President Bush believes that history will support his decision to invade Iraq. But early reviews of his presidency by historians certainly aren’t favorable. For what it’s worth, an informal survey of 109 historians by the History News Network found that 98.2 percent of them considered Bush’s presidency a failure. What’s more, 61 percent of the historians ranked Bush as the worst U.S. president ever, while another 35 percent put him in the bottom fourth of presidents.
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WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!!
Former senior aide to Rumsfeld delivers scathing indictment
“A 48-page report written by a former aide to Donald Rumsfeld and issued by the Pentagon’s premier military educational institute has called the Iraq war a “major debacle” whose outcome is “in doubt.”
“Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle,” the report’s opening line reads. “As of fall 2007, this conflict has cost the United States over 3,800 dead and over 28,000 wounded. Allied casualties accounted for another 300 dead.”
Published by the National Defense Institute’s National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Defense Department research center, the report does not reflect the official views of the Pentagon or the Defense Department. But it delivers a scathing indictment from the key educational arm of the US Armed Forces.”
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/ExRumsfeld_aide_calls_Iraq_war_major_0418.html
Let’s hear it for “The decider!”
http://www.bartcop.com/shirts-and-stuff.htm you can own your own shirt with bushs head with Worst President Ever T-shirt from this sight. I have been wearing one for the last four years.
Any citizen of the United States who has been conscious and aware of current events for the last 7 years could have come to this conclusion. Over the last 7 years, we are all “historians” worthy of being polled.
JMWalker, I read a good portion of his (Joseph Collins) report, it is a must read for everyone who defends the Bush administrations handling of the occupation of Iraq.
Thanks Mloburgio. I’m ordering mine today!
Hey Red Republicans, I dare you to start wearing a shirt that says “best President ever!”
Of course you will be laughed at and scorned because even your children know better.
WS nailed it huh.
George W Bush.. makin’ Nixon look better and better, day by day.
LOL! Maybe that is why the old Nixonites put this puppet-boy into office in the first place!!! (Karl Rove, for instance, was a protégé of Donald Segretti who would be convicted as a Watergate conspirator)
If this blog had been in existence in November of 2000…
My prediction would be a matter of record.
I said back then that bush would be the worst President in history.
It seems I was correct.
HST was reviled in his time, with approval rating around Bush’s but the message control of the media by the White House and false “push” poll numbers have bouyed Bush beyond where he would have been in the 1950’s, when jourlanism was less polluted by the ubercapitalists. I find it irritating when folks compare HST to Bush. If HST enjoyed the media corruption of to-day, he could have been elected Pope to run concurrently with being POTUS.
Yawn… Good morning folks. Let’s see. Historians talking about the present. Brownlee thread- check. No substance- check. Teeing it up for the libs- check.
BTW Brownlee. The porn links will start to roll in on the WEBlog a little later. Are you going to do anything to stop them today? Lots or kids home, you know.
I wonder if the WEBlog gets click through income from the porn sites?
Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton is my candiates for worst President, not George Bush, sorry libs.
outlander
Posted April 19, 2008 at 8:20 am | Permalink
Yawn… Good morning folks. Let’s see. Historians talking about the present.
—
Bush has apparently reduced at least one supporter to the equivalent of a scratch-off lottery ticket player. “Hey, there’s still one chance in several tens of millions that Iraq can be defined by future historians as a ’success,’ even though nobody can define success in 2008! We might yet get lucky!!! I’ll take a paycheck’s worth!”
Bush’s GOP: We’ll take Slim and None for the whole shooting match, Alex!
Ouch.
Let’s see, academics is mainly populated by people who are so left-wing they make Obama look moderate. Like the results of this unscientific poll are somehow a surprise.
It would be more interesting to see the definition of ‘Professional Historian’ used for the survey.
“Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton is my candiates for worst President, not George Bush, sorry libs.”
Amazing how, no matter what, the Republicans will ALWAYS blame the Democrats for everything.
How the hell you can even compare Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton to the damage done by the Bush administrationm is beyond me. I just don’t get you at all.
It doesn’t take a “professional historian” to see the disaster of Bush’s presidency…all you have to do is open your eyes.
From Phillip’s link:
“Bush does only two things well,” said one of the most distinguished historians. “He knows how to make the very rich very much richer, and he has an amazing talent for f**king up everything else he even approaches. His administration has been the most reckless, dangerous, irresponsible, mendacious, arrogant, self-righteous, incompetent, and deeply corrupt one in all of American history.”
—
Ditto all that, and then some.
I had to laugh the other day..one of my patients proclaimed he didn’t want the Democrats to win the White House because they’ll “raise taxes”….just think about it…that would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. My apologies to my grandchildren, they’ll be paying for Dubya’s damage until the day they die.
Let’s not forget why true patriots hate the policies of this administration and oppose them with every fiber of our being–
1. he was never elected in the first place. He lost the popular vote in 2000, and he stopped and stalled the re-count in Florida so that democracy could NOT prevail.
2. he ran as a “moderate,” a “compassionate conservative” but as soon as he was installed in office, he and the jack-boots played partisan politics meaner and dirtier than they’ve ever been played. Witness Texas redistricting, court packing, voter “purges,” black box voting, and the last Republican campaign with its purple heart bandages and g**damned POS Swift Boat liars.
3. 9-11 was not a time of national tragedy that “changed everything.” It was a f*ck up by a guy on vacation (Bill Mahrer). Bush has never explained why people like Ashcroft were warned to stop flying on commercial jets two months before the terrorists struck.
4. He lied about 9-11, he lied about WMD’s, he lied about wanting to work with the UN on Iraq, he lied about not having made up his mind to invade, he lied about having a plan to reconstruct Iraq. Everytime an Iraqi civilian is killed with an American taxpayer funded bomb or an American service person comes home in a box, that death is on George Bush’s head, he and the people who support him.
5. As soon as practically possible, he cut taxes for the rich, thus insuring that the middle class and poor must pay more to run the kind of government that a modern, complex society requires. He helps those who have much, get more, and the poverty-stricken (mainly women and children) he leaves to twist in the wind.
6. He continues to protect corporate criminals who have stolen billions from their employees and shareholders, Enron being just one example. Pension funds are raided, workers’ life savings are wiped out, but corporate criminals never sees the inside of court house, let alone a jail cell. Compelling charges of corruption and war profiteering never get investigated.
7. In keeping with his “welfare for the stinking, fithly rich” program, George Bush wants to gut Social Security benefits for the middle class. This will free Washington from honoring past obligations so that more tax money can be funnelled to the rich.
8. Calling the US Constitution nothing more than a “g**damned piece of paper,” the Bush administration gutted privacy laws, instituted illegal spying, threw people into prison for years without trial (some are still there), and made the US into the leading nation which routinely tortures captives, even before they’ve been proven guilty.
