President Bush is far smarter, more articulate and less ideological than his plentiful detractors scream, and, ultimately, he will be judged by history. Bush is a man for whom the long-term success or failure of democracy in Iraq will determine his place in history. He may end up a victim of his own tough choices, but the cheerleading for his demise when Iraq’s outcome is yet determined has hurt America and possibly set up the next president for the same appalling partisan response. The fact that the United States has not been attacked since Sept. 11, 2001, far exceeds the most wishful expert predictions of the time. I don’t think Albert Einstein could have devised an equation to guide the leader of the free world during the wildly tumultuous post-9/11 realities without a modicum of help from the opposition party and the vast majority of the print and electronic media. – Andrew Breitbart, Washington Times
If this contest proves anything, it’s that the electorate is sick of George W. Bush and eager for someone very different. They might even prefer the candidate they elected in 2000. The one who promised to be “a uniter, not a divider.” Who said he would “call for responsibility and try to live it as well.” Who said the United States should be “a humble nation.” Who faulted Al Gore for plotting to enlarge the government. That candidate soon became famous for exploiting divisions, refusing to hold himself or his subordinates accountable, letting expenditures soar and making America synonymous with arrogance in much of the world. Whatever Americans hoped Bush would provide, it’s safe to say that an open-ended war, an assault on the Constitution and an economic panic were not among them. – Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune
68 Comments
Hwy, Chapman? Those fragmented sentences of yours are making my teeth hurt. Please stop scraping your fingernails across the chalkboard.
America deserved better.
It was a very long eight years.
2 months, 17 days, 22 hours, 27 minutes
We haven’t had an attack because Bush appeased Osama bin Laden by pulling our troops out of Saudia Arabia within 6 months of 9/11/01.
That is what Bin Laden had demanded all along and Bush REWARDED Bin Laden for his attack…something Clinton refused to do.
President Bush is far smarter, more articulate and less ideological than his plentiful detractors scream,
Yeah? Too bad he didn’t show it.
“…and, ultimately, he will be judged by history.”
Doesn’t matter. We’ll all be dead by then.
“The fact that the United States has not been attacked since Sept. 11, 2001…”
Y’know, I’m sick of that. Please tell me when America was attacked BEFORE 9/11/01
“The fact that the United States has not been attacked since Sept. 11, 2001″
Besides those daily attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq perhaps you have a point. Bush simply made it easier for foreigners to kill Americans by bringing America to their neighborhood.
Apart from designating a couple locales as environmental refuges Bush has yet to do anything positive during his two unelected terms in office.
Perhaps we would not have been attacked on 9/11 if Bush and Gang would have read all the intelligence and listened to Bill Clinton when he left office.
Wasn’t there a infamous memo about planes crashing into buildings that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney refused to read? Oh yeah, Condoleeza Rice testified that the title of that memo said nothing about planes crashing into buildings. Yeah, right.
Rice also said no one would conceive of using a plane for such an act. Then again she is probably too young to remember the Nixon administration.
To really measure George W. Bush’s presidency, I would be interested in knowing the real feelings of the global leaders towards Bush. I don’t want the diplomacy version – I would like to know what they really think of George W. Bush.
I wonder if, and how long, it will take for the truth to leak out of the CIA, NSA and the Pentagon regarding “intelligence” used to justify the Iraq fiasco? Cheney should play a large part of this scenario.
“Bush is a man for whom the long-term success or failure of democracy in Iraq will determine his place in history.”
I’d add and Democracy in the middle east.
His entire agenda was changed on 9/11/01.
The impact of his Presidency on the world is yet to be determined.
Maybe Pat Roberts will go to jail.
History hasn’t written the final page on Bush 43 as this article from the WSJ states:
“To be sure, Mr. Bush is not completely alone. His low approval ratings put him in the good company of former Democratic President Harry S. Truman, whose own approval rating sank to 22% shortly before he left office. Despite Mr. Truman’s low numbers, a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll found that he was ranked the seventh most popular president in history.
Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman’s presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years — and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.
Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty — a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584386627599251.html
Going to be a lot of document scrubbing in the administation between now and Jan. 20th! If bush doesn’t end up in jail, we’ll know he covered his tracks well.
Phantom this sounds good. And I know you probably believe it. However those who know better including Pelosi knew there was nothing to be done about what Bush has done. He put country first and has been chastised for it and people like you think he should be prosecuted – for what?
