George W. Bush's Greatest Achievement

[DMX7]

What is it?

[DMX7]

Preparation for 9/11, Iraq War, Capturing Osama Bin Laden (oops!), Hurricane Katrina, PATRIOT ACT, Financial Collapse, etc..?

[Clipper Nation]

Opening the door for the liberty movement through his various fuck-ups, tbh....

[Blake]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/ff/Bush_mission_accomplished.jpg/220px-Bush_mission_accomplished.jpg

[clambake]

What is it?

not getting assassinated.

[Winehole23]

Medicare part D, fighting AIDS in Africa, tsunami relief, supporting a two state solution in Israel and the Occupied Territories (believe GWB was the first president to do so.)

[clambake]

Medicare part D, fighting AIDS in Africa, tsunami relief, supporting a two state solution in Israel and the Occupied Territories (believe GWB was the first president to do so.)

tsunami relief? which part?

[Drachen]

http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/bushrecord/documents/legacybooklet.pdf

This was the only thing on the first page of the google results that wasn't a list of atrocities. It mainly covers all the bad things posted in post 2 but in a more positive light. It also covers some of what WH23 posted in post 6 but I didn't read the whole thing. From the half I read, it seems that helping africa in general and aids prevention specifically are the best things.

[Winehole23]

tsunami relief? which part?the $350 mil?

[jack sommerset]

Let's get this troll thread rolling. Tax cuts. Blue bloods loved them so much they renamed them obamacuts. God bless

[The Reckoning]

id say the AIDS in africa.

apparently he was practically worshipped over there for doing so.

[jack sommerset]

No child left behind is good. God bless

[clambake]

the $350 mil?

some of that went to Aceh province......for a more specific reason.

[Winehole23]

ok. that discredits the help how?

[Winehole23]

aid, even disaster aid, isn't apolitical. did someone say it was?

[Blake]

No child left behind is good. God bless

Not sure if serious.

Nclb blows.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

No child left behind is good. God bless
Brother, if no child left behind was good, politicians like Santorum wouldn't be openly admitting they made a mistake supporting it.

God bless.

[clambake]

ok. that discredits the help how?

military equipment, training and mercenaries.....for a specific reason.......in aceh province.

[Winehole23]

was what fraction of total aid?

[clambake]

was what fraction of total aid?

wouldn't want to guess. more about the reason.

[mercos]

The work he has done to fight AIDS in Africa, both during and after his presidency, is highly commendable. Millions of lives were affected by this policy. The guy gets a lot of heat, most of it deservedly so, but he doesn't get nearly enough credit for his AIDS initiative.

[Wild Cobra Kai]

Leaving office in 2009.

[Trill Clinton]

HuABhumm6fY

[mavs>spurs]

destroying america, unless of course he didn't actually mean to do that

[DMX7]

I'll be perfectly honest. When he was elected in 2000, I wasn't that worried. I thought this country was on cruise control and that it didn't matter who got elected. I was wrong. This guy, who isn't bright to begin with, basically phoned-in his illegitimate presidency and made an all expense paid vacation out of visiting all of the disaster sites (e.g., Iraq, New York, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, etc.) he helped create.

"I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers, and rubble, and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message: that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound—with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world."

- Stephen Colbert

The fact that he survived eight years without getting impeached for his laundry list of criminally negligent/intentional actions where as Bill Clinton was is probably his greatest achievement. What a hero.

[howbouthemspurs]

His greatest achievement was.........getting people to realize how stupid the republican party is which in part got President Obama elected. Bush will inadvertently be the major reason to making Obama the greatest president in history when Obama fixes maybe just half of what Bush and his buddies has ruined.

[DMC]

History will remember him as the guy who finally got the ball rolling in the middle east to create a house of cards scenario. Since then, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan have been decimated. Iran is walking on thin ice. Hussein and his sons are dead, OBL is dead, Qaddafi is dead. The UN is considered even more irrelevant since the US unilaterally kicked everyone's ass all over the continent. That whole "middle east" thing was cute, but Bush squelched that shit, he laid the smack down. Sure it cost us lives, but about 80 percent of us are going to die at some point in our lives anyhow.

[George W Bush]

Keepin' me and my friends outa jail :tu

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

History will remember him as the guy who finally got the ball rolling in the middle east to create a house of cards scenario. Since then, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan have been decimated. Iran is walking on thin ice. Hussein and his sons are dead, OBL is dead, Qaddafi is dead. The UN is considered even more irrelevant since the US unilaterally kicked everyone's ass all over the continent. That whole "middle east" thing was cute, but Bush squelched that shit, he laid the smack down. Sure it cost us lives, but about 80 percent of us are going to die at some point in our lives anyhow.
9/11 got the ball rolling in the middle east way more than any president could without 9/11.

Of the 4 countries you listed, 2 had nothing to do with 9/11 and posed no thread to the US (Iraq, Syria) the 3rd will get retaken by the Taliban the second US troops leave, and the 4th is another country that poses no threat to the US. Of the 3 dead people you listed, 2 never attacked the US or posed any threat to the US (Hussein, Qaddafi) while the 3rd wasn't killed until after Bush left office. So my question is, what exactly did decimating the middle east do to improve America and the lives of American people?

Meanwhile, for all the "America! Fuck yeah" ass kicking you seem to think Bush did in the middle east, the country that funded and contributed more to 9/11 than any other Middle Eastern country remains unscathed and unharmed.

[baseline bum]

Showing you could get elected two terms on a campaign of nothing other than praising jeebus.

[jack sommerset]

Oldie but a goodie, saddam! God bless

[resistanze]

9/11 got the ball rolling in the middle east way more than any president could without 9/11.