Worst president ever?
Nay.
Worst president possible.
ProudMan writes that “Let’s see, academics is mainly populated by people who are left-wing . . . ”
thus proving that smarter people are liberals.
I wouldn’t have admitted that if I were you, ProudMan, but hey, that’s why you’re a CON–”logic be damned!”
To Mr. Philip Brownlee:
What is your definition of history?
Is the Bush Presidency over? No!
History will not judge anyone in the present.
http://hnn.us/articles/48941.html
“By Larry DeWitt
Mr. DeWitt is the principal editor of Social Security: A Documentary History
(Washington, D. C., Congressional Quarterly Press, 2008).
Re: Robert S. McElvaine’s, “HNN Poll: 61% of Historians Rate the Bush Presidency Worst” (4/1/08)
Here we go again. We are engaged in another exercise in instant history, in the form of a poll of opinion in which historians assume the role of soothsayers, predicting the future judgment of the profession on the Bush presidency. This is a follow-up poll to one from 2004 that Robert S. McElvaine reported on here on HNN in an August 2005 essay.
The current poll’s respondents (like those of the earlier poll) are acting as soothsayers because the history profession has not yet had the opportunity to engage the practices of valid historical scholarship. Valid historical scholarship requires us to do lots of things which require time, and especially, the passage of time. To make an historical assessment we need to engage the standard practices of scholarly research. It is these methodological disciplines which render historical judgments valid; it is not the “votes” of contemporary historical opinion. Even if every professional historian in the world placed Bush on exactly the same rung of the historical ladder, it would still be an empty exercise, because the processes of historical scholarship have not yet had an opportunity to be engaged here.”
“CapnAmerica
Posted April 19, 2008 at 9:37 am | Permalink
Let’s not forget why true patriots hate the policies of this administration and oppose them with every fiber of our being–
1. he was never elected in the first place. He lost the popular vote in 2000, and he stopped and stalled the re-count in Florida so that democracy could NOT prevail”
Capn,
What are you the captain of?
Can’t be America, because you don’t understand elections properly.
George Bush won the election. Get over it. He is not running again. Period. The Supreme court agreed with that
Presidential elections are won primarily by the electoral college, not the popular vote.
What is interesting is that the Dems created superdelegates for the primaries in the 80s for that same reason, so it would not be won by the general election alone.
“Get over it” is what you fascists always say.
Are the Jews supposed to “get over” the Holocaust. Are American blacks supposed to “get over” slavery.
Florida law requires an automatic recount in the event of a close election. Because of Republican rat-f*cking (thanks for that term, CF), a series of legal challenges had to work their way through the courts.
Finally, the Florida Supreme Court–the highest court with any authority because voting is a 10th amendment / state’s rights issue, ruled that the recount must go forward.
This is what the US Supreme Court, packed with CONs like Scalia and Thomas, stopped. The legally mandated recount never took place.
I will never “get over” the stealing of the election that installed Worst. President. Ever. to wreak eight years of death and destruction on the world.
The only people who can “get over it” are traitors to their country who hate what democracy means in America.
The super-delegates in the Dem primary are a total red herring.
They will support the popularly elected leader. Their purpose is only to break a statistical tie.
“George Bush won the election. Get over it.”
Uh yeah.
Go away and count by ones to 500,000. That’s roughly how many more people voted for Gore than bush. That should keep you busy a day or two.
Oh goodie Phillip,
…a designated Lib Progressive ranting thread.
But you know, they don’t need a particular thread, they can’t rant and rave just about anywhere.
Hey Capn,
The year was 2000 when Goerge W. Bush won the election.
Bill Clinton was the last elected President for the previous 8 years.
Civics 101 question of the day:
Who appoints Sumpreme Court Justices?
Changing the subject is not your best suit. (Holocaust, American Blacks, etc., etc.).
I don’t suppose that hanging chads had anything to do with it do you suppose in Democratic Party controlled precints? Nah, couldn’t be that easy. No way.
Now this would be a very significant survey if you also asked the historians their political persuassion. The information already available reflects most college level educators are liberal through and blue.
This is pure crap.
Name a single “historian” — out of this bunch surveyed, who has EVER voted Republican, even once?
From Phillip’s link:
“Bush does only two things well,” said one of the most distinguished historians. “He knows how to make the very rich very much richer,”
Yeah, this says a lot for whom was surveyed.
(snorkle, snorkle).
PRESIDENT BUSH’S AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Abortion & Traditional Values
1. Banned Partial Birth Abortion — by far the most significant roll-back of abortion on demand since Roe v. Wade.
2. Reversed Clinton’s move to strike Reagan’s anti-abortion Mexico Policy.
3. By Executive Order (EO), reversed Clinton’s policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act.
4. By EO, prohibited federal funds for international family planning groups that provide abortions and related services.
5. Upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals.
6. Made $33 million available for abstinence education programs in 2004.
7. Supports the Defense of Marriage Act — and a Constitutional amendment saying marriage is between one man and one woman.
8. Requires states to conduct criminal background checks on prospective foster and adoptive parents.
9. Requires districts to let students transfer out of dangerous schools.
10. Requires schools to have a zero-tolerance policy for classroom disruption (reintroducing discipline into classrooms).
11. Signed the Teacher Protection Act, which protects teachers from lawsuits related to student discipline.
12. Expanded the role of faith-based and community organizations in after-school programs.
Budget, Taxes & Economy
PRESIDENT BUSH’S AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Budget, Taxes & Economy
1. Signed two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in world history.
2. Supports permanent elimination of the death tax.
3. Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession, and deeply shocked as a result of the 9/11 attacks.
4. Is seeking legislation to amend the Constitution to give the president line-item veto authority.
5. In process of permanently eliminating IRS marriage penalty.
6. Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people.
7. Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts.
8. Killed Clinton’s “ergonomic” rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules would have shut down every home business in America.
9. Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.
10. Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains.
11. Signed trade promotion authority.
12. Reduced and is working to ultimately eliminate the estate tax for family farms and ranches.
13. Fight Europe’s ban on importing biotech crops from the United States.
14. Exempt food from unilateral trade sanctions and embargoes.
15. Provided $20 million to states to help people with disabilities work from home.
16. Created a fund to encourage technologies that help the disabled.
17. Increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA’s from $500 to $2,000 per child.
18. Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000.
19. Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans.
20. Reduced H1B visas from a high of 195,000 per year to 66,000 per year.
PRESIDENT BUSH’S AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Character & Conduct as President
1. Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the presidency.
