GWBush Legacy

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: Stunt
Bush was the president who tried to be everything to everyone.
...

It looks like you're trying to generate sympathy for bush. Please tell me I'm wrong.

 

[Uhtrinity]

Well, Bush is ranked 37 (tied with Nixon) out of 42 spots on this site.

The 10 worst presidents to have held office

The top ten - The Times US presidential rankings

The Times US presidential rankings - numbers 21 to 11

The Times US presidential rankings - numbers 32 to 22


Carter was listed at #32.
Reagan at #8
#1 was Lincoln

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: seemingly random

Originally posted by: Stunt
Bush was the president who tried to be everything to everyone.
...

It looks like you're trying to generate sympathy for bush. Please tell me I'm wrong.

I'm not saying it's a good thing. You simply cannot please everyone in life and people need to realize that government services and tax cuts are not free.

If you read the second part of my post you will see that I'm not sympathetic to Bush, Obama or McCain.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity
Well, Bush is ranked 37 (tied with Nixon) out of 42 spots on this site.

The 10 worst presidents to have held office

The top ten - The Times US presidential rankings

The Times US presidential rankings - numbers 21 to 11

The Times US presidential rankings - numbers 32 to 22


Carter was listed at #32.
Reagan at #8
#1 was Lincoln

Reagen made the top 10 for Reagenomics. Economists still cant agree about what actually happened because of his policies.

 

[RocksteadyDotNet]

Iraq.
Gitmo.
No WMD.
Illegal Wiretappings.
Unpatriot Act.
Politicizing federal prosecutor positions.

Need we go on?

 

[Jhhnn]

Bush hasn't been so much a leader as a true believer, himself- a figurehead. As a non-critical thinker, he accepted the ideology of the Right w/o question, followed the advice of his advisors, gladly accepted the filters they put in place. He's a man who was in over his depth from the beginning, just the guy the repub heirarchy wanted.

I have no doubt that he did what he thought was right, or that he really thought much about it, at all.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: Stunt

Originally posted by: seemingly random

Originally posted by: Stunt
Bush was the president who tried to be everything to everyone.
...

It looks like you're trying to generate sympathy for bush. Please tell me I'm wrong.

I'm not saying it's a good thing. You simply cannot please everyone in life and people need to realize that government services and tax cuts are not free.

If you read the second part of my post you will see that I'm not sympathetic to Bush, Obama or McCain.

Ok.

It just makes me itchy whenever I hear someone attribute conscious, thoughtful activity to bush. I don't believe he has much capacity - of any sort. In other words, I believe he has been a figurehead; and not even a very good one, at that.

And, for the sake of this discussion, bush, an almost past president (keep our fingers crossed that he and his ilk exit without doing any more damage) isn't in the same category as obama and mccain - who've never been president.

 

[Harvey]

Bush is as bad as the worst we've ever had. He IS the worst because the damage caused by all of his wrong doing is exponentiated by the available technology no other worst President ever had. :thumbsdown: :| :thumbsdown:

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: microbial
Topic Title: GWBush Legacy
Topic Summary: What will history say about GWB?

Greatest President for the Republican agenda.

 

[winnar111]

Originally posted by: alien42
looks like GWB wants to take a giant shit on the envirnment before he closes the door.

http://www.reuters.com/article.../idUSTRE4A117D20081102

his presidency has been regression on nearly all fronts.

Clinton did the same thing 8 years ago.

 

[nageov3t]

much as the Tyrant Emperor was necessary for the Golden Path, so too was George W Bush necessary to pave the way for Jes... er, Obama.

/reading too much dune

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Budmantom
I posted this yesterday in a couple of thread and seeing how this thread is going I thought I would chime in.



I was listening to Rush the other morning and he had a little story on how the Obama's campaign pays it's staffers to"infiltrate" on line forums and preach Obama's message(I'm not sure if anybody else heard it).

I didn't think too much of it, but I saw a posting from "microbial" a name I didn't recognize, only here since the 10th, 89 posts and only in P&N... so I searched and all his/her posts are Obama's talking points. I know the chances are slim and I know I've been suspicious of all of you on the left for a while but if we had such a person....

I could very well be wrong but what are the chances

It could be. Maybe it's PJ's other account. Maybe he has two. One that makes some sense and makes you want to vote for Obama and one so absurd it makes you want to vote for him too.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: microbial
Topic Title: GWBush Legacy
Topic Summary: What will history say about GWB?

Greatest President for the Republican agenda.

Suffocating oppression?

 

[winnar111]

He'll be remembered as the man who strengthened our national security and defense against terrorism.

