/2004/03/16/bush_relaxes_rules_on_teache
r_standards/, which targets supporting early
learning, measures student performance, gives
options over failing schools, and ensures more
resources for schools. Critics (including John
Kerry|Senator Kerry and the National Education
Association) say schools were not given the
resources to help meet new standards, although the
U.S. House Committee on Education and the
Workforce|House Committee on Education and the
Workforce said in June, 2003 that in three years
under the Bush administration the Education
Department's overall funding would have increased
by $13.2 billion
http://edworkforce.house.gov/press/press108/06jun/
edspending062003.htm. Some state governments are
refusing to implement provisions of the act as
long as they are not adequately
funded.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articl
es/A52720-2004Feb18.html In January of 2005, USA
Today reported that the United States Department
of Education had paid $240,000 to conservative
political commentator Armstrong Williams "to
promote the law on his nationally Television
syndication|syndicated television show and to urge
other blacks|black journalists to do the same."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-06
-williams-whitehouse_x.htm Williams did not
disclose the payments.

The House Education and Workforce Committee
stated, "As a result of the No Child Left Behind
Act, signed by President Bush on January 8, 2002,
the federal government today is spending more
money on elementary and High School|secondary
(K-12) education than at any other time in the
history of the United
States."http://www.house.gov/ed_workforce/issues/1
08th/education/funding/summary.htm

*Science
Some scientists are upset over increased immigrant
restrictions brought on for national security
reasons that have had the unintended consequences
of decreasing immigration by foreign scientists. 

On December 19, 2002, President George W. Bush
signed into law H. R. 4664, far-reaching
legislation to put the National Science Foundation
(NSF) on a track to double its budget over five
years and to create new mathematics and science
education initiatives at both the pre-college and
undergraduate
level.http://www.aibs.org/public-policy-reports/pu
blic-policy-reports-2002_12_20.html

Bush opposes, and has limited the funding of,
embryonic stem cell research.  Federal funding for
embryonic stem cell research was first approved
under Clinton on 19 January 1999
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9901/19/stem.cell.resear
ch/, but no money was to be spent until guidelines
were published.  The guidelines were released
under Clinton on 23 August 2000.
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/08/24/NIH.stem
.cell/ They allowed use of unused frozen embryos. 
On August 9 2001, before any funding was granted
under these guidelines, Bush announced
modifications to the guidelines to allow use of
only existing stem cell lines.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20
010809-2.html While Bush claimed that more than 60
embryonic stem cell lines already existed from
privately-funded research, scientists in 2003 said
there were only 11 usable lines, and in 2005 that
all lines approved for Federal funding are
contaminated and unusable.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/05/24/stem.cells/
Adult stem cell funding has not been restricted.
Some scientists have repeatedly criticized the
Bush administration for reducing funding for
scientific research and setting restrictions on
federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
In February 2004, over 5,000 scientists (including
48 Nobel Prize winners) from the Union of
Concerned Scientists signed a statement "opposing
the Bush administration's use of scientific
advice". They stated that "the Bush administration
has ignored unbiased scientific advice in the
policy-making that is so important for our
collective welfare."
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/page.
cfm?pageID=1320 http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5722898/

On January 14, 2004, Bush announced the largest
financial increase to NASA, Vision for Space
Exploration, calling for a return to the Moon by
2020, the completion of the International Space
Station by 2010 and eventually sending astronauts
to Mars.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/14/bush.spac
e/index.html. Although the plan was met with a
largely tepid reception
(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/w
orld/8572141.htm?1c), the budget eventually passed
with a few minor changes after the November
elections. In January 2005 the White House
released a new
http://www.ostp.gov/html/SpaceTransFactSheetJan200
5.pdf Space Transportation Policy fact sheet which
outlined the administration's space policy in
broad terms and tied the development of space
transport capabilities to national security
requirements.

