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‘i
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 9 • Wednesday, March 24,
Republicans getting dirty
Bush is guilty of many of the charges he’s accusing Kerry of in re-election bid
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SOUS
COLLINS
EZEANYIM
net
"/l
if
AP)
^ ^ pring started only a few
days ago, but it might as
well be autumn with the
vay the race for the presidency
as been progressing. Both
' tesident George W. Bush and
,1® ien. John Kerry, D-Mass., have
Iready brought out negative
ds attacking each other.
However, some of the argu-
icnts used against Kerry by
onservatives and Republicans are ineffective
lecause the arguments used against Kerry can
ie turned around to criticize Bush. For exam-
>le, an advertisement by the
onservative group Citizens
nited is a satire of the
MasterCard “Priceless”
ommercials. In the ad,
(erry is criticized for
■eceiving $75 haircuts,
ivearing $250 shirts and
reejowning yachts and man-
ions. The commercial ends
e. affwith the statement,
‘Another rich, elitist liberal
iom Massachusetts who
claims he is a man of the
the!i people... priceless.”
What is truly “priceless”
is an advertisement that
makes no attempt to criti
cize Kerry's record. —
Instead, it argues Kerry
shouldn't be voted for because he has more
material wealth than the average American.
Liberals are constantly accused of engaging
class warfare, yet conservatives are perfectly
willing to attack the rich also.
The advertisement also neglects to mention
it Bush, who was born in New Haven, Conn.,
has also known privilege his entire life or that
he and Kerry both graduated from Yale
University.
Another attempt to attack Kerry came when
Ken) unknowingly made a remark into a live
microphone concerning his Republican attackers,
saying, “These guys are the most crooked, you
know, lying group I have ever seen.” Some said
this type of comment was unbecoming of a presi
dential candidate. But in his 2000 campaign,
hutf Bush also experienced an open-mike gaffe. He
remarked to then-Vice Presidential candidate
Dick Cheney and the entire world, “There's
What is truly 'priceless'
is an advertisement that
makes no attempt to
criticize Kelly's record.
Instead, it argues Kerry
shouldn't be voted for
because he has more
material wealth than the
average American.
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Adam Clymer, major league asshole from The
New York Times.” Kerry was criticized for not
apologizing for his remarks, but Bush never apol
ogized for his remarks either. He only said he
regretted they were heard, according to the BBC.
The most used attack on Kerry is that he “flip-
flops” on issues. But political Web site
DailyKos.com has compiled a sizable list of
Bush flip-flops. For example. Bush once said that
states should decide the gay marriage issue indi
vidually, but now he wants a constitutional
amendment banning the practice nationwide. He
was also against a Homeland Security depart
ment, a 9-11 commission, an Iraq weapons inves
tigation and nation building,
: but he changed his mind on
all these issues.
Bush supporters should
be reminded there is nothing
wrong with a politician
changing his mind on issues.
And when a politician has
served as long as Kerry has,
he is bound to change his
mind on a number of issues.
What is most important is
that the politician makes his
stance based on his con
science and not poll
numbers, pundits or
other political
forces.
So how should
Democrats respond
to these charges against Kerry? New
York senior senator Charles Schumer
told The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart the
Democrats did not have an attack
machine. This is false, but the
Democrats can afford to be more subtle
than the Republicans. They can simply
highlight criticisms of Bush made by
influential non-politicians.
Howard Stern is an example. He has become
extremely critical of Bush and is urging his lis
teners to not vote the president for reelection.
This spells trouble for the Bush administration
considering Stern has a loyal audience of about
eight million, according to an MTV News
report. Most of the audience is white males,
which is a solid Republican block, but poll num
bers indicate a growing number may be recep
tive to voting for Kerry.
The Democratic machine can also use the
comments of actor and director Mel Gibson. In
an interview with conservative radio and televi
sion personality, Sean Hannity, Gibson said of
Bush, “I am having my doubts, of late. It mainly
has to do with the weapons (of mass destruction)
we can't seem to find (in Iraq).”
Gibson has become influential with a key
part of Bush’s base, conservative evangelical
Christians, due to his movie “The Passion of
The Christ.” His comments regarding Iraq
show that Americans of all political stripes are
dissatisfied with Bush’s war policies.
Ultimately, Republicans will have to resort to
using skewed and unreasonable attacks on
Kerry because they can’t run on Bush’s record
which is marked by more domestic and foreign
failures than successes.
Collins Ezeanyim is a senior
computer engineering major.
Graphic by Rylie Deyoe
MAIL CALL
MSC president must never
be an elected position
pnei
CTB j Thank you Student Senate. Thank you for
ive l(jseizing control of an issue you never had
jurisdiction over to begin with.
You have no right to demand the election of
is MSC president. You do not understand
ie operation and management of the MSC,
nor did you consult any of the committees on
ow they felt before you moved forward with
lis ridiculous referendum.
Thanks for once again accurately repre
senting how we (the students) feel about
things. How can the Student Senate justify its
argument that the MSC President should be
elected, when in reality, student elections are
name-recognition contests?
Approximately 1800 students (4.1 percent
of the student body) represent the MSC and
its committees. By your argument that the
amount of input students should have in the
MSC will increase by electing the MSC pres
ident, you shouldn’t be so inconsiderate as to
forget the Corps of Cadets. Maybe by elect-
the Corps Commander, we can increase
amount of input we have in the Corps’
operation. This idea is as absurd as your
argument.
The goal of this referendum is to increase
le amount of input students can have in
MSC matters. I agree; student input is
required for effective operation and manage
ment of any student organization.