Just wait and see when AQ attacks again. People will ask questions.

 

[dennilfloss]

History will say he looked like a chimp and acted like a puppet.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
History will say he looked like a chimp and acted like a puppet.

Evolution right before our very eyes.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Evan
rofl at Rush Limbaugh.

Remember when McOwen used to post the identical crap here? That everyone who disagreed with him had to be a paid shill? "How much are they paying you?" Now Rush does it. Too comical.

My opinion is that history will soften its view towards GW over the years, but it'll taken time. Mostly, I think he'll be seen as an ineffective leader who was caught up in a period of tremendous partisan divide in this country.

A good read is Fareed Zakaria's What Bush Got Right. It explains in some detail how many of Bush's mistakes in his first term, particularly squandering 9/11 on Iraq, etc., were the result of pandering to the extremists within his party (neocons, religious right, Limbaugh conservatives), which angered the left. When those mistakes became apparent by his 2nd term, to his credit he corrected them to some success, which angered the right, and now no one likes him.

One thing that has not been lost on me about Bush is how much the Presidency can age a man.

 

[brencat]

1. A strong muscular response to 9/11 that united the country
2. A misguided foray into Iraq
3. Severely underestimating how difficult it is to actually govern competently
4. Prioritizing loyalty over competence among staffers

Net net, average at best. Better than Carter, but not by much.

(I'm a Republican for the record)

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes

Originally posted by: JS80
My guess is he will be viewed as sort of a martyr - he did what he did was right without caring about public opinion polls and endured most of his presidency as a political punching bag.

"he did what was right"

That's debatable.

i meant to say "what he thought" was the right thing to do.

 

[GroundedSailor]

Originally posted by: conehead433
He will be the first President to have a sewage treatment plant named after him. And rightly so.

They should name the sewage after him, rather than the plant.

 

[Infohawk]

A complete failure.

He deserves to be made fun of more than Carter.

 

[Tab]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: Evan
One thing that has not been lost on me about Bush is how much the Presidency can age a man.

Are you saying Bush realizes what he has done?

 

[eilute]

Well he mislead the country into the Iraq war. I'm not sure whether or not that will get into the history books. I guess it will depend on whether the books are written by democrats or republicans.

He will get credit/blame/ or just be associated with the following:

1. the bailout
2. that aquatic nature reserve in the Pacific
3. Katrina
4. 9/11 & the "war on terror"
5. torturing in violation of the Geneva conventions
6. domestic wiretapping
7. spending lots of money
8. collapse of Enron
9. "The Bush Doctrine," whatever the hell that is
10. strong leadership(even if it's nto good)
11. secrecy

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: brencat
1. A strong muscular response to 9/11 that united the country

Would that be his continuing to sit with schoolchildren several minutes after being told of the attacks, flying around air force bases in hiding instead of returning to the White House, telling Americans to go shopping, that he 'didn't spend much time' thinking about bin Laden, or what? It's strong and muscular just because he said we'd respond? Or do you mean the invasion of Afghanistan that was gutted, militarily and in rebuilding funds, for resources for Iraq?

2. A misguided foray into Iraq

The right-wing cult's word for killing hundreds of thousands is 'foray', now, huh? That's the word they pick to 'lighten the mood' and minimize the facts of their 'oops'?

Would you use the word 'foray' to describe what someone does to people we like? If Iran slaughtered a half million Israelis (they won't), would it be a 'foray'?

3. Severely underestimating how difficult it is to actually govern competently

You make up for the other ones here. It's right on target, a fundamental problem with the Republicans.

You and everyone should read Frank Rich's "The Wrecking Crew" on this.

Net net, average at best. Better than Carter, but not by much.

What a joke. He's so much worse than Carter, you really need to get a clue there.

Low deficit/Human Rights/focus on energy independence/tough choices to end our wrongs in Iran/getting Paul Volcker in place and beginning to end inflation vs. the Bush disaster.
[/quote]

 

[alien42]

Originally posted by: brencat
1. A strong muscular response to 9/11 that united the country
2. A misguided foray into Iraq
3. Severely underestimating how difficult it is to actually govern competently
4. Prioritizing loyalty over competence among staffers

Net net, average at best. Better than Carter, but not by much.

(I'm a Republican for the record)

regarding point number one, after 9/11 nearly every nation in the world was sympathetic towards the US and internally there was a sense of patriotism which i had never witnessed before. GWB then destroyed the worlds opinion of us and divided our own nation in half, to say that he united or unified the country is an outright lie.