In August 2005, Bush took a controversial stance
on the teaching of evolution in schools.  This
stance, that alternatives to evolution should be
taught alongside evolution in science classes, was
perceived by many in science as an attack on
science based on Bush's religious beliefs. The
proposed alternative, intelligent design, stems
from the belief that the complexity that exists in
living creatures and the universe in general
cannot have occurred by chance but by the design
of some intelligent force; although not specified
by proponents, this is generally understood to
refer specifically to the Christian God, rather
than the Raelian alien intelligences, for
instance.  Opponents of this belief point to the
self-organizing complexity of biological
processes, ranging  from the scale of the ribosome
to that of the state, as well as that of artifical
processes such as Cellular automaton|cellular
automata and fractals to undermine the "complexity
requires intelligence" argument. More generally,
they regard this as an intrusion of faith-based
thought processes into the scientific area, which
they feel must be reserved for evidentiary
processes.

*Environment
Bush's environmental record has been attacked by
most environmentalists, who charge that his
policies cater to industry demands to weaken
environmental protections. He signed the Great
Lakes Legacy Act of 2002, authorizing the federal
government to begin cleaning up pollution and
contaminated sediment in the Great Lakes, as well
as the Brownfields Legislation in 2002,
accelerating the cleanup of abandoned industrial
or brownfield sites. In December 2003, Bush signed
legislation implementing key provisions of his
Healthy Forests Initiative; environmental groups
have charged that the plan is simply a giveaway to
timber companies. Bush has pushed for tapping into
oil reserves in the fragile Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, thought by many to be the last
untouched wilderness left in the US. The majority
of said oil is sent to foreign countries, such as
Japan, where larger profits can be made by
domestic oil companies.  Another subject of
controversy is Bush's Clear Skies Initiative;
opponents say that the initiative will in fact
allow utilities to pollute more than they do
currently. Bush has opposed the Kyoto Protocol
saying it would harm the U.S. economy.
Environmental groups note that many Bush
Administration officials, in addition to Bush and
Cheney, have ties to the energy industry,
automotive industry, and other groups that have
fought against environmental protections. However,
Bush claims his reason for not supporting the
Kyoto Protocol is that it is unfairly strict on
the U.S. while being unduly lenient with
developing countries, especially China and India.
Bush stated, "The world's second-largest emitter
of greenhouse gases is China. Yet, China was
entirely exempted from the requirements of the
Kyoto Protocol."  He has also questioned the
science behind the global warming phenomenon,
insisting that more research be done to determine
its
validity.http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2
001/06/20010611-2.html (See
Kyoto_protocol#Position_of_the_United_States|Ameri
ca's Kyoto protocol position.)

*Immigration

Bush proposed an immigration bill that would have
greatly expanded the use of guest worker visas.
His proposal would match employers with foreign
workers for a period up to 6 years; however
workers would not be eligible for residency or
citizenship.

*Trade
Bush's imposition of a steel tariff|tariff on
imported steel and on Canadian soft lumber was
controversial in light of his advocacy of free
market policies in other areas, and attracted
criticism both from his fellow conservatives and
from nations affected. The steel tariff was later
rescinded under pressure from the World Trade
Organization.

President Bush has refused to crack down on theft
of Intellectual Property by companies in China as
provided in the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights(http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2005/07/2
0050725_b_main.asp 12:40-16:30).

===Major appointees===
:For the article describing Bush's appointees,
please see Bush administration.