That will be the question and Obama is out there now as the new dart board. I hope that doesn’t happen. We need a united country.
My son lives in Washington, DC, exactly one mile from the White House.
He strolled down there after the election and Lafayette Park was a MADHOUSE! People were dancing in the streets.
His favorite part was the crowd many thousands strong singing, “Nah, nah, nah, NAH. Nah, nah, nah, NAH. Hey, hey–ey. GOOD BYE!”
Barack Obama was too classy to thank the person who really made his victory possible . . . George Worst. President. Ever. Bush.
Only W. could put a black man in the White House.
Only W. could put a black man in the White House.
===============
Half of a black man. Half of a white man.
bush will live and die in infamy as the worst and most hated President in history.
True ANTI. It is the left that continues to divide by race and whatever other criteria they can. It is the way they create more victims, which equals more Democrat voters.
Having several neices and nephews who are bi-racial I am waiting for the day that people really do look at the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
Capn the left needs to get over the racial and on to the substance. This prez needs to hit the ground running.
As for your son and the chanting – does that sounds a little grade schoolish to you?
BlueJay
Posted November 5, 2008 at 10:42 am | Permalink
bush will live and die in infamy as the worst and most hated President in history.
—————
Fortunately for the rest of humanity you are but a very small cog in the world with one opinion just like me. Historians will write much more favorably about Bush 43 than the news media has written. That worst prez title may well be won by someone else before it is all over.
OkGrannie asks, why should poor widdle Georgie be prosecuted?
Well, here’s a start–
1. Presenting only one side of the evidence that Saddam Hussein had TONS AND TONS OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION–not revealing his questionable source (Curveball) and not presenting the tons and tons of evidence they had that Iraq was absolutely no threat to the United States.
2. Firing federal prosecutors for refusing to break the law.
3. Protecting Scooter Libby from jail time for his conviction for perjury so that Cheney’s role in destroying Valerie Plame Wilson could never be discovered.
4. Putting government e-mails on private servers and when the courts demanded their public release, having the e-mails get mysteriously “deleted.”
5. Cheney’s secret meeting with energy lobbyists to develop an “energy policy.”
6. Top administrative officials like Karl Rove getting actively involved in sending Democratic Governor of Alabama to prison based on trumped-up charges and false evidence.
7. Violating the US Constitution by secretly and illegally spying on US citizens, setting up secret prisons, holding prisoners without trial, and torturing and murdering prisoners.
8. Karl Rove’s and other top administrative officials continued refusal to answer subpeonas served upon them.
Yeah.
Those eight will do . . . for starters.
Fortunately, the rest of humanity has already rendered its verdict on George W. Bush. History is now.
There’s no need to belabor the obvious. Breitbart’s comments were interesting though. It makes sense that some here regard him as a credible source. Oh well.
George Bush is so bad, he makes even the formerly bad presidents like Nixon look good.
Weren’t you/aren’t you watching okie?
It’s not just from me.
Across this country, we are seeing JOY unconfined.
There is absolute GLEE at the defeat of bush related politics.
Democrats have had the Congress for two years.
Why hasn’t impeachment happened?
Nixon wasn’t awful with the obvious exception of his criminal activity which were more due to his personal demons. He would have landslided in ‘72 either way.
He ended Vietnam afterall.
“Why hasn’t impeachment happened? ”
Like Nixon said, “No one would dare assassinate me with that crooked Greek as my VP.”
It’s not just from me.
Across this country, we are seeing JOY unconfined.
After Obama’s first 100 days in office?
You heard it here first.
From lil ole Sollie…
Buyer’s remorse.
Bush had a fairly good approval rating at his 100 day mark. How’d that work out again?
I can hear the masses now, after the first 100 days…
“Hey!!! Where is all my free $hit???”
I mean Phantom is getting and electric car and all.
Why is it always the multi niccers like Capn who insist to calling others names? Joy BJ is a euphoric feeling caused by external conditions controled by us. When we start looking at the big picture it is a little less joyful and a lot more scary. I am rooting for Obama because I have a lot invested in this great country.
Capn I could answer all of your assertions. The congress for two years has tried to make something stick. It didn’t. Are you telling me with so many important things looming on our horizon they will push this fruitless agenda? Mores the pity if they do.
Sol, that doesn’t work anymore after my grandchildren are going to be paying for the spa visits that we’re buying out. And paying for the consolidation of companies to give reprobates luxuries they’ll never be able to see. You wanna talk free spit, start there!
