So, Toots thinks it's that simple, does she?

Isn't she the one that says that nothing is black and white? She can't even take her own long-haired, liberal, flip-flopping tree-hugging, ACLU-loving, gay-marrying, femme-Nazi hippie¹ advice. She's all quick to point out all the "lies" the President has told, but has she ever considered all the ways in which he's told the truth?

I feel it's my journalistic duty to make sure that such biased, partisan reporting is met with a fair and balanced response. So here's a list of promises the Bush Administration has kept...

Item 1:

During the 2000 campaign, Mr. Bush swore that he did not believe in using the U.S. military for so-called "nation building" missions. To date, the Bush administration has held firm to that promise. Apart from a narrow stretch around the capital of Kabul, Afghanistan is ruled by warlords, drug dealers, Al Qaeda, and remaining Taliban leaders. There's no sign of a well-built nation anywhere in the country. President Karzai can't even travel outside the capital. I'd call that a promise kept.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, which liberals might see as a tasty, tempting target for nation building, Mr. Bush has again resisted the urge to break his campaign promise. He's letting Haliburton handle the rebuilding, rather than the U.S. military, which is busily attempting to convince armed militias that the war is actually over (a problem exacerbated by the President's on-going dedication to committing far fewer of our troops than are needed, no doubt motivated by his concern for their safety). And, despite the desperate need for global intervention in Sudan, Mr. Bush is keeping our boys out of things. He doesn't believe that it's the military's place to get involved in U.N. peace-keeping missions like preventing genocide. And that's one gun he's sticking to.

Item 2:

Mr. Bush pledged that, if elected, he would be a Washington outsider, untainted by the stain of Beltway Politics. Well, after nearly four years in office, the President remains a Washington outsider. In his single term, he has spent more than 500 days at his ranch in Crawford, at Camp David, or in Kennebunkport, Maine. That's more than 40% of his presidency, nearly a year and a half out of his four. Compare that to Washington Insider and well-known liberal Bill Clinton's measly 150 vacation days over his eight years. President Bush has spent more than three times as much time away from Washington in one term than Clinton spent in two. Based on these data, the conclusion is clear. Mr. Bush, as promised, remains as far from the stink of Washington D.C. as he possible can.

Item 3:

Mr. Bush promised a tax refund for every American, and he delivered. This, it should be added, he did in the face of great adversity. Most politicians would have changed their minds when the budget surplus projections that justified their tax refund turned out to be inaccurate. Liberal, tax-and-spend Democrats like John Kerry or Al Gore, upon hearing that the surplus they planned to give back did not, in fact, exist, would have flip-flopped and reneged on their word. Politicians less brave and determined than the President might have even listened to advice against the refund given by their Secretary of the Treasury or their Chairman of the Federal Reserve. But not President Bush. He made a promise, and he stuck with it, no matter the cost (a record $521 billion dollar deficit as proposed in this year's budget.

So you see, before we spend time rallying against the President for all his broken promises, let's consider those promises that he has kept. No matter the cost.

1. Editor's note: Toots has never actually hugged a tree. Except once in college, but she was just experimenting.