Ian Mishalove / Campaign for America’s Future – 2007-01-24 00:14:05

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Every year since 2001, President Bush has delivered a State of the Union address. And every year, he’s failed to deliver on his promises. Tonight, we expect him — once again — to try to mislead the public into thinking he is responding to their concerns. We expect more empty promises, twisted stats and half-truths.

But we don’t have to let his misinformation go unchallenged. We can counter Bush’s rhetoric, but only with your help.

We’ve collected the hard data about the real state of our union, to expose what’s really happened on Bush’s watch. And, we’ve combed Bush’s past State of the Union addresses to show where he’s made empty promises, over and over again on the key issues he’s expected to address tonight.

We’ve assembled all that information in an easy-to-follow watch guide, “State of the Union — By The Numbers,” so you can keep track of where Bush adds more phony pledges and claims tonight.

Perceptions of Bush’s speech will be shaped largely by media coverage, and we can’t just sit back and expect most journalists to expose the reality masked by Bush’s rhetoric. We also can’t let right-wingers take over tomorrow’s editorial pages and spread Bush’s misinformation.

So tonight, after the State of the Union address is over, get the facts from our “State of the Union — By The Numbers” guide, and then write your local newspaper editors to share the facts and make sure they cover the full story. Let’s remind local editors and all of their readers that Bush lost our trust because of his six-year record of failure, and he won’t regain it with one more misleading speech.

Here are just two suggestions for how you can help counter the president’s hype:

* If Bush presents a plan to provide affordable health care for everybody, you can expose how he’s made that exact promise four years running, then allowed healthcare costs to skyrocket and millions more to go uninsured on his watch. GO»

* If Bush pronounces his support of energy independence, you can show that he’s made that claim for six straight years. Yet, he doled out billions of taxpayer dollars to Big Oil while our gas consumption and gas prices have both steadily climbed. GO »

Bush’s objective tonight is to regain control over the nation’s policy agenda on behalf of his special- interest cronies. Last November, voters wrested back control of the agenda and placed it in the hands of our new Congress. Let’s keep it that way, so that we can again have a truly representative and responsive government. Get the facts.

And after tonight’s speech, alert the media and help to inform your community.

Thanks again for helping to deliver a much-needed dose of reality.

Ian Mishalove is the Director of Online Communications for the Campaign for America’s Future www.ourfuture.org