The Legacy of George W. Bush

Tyr

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Hurry up and leave George

PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- President Bush failed to persuade Senate Republicans to vote for the automaker bailout, but it wasn't for lack of effort. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney put on a full-court press last week.
During a private meeting with Senate Republicans, Cheney reportedly told his colleagues that failing to pass the bill would result in "Herbert Hoover" time. Everyone understood what he meant.
Hoover is one of the few presidents whose reputation has never been revived.
Bush will probably give the automakers money from the financial bailout package as a last resort, but this is not the option that the administration preferred.
The defiance of Senate Republicans against a president from their own party, in a moment of true economic crisis, was a political slap in the face.
The debate has reinforced the notion that the president ends his time in Washington without the power to compel his own party to take action or to build public pressure on Congress.
There's a great irony in the fact that President Bush's administration, which has worked harder than almost any other in recent memory to expand presidential power, ends with Americans thinking so poorly about the institution.
According to a Gallup Poll was released in September, public satisfaction with the executive branch reached a level that has not been seen since Watergate. Only 42 percent of Americans said that they had a "great deal" or "fair amount" of trust in the executive branch, compared with 40 percent in April 1974
 
Tyr

Tyr

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The shoes

This will provide comedic fodder for yrs to come. George is his own bozo industry. I can hardly wait for the next SNL skit

The flying footwear incident was also a popular opening monologue topic for U.S. late-night talk show hosts this week.
Tonight Show host Jay Leno joked about Bush's aptitude for dodge ball and questioned why the Secret Service didn't "at least [jump] in front of the second shoe?"
On The Late Show, Dave Letterman also praised Bush for his quick reaction time, quipping that the president "hasn't dodged anything like that since, well, the Vietnam War."
For his part, Late Night host Conan O'Brien, mentioned that al-Zaidi has been hailed a hero by many in Iraq and added that the journalist would one day "be greeted in heaven by 72 podiatrists."
A host of video parodies and games based on the incident have also emerged online this week, including one entitled Sock and Awe. Created by British website designer Alex Tew, the goal of the simple game is to knock a smiling, ducking Bush on the head as many times as possible with tossed shoes. Others cast players in the role of the U.S. president, with the aim being to dodge footwear projectiles.
 
Tyr

Tyr

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George W. Bush's Christmas List


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
WWW.USDOJ.GOV​
CRM
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888
​
President George W. Bush Grants Pardons and Commutation