OK. Bring back every soldier from overseas. Disband the BOE, IRS, homeland security and the Fed. Reduce the size of government by 1/3 each year for 3 years.
Take that money and start paying off some of the debt. Pass a law that the fed. gov’t will have a balanced budget every year.
Congress and senate. No perks. None. Zip. Nada. The job pays $4,000 oer year. Not more that 4 months in Washington per year. No health care. No retirement.
Hows that for a start?
Ghot I was very much against the $700 billion buyout. I made many phone calls and sent many emails to let my representatives to let them know how I felt. They were hearing it from many more than just me. This was my biggest disappointment with Bush. Everything else he did I felt he actually had to make a decision about the world impact and made choices that were unpopular.
The bailout out I thought came because he had some very bad advisors. Warren Buffett among them. Obama has chosen him as an advisor. This isn’t encouraging.
We aren’t so far apart on this one.
The companies that failed? Whoops, sorry to be an ‘Indian Giver’, but you screwed that pooch, you take the fall. Cancel that $700 billion check. Sell off Fannie and Freddie and recoup the investment there too.
Getting warmer?
Sol you have just taken us back to where our founding fathers wanted us to be. Farm during the good months, put back food for hard times, go to Washington for a couple of months, enact what gov needs to be enacted and then get home to get the crops in the ground.
Oh and the Capital should be moved to Wichita. Much more centrally located. Cut down on travel expenses and more citizens could visit their rep when they have a problem that gov needs to take care of.
Sol, letting them fall doesn’t hurt me. I don’t have enough disposable income for necessities like investments and insurance. I’m one of those money-grubbin’ liberals who sqander my money on luxuries like food, housing, and gas to get to work to pay for those pumice scrubs and mud baths for those hard workers.
“However those who know better including Pelosi knew there was nothing to be done about what Bush has done.”
Uh, NO.
Pelosi played a really cynical game of letting the bushco and the repukes have enough rope to hang themeselves. Instead of doing what was right for the country, she instead did what was “right” for the democrats in congress.
Unfortunately, when bushco hung themselves, they took the rest of us along for the ride. We’re paying the piper right now, and the rest of the bill hasnt even arrived. We will pay for generations because pelosi was more concerned about electing democrats than bringing the lawless to justice. Other than a couple of strongly worded letters, she’s let bushco skate on every investigagtion.
I expect no more excuses from democrats about why they cant get stuff done in Washington. Let’s see some action. We’ve heard enough talk.
Personally, I’d like to see pelosi and reid spend more time with their families.
Done deal OK Obs. Only don’t move it. Sell it. We don’t need it anymore. They can rent out a conference room somewhere.
I can hear the masses now, after the first 100 days…
“Hey!!! Where is all my free $hit???”
Yes, Sol, in your deluded little world, that is why people elected Obama. Go on believing that, if it makes you feel better.
In our world of technology they can accomplish most of what they should be doing via Internet2. Spread them out in offices in the states they are supposed to be representing. Constituents should have improved access and lobbyists decreased.
I expect no more excuses from democrats about why they cant get stuff done in Washington. Let’s see some action. We’ve heard enough talk.
Gabby Giffords held several constituent meetings in Tucson, but I was always too busy to attend. I think I’ll start making time. Carpe diem, indeed.
KFG, I’d like to see thing getting done in DC, too–just not too fast!
The rightie tighties have been champing at the bit since Dems took over the leg about things not getting fixed fast enough. Going back to my analogy about giving me 8 minutes free rein in your kitchen and I’ll see how long it takes you to clean it up, I’d sure hate to see you throw a hand-grenade in your kitchen just to show you can clean up in a second.
Fish, I wouldn’t worry about that. In fact, by biggest concern is to see a repeat of 1993, where the ball was fumbled so badly that the Republicans picked it up.
Of course, part of that was due to the nascent right-wing noise machine that is now a daily part of our lives. So we’ll see.
Rage,
Time will tell. There are many many idiots out there.
ghot I don’t expect miracles. I do expect to see progress a little at a time. Obama told us many times he had a plan and reading his web page I saw things he did advocate doing. This is what I am talking about. The hatred of the Bush years will only slow things down and do we as a nation have the time to do this?
I agree, Rage, I just maintain the contention it’s a whole lot easier to make a mess than it is to clean it up.
okob, I’m expecting a 20 year slow scrub just before we see the light again. Unfortunately, I’m also expecting 8 years down the road the noose will be loosening and the right-hand spin will be saying what a great job Bush did making things so rosey, that Reps get plugged back in again to spiral us deeper and tighter.