Of the 4 countries you listed, 2 had nothing to do with 9/11 and posed no thread to the US (Iraq, Syria) the 3rd will get retaken by the Taliban the second US troops leave, and the 4th is another country that poses no threat to the US. Of the 3 dead people you listed, 2 never attacked the US or posed any threat to the US (Hussein, Qaddafi) while the 3rd wasn't killed until after Bush left office. So my question is, what exactly did decimating the middle east do to improve America and the lives of American people?

Meanwhile, for all the "America! Fuck yeah" ass kicking you seem to think Bush did in the middle east, the country that funded and contributed more to 9/11 than any other Middle Eastern country remains unscathed and unharmed.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1268510/carterr.gif

[resistanze]

Saudi Arabia continues to churn out terrorists, commit human rights atrocities that makes Afghanistan look like Sweden, and using all that money from the US to drift Toyota Camrys over each other.

[TDMVPDPOY]

didnt he only had year9 education only? lol...

[The Reckoning]

didnt he only had year9 education only? lol...


he went to yale for uni and then harvard business school. derp.

[ElNono]

9/11 got the ball rolling in the middle east way more than any president could without 9/11.

Of the 4 countries you listed, 2 had nothing to do with 9/11 and posed no thread to the US (Iraq, Syria) the 3rd will get retaken by the Taliban the second US troops leave, and the 4th is another country that poses no threat to the US. Of the 3 dead people you listed, 2 never attacked the US or posed any threat to the US (Hussein, Qaddafi) while the 3rd wasn't killed until after Bush left office. So my question is, what exactly did decimating the middle east do to improve America and the lives of American people?

Meanwhile, for all the "America! Fuck yeah" ass kicking you seem to think Bush did in the middle east, the country that funded and contributed more to 9/11 than any other Middle Eastern country remains unscathed and unharmed.

Let me add that the Middle East is still the same clerical shithole that was when we got there. If anything, we merely delayed Israel nuking the fuck out of a few of those countries by 10 or so years...

[TDMVPDPOY]

look on the bright side at least ur country didnt elect a dunce to be president unlike the communist countries who elect thugs with no form of education...

[jack sommerset]

Bush authorized waterboarding. A safe way to get information we needed to help protect our country. It was capped off by assisting in the capture of bin laden. God bless

"CIA director Leon Panetta has spoken for the first time about the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, confirming some of the intelligence leading up to it came from detainees who had been waterboarded."

[possessed]

Keeping Gore and Kerry the fuck out of the White House.

[spursncowboys]

9/11 got the ball rolling in the middle east way more than any president could without 9/11.

Of the 4 countries you listed, 2 had nothing to do with 9/11 and posed no thread to the US (Iraq, Syria) the 3rd will get retaken by the Taliban the second US troops leave, and the 4th is another country that poses no threat to the US. Of the 3 dead people you listed, 2 never attacked the US or posed any threat to the US (Hussein, Qaddafi) while the 3rd wasn't killed until after Bush left office. So my question is, what exactly did decimating the middle east do to improve America and the lives of American people?

Meanwhile, for all the "America! Fuck yeah" ass kicking you seem to think Bush did in the middle east, the country that funded and contributed more to 9/11 than any other Middle Eastern country remains unscathed and unharmed.

Do you ever have a well thought out post? I could understand if you were some moronic 19 year old college kid who has done nothing in your life but live off of mom and dad-but your in your 20's. Instead of reading the intro to history books, you should actually try and read up on it.

[Winehole23]

Bush authorized waterboarding. A safe way to get information we needed to help protect our country. It was capped off by assisting in the capture of bin laden. God bless

"CIA director Leon Panetta has spoken for the first time about the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, confirming some of the intelligence leading up to it came from detainees who had been waterboarded."your faith in the pronunciamentos of the Obama administration is truly inspiring.

[spursncowboys]

across the board pay raises for military

[spursncowboys]

tax cuts

[spursncowboys]

Libya gave up nukes

[spursncowboys]

http://www.ithinkthereforeirant.com/2009/01/17/the-100-accomplishments-of-the-george-w-bush-administration/

some gems:
Reduced drug use among teens by 25%
Denied knowing Ken Lay from Enron

Kept reading children’s books on 9/11
Reduced drug use among teens by 25%
Watched passively as Katrina hit New Orleans
Attacked Al Qaida
Created the TSA(boooooooooooo)
Allowed mortgage crisis

[spursncowboys]

50 progressive GWB accomplisments

1. Increased the budget for the Dept. of Education
2. Designated three huge new marine preserve
3. Cut taxes on the poor
4. Cut taxes on the middle class
5. Increased money for Medicare
6. Signed McCain-Feingold into law
7. Increased aid to Africa
8. Steered us through the aftermath of 9/11
9. Rebounded from the post-9/11 recession
10. Kept interest rates low, helping lower-income borrowers
11. Did more than any president before him to measure, track, and invest in the achievement of black and Latino children.
12. Advocated the importance of human dignity and freedom from repression
13. Increased spending on Federal Government programs by 68%
14. Increased help for rural farmers
15. Increased government spending on healthcare 44%
16. Increased spending on education by 47%
17. Helped seniors pay for prescription drugs
18. Never claimed the president has the power to assassinate American Citizens without any judicial review
19. Teamed up with Ted Kennedy on No Child Left Behind
20. More than doubled funding for poor schools
21. Raised scores on standardized tests overall
22. Lessened the achievement gap among whites and minorities on standardized tests
23. Didn't go to war with hundreds of countries, including