2. Has reintroduced the mention of God and faith into public discourse.
3. Handled himself with enormous courage, dignity, grace, determination, and leadership in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 hijackings and anthrax attacks. He almost single-handedly held this country together during those searing days:
Just three days after the attacks, in his address at the National Cathedral, the President reassured the nation when he said: “War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing.”
On Friday, September 14, 2001, President Bush visited Ground Zero. Standing on a crushed and burned fire engine atop the smoldering pile at Ground Zero, he put his arm around a retired firefighter who had volunteered to help, and began speaking to the crowd. Rescue workers shouted that they could not hear him. Someone handed him a small American flag and bullhorn. The President spontaneously shouted: “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” The crowd roared with cheers and chants of “USA! USA! USA!” Then he raised that American flag and rallied a nation.
Education & Employment Training
1. Signed the No Child Left Behind Act, delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations). The very liberal California Teachers union is currently running radio ads against the accountability provisions of this Act.
2. Announced “Jobs for the 21st Century,” a comprehensive plan to better prepare workers for jobs in the new millennium by strengthening post-secondary education and job training, and by improving high school education.
3. Is working to provide vouchers to low-income students in persistently failing schools to help with costs of attending private schools. (Blocked in the Senate.)
4. Requires annual reading and math tests in grades three through eight.
5. Requires states to participate in the National Assessment of Education Progress, or an equivalent program, to establish a national benchmark for academic performance.
6. Requires school-by-school accountability report cards.
7. Established a $2.4 billion fund to help states implement teacher accountability systems.
8. Increased funding for the Troops-to-Teachers program, which recruits former military personnel to become teachers
Environment & Energy
1. Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty.
2. Submitted a comprehensive Energy Plan (awaits Congressional action). The plan works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc.
3. Established a $10 million grant program to promote private conservation initiatives.
4. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
5. Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary cleanup of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.
6. Part of national forests cleanup: Restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges), and removed the need for an Environmental Impact Statement before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
7. Killed Clinton’s CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California.
8. Provided matching grants for state programs that help private landowners protect rare species.
PRESIDENT BUSH’S AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Defense & Foreign Policy
1. Successfully executed two wars in the aftermath of 9/11/01: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom.
2. Saddam Hussein is now in prison. His two murderous sons are dead. All but a handful of the regime’s senior members were killed or captured.
3. Leader by leader and member by member, al Maida is being hunted down in dozens of countries around the world. Of the senior al Qaeda leaders, operational managers, and key facilitators the U.S. Government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed. The detentions or deaths of senior al Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11, and Muhammad Atef, Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command until his death in late 2001, have been important in the War on Terror.
4. Disarmed Libya of its chemical, nuclear and biological WMD’s without bribes or bloodshed.
5. Continues to execute the War On Terror, getting worldwide cooperation to track funds/terrorists. Has cut off much of the terrorists’ funding, and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network.
6. Initiated a comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, and which accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE capabilities were critical in the 21st Century.
7. Killed the old US/Soviet Union ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses.
8. Has been one of the strongest, if not THE strongest friend Israel has ever hand in the U.S. presidency.
9. Part of the coalition for an Israeli/Palestinian “Roadmap to Peace,” along with Great Britain, Russia and the EU.
10. Pushed through THREE raises for our military. Increased military pay by more than $1 billion a year.
11. Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia.
12. Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia, and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.
13. Prohibited putting U.S. troops under U.N. command.
14. Paid back UN dues only in return for reforms and reduction of U.S. share of the costs.
15. Earmarked at least 20 percent of the Defense procurement budget for next-generation weaponry.
16. Increased defense research and development spending by at least $20 billion from fiscal 2002 to 2006.
17. Ordered a comprehensive review of military weapons and strategy.
18. Ordered a review of overseas deployments.
19. Ordered renovation of military housing. The military has already upgraded about 10 percent of its inventory and expects to modernize 76,000 additional homes this year.
20. Is working to tighten restrictions on military-technology exports.
21. Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed.
PRESIDENT BUSH’S AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Globalization & Internationalism
1. Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become another League of Nations (in other words, showed the UN to be completely irrelevant).
2. Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court.
3. Told the United Nations we weren’t interested in their plans for gun control (i.e., the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty).
4. The only President since the founding of the UN to essentially tell that organization it is irrelevant. He said: “The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of UN demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?” We all know the outcome and the answer.
5. Told the Congress and the world, “America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country.”
Government Reform
1. Improved government efficiency by putting hundreds of thousands of jobs put up for bid. This weakens public-sector unions and cuts undeserved pay raises.
2. Initiated review of all federal agencies with the goal of eliminating federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of the federal government while increasing private sector jobs.
3. Led the most extensive reorganization the Federal bureaucracy in over 50 years: After 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
4. Ordered each agency to draft a five-year plan to restructure itself, with fewer managers.
5. Converted federal service contracts to performance-based contracts wherever possible so that the contractor has measurable performance goals.
Health
1. Strengthen the National Health Service Corps to put more physicians in the neediest areas, and make its scholarship funds tax-free.
2. Double the research budget of the National Institutes of Health.
3. Signed Medicare Reform, which includes:
A 10-year privatization option.
Prescription drug benefits: Prior to this reform, Medicare paid for extended hospital stays for ulcer surgery, for example, at a cost of about $28,000 per patient. Yet Medicare would not pay for the drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers, drugs that cost about $500 a year. Now, drug coverage under Medicare will allow seniors to replace more expensive surgeries and hospitalizations with less expensive prescription medicine.
More health care choices: As President Bush stated, “…when seniors have the ability to make choices, health care plans within Medicare will have to compete for their business by offering higher quality service [at lower cost]. For the seniors of America, more choices and more control will mean better health care. These are the kinds of health care options we give to the members of Congress and federal employees. What’s good for members of Congress is also good for seniors.
New Health Savings Accounts: Effective January 1, 2004, Americans can set aside up to $4,500 every year, tax free, to save for medical expenses. Depending on your tax bracket, that means you’ll save between 10 to 35 percent on any costs covered by money in your account. Every year, the money not spent would stay in the account and gain interest tax-free, just like an IRA. These accounts will be good for small business owners, and employees. More businesses can focus on covering workers for major medical problems, such as hospitalization for an injury or illness. At the same time, employees and their families will use these accounts to cover doctors visits, or lab tests, or other smaller costs. Some employers will contribute to employee health accounts. This will help more American families get the health care they need at the price they can afford.
Educated people see Bush as the worst president ever, conservatives view his as the greatest. That would seem appropriate.
PRESIDENT BUSH’S AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Homeland Security, Border Enforcement & Immigration
1. *See Government Reform above. Under President Bush’s leadership, America has made an unprecedented commitment to homeland security.
2. Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first 10 ABM silos in Alaska so that America will have a defense against North Korean nukes. Has ordered national and theater ballistic missile defenses to be deployed by 2004.
3. Announced a 9.7% increase in government-wide homeland security funding in his FY 2005 budget, nearly tripling the FY 2001 levels (excluding the Department of Defense and Project BioShield).
4. Before DHS was created, there were inspectors from three different agencies of the Federal Government and Border Patrol officers protecting our borders. Through DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) now consolidates all border activities into a single agency to create “one face at the border.” This not only better secures the borders of the United States, but it also eliminates many of the inefficiencies that occurred under the old system. With over 18,000 CBP inspectors and 11,000 Border Patrol agents, CBP has 29,000 uniformed officers on our borders.
5. The Border Patrol is continuing installation of monitoring devices along the borders to detect illegal activity.
6. Launched Operation Tarmac to investigate businesses and workers in the secure areas of domestic airports and ensure immigration law compliance. Since 9/11, DHS has audited 3,640 businesses, examined 259,037 employee records, arrested 1,030 unauthorized workers, and participated in the criminal indictment of 774 individuals.
7. Since September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has conducted more than 124,000 port security patrols, 13,000 air patrols, boarded more than 92,000 vessels, interdicted over 14,000 individuals attempting to enter the United States illegally, and created and maintained more than 90 Maritime Security Zones.
8. Announced the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), an internet-based system that is improving America’s ability to track and monitor foreign students and exchange visitors. Over 870,000 students are registered in SEVIS. Of 285 completed field investigations, 71 aliens were arrested.
9. This week, the US-VISIT program began to digitally collect biometric identifiers to record the entry and exit of aliens who travel into the U.S on a visa. Together with the standard information, this new program will confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies.
10. Eliminated INS bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.
11. Split the Immigration and Naturalization Service into two agencies: one to protect the border and interior, the other to deal with naturalization.
12. Signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal aliens.
13. Established a six-month deadline for processing immigration applications.
14. Information regarding nearly 100% of all containerized cargo is carefully screened by DHS before it arrives in the United States. Higher risk shipments are physically inspected for terrorist weapons and contraband prior to being released from the port of entry. Advanced technologies are being deployed to identify warning signs of chemical, biological, or radiological attacks. Since September 11, 2001, hundreds of thousands of first responders across America have been trained to recognize and respond to the effects of a WMD attack.
Judiciary & Tort Reform
1. Is urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits.
2. Killed the liberal ABA’s unconstitutional role in vetting federal judges. The Senate is supposed to advise and consent, not the ABA.
3. Is nominating strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.
4. Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims.
PRESIDENT BUSH’S AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Traditional Values, Compassion & Volunteerism
1. Endorses and promotes “The Responsibility Era.” President Bush often speaks of the necessity of personal responsibility and civic volunteerism. He said, “In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you’ve got a problem, blame somebody else — to one in which every single American understands that he or she is responsible for the decisions that you make; you’re responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you’re responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you’re responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you’re responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself.”
2. Started the USA Freedom Corps, the most comprehensive clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever offered. For the first time in history, Americans can enter geographic information about where they want to get involved, such as state or zip code, as well as areas of interest ranging from education to the environment, and they can access volunteer opportunities offered by more than 50,000 organizations across the country and around the world.
3. Established the The White House Office and the Centers for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative — located in seven Federal agencies. The faith-based initiative supports the essential work of these important organizations. The goal is to make sure that grassroots leaders can compete on an equal footing for federal dollars, receive greater private support, and face fewer bureaucratic barriers. Work focuses on at-risk youth, ex-offenders, the homeless and hungry, substance abusers, those with HIV/AIDS, and welfare-to-work families.
4. The White House released a guidebook fully describing the Administration’s belief that faith-based groups have a Constitutionally-protected right to maintain their religious identity through hiring — even when Federal funds are involved.
5. Issued an EO implementing the Supreme Court’s Olmstead ruling, which requires moving disabled people from institutions to community-based facilities when possible.
6.Increased funding for low-interest loan programs to help people with disabilities purchase devices to assist them.
7. Revised the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 rent subsidies to disabled people, permitting them to use up to a year’s worth of vouchers to finance down payments on homes. HUD has started pilot programs in 11 states.
8. Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men, women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa.
9. Heeding the words of our own Declaration of Independence, the president laid out the non-negotiable demands of human dignity for all people everywhere. On January 29, 2002, he said, “No nation owns these aspirations, and no nation is exempt from them. We have no intention of imposing our culture. But America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity.” As stated by the President, they are a virtual manifesto of conservative principles
And in a further effort to ensure history is fair and balanced regarding WMD and the Iraq invasion:
“One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.”
President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998.
“If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.”
President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998.
“Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face.”
Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998.
“He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.”
Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998
“[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.”
Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998.
“Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998.
“Hussein has … chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies.”
Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999.
“There is no doubt that . Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies.”
Letter to President Bush, Signed by Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL,) and others, Dec, 5, 2001.
“We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them.”
Sen. Carl Levin (d, MI), Sept. 19, 2002.
“We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.
“Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.”
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.
“We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seing and developing weapons of mass destruction.”
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002.
“The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons…”
Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002.
“I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force — if necessary — to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.”
Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002.
“There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years . We also should remember we have alway s underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction.”
Sen. Jay Rockerfeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002,
“He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do.”
Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002.
“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002
“We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction. “[W]ithout question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime … He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation. And now he has continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction … So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real …
Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003.
“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002
#
Maggotpunk
Posted April 19, 2008 at 12:05 pm | Permalink
Educated people see Bush as the worst president ever, conservatives view his as the greatest. That would seem appropriate.
—————–
Pardon me Doug, while I take time out to giggle at your comment.
(chortles)
Along with Bush being most unpopular, so goes our federal congress, which had they stood for their “changed” convictions, COULD HAVE PREVENTED THE IRAQ WAR with their vote:
Those calling this Bush’s war need to take a check up on recent American History:
Measure Title: A joint resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq.