You think he will last 8 years?
I was amazed at the minorities and young people that were voting at my polling place yesterday. It was encouraging. But what about those who think he will put gas in their cars and pay their mortgage. Will they turn out in 4 years?
Actually, no. Unfortunately, I think the righties will get their way and he’ll be assassinated (we’re about due for a winning hit and not a near miss). Biden won’t be able to keep the country together (not from lack of skill, just charisma), and though he won’t get elected (or nominated) for ‘12, I see Hilly or someother charismatic Dem character sliding in.
You heard it here first *snicker*
Speaking of gas, how much has it jumped today? I’ve not been by a pump yet.
I’m on my way out so will check that out.
Unfortunately, I think the righties will get their way and he’ll be assassinated
Where the fu.ck did this come from? Who has been ‘wanting’ his assisination?
whities in white tuxes and wanting white top-hats ring a bell, Sol?
McCain rallies (”KILL HIM!!!”)
Is that enough?
Had McCain won, Dems wouldn’t've had that trouble. Invariably, someone, somewhere, sometime would be behind the ole geezer and sneeze and McCain would coronary on the spot.
President Palin–that was McCain’s hedge against assassination. You Reps were fine with her as long as she knew her place as VP, but as Prez….
(What does the VP do anyway? Order the senate around?)
McCain rallies (”KILL HIM!!!”) that has been debunked.
And no, it doesn’t ring a bell in the least.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIxRKjcbbBY&NR=1
try that, Sol. YouTube links my be flakey so just google. If that link displays right, there are several other links.
http://rightwingnews.com/mt331/2008/08/the_obama_assassination_attemp.php
there’s one with your spin on it.
whities in white tuxes and wanting white top-hats ring a bell, Sol?
That means some skin heads hopped up on meth? 44 grams is quite a bit. Sorry I didn’t make the connection between white tuxes and trailer trash. I don’t think they are representative of
the righties will get their way
either. My bad.
“mxyzptlk
Posted November 5, 2008 at 8:02 am | Permalink
We haven’t had an attack because Bush appeased Osama bin Laden by pulling our troops out of Saudia Arabia within 6 months of 9/11/01.
That is what Bin Laden had demanded all along and Bush REWARDED Bin Laden for his attack…something Clinton refused to do.”
Not only that but Bush attacked the ENEMY of OBL and alQuada to ingratiate himself to them.
4.4 grams 4 1/2
*hands over m’spectacles*
I don’t know if 4.4 g is a lot or not. I was outta the drug scene before meth came around.
From the link…
licenses in the names of other people and 44 grams of methamphetamine.
Mr_Kia
Posted November 5, 2008 at 9:01 am | Permalink
“Bush is a man for whom the long-term success or failure of democracy in Iraq will determine his place in history.”
I’d add and Democracy in the middle east.
His entire agenda was changed on 9/11/01.
The impact of his Presidency on the world is yet to be determined
–
And the Tooth fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa Claus will all be coming to your house first because you are such a good little boy.
Well, for my part, I resolve to give President Obama the chance that Bush never got from the vengeful left and not to under any circumstances sink to the levels of hate they displayed.
—————–
The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace
What must our enemies be thinking?
By JEFFREY SCOTT SHAPIRO
Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.
[Commentary] AP
According to recent Gallup polls, the president’s average approval rating is below 30% — down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.
This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, “Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust.”
Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties.
The president’s original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there.
It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.
Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country’s current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.
Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, “We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America.”
In Opinion Journal Today
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
* President-Elect Obama
* Read Their Lips
* The Latest Charity Shakedown
* Chinese Strait Talk
TODAY’S COLUMNISTS
* Business World – Yes, Detroit Can Be Fixed
* The Tilting Yard – Conservatism Isn’t Finished
COMMENTARY
* I Vote No Confidence in Congress
— Harvey Golub
* We Need Sustainable Capitalism
— Al Gore and David Blood
* The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace
— Jeffrey Scott Shapiro
To be sure, Mr. Bush is not completely alone. His low approval ratings put him in the good company of former Democratic President Harry S. Truman, whose own approval rating sank to 22% shortly before he left office. Despite Mr. Truman’s low numbers, a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll found that he was ranked the seventh most popular president in history.
Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman’s presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years — and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.
Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty — a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584386627599251.html