Poll: If you dislike Bush and his admin. do you at least believe he is acting in the best interest of the country?

[johnnobts]

most dems are too hard on the man. He really is an idealist. He believes in the things he espouses, freedom and democracy over tyranny. core convictions. you can make a point that the war was a mistake (he didn't lie us into the war, i get sick of that paltry claim), you can make a claim he's botched the war too, that's fine. but he's not in it for personal gain. he does what he thinks is right. Whether he succeeds (you do want america to win right?) or fails, at least his intentions were honorable. personal attacks on the man in this regard (he just wants oil, he wants to be king, he hates freedom) are despicable.

of course try to tell that to kieth olbermann and the kool-aid lefties...

 

[nageov3t]

I think that Bush thinks he's acting in the best interest of the country.

But I don't think that the people telling Bush what to do think they're acting in the best interest of the country.

(if that makes any sense )

I think that Bush really does believe that there are only two types of people in this country -- people who love america and people who are against his policies (and thus, hate America and want the terrorists to win).

 

[tomywishbone]

bush & his entire gang are murderous blood drenched thugs. And cowards.

 

[johnnobts]

careful, still a big difference b/w Hitler the facist anti-semite and Bush

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: johnnobts
most dems are too hard on the man. He really is an idealist. He believes in the things he espouses, freedom and democracy over tyranny. core convictions. you can make a point that the war was a mistake (he didn't lie us into the war, i get sick of that paltry claim), you can make a claim he's botched the war too, that's fine. but he's not in it for personal gain. he does what he thinks is right. Whether he succeeds (you do want america to win right?) or fails, at least his intentions were honorable. personal attacks on the man in this regard (he just wants oil, he wants to be king, he hates freedom) are despicable.

of course try to tell that to kieth olbermann and the kool-aid lefties...

Jimmy Carter was an idealist too. Too much idealism without a dose of realism is a horrible thing to have. Bush's administration pressured the intelligence agencies to give him a justification for going to war. They came up with whatever unconfirmed scraps they could and that was good enough for Bush.

Also there were too many contracts handed out that weren't even open to competition. That may have been Cheney's influence, but I really don't care.

Please drop the "DO YOU WANT AMERICA TO WIN?" crap that O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, and all the other Republican talking puppets have been repeating endlessly. What does winning in Iraq mean? How do you define it? Does it require 5 years of occupation with 5,000 casualties? More? Less? Until you can define the outcome and cost of victory it's a stupid question.

 

[Kadarin]

I dislike Bush, and I do not believe that he believes he's acting in the best interests of the country. I think he knows damned well he's acting in the best interests of his corporate, religious, and political backers, and doesn't give a rat's ass about the rest of us.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: johnnobts
most dems are too hard on the man. He really is an idealist. He believes in the things he espouses, freedom and democracy over tyranny. core convictions. you can make a point that the war was a mistake (he didn't lie us into the war, i get sick of that paltry claim), you can make a claim he's botched the war too, that's fine. but he's not in it for personal gain. he does what he thinks is right. Whether he succeeds (you do want america to win right?) or fails, at least his intentions were honorable. personal attacks on the man in this regard (he just wants oil, he wants to be king, he hates freedom) are despicable.

of course try to tell that to kieth olbermann and the kool-aid lefties...

So what? This isn't 2nd grade, you don't get a gold star just for effort. He is the President of the United States...that means that we (should) expect a little more than "good hustle". I agree with the idea that he probably DOES believe in all the things he claims to believe in and is acting out of what he thinks is best for the country. But the problem is that conviction don't make up for incompetence, and in many cases they make it worse, since a man who is utterly convinced he knows what's right is very unlikely to listen to anyone else. We see that reflected time and time again in the Bush administration, and that works alright when the people making the decisions are competent, but they aren't. And I'd argue that conviction mixed with incompetence is just as dangerous a combination as people acting from dishonorable intentions.

 

[ntdz]

Originally posted by: senseamp
No way he's doing what he believes what's best for the country. He is doing what he believes is best for himself and the GOP. It's all about keeping people who are loyal to him, regardless of how much damage it's doing to the country.

Under your logic, why would he do what's best for the GOP? He has no more elections to run in, he's lame duck. Could it be that he believes the GOP in power is what's best for the country, which means he's doing what he believes to be best for the country?

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: sandorski
It is Moot what his intentions are. All that matters are the results. "Stupid is what stupid does"

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Vic
Even Hitler thought he was doing what was best for Germany from his own view.

Exactly. And in the end, it does not matter. Cheney and Rumsfeld knew they could pull his strings as desired.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Craig234
Where's the 'like Bush but don't think he's acting in best interests' choice?