WASHINGTON – On Dec. 23, 2008, President George W. Bush granted pardons to 19 individuals and commutation of sentence to one individual:
PARDONS:
• William Thomas Alvis III - Flushing, Ohio
Offense: Possession of an unregistered firearm, 26 U.S.C. § 5861; distribution of cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) (1).
Sentence: May 21, 1990; Northern District of West Virginia; 13 months in prison, five years of supervised release following the prison term.
• John Allen Aregood a/k/a Johnny (Sonny) Aregood - Riviera, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens; 18 U.S.C. § 371, 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii)(iii).
Sentence: Nov. 21, 1996; Southern District of Texas; three years of probation, $1,000 fine.
• Eric Charles Blanke - Parker, Colo.
Offense: Making impressions of obligations of the United States; 18 U.S.C. § 474.
Sentence: July 21, 1995; Southern District of California; three years of probation conditioned on performance of 50 hours of community service.
• Steve Doyle Cavender - The Villages, Fla.
Offense: Conspiring to import, possess, distribute and dispense marijuana; importing and causing to be imported marijuana; possessing marijuana with intent to distribute; 18 U.S.C. § 371, 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 952(a).
Sentence: Aug. 6, 1973; Northern District of Alabama; six months in prison in a jail-type institution, five years of probation, two years of special parole.
• Marie Elena Eppens a/k/a Marie Elana Eppens - Lynden, Wash.
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute marijuana; 21 U.S.C. § 846.
Sentence: June 9, 1992; District of Nebraska; four years of probation conditioned on 60 days of confinement in a jail-type institution on work release, four months of home detention and performance of 200 hours of community service.
• Lydia Lee Ferguson a/k/a Lydia Lee Helland - Sun City, Ariz.
Offense: Aiding and abetting possession of stolen mail; 18 U.S.C. §§ 1708 and 2.
Sentence: Nov. 5, 1990; District of Arizona; 18 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, $5,000 restitution.
• Eduviges Duvi Gonzalez-Matsumura a/k/a Eduviges Duvi Gonzalez - Clovis, Calif.
Offense: Aiding and abetting embezzlement of bank funds; 18 U.S.C. §§ 656 and 2.
Sentence: May 10, 1993; Central District of California; two months in prison, three years of supervised release conditioned on performance of 300 hours of community service.
• George Clarence Greene Jr. - Gray, Ga.
Offense: Mail fraud; 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 2.
Sentence: Nov. 21, 1985; Northern District of Georgia; three years of probation, $1,000 fine.
• James Won Hee Kang a/k/a Won Hee Kang - South Barrington, Ill.
Offense: Trafficking in counterfeit goods; 18 U.S.C. § 2320.
Sentence: May 9, 1985; Northern District of Illinois; one year of probation, $5,000 fine.
• Alan Stephen Maiss - Reno, Nev.
Offense: Misprision of a felony; 18 U.S.C. § 4.
Sentence: Dec. 20, 1995; Eastern District of Louisiana; one year of probation, $5,000 fine.
• Richard Harold Miller - Tallahassee, Fla.
Offense: Conspiracy to defraud the United States; 18 U.S.C. § 371.
Sentence: April 13, 1993; Northern District of Florida; five years of probation, $10,000 fine.
• Delano Abraham Nixon - Neosho Rapids, Kan.
Offense: Forging the endorsement on a U.S. Treasury check; 18 U.S.C. § 495.
Sentence: Feb. 2, 1962; District of Kansas; three years of probation conditioned upon payment of restitution.
• John H. Overholt - Black Hawk, S.D.
Offense: Concealment of information affecting Social Security benefits; 42 U.S.C. § 408(a)(4).
Sentence: Feb. 2, 1998; District of South Dakota; two years of probation, $1,500 fine, $10,620 restitution.
• Morris Keith Parker - Georgetown, S.C.
Offense: Misprision of a felony; 18 U.S.C. § 4.
Sentence: Oct. 2, 1991; District of South Carolina; three years of probation conditioned on performance of 150 hours of community service.
• Robert Truman Reece - Redondo Beach, Calif.
Offense: 1 and 2. Unauthorized absence. 3. Unauthorized absence; missing ship's movement.
Sentence: 1: Oct. 12, 1949; 15 days of confinement, 30 days of extra police duties and forfeiture of $15 pay per month for six months. 2: Nov. 28, 1949; six months of probation. 3: Sept. 21, 1950; forfeiture of $30 pay per month for two months and a bad conduct discharge. 1, 2 and 3: U.S. Navy court-martial.
• Donald Edward Roessler - Harrison, Ohio
Offense: Embezzlement of mail matter; 18 U.S.C. § 1709.
Sentence: April 19, 1971; Southern District of Ohio; two years of probation.
• Issac Robert Toussie - Brooklyn, N.Y.
Offense: False statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 18 U.S.C. § 1001; mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1341.
Sentence: Sept. 22, 2003; Eastern District of New York; five months in prison, three years of supervised release conditioned on five months of home detention, $10,000 fine.
• Charles Thompson Winters - Miami
Offense: Conspiracy to export, and exportation, of a military aircraft to a foreign country in violation of the Neutrality Act of 1939; 22 U.S.C. § 448(a).
Sentence: Feb. 4, 1949; Southern District of Florida; 18 months in prison, $5,000 fine.
• David Lane Woolsey - St. George, Utah
Offense: Aiding and abetting violation of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act; 16 U.S.C. § 470ee (a) and 18 U.S.C. § 2.
Sentence: Oct. 6, 1992; District of Utah; three years of probation conditioned on performance of 100 hours of community service.
COMMUTATION:
• Reed Raymond Prior - Des Moines, Iowa
Offense: Possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute; 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1).
Sentence: April 11, 1996; Southern District of Iowa; life in prison, 10 years of supervised release.
Terms of commutation: Prison sentence to expire on Feb. 23, 2009, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release with all its conditions.
###​
08-1148
 
Walter

Walter

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W conquered AGW; the world is cooler now than when he came to office in 2001.
 
Tyr

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Condi takes another one for the "team". What a girl!!!!


Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that despite President Bush's low approval ratings, people will soon "start to thank this president for what he's done."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says "there is no greater honor than to serve this country,"





"So we can sit here and talk about the long record, but what I would say to you is that this president has faced tougher circumstances than perhaps at any time since the end of World War II, and he has delivered policies that are going to stand the test of time," Rice said in an interview that aired on CBS' "Sunday Morning."
The secretary of state brushed off reports that suggest the United States' image is suffering abroad.
 
gopher

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States and cities beg for money:

Suffering Ohio begs for federal lifeline - Washington Post- msnbc.com


''As the economy sputters and tax revenue plummets, governors and mayors across the United States are lining up to ask President-elect Barack Obama and the new Congress for hundreds of billions of dollars to plug holes in their budgets, arguing that services will suffer and joblessness will rise if Washington does not come to the rescue.
In Ohio, which has shed 100,000 jobs in the past year, Gov. Ted Strickland (D) and his budget team spend a lot of time delivering bad news to constituents and plotting ways to wring money from the federal government. He announced $640 million in cuts for the budget year ending June 30, for a total of $1.9 billion since the economic crisis began. ''



Another example of Bush's legacy: the failed Reaganomics 'trickle down' theory which never worked except to make the wealthy wealthier.
 
Tyr

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Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster.
"Katrina to me was the tipping point," said Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. "The president broke his bond with the public. Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn't matter. Legislative initiatives? It didn't matter. P.R.? It didn't matter. Travel? It didn't matter."
Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director and later counselor to the president, said: "Politically, it was the final nail in the coffin."


 
gopher

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Bush borrowed money to pay for his war on Iraq and to pay for the growth of the military industrial complex. He never paid a cent for these wastages of money and he left the bill for these in the hands of future generations.

The Republicans always pretend to be the party of fiscal responsibility. But the record clearly shows they are the party of fiscal irresponsibility . Bush's lasting legacy will be that he proved to the world what a bunch of liars and phonies the Republicans all are and always have been.

Unfortunately, they also succeed in ascribing their faults to the Democrats who, all too often, stupidly sit by and allow this to happen. Bush's wars and wstages will have to be paid for by tax increases and further government service reductions. And soon enough the Republicans will blame the Democrats and use this in their campaigns.
 
Tyr

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gopher said:
Bush borrowed money to pay for his war on Iraq and to pay for the growth of the military industrial complex. He never paid a cent for these wastages of money and he left the bill for these in the hands of future generations.

The Republicans always pretend to be the party of fiscal responsibility. But the record clearly shows they are the party of fiscal irresponsibility . Bush's lasting legacy will be that he proved to the world what a bunch of liars and phonies the Republicans all are and always have been.

Unfortunately, they also succeed in ascribing their faults to the Democrats who, all too often, stupidly sit by and allow this to happen. Bush's wars and wstages will have to be paid for by tax increases and further government service reductions. And soon enough the Republicans will blame the Democrats and use this in their campaigns.
Click to expand...

americans have very short memories
 
gopher

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Bush's failure list:


Broken Government | Failures by Full List


Failures : Full List






and there is MUCH more!
 
Walter

Walter

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A fond farewell to Bush

By SALIM MANSUR
Last Updated: 16th January 2009, 4:19am


As President George W. Bush departs from the White House, he leaves with the lowest public approval for any president since Harry Truman.
Public opinion, however, is fickle. Except in a few instances -- such as the public opinion about Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal, or about Jimmy Carter undermined by the humiliation of American diplomats held hostage by Khomeini's Iran -- public opinion rarely influences the judgment historians reach with sufficient passage of time.
In a recent ranking of American presidents from George Washington to Bill Clinton done for the Federalist Society by 78 scholars of American history, Truman was ranked in the company of the "near great" presidents that included Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and Woodrow Wilson. The three "great" presidents in the view of the same group of scholars were George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.
I have no doubt that with the passage of time Bush will be viewed in entirely different light.
His presidency was transformed by the events of 9/11 as Bush went from being peace time president to becoming war time leader and commander-in-chief, just as Truman's presidency was by the onset of the Cold War.
Secure
Through two world wars the United States mainland remained untouched by the reach of her enemies until 9/11. Since that September morning over seven years ago the Bush administration kept Americans safe and their homeland secure, and for this remarkable success history will judge Bush far more kindly than his contemporaries.
It was the Bush policy of regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq following 9/11 with the freedom agenda for the Middle East -- with Truman it was the decision to save the Korean peninsula, or at least a part of it, from the Communist takeover -- that made for the bitter controversy domestically and abroad.
But long after the critics of Bush have bitten dust and been forgotten, people will be talking about him, as they do about Truman, reflecting upon the consequences of his decision that brought freedom for 50 million people in the Arab-Muslim world. How these people build positively upon their freedom, or squander it, will be a commentary upon them and not Bush.
In bidding Bush adieu I am reminded of John Macmurray, a moral philosopher who taught in the middle years of the last century at the University of Edinburgh. In 1949 he spoke at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., and his lectures were published in a small book titled Conditions of Freedom.
Macmurray asked his audience, "When we profess our faith in freedom we often mean only that we want to be free. What value, what honour is there in such a miserable faith?"
Macmurray answered his own question observing, "To believe in freedom, in any sense worthy of consideration, is to believe in setting other people free. This is to some extent within our power, and it is the greatest service we can render; even if it must be, at times, by the sacrifice of our own."
Bush will be remembered long past the quarrels of his time in office, as is Truman, Reagan and the three "great" presidents in American history, for serving with courage and conviction the cause of freedom.
 