Students not involved in the MSC or
Student Senate take note: By electing the
MSC president, you will severely affect what
can benefit from in the MSC. The appli
cation and interview process for MSC presi
dent is extremely thorough and effective. It
has worked for 53 years, and the MSC has
grown by leaps and bounds.
Please trust that the 1,800 students plus
e experienced advisers can select the can
didate that best meets their needs of the
MSC, its committees and Texas A&M.
Perhaps we should evaluate how the
Student Senate operates, and vote to elect
speaker of the senate. I wonder if they
would feel insulted as well, especially since
so many of us don’t understand what they
really do.
Elizabeth Proffitt
Class of 2004
Forum at Bush Library was
not all that was promised
When I first found out that George Bush
would be presenting a forum hosting several
of Houston’s renowned sports legends, I
knew I had to get tickets. I arrived at the
George Bush Presidential Library 45 minutes
before the forum was to begin and reached
the location only to find a projection screen
staring back at me.
I was very disappointed when I realized I
would be seeing the candidates as if they
were on television when the whole point of
going was to see the men in person. While
Bush and the panel did stop in the room for
approximately a minute and a half, it was not
what I was expecting from what I read in the
e-mail that was sent out.
Halfway through the question-and-answer
session, a man came in to tell us we could go
into the forum to ask a question only to snap
at everyone when a large number of people
stood up. Not only could we not see the forum
in person, but we were also limited in our abil
ity to interact with the panelists, which was
the point of the forum. I write because I was
disappointed and I feel I was misled, and oth
ers around me made it clear they felt the
same way. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the
forum and it was very informative, however, I
do feel my points are valid.
The e-mail that was sent out by the Bush
Presidential Library Foundation should have
made it clear that the students would not be
seeing the live forum before 250 of us sat in
line for tickets and arrived early because we
were led to believe we would be sitting in a
live forum that we would easily be able to par
ticipate in. If not, the foundation should have
made it possible for all students to attend the
forum and not just student athletes and mem
bers of the Corps. Either the forum should
have been held at a larger facility or they
should have sold fewer students tickets to
see the forum or perhaps not given members
of the Corps or student athletes special seat
ing, because by doing so, they made the
statement that regular students do not
deserve the same treatment as members of
the above student groups.
Ashley Roberson
Class of 2007
Fee increase of little
advantage to students
A s student body elections draw
near, students must be aware
that an item with more impact
than the selection of yell leaders will be
on the ballot. The Student Services Fee
is slated to increase by 65 cents per
credit hour, making the total students
pay per credit hour $ 12.51 or $ 150.12
for a student enrolled in 12 or more
credit hours. This brings the price per
credit hour to a penny above the current
cap, requiring a referendum vote by state law.
While the 65 cents extra is less than the cost of
a soda, closer examination of what the increase
will fund reveals a number of concerns.
In an attempt to address student questions,
the office of the vice president of student affairs
instigated a task force aimed at “educating stu
dents on what the fee increase is for without a
hidden agenda,” said Tom Reber, interim assis
tant vice president for student affairs.
The education process takes the form of
quarter-page Battalion ads, telling you that
“Student Services are working for you,” high
lighting the 18 different departments funded by
student fees.
However, what the ads and the task force
have failed to do is accurately inform students
on what exactly the fee increase will fund. The
advertisements display departments and services
sponsored by Student Fees that will retain fund
ing regardless of whether the increase passes or
fails. Once a department receives funding, that
money is in its hands even if it does not insti
gate the program it planned to. The driving
force behind the fee referendum is the creation
of new programs or the amplification of current
ones, many of which are unnecessary.
Memorial Student Center programs currently
receive $2,326,513 from student services fees
and have received recommendations from the
Student Services Fee Board of $178,812. An
exorbitant $90,000 of the increase, roughly $2
per student, will go toward additional funding
for MSC Aggie Nights, a program which does
not come close to reaching a significant per
centage of the student body. The Child Care
Center would receive an additional $35,000
under the recommendation, though students
only account for 42 percent of its
clients.
Many of the new programs that
received recommendations for funding
by SSFAB are legitimate needs, such as
pay raises that are state-mandated.
However, the SSFAB does not examine
the line-item budget of these programs.
If it did, it would discover much of stu
dents’ money is not being dealt with
frugally. The Department of Student
Life would receive $73,900 under the proposed
increase, but already spends more than
$100,000 on Gender Issues Education Services.
The MSC President Office receives $5,000 allo
cated toward “business meals,” and the MSC
Student Programs Office spent nearly $140,000
last year on food and drinks.
Should the fee referendum pass, the student
services fee could increase by as much as 10
percent a year until the fee reaches $250 per
semester. Although Reber estimates that it
would not reach this level until 2016, there are
no guarantees.
In the past 10 years, fees have had an aver
age growth of 4.4 percent per year, which when
coupled with state-mandated raises, has left lit
tle funds to go toward future development. The
purpose of the proposed increase, at 5.5 per
cent, goes beyond the current cap to foster
“future growth,” said SSFAB Chair Jim Carlson.
While program development is commendable,
the perpetual waste of student money on sparse
ly used programs must be stopped.
Budget accountability must be demanded,
and the excessive spending cannot be ignored.
Instead of giving these programs more
money in economic hard times when tuition is
threatening to climb once again, these programs
need to find the money in other places and trim
the fat in their own budgets. Approval of the fee
referendum this year essentially writes Student
Services a blank check for the future for pro
grams that will likely be ignored by the majori
ty of students.
Sara Foley is a junior
journalism major.