We're talking Republicans here, dude. If you don't agree with every single thing that GWB has done in his life, then you not only can't be a Republican, you can't even be an American.

 

[StageLeft]

He is not far above average IQ but probably feels he's doing what's best for the country. Of course, our two year old daugther probably feels she's doing "what's best" when she insists she'd rather eat chocolate for supper instead of chicken. That doesn't make it right.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: CountZero

Originally posted by: International Machine Consortium
How about "I dislike Bush intensely and despise his policies"?

You can despise his policies but still see them as being his own perspective on what is best for the country. For instance he may believe corporate welfare is the most important thing our country needs for continued success, perhaps even at the cost of some personal welfare. You might think thats despicable but that doesn't mean its intentionally bad, just a different way to view whats best.

I don't mean it to be a loaded question, I don't see how it is.

As for the like bush but don't think he's acting in best interest I didn't add that because it makes no sense to like the president and his administration all the while thinking he isn't acting in the countries best interest unless, I suppose, if you are getting some type of kickback and don't really care for the country in general I could see it but otherwise I didn't see the point in adding it.

So, the point of this entire rant here was to say that you like Bush, but are admitting that he's too damned dumb to run a country? We all already knew that: http://www.toostupidtobepresident.com/

 

[AlienCraft]

I'm sure they believe what they're doing is in "the best interests".... I may choose to disagree with portions while accepting the whole.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I don't think your poll covers my opinion of Bush.

I believe that he thinks he's acting in the best interest of our country but I don't think he has the ability to lead objectively or make the best decisions.

 

[Jeff7]

If he believes that he's not acting in the best interests of the country, that's disgraceful.

If he believes that he IS acting in the best interests of the country, that's frightening and quite unsettling.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Option #2. In this day no politicians act in the interest of anyone but themselves.

 

[Painman]

He thinks he's being directed by God. His handlers keep him in that bubble, and try to keep 51% of the populace in that bubble with him while they play their global strategic chess game (they're losing, but they're still getting awfully rich by playing). He's a tool.

 

[Thump553]

It is a given that any and all American presidents have always acted with the best intentions-I don't think anyone can seriously question that-regarding any President, ever.

What we have here (despite the sincerity of the intentions) is grossly incompetent administration of a failed and unworkable philisophical policy. GWB's actions have been motivated to cause a "right" revolution in American government. While he has certainly done enormous damage, he has failed to accomplish any positive goals.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I dislike Bush, but yeh, I believe he is doing what he thinks is right. The people around him however have... alternate motives....

 

[DefDC]

Originally posted by: Thump553
It is a given that any and all American presidents have always acted with the best intentions-I don't think anyone can seriously question that-regarding any President, ever.

What we have here (despite the sincerity of the intentions) is grossly incompetent administration of a failed and unworkable philisophical policy. GWB's actions have been motivated to cause a "right" revolution in American government. While he has certainly done enormous damage, he has failed to accomplish any positive goals.

Well said. And I'm generally an optimist in most things, but but I no longer believe that the status quo (not repubs or dems) are trying to stay behind the curtain any longer. When our weapons inspectors came back and said "I see no evidence of any WMDs" and we went to war ANYWAY, I think that speaks a lot. They don't care about human life.

Defenders of the administration like to cry that they were "misled by bad information". You mean to tell me that the worlds infomation systems can't go back and double check when a WAR in the balance? That's bullshit.

Sorry, I can't trust these guys to water my plants, much less run the country.

Again, just look at the handling of Katrina to see how they really think of us.

 

[BoberFett]

See my sig. The first part, not the second part about the P&N asshat.

 

[HomeAppraiser]

Bush is the oil companies and Halliburton's b!tch.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: HamburgerBoy
Option #2. In this day no politicians act in the interest of anyone but themselves.

I disagree. While I think Bush has a terrible agenda, I know of politicians who do 'public service' in the real sense of the word.

Not a few, either.

My congressman is one, Pete Stark. Read up on him. Another is Ted Kennedy. The man doesn't need to spend his time in the Senate, he could have a lot of pleasure elsewhere.

I think such people's service is based on their moral values of trying to help society.

 

[ProfJohn]

So 64% of the people on here really believe that Bush is NOT acting what he thinks are the best interests of the country? In other words, Bush has basically said screw the country, I am only out for me?

Is it the confusing way the poll is worded, or do that many people on here really think that?

I never liked Bill Clinton, nor most of what he did, but I would never accuse him of not acting in what Clinton thought was the best interests of the country (besides the Monica thing) I would say Clinton?s actions and policies were misguided, but the thoughts and motives behind them were pure.

I am sure that the vast majority of Americans would think the same thing of Bush.

So do two-thirds of you really think Bush is out there acting in only his own best interests, or did you misread the question?