On the Joint Resolution (H.J.Res. 114 )
October 11, 2002, 12:50 AM
Alphabetical by Senator Name Akaka (D-HI), Nay
Allard (R-CO), Yea
Allen (R-VA), Yea
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Yea
Bingaman (D-NM), Nay
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Nay
Breaux (D-LA), Yea
Brownback (R-KS), Yea
Bunning (R-KY), Yea
Burns (R-MT), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Nay
Campbell (R-CO), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Carnahan (D-MO), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Chafee (R-RI), Nay
Cleland (D-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Yea
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Conrad (D-ND), Nay
Corzine (D-NJ), Nay
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
Daschle (D-SD), Yea
Dayton (D-MN), Nay
DeWine (R-OH), Yea
Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Edwards (D-NC), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Yea
Feingold (D-WI), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Fitzgerald (R-IL), Yea
Frist (R-TN), Yea
Graham (D-FL), Nay
Gramm (R-TX), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Helms (R-NC), Yea
Hollings (D-SC), Yea
Hutchinson (R-AR), Yea
Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Jeffords (I-VT), Nay
Johnson (D-SD), Yea
Kennedy (D-MA), Nay
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Nay
Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Lott (R-MS), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Miller (D-GA), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Nay
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nickles (R-OK), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Nay
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Santorum (R-PA), Yea
Sarbanes (D-MD), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Smith (R-NH), Yea
Smith (R-OR), Yea
Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Thomas (R-WY), Yea
Thompson (R-TN), Yea
Thurmond (R-SC), Yea
Torricelli (D-NJ), Yea
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Wellstone (D-MN), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Bush’s accomplishments as president:
*
Attacked and took over two countries.
*
Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
*
Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
*
Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
*
Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
*
First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
*
First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
*
First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.
*
After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history.
*
Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.
*
In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
*
Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.
*
Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.
*
Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
*
Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
*
Signed more laws and executive orders circumventing the Constitution than any president in US history.
*
Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
*
Presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
*
Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
*
Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind. (http://www.hyperreal.org/~dana/marches/)
*
Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
*
My presidency is the most secretive and un-accountable of any in US history.
*
Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (the ‘poorest’ multi-millionaire, Condoleezza Rice has an Chevron oil tanker named after her).
*
Had more states to simultaneously go bankrupt than any president in the history of the United States.
*
Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
*
Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
*
Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.
*
First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission.
*
First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board.
*
Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
*
Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
*
Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
*
Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
*
First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US elections).
*
All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
*
My biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
*
Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
*
First president in US history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
*
First president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
*
First US president to establish a secret shadow government.
*
Took the biggest world sympathy for the US after 911, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
*
With a policy of ‘dis-engagement’ created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
*
Fist US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
*
First US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
*
Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
*
Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
*
Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden ‘dead or alive’.
*
Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capitol building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.
*
In the 18 months following the 911 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.
*
Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
*
In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the US has ever been since the civil war.
*
Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
Bush is NOT my hero either. But let’s try to remember that all the bad things which happen, are not directly related to the actions of one man.
Let’s try to be a little more balanced in our reporting, history lessons, poll taking, and posting.
Each of us, can paint a picture any way we see fit today. But history, like global warming, is a long term effect.
Otherwise, we have learned nothing, and history is bound to repeat itself.
What, again? Go, Bush, go!
* Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
* First president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation.
* Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
* Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.
* First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission.
* First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board.
* Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
* Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
* Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
* Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
* First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US elections).
* All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
* My biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
* Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
* First president in US history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
* First president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
* First US president to establish a secret shadow government.
* Took the biggest world sympathy for the US after 911, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
* With a policy of ‘dis-engagement’ created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
* First US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
* First US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
* Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
* Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
* Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden ‘dead or alive’.
* Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capital building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.
* In the 18 months following the 911 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.
* Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
It is one of the down falls of having open access to what is said to be historical facts and truths. When you were taught in school and what you thought you knew, twenty years later are not what is said to be correct.
HISTORY becomes sanitized over the passage of time, written and rewritten as new facts and evidence comes to light. How will history in a hundred years treat G.W. Bush and the actions of the United States of America when it comes to civil liberties at home and the war on Iraq? It would be interesting to see, what I know or believe I know today maybe shown right or wrong in a Hundred years. Certainly nothing that is available to me today would lead me to believe that short of Bush being able to write his own history. That it will be kind to him or the U.S.
But then who really knows? It will all depend on whom is writing the history, the only thing that you or I can do is be informed and remember the whys and how’s. Keep the information, the books and articles so when your grandchild or even great grandchild comes to you. Then you can compare how the history that is written differs from the history you are living though right now. BUT be honest with it, perhaps even write your own thought on the history that is playing out now.
So why not paint both sides, amway, or is that too close to home?
Your damn right we shouldn’t forget. If we do we’ll get McBush running the country for at least another four years, and that is a really bad thing.
I’d take the time to beat you up on your list J M Walker, but letting a Progressive live yet another day.
Besides doing other stuff more important to me right now.
I really liked the cheerleader flavor in A_W’s laudations. That, of course, is the whole thing about Augustus Stupidus. It sure seems weird to the rest of us, but apparently old cheerleaders (Bush was a cheerleader, did you know that?), after years of bein’ on the givin’ end, just LOVE bein’ on the receivin’ end of it.
So in A_W’s cut and paste stuff we get this strong “sis boom bah, rah rah rah, go go go George! Yay! Go history!” flavor.
…which would really seem to sum well his place among American presidents. Great cheerleader for the US, the rest not so much, frankly.
Come to think of it…that may be Bush’s Presidential legacy.
As in: In the long line of American presidents, Bush was a great cheerleader!
He does make his Daddy look much better!
Of course he makes most past presidents look better.
His influence may be sooo great he will make most future presidents look better.
And now we can have honest debate:
Attacked and took over two countries.
WITH APPROVAL BY THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS.
*
Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
*
THERE WAS NO SURPLUS. ZIP, ZERO, NADA. The Treasury was already trillions of dollars in debt, BEFORE Bush was POTUS. Clinton increased the national debt 1.5 trillion dollars. (Source: US Treasury)
Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
*
HISTORY WILL RECORD THE US CONGRESS VOTE.
Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
*
THE POTUS DID NOT BANKRUPT ANYONE. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY - REMEMBER?
Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
*
AGAIN, THE POTUS DOES NOT CONTROL THE MARKET.
First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
*
IT’S ABOUT TIME!!!
First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
*
GOT ME ON THIS ONE. TAKE SOME RESEARCH.
First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.
*
COULD BE TRUE.
After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history.
*
AT THE SAME TIME THE US CONGRESS RECESSED, AND FAILED TO ENACT THE APPROPRIATION BILLS THE DEMOCRATS RAGGED THE REPUBLICANS FOR NOT COMPLETING IN THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS.
Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.
*
POSSIBLE FACT. BUT MEANS NOTHING.
In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
*
MANY JOBS WERE CREATED AND RECORD JOB GROWTH IN AMERICA DURING BUSH’S TWO TERMS.
Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.
*
ABSOLUTELY! AND SO DID PRESIDENT CLINTON UNDER WELFORM REFORM. GREAT DEMOCRAT!
Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.
*
INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBILITY. WHAT DO YOU WANT? THE POTUS TO PERSONALLY PAY IRRESPONSIBLE BUYERS HOME MORTGAGES? REMEMBER CONGRESS WANTS EVERYONE TO OWN A HOME AND ENCOURAGED LOANS TO LOW INCOME PEOPLE.
Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
*
YEAH, BUT CLINTON ENDED UP CREATING MORE CRIMINALS DURING HIS ADMIN.
Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
*
SO, NOW YOU WANT TO “LISTEN” TO THE MAN YOU HATE?
WHICH WAY IS IT?
Signed more laws and executive orders circumventing the Constitution than any president in US history.
*
PROVE IT.
Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
*
YOU FORGET THE OIL CRISES OF 1973 and 1979? REMEMBER THE GAS LINES AND INFLATION IN OIL PRICES. THIS ONE IS INCORRECT.
Presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
*
JUST WAIT UNTIL $4-5 A GALLON UNDER NEXT POTUS.
YOU WILL HAVE TO REPOST THIS ONE.
Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
*
DECREASED THE RATE OR AMOUNT OF INCREASE.
Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind. (http://www.hyperreal.org/~dana/marches/)
*
THERE ARE A FEW MORE PEOPLE THAN FOUR DECADES AGO AND VIETNAM (two democrat POTUS).
Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
*
GOOD. WE STAND FOR AMERICA.
My presidency is the most secretive and un-accountable of any in US history.
*
PROVE IT.
Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (the ‘poorest’ multi-millionaire, Condoleezza Rice has an Chevron oil tanker named after her).
*
SAME-SAME THE US CONGRESS. THIS MEANS WHAT?
Had more states to simultaneously go bankrupt than any president in the history of the United States.
*
STATES RIGHTS. STATES RESPONSIBILITY. YOU WANT TO BAIL THE STATES SPENDING MORE MONEY THAN THEY TAKE IN STATE REVENUE TOO?
Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
*
FRAUD IS FRAUD. NOT THE POTUS ON THE CRIMINAL TRIAL.
Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
*
TRUE.
Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.
*
THANK-YOU US CONGRESS. (THEY COULD HAVE VOTED NO)
First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission.
*
DID POTUS GET A VOTE AT THE UN? DOES ONE VOTE OUTWEIGH THE VOTE OF MAJORITY AT UN?
First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board.
*
TRUE.
Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
*
PROVE IT.
Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
*
ABOUT FREAKING TIME!!! ABOUT TIME TO DECIDE TO NEVER GIVE THE UN ANOTHER DIME. ABOUT TIME TO RELOCATE OUTSIDE THE USA.
Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
*
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
*
PROVE IT. ENEMY COMBATANTS. NO GENEVA CONVENTION SIGNERS.
First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US elections).
*
MIGHT BE TRUE.
All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
*
AND A NEW RECORD IS ABOUT TO FOLLOW WITH NEXT POTUS.
My biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
*
SO WHAT?
Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
*
THAT’S A GOOD THING. LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE.
First president in US history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
*
COULD BE. BUT NOT THE FIRST TIME OUR BLOOD THIRSTY INVADING AMERICAN’S HAVE ATTACKED. I CAN LIST DOZENS OF OTHER TIMES - BEFORE A UN. DID UN APPROVE VIETNAM? IF SO, THAT WAS A JUST WAR?
First president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
*
COMPLETE BS.
First US president to establish a secret shadow government.
*
SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD MOVIE. BUT NO PROOF.
Took the biggest world sympathy for the US after 911, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
*
HE ACTED. BUT IT WAS MORE THAN ONE YEAR BEFORE RESENTMENT BUILT UP. IT WASN’T UNTIL AFTER IRAQ.
With a policy of ‘dis-engagement’ created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
*
THE US CAN’T DO SQUAT TO RESOLVE A BATTLE WHICH HAS BEEN BREWING AND GOING ON FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS POSTER - YOU WANT US TO BUTT OUT OF IRAQ, BUT INTERVENE IN PALISTINE?
Fist US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
*
COULD BE.
First US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
*
DISAGREE.
Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
*
COULD BE.
Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
*
WHERE ARE THE CONVICTIONS TO SUBSTANTIATE?
Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden ‘dead or alive’.
*
HE TRIED. WISH HE HAD SUCCESSED. MAYBE OBAMA WILL? MAYBE CLINTON?
Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capitol building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.
*
CAN YOU IDENTIFY AND CATCH HIM?
In the 18 months following the 911 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.
*
Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
*
PROVE IT.
In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the US has ever been since the civil war.
*
WE HAVE BEEN EQUALLY DIVIDED SINCE THE FIRST BUSH ELECTION. PROOF IS THE VOTING RECORD AS VIEWED ON THE RED/BLUE STATES. REFLECTED ON THIS BLOG. WE NEED ANOTHER CIVIL WAR AND CREATION OF TWO SEPARATE STATES? POLARIZED WITHOUT HOPE OF RECOVERY. EACH PARTY “HATES” AND SPEAKS TERRIBLE OF THE OTHER.
Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
SORRY WE WERE IN THE CLINTON RECESSION.
When I read people stuck on one extreme, I always question the validity of their thinking. I react with as a devils advocate.
Bush is not my hero, but neither is he the evil villian. If I blindly followed a ‘party’, we would be ensured more of the same: from both parties.
Captain America and JMWalker,
Care to reveal your “sources” of the above references and opinions?
Thanks for taking the time to post that American Way, busy today doing other stuff.
Well thought out and aptly worded.
Government documents released by a Freedom of Information Act request reveal the Bush administration is running a “shadow government” with Mexico and Canada in which the U.S. is crafting a broad range of policy in conjunction with its neighbors to the north and south, asserts WND columnist and author Jerome R. Corsi.
The documents, a total of about 1,000 pages, are among the first to be released to Corsi through his FOIA request to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, which describes itself as an initiative “to increase security and to enhance prosperity among the three countries through greater cooperation.”
“The documents clearly reveal that SPP, working within the U.S. Department of Commerce, is far advanced in putting together a new regional infrastructure, creating a ’shadow’ trilateral bureaucracy with Mexico and Canada that is aggressively rewriting a wide range of U.S. administrative law, all without congressional oversight or public disclosure,” Corsi said.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52164
Supporters and apologists for President G.W. Bush will often assail my assertion that the Bush administration has done more to dismantle constitutional protections of our liberties than any president in modern memory. It seems that these people believe that until federal Storm Troopers knock down the doors of their homes and drag them off to the gulags, they have lost no freedoms. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If history is any teacher, it instructs us in the incremental process that elitists use to implement their totalitarian agenda. The first step is to use an incessant, highly orchestrated propaganda. For all practical purposes, the major media in the United States is providing that propaganda. At the national level, there is hardly any investigative journalism going on. Instead, the national press corps has become little more than lazy lackeys for the White House.
