CORRECTION: I spelled "flip-flopping" incorrectly in the title (which has been modified), for more on the term see Wikipedia
Remember all the talk about John Kerry flip-flopping in his 2004 presidential campaign? Well I think the current president (and victor of the aforementioned race) has a lot more to answer to in regards to drastic changed in policy.
Transcript of 12 October 2000 presidential election debate, Bush v. Gore:
GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH:
You mentioned Haiti. I wouldn't have sent troops to Haiti. I didn't think it was a mission worthwhile. It was a nation building mission. And it was not very successful. It cost us a couple billions of dollars and I'm not sure democracy is any better off in Haiti than it was before.
...
I'm not so sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say this is the way it's got to be. We can help. And maybe it's just our difference in government, the way we view government. I mean I want to empower people. I want to help people help themselves, not have government tell people what to do. I just don't think it's the role of the United States to walk into a country and say, we do it this way, so should you.
To think they were worrying about interventions such as the Balkan force in the '90s when there is an even larger struggle caused by intervention (not nearly as justified as in the Balkan case) in Iraq right now... and how his administration's Neoconservative policies contradict much of what he stated in 2000.
This is just one of the major policy ideological changes George W. Bush has made, along with his switch from pro-choice to pro-life for abortions. For a man who spent much of his time in the Oval Office and on the campaign trail preaching to the Christian right wing of the US, he sure changed his mind on such a large issue to the religious right pretty fast — twice. He switched from pro-choice to pro-life, then from not making it a priority to making it a priority in his [Christian] values policies.
Two of the largest ideological platforms President Bush and his followers have ran on in recent times are the Neoconservative doctrine and Christian right-wing politics (aka religious right, 'family values'). The policy shifts above directly contradict what he is following now.
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