The Legacy of George W. Bush

SirJosephPorter

Time Out
Nov 7, 2008
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Ontario
I am going to list Bush’s achievements here.



Bush achievements:

2001 – 2002 recession, dot com meltdown. NASDAQ plunged from 5500 to 1100.

9/11 happened under Bush’s watch.

Packing the Supreme Court with extreme right wing Republicans like Alito and Roberts

Appointment of Ashcroft as Attorney general (the man who lost his Senate election to a dead man).

Mortgage crises.

Deregulation of big business, which led to the mortgage crises.

Bush inherited a healthy, roaring economy, with a surplus of more than 100 billion $. One of his first act was to give tax cuts, mostly to the rich, and fritter away all the surplus. Bush converted 100 billion $ surplus to 1 trillion $ deficit (I think that is the current estimate, it probably will go up).

Longest economic recession in memory (USA has been in recession for the past year, with no end in sight).

The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression (some are saying this may even rival the Great Depression).

Bush had the ignominy to preside over two severe economic downturns during his eight years of Presidency, I think the only President in recent memory to do so.

Finally the one achievement Bush can truly be proud of, to help get Obama elected.

He is responsible for bitterly dividing the county right down the middle 50:50. It was the strategy of Bush and Carl Rowe, to be the President of 50%+1 Americans, screw the rest. And the strategy worked; in 2004 he got elected by the slimmest of margins over John Kerry. If the state of Ohio had flipped (gone to Kerry instead of Bush), Kerry would have won.

Bush (along with the hate radio) has been responsible for poisoning the political atmosphere of the country.

Invasion of Iraq, in spite of faulty intelligence, in defiance of UN directives.

Is it any wonder his approval rating is in low 20s?


I don’t think the list is exhaustive, one could probably find many more items describing Bush legacy (e.g. Katrina fiasco).
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Bush = lowest of the lot.

Apart from entertainment value perhaps rating the presidents is an exercise in futility - the comparison between the job Dubya has to do and the job George Washington had to do is like comparing a 747 mechanic with a mechanic who services manual lawn mowers.
 

gopher

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 26, 2005
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But Washington and others were men of principle. They strove what in their hearts and souls was best for the USA.

Bush's motivation was treason and a desire to enrich the wealthy. His record clearly proves it.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
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But Washington and others were men of principle. They strove what in their hearts and souls was best for the USA.

Bush's motivation was treason and a desire to enrich the wealthy. His record clearly proves it.

I think treason is a little strong, Dubya made a lot of mistakes but one thing you can't take away from him (except for being asleep at the switch during Katrina) is his love and devotion to his own country- to the poitn where he set up Homeland security and was so harsh on suspected terrorists. Just wish he would have done more regarding tightening up the Mexican border
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Joe,

As you mentioned the list is endless, almost.

Curiosity begs.....every POTUS has a library...what could he possibly put in it (that reflects on him in a positive light).

imo/jao

r;s

His fast reaction to 9/11.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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The Rio Grande even with troops and fences and who or whatever else is there is not solving the problem.

imo/jao

r;s

No- you hire the unemployed to sit along the border at 50' intervals with a loaded 10 guage shot guns.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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JLM,

Something has to work.

imo/jao

r;s

Awhile back two border guards who were doing their job, after warning a couple of drug smuglers to stop and they didn't shot them (just wounded I believe) got sentenced to about 12 years in jail. Bush ultimately failed miserably in this (Lou Dobbs)
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Still very close- had California and Pennsylvania went the other way Obama would have been SOL.
 

Tyr

Council Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Connie "takes one for the team"

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Sunday took partial responsibility for the troubled occupation of Iraq, saying the government was not properly structured to handle the problems the United States faced after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime.
When asked by Fox News' Chris Wallace if former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had mismanaged the occupation in Iraq, Rice said the war started well but that it was a mistake not to give responsibility for the occupation solely to the military.
"I take responsibility for that, too," she said. "We just didn't have the right structure
 

Tyr

Council Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Sitting at my laptop
Still very close- had California and Pennsylvania went the other way Obama would have been SOL.


6% of the popular vote (8.5 million votes)in an American election, a near filibuster proof senate and an overwhelming majority in Congress = LANDSLIDE

McCain was extremely lucky to take Missouri (11 electoral votes) by 3,000 votes

The chances of California going Republican (even though Arnie is gov.) were slim to none. Obama took it by 3,000,000 votes. Obama took Pennsylvannia by 600,000. The race was over before the votes were even counted west of the Mississippi
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
547
113
Vernon, B.C.
6% of the popular vote (8.5 million votes)in an American election, a near filibuster proof senate and an overwhelming majority in Congress = LANDSLIDE

McCain was extremely lucky to take Missouri (11 electoral votes) by 3,000 votes

The chances of California going Republican (even though Arnie is gov.) were slim to none. Obama took it by 3,000,000 votes. Obama took Pennsylvannia by 600,000. The race was over before the votes were even counted west of the Mississippi

OK, I concede (I think we all "knew" for a good couple of weeks before the election which way it would go).
 

Tyr

Council Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Sitting at my laptop
Enemies of President Bush take heed: Karl Rove is set to name names.
The man widely credited with Bush's two presidential victories says his new book will include an accounting of those in Washington who never accepted the president as a legitimate commander-in-chief.
"I've got behind-the-scenes episodes that are going to show how unreceiving they were of this man as president of the United States," Rove told Cox News in an interview published Sunday. "I'm going to name names and show examples."
Rove signed a deal with publishing giant Simon & Schuster last year, reported be worth over $1.5 million.


accounting of those in Washington who never accepted the president as a legitimate commander-in-chief.
"I've got behind-the-scenes episodes that are going to show how unreceiving they were of this man as president of the United States


That's going to be a very long list!!!!. I wonder if Rove is getting paid per pound of paper generated or per page? If so, tht works out to about $8/hr
 

gopher

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 26, 2005
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''harsh on suspected terrorists''


Except that you don't keep anyone in jail for 5 years without trial as that is a violation of our Constitution which he has sworn to uphold. He has been quoted as saying ''the Constitution is just a goddamn piece of paper''. Those words, like his actions, are treason.