The second step is to lay the foundation for totalitarianism by passing legislation that may later be used against the citizenry. And that is exactly what the Bush administration has very successfully accomplished. It very adroitly succeeded where the Clinton administration failed.
For example, most conservatives would be surprised to learn that the Patriot Act and Department of Homeland Security was the brainchild of one William Jefferson Clinton. However, a recalcitrant Republican Congress denied Clinton the opportunity to implement these plans. Of course, with the Republican, G.W. Bush, serving as President, that same Republican Congress was all too eager to pass these bills into law.
Whether or not individual Americans have been personally subjected to tyranny as a result of lost freedoms doesn’t change the fact that they have already lost these freedoms.
The third step is to demonize and marginalize anyone and everyone who opposes the government’s plans and ambitions. Such opponents are characterized as “unpatriotic,” “obstructionist,” “uncompassionate,” or even “ungodly.” Once again, the Bush minions have very skillfully done just that. Anyone who dares to oppose or even question Bush must be regarded as enemies of America or even as enemies of God.
Of course, the last step is to begin using the power and force of government to physically silence or remove those who are determined to require such treatment. And, as Germany’s National Socialists proved, by the time this happens, there is no one around who is capable of coming to the assistance of such people.
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/020105ChuckBaldwin.shtml
Still cracking up over AW’s assertion that Bush restored “honor and dignity” to the White House.
Anyone mildly familiar with either concept would have to regard Bush as one of the most dishonorable and undignified presidents in history. The man is an international embarrassment.
On the other hand, I hear he gives good back rubs.
American_Way,
I agree with your replies. I do not favor Bush on alot of things, but believe he is doing the best he can with the circumstances he inherited!
Party politics does not help.
We must be Americans first!
Rage
Posted April 19, 2008 at 1:00 pm | Permalink
Still cracking up over AW’s assertion that Bush restored “honor and dignity” to the White House.
Anyone mildly familiar with either concept would have to regard Bush as one of the most dishonorable and undignified presidents in history. The man is an international embarrassment.
On the other hand, I hear he gives good back rubs
———————————–
From your reaction Rage, it appears you are not familiar with the terms “honor and dignity.”
(chortles)
Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
*
PROVE IT.
George W. Bush and his most trusted advisers, Richard B. Cheney and Donald H. Rumsfeld, entered office determined to restore the authority of the presidency. Five years and many decisions later, they’ve pushed the expansion of presidential power so far that we now confront a constitutional crisis.
Relying on legal opinions from Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Professor John Yoo, then working at the Justice Department, Bush has insisted that there can be no limits to the power of the commander-in-chief in time of war. More recently the president has claimed that laws relating to domestic spying and the torture of detainees do not apply to him. His interpretation has produced a devilish conundrum.
President Bush has given Commander-in-Chief Bush unlimited wartime authority. But the “war on terror” is more a metaphor than a fact. Terrorism is a method, not an ideology; terrorists are criminals, not warriors. No peace treaty can possibly bring an end to the fight against far-flung terrorists. The emergency powers of the president during this “war” can now extend indefinitely, at the pleasure of the president and at great threat to the liberties and rights guaranteed us under the Constitution.
When President Nixon covertly subverted checks and balances 30 years ago during the Vietnam War, Congress passed laws making clear that presidents were not to engage in unconstitutional behavior in the interest of “national security.” Then Congress was reacting to violation of Fourth Amendment protections against searches and seizures without judicial warrants establishing “probable cause,” attempts to assassinate foreign leaders and surveillance of American citizens.
Now the Iraq war is being used to justify similar abuses. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, providing constitutional means to carry out surveillance, and the Intelligence Identification Protection Act, protecting the identity of undercover intelligence agents, have both been violated by an administration seeking to restore “the legitimate authority of the presidency,” as Cheney puts it.
The presidency possesses no power not granted to it under the Constitution. The powers the current administration seeks in its “war on terror” are not granted under the Constitution. Indeed, they are explicitly prohibited by acts of Congress.
The Founding Fathers, who always come to mind when the Constitution is in danger, anticipated just such a possibility. Writing in the Federalist Papers, James Madison defined tyranny as the concentration of powers in one branch of the government.
“The great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department,” Madison wrote in Federalist 51, “consists in giving to those who administer each department, the necessary constitutional means, and personal motives, to resist encroachments of the others.”
Warming to his subject, Madison continued, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition;” the interest of the office holders must “be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.”
Recognizing that he was making an appeal to interest over ideals, he concluded that it “may be a reflection of human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government.” “But what,” Madison asked, “is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”
Madison’s solution to the concentration of powers that lead to tyranny relied upon either Congress or the Supreme Court to check the overreaching of a president. In our present crisis, Congress has been supine in the face of the president’s grab for unconstitutional, unlimited power, and no case is working its way towards a Supreme Court judgment.
If Madison’s reliance on the ambition of other office holders has failed us, we need to look elsewhere. Can what Thomas Jefferson called the “common sense and good judgment of the American people” help us now? In the past, they have been a critical last resort when our leaders endangered the constitutional checks and balances that have made us the world’s oldest democracy. But first the public must wake up to this constitutional crisis.
http://hnn.us/articles/23297.html
Sounds like Amway is bitter about backing the worst president ever. Would he feel better if Bush took another photo-op with a crotch enhancing jumpsuit and redeclare the overwhelming victory in Iraq?
From your reaction Rage, it appears you are not familiar with the terms “honor and dignity.”
(chortles)
posted bu reg.
==================================================
And I suppose you think bush is?
(chortles)
Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
*
PROVE IT. ENEMY COMBATANTS. NO GENEVA CONVENTION SIGNERS.
This is the United States of America, amway, not Cuba. We have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights to lead us. I would expect our president to follow those that many great men and women have given their lived to protect and serve. Obviously, you think bush is a countyry unto himself.
#
JMWalker
Posted April 19, 2008 at 1:05 pm | Permalink
From your reaction Rage, it appears you are not familiar with the terms “honor and dignity.”
(chortles)
posted bu reg.
==================================================
And I suppose you think bush is?
(chortles)
——————————
Absolutely!
At least he didn’t turn the White House into his own personal Bordello, campaign fund raising, get out jail free card for your friends carnival fun house.
(chortles)
Sorry bushbots.
You can still wear your bush underoos.
But I notice most of the bumper stickers have gone though. We can only guess the balance of disgust, shame or even fear in the hearts of those who have long since scraped away the name bush.
Facts is facts. bush is the most hated man on Earth and the worst President in history. He will leave in shame and disgrace and be seen the rest of his life ONLY with small numbers of the haves and have mores.
American
Posted April 19, 2008 at 1:01 pm | Permalink
American_Way,
I agree with your replies. I do not favor Bush on alot of things, but believe he is doing the best he can with the circumstances he inherited!