JLM

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Walter said:
A fond farewell to Bush

By SALIM MANSUR
Last Updated: 16th January 2009, 4:19am


As President George W. Bush departs from the White House, he leaves with the lowest public approval for any president since Harry Truman.
Public opinion, however, is fickle. Except in a few instances -- such as the public opinion about Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal, or about Jimmy Carter undermined by the humiliation of American diplomats held hostage by Khomeini's Iran -- public opinion rarely influences the judgment historians reach with sufficient passage of time.
In a recent ranking of American presidents from George Washington to Bill Clinton done for the Federalist Society by 78 scholars of American history, Truman was ranked in the company of the "near great" presidents that included Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and Woodrow Wilson. The three "great" presidents in the view of the same group of scholars were George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.
I have no doubt that with the passage of time Bush will be viewed in entirely different light.
His presidency was transformed by the events of 9/11 as Bush went from being peace time president to becoming war time leader and commander-in-chief, just as Truman's presidency was by the onset of the Cold War.
Secure
Through two world wars the United States mainland remained untouched by the reach of her enemies until 9/11. Since that September morning over seven years ago the Bush administration kept Americans safe and their homeland secure, and for this remarkable success history will judge Bush far more kindly than his contemporaries.
It was the Bush policy of regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq following 9/11 with the freedom agenda for the Middle East -- with Truman it was the decision to save the Korean peninsula, or at least a part of it, from the Communist takeover -- that made for the bitter controversy domestically and abroad.
But long after the critics of Bush have bitten dust and been forgotten, people will be talking about him, as they do about Truman, reflecting upon the consequences of his decision that brought freedom for 50 million people in the Arab-Muslim world. How these people build positively upon their freedom, or squander it, will be a commentary upon them and not Bush.
In bidding Bush adieu I am reminded of John Macmurray, a moral philosopher who taught in the middle years of the last century at the University of Edinburgh. In 1949 he spoke at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., and his lectures were published in a small book titled Conditions of Freedom.
Macmurray asked his audience, "When we profess our faith in freedom we often mean only that we want to be free. What value, what honour is there in such a miserable faith?"
Macmurray answered his own question observing, "To believe in freedom, in any sense worthy of consideration, is to believe in setting other people free. This is to some extent within our power, and it is the greatest service we can render; even if it must be, at times, by the sacrifice of our own."
Bush will be remembered long past the quarrels of his time in office, as is Truman, Reagan and the three "great" presidents in American history, for serving with courage and conviction the cause of freedom.
Click to expand...

There could be a lot of truth there, Walter. A lot of the "bad mouthing" of Bush is partly due to it "being the thing to do". Part of his problem is he doesn't follow the protocol prescribed by "polite society" of 2009- in other eras people who "got in people's faces" were often regarded as great warriers. One thing that I've always admired Bush for is he doesn't take any crap.
 
Tyr

Tyr

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gopher said:
Bush's failure list:


Broken Government | Failures by Full List


Failures : Full List





and there is MUCH more!
Click to expand...

I was going to say Gopher. That's a pretty short list for such a bumbling moron. I" can't think of one instance where he actually did something...anything to the betterment of society or even America.

People are counting down the days until he's gone
 
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