===Major legislation signed===
;2001
:*June 7: Economic Growth and Tax Relief
Reconciliation Act of 2001
:*September 18: Authorization for Use of Military
Force
:*September 28: United States-Jordan Free Trade
Area Implementation Act
:*October 26: USA PATRIOT Act
:*November 28: Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act
;2002
:*January 8: No Child Left Behind Act
:*March 9: Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act
of 2002
:*March 27: Bipartisan Campaign Reform
Act|Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002
:*May 13: Farm Security and Rural Investment Act
of 2002
:*July 30: Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
:*October 16: Joint Resolution to Authorize the
Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq
:*November 25: Homeland Security Act of 2002
;2003
:*March 11: Do-Not-Call Implementation Act
:*April 30: PROTECT Act of 2003 (Prosecutorial
Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation
of Children Today Act) (see also
Age_of_consent#Social_and_legal_attitudes|Age of
consent)
http://judiciary.senate.gov/special/S151CONF.pdf
:*May 27: United States Leadership Against
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003
:*May 28: Jobs and Growth Tax Relief
Reconciliation Act of 2003
:*September 3: United States-Chile Free Trade
Agreement Implementation Act
:*September 3: United States-Singapore Free Trade
Agreement Implementation Act
:*November 5: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
Act|Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003
:*December 8: Medicare Prescription Drug,
Improvement, and Modernization Act|Medicare
Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization
Act of 2003
:*December 16: Controlling the Assault of
Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act
(CAN-SPAM)
;2004
:*April 1: Unborn Victims of Violence Act (Laci
and Conner's Law)
;2005
:*February 18: Class Action Fairness Act of 2005
:*April 20: Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and
Consumer Protection Act of 2005|Bankruptcy Reform
Act of 2005
:*August 2: Dominican Republic-Central
America-United States Free Trade Agreement
Implementation Act
:*August 8: Energy Policy Act of 2005
:*August 10: Safe, Accountable, Flexible,
Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for
Users|Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient
Transportation Equity Act of 2005 (SAFETEA)

==Public perception and assessments==

Bush has been the subject of both high praise and
stringent criticism.  His supporters have focused
on matters such as the
Domestic_policy_of_the_George_W._Bush_administrati
on|economy, homeland security, and his leadership
after the September 11 attacks.  His detractors
have disagreed on those very subjects and have
also criticized the passage of the USA PATRIOT
Act, the U.S. presidential election,
2000|controversial 2000 election, and the
2003_invasion_of_Iraq|2003 invasion of Iraq.  The
magazine TIME named Bush as its Person of the Year
for 2000 and for 2004. This award is traditionally
given to the person considered by the editors to
be the most important newsmaker of the year.


=== Domestic ===
In the time of national crisis following the
September 11, 2001 attacks, Bush enjoyed approval
ratings of greater than 85%. Since then, Bush's
approval ratings and approval of handling of
domestic, economic, and foriegn policy issues has
steadily dropped.  For a comprehensive look, one
can see an image of polling trends over the course
of Bush's presidency
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pa/presidentialRating
s.cfm here.

During the 2002 midterm congressional elections,
Bush had the highest approval rating of any
president during a midterm election since Dwight
Eisenhower. In an unusual deviation from the
historical trend of midterm elections, the
Republican Party retook control of the United
States Senate|Senate and added to their majority
in the United States House of
Representatives|House of Representatives;
typically, the President's party loses
Congressional seats in the midterm elections, and
2002 marked only the third midterm election since
the American Civil War|Civil War that the party in
control of the White House gained seats in both
houses of Congress (others were 1902 and 1934).

In 2003, Bush's approval ratings slowly fell,
except for a spike upward at the time of the
invasion of Iraq. By late 2003, when presidential
opponents typically begin their campaigns in
earnest, his approval numbers were in the low to
middle 50s. Most polls tied the decline to growing
concern over the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and a
slow recovery from the 2001 recession. Polls of
May 2004 showed anywhere from a 53 percent
approval rating
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/Bush_Job_Approval.
htm to a 46 percent approval rating.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nat
ion/polls/usatodaypolls.htm A John Zogby|Zogby
poll showed Bush's approval rating a 46% for the
month of March, 2005, the lowest Bush had ever
received. As of August 2005, Bush's approval
rating remains at a Presidential low of 42%
according to an
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pa/presidentialRating
s.cfm Ipsos News Poll.

Bush's many mistakes while publicly speaking have
spawned a new term in America, bushism. This is
the term used for a word, phrase, or other
grammatical configuration unique to the style of
President George W. Bush. 



=== Outside the United States ===

Bush has received both criticism and praise
outside the United States for his foreign policy
decisions regarding the War in Iraq.  Polls of
Europeans highlighted a "transatlantic split over
the war in Iraq".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3081254.stm 
Opinion about Bush is largely based upon their
views of the War, rather than their views of Bush
as a person. 