Party politics does not help.
—
I agree, and for the life of me I don’t understand why the Republics feel obligated to play “party politics” above the fate of the nation.
Note, too, this of the following. This one truth alone — JUST THIS ONE — is enough to sink to muck the reputation of an American president. And rightfully so, too.
From the link, the author wrote:
“…he failed utterly to have a plan to deal with Iraq after the invasion.”
That one truth will sink any number of cheerleader chants. Thank God for the good order to be found in this judgment of Bush, too. Think of how awful the world would be if an American president could invade another nation with no plan to deal with the aftermath…and still make into history’s good graces.
ANY number.
QED
“he is doing the best he can with the circumstances he inherited!” — American
Right, he was born a moron then?
Moron is one word to describe Bush.
#
Regular
Posted April 19, 2008 at 1:15 pm | Permalink
#
JMWalker
Posted April 19, 2008 at 1:05 pm | Permalink
From your reaction Rage, it appears you are not familiar with the terms “honor and dignity.”
(chortles)
posted bu reg.
==================================================
And I suppose you think bush is?
(chortles)
——————————
Absolutely!
At least he didn’t turn the White House into his own personal Bordello, campaign fund raising, get out jail free card for your friends carnival fun house.
(chortles)
=================================================
No, he turned it into his private little fiefdom, where he signed a record amount of signing statements relieving him of any and all responsibility for his actions. Damn, sounds just like another tinpot dictator.
(chortles)
i> At least he didn’t turn the White House into his own personal Bordello, campaign fund raising, get out jail free card for your friends carnival fun house.
No, he’s turned it into his own personal profiteering factory and get-of-jail-free-card for people like Scooter Libby. He used signing statements to defy laws he didn’t like, and treated the Constituation like toilet paper.
But getting back to honor and dignity: Honor means, if anything, having the integrity not to lie to the American people, to admit when you’re wrong, and to follow the old adage “the buck stops here.” The Bush presidency has been one of dishonorably disrepect for the country and the people for whom he works.
As for “dignity”: Heh, he’s got to be the silliest, most undiginified president we’ve had in recent history. He’s constantly acting like a buffoon in public. But, more importantly, his silly behavior had serious consequences, such as the silly, reckless “Axis of Evil” speech At the time, Iran has a reformist president;in reaction to our open diplomatic hostility–not the just the speech–Iran elected everyone’s favorite lunatic as president. We’re still dealing with the consequences of that indignity today.
Clinton’s “dignity,” according to you, was apparently sullied was a affair was investigated, and luridly detailed by the oh-so-dignified Kenneth Starr. Who are you kidding? Obviously, I don’t condone what Clinton did, but one has to wonder about someone who sees consenting adults having sex as something undignified. The othe allegations, even if true, had nothing to do with job performance, and few could argue that, with foreign leaders, Clinton was one of the most dignified leaders in U.S. History.
Compare that with, say, Bush’s spontaneous backrub for Angela Merkel.
Where’s Econ101? I haven’t seen any posts for a long time. I enjoy/respect his comment, with which I seldom agree.
sursum,
Frankin = Econ101. The old nic wasn’t available.
Franklin, I mean.
#
Rage
Posted April 19, 2008 at 1:34 pm | Permalink
i> At least he didn’t turn the White House into his own personal Bordello, campaign fund raising, get out jail free card for your friends carnival fun house.
No, he’s turned it into his own personal profiteering factory and get-of-jail-free-card for people like Scooter Libby. He used signing statements to defy laws he didn’t like, and treated the Constituation like toilet paper.
Clinton still holds the record for pardoning criminals and his buddies which happened to be criminals
But getting back to honor and dignity: Honor means, if anything, having the integrity not to lie to the American people, to admit when you’re wrong, and to follow the old adage “the buck stops here.” The Bush presidency has been one of dishonorably disrepect for the country and the people for whom he works.
Again, if Bush lied, then it’s up to the Congress to impeach him. As said before, more arm flailing by the Libs, because “you ain’t got nothing.”
As for “dignity”: Heh, he’s got to be the silliest, most undiginified president we’ve had in recent history. He’s constantly acting like a buffoon in public. But, more importantly, his silly behavior had serious consequences, such as the silly, reckless “Axis of Evil” speech At the time, Iran has a reformist president;in reaction to our open diplomatic hostility–not the just the speech–Iran elected everyone’s favorite lunatic as president. We’re still dealing with the consequences of that indignity today.
A cheer leader for the Iranian President? If Odd-my-dinner-job is so likable, move to Iran and see if your opinion changes.
Clinton’s “dignity,” according to you, was apparently sullied was a affair was investigated, and luridly detailed by the oh-so-dignified Kenneth Starr. Who are you kidding? Obviously, I don’t condone what Clinton did, but one has to wonder about someone who sees consenting adults having sex as something undignified. The othe allegations, even if true, had nothing to do with job performance, and few could argue that, with foreign leaders, Clinton was one of the most dignified leaders in U.S. History.
Slick Willy got his name from Arkansas politicians for a reason. I’m guessing Rage, you like your politicians a bit on the oily side.
Compare that with, say, Bush’s spontaneous backrub for Angela Merkel.
Not sure what that is supposed to me other than more arm flailing by you Rage.
You gotta wonder about the self-esteem of people who still look up to Shrub.
Except for the ultra-rich, every constituency that ever supported George WMD Bush (and remember he once had 90% approval) have been fuc#ed over by this presidency.
Half of the 20% or so who approve of Dumbya’s administration are the ultra-rich. The other half (as demonstrated daily in this forum) are for Republic Party officials and candidates only because they’re not Democrats.
#
Monkeyhawk
Posted April 19, 2008 at 2:02 pm | Permalink
You gotta wonder about the self-esteem of people who still look up to Shrub.
Except for the ultra-rich, every constituency that ever supported George WMD Bush (and remember he once had 90% approval) have been fuc#ed over by this presidency.
Half of the 20% or so who approve of Dumbya’s administration are the ultra-rich. The other half (as demonstrated daily in this forum) are for Republic Party officials and candidates only because they’re not Democrats.
——————————–
So sayeth the bobble-headed Crats and we, the Sheeple.
“Regular” is left with saying –
“So sayeth the bobble-headed Crats and we, the Sheeple.”
I think I speak for most thinking people, “Regular,” when I say, “Huh?”
Maybe I’m just too picky — I would like to see a President who can stnd before the American/World public, and make a speech that hasnt been through 14 speech writers, and three committees, before it is delivered, using the best teleprompter equipment available… I ccan only note two presidents in my LIFE time who could do that — Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton… Possibly Lyndon Johnson, but not rel sure about that!!
I think I speak for most thinki