George W. Bush won the longest, closest, and most expensive presidential race in U.S. history with a keen strategy, a moderate message, and, of course, lots and lots of money.

http://www.opensecrets.org/bush/index.asp

As the Watergate scandal unfolded, the Nixon administration's decision to raise milk price supports was linked to the milk producers' pledge of funds to Nixon's 1972 campaign. And an internal memo written by International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) lobbyist Dita Beard suggested that the Nixon Justice Department had dropped three antitrust suits against the finn in return for its $400,000 pledge to help finance the GOP convention in 1972. Several CREEP donors were rewarded with ambassadorships.

George Bush (whom Nixon chose as national party chair in the midst of the Watergate scandal), invited $100,000 donors back into the business of financing presidential elections and influencing the White House. Several Team 100 members in fact were CREEP donors, including insurance executive W. Clement Stone; ADM Chair Dwayne Andreas; Florida developer Alec Courtelis, who took over Team 100 from Robert Mosbacher in 1989; and Mosbacher.

The Attack on the Bill of Rights In-Depth Special to The Dubya Report
October 20, 2001  http://www.thedubyareport.com/bor.html

Between October 11 and 12, 2001 the Senate and the House of Representatives each passed legislation granting the government an array of new powers to monitor electronic communications, and track and investigate suspected terrorists. Called the Patriot Act in the House, and the U.S.A. Act in the Senate, the bills were passed in what the New York Times called "and atmosphere of edgy alarm," compounded by dire warnings from law enforcement officials that another attack was imminent. The legislation passed, despite the efforts of civil liberties advocates to slow the proceedings at least to the point that the effects of the legislation could be considered seriously, and with lawmakers admitting they had not even read the legislation. Less than a week later, Congressional negotiators reached a compromise between differing versions of the legislation, virtually insuring its passage. A CBS-New York Times survey taken September 16 found 74% of Americans believing they would have to give up some of their freedoms in the fight against terrorism. While a commonly cited justification for this attitude is that the September 11 attack took place on American soil, Nat Hentoff suggested in the Village Voice that "most Americans have only the dimmest notion of what their constitutional freedoms are—and what it took to get them. So there is little concern that they and other Americans can be caught in dragnets of suspicion by a government that has suspended much of the Bill of Rights."

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