A
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/04/world/ma
in604135.shtml survey conducted by
http://www.ap-ipsosresults.com/ Ipsos for the
Associated Press in 2004 found that "just over
half in Mexico and Italy had a negative view of
Mr. Bush's role. In Britain, the closest U.S. ally
in the war in Iraq, and in Canada, two-thirds had
a negative view...Three-fourths of those in Spain
and more than 80 percent in France and Germany had
a negative view of Mr. Bush's role in world
affairs."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/04/world/ma
in604135.shtml  While those in the United States
were evenly divided on whether the war has
increased or decreased the terror threat, most of
those sampled outside the United States believe
that Bush's foreign policy decisions in the Iraq
war have "increased the threat of terrorism in the
world."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/04/world/ma
in604135.shtml  

Yet, of the eight countries polled, a majority in
five countries — the United States, Canada,
Mexico, Italy and Britain — said that even if no
weapons of mass destruction are found in Iraq,
there were other reasons to justify the Iraq
war.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/04/worl
d/main604135.shtml

Another
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?Repor
tID=206 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center
showed similar foreign attitudes towards Bush.
Foreign opinion of post-invasion Iraq is
relatively much higher. In another study, when
Europeans were asked in 2004 if the Iraqi people
will be better off now in a post-Hussein Iraq, 82%
in the U.K., 67% in France and 65% in Germany
agreed.
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?Repor
tID=206  However, large majorities in almost every
country surveyed think that American and British
leaders lied when they claimed, prior to the Iraq
war, that Saddam Hussein’s regime had weapons of
mass destruction."
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?Repor
tID=206

Those in Muslim countries surveyed in this poll
are less confident of Iraq's future.  In these
Muslim countries, Bush's unfavorability ratings
are particularly high, often over 90%.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/opinion/02wright
.html. Among the non-U.S. nations polled in
another
http://www.cbc.ca/news/america/finaldata.pdf
worldwide poll by CBC, Bush's popularity was
highest in Israel, where 62% reported favorable
views, however in the CBC poll, Israel was the
only foreign country polled that had a net
favorable opinion of
Bush.http://www.cbc.ca/news/america/finaldata.pdf
(Q2)

The majority of people in the UK, USA, Australia,
and Israel however agreed with Bush that it was
right to invade Iraq.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/america/finaldata.pdf (Q22)

==See also==
*2003 invasion of Iraq
*Books about George W. Bush
*Bush administration
*Bush Doctrine
*Bush family
*Bush family conspiracy theory
*Bushism
*Christian Right
*Compassionate conservatism
*Fahrenheit 9/11
*George W. Bush's first term as President of the
United States
*George W. Bush's second term as President of the
United States
*History of the United States (1988-present)
*List of national leaders
*List of TIME Magazine's 100 most influential
people of 2005
*Michael Scheuer
*Neoconservatism (United States)
*Paleoconservatism
*Plame affair
*War on Terrorism
*White House Communications Agency

==Media==   
multi-listen start   
multi-listen item|filename=George W. Bush Speech -
September 11, 2001.ogg|title=George W. Bush's
speech on September 11, 2001 about the
attacks|description=|format=Ogg    
multi-listen item|filename=George W. Bush Speech -
September 12, 2001.ogg|title=George W. Bush's
speech on September 12, 2001 about the
attacks|description=|format=Ogg   
multi-listen end 

==References==
*
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012901
a.htm About.com's article: Bush's Faith-Based
Initiative Launched
* http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/ Faith
Based and Community Initiatives official website
* Graphs of approval
ratingshttp://www.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Approval.h
tm,http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/pollkat
zmainGRAPHICS_8911_image001.gif
* Time-analysis of Bush's
popularityhttp://www.polisci.wisc.edu/~behavior/pa
pers/Franklin2003-perspective.pdf.
* Collection of
Bushismshttp://politicalhumor.about.com/library/bl
bushisms.htm
*
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/April05/slime-
mold.Bush.Cheney.ssl.html Bush, Cheney and
Rumsfeld are now species of slime-mold
beetles—but strictly in homage Cornell
University article
* nndb name | id = 360/000022294 | name = George
W. Bush

==Notes==
anb|oil_and_baseball The White House (2005).
http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html
Biography of President George W. Bush. Retrieved
June 21, 2005. "Owner, oil and gas business"
"Partner, Texas Rangers Baseball Team"

==Further reading and information==
*Ken Auletta (January 19, 2004).
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040119fa_fa
ct2 "Fortress Bush: How the White House Keeps the
Press Under Control", The New Yorker, LXXIX, 53
*James Bovard, The Bush Betrayal, (2004) ISBN
140396727X
*Robert Bryce, Cronies: Oil, The Bushes, and the
Rise of Texas, America's Superstate, (2004) ISBN
1586481886
*George W. Bush, A Charge to Keep, (1999) ISBN
0688174418
*George W. Bush, We Will Prevail, (2003) ISBN
0826415520
*John W. Dean, Worse Than Watergate: The Secret
Presidency of George W. Bush, (2004) ISBN
031600023X
*Justin A. Frank, Bush On The Couch, (2004), Regan
Books. ISBN 0060736704
*Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer & Brendan Nyhan, All the
President's Spin: George W. Bush, the Media, and
the Truth, (2004) ISBN 0743262514
*David Frum, The Right Man, (2003) ISBN 0375509038
ISBN 0812966953
*H. Gillman, The Votes That Counted: How the Court
Decided the 2000 Presidential Election, (2001)
ISBN 0226294080
*James Hatfield, Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and
the Making of an American President, (1999) ISBN
1887128840
*Molly Ivins and L. Dubose, Shrub: The Short but
Happy Political Life of George W. Bush, (2000)
ISBN 0375503994
*Ronald Kessler, A Matter Of Character: Inside The
White House Of George W. Bush, (2004) ISBN
1595230009
*Stephen Mansfield, The Faith of George W. Bush,
(2003) ISBN 1585423092
*Richard Miniter, Shadow War: The Untold Story of
How Bush Is Winning the War on Terror (2004) ISBN
0895260522
*B. Minutaglio, First Son: George W. Bush and the
Bush Family Dynasty, (1999) ISBN 0609808672
*E. Mitchell, W: Revenge of the Bush Dynasty,
(2000) ISBN 0786866306
*Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) documentary
motion picture
*John Podhoretz, Bush Country : How Dubya Became a
Great President While Driving Liberals Insane,
(2004) ISBN 0312324723
*Michel Ruppert Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline
of the American Empire at the End of the Age of
Oil, (2004) ISBN 0865715408
*Bill Sammon, Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism
from Inside the Bush White House, (2002) ISBN
0895261499
*Bill Sammon, Misunderestimated: The President
Battles Terrorism, John Kerry, and the Bush
Haters, (2004) ISBN 0060723831
*Webster Griffin Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin,
George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography
(http://www.patrickcrusade.org/new_page_2.htm
*Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud|House
of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship
Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties,
(2004) ISBN 074325337X
*Ian Williams, Deserter: George Bush's War on
Military Families, Veterans, and His Past, (2004)
ISBN 1560256273
*Bob Woodward, Bush at War, (2002) ISBN 0743244613
*Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack, (2004) ISBN
074325547X

==External links==

Wikisource author
commons|George W. Bush

*Official
:*http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html
Official White House biography
:*http://www.gop.com/GOPDirectory/LeaderBio.aspx?I
D=3 RNC biography

*Speeches
:*
http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/showfindingaid.cfm?findaidi
d=BushGW Audio recordings of Bush's speeches

*Transcripts
:*http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/rep
ublican/transcripts/bush.html 2000 GOP Convention
Nomination Speech (August 3, 2000)
:*http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug
/gbush1.htm First Inaugural Address
:*http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/
20050120-1.html Second Inaugural Address
:*http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/
20010911.html Remarks by the President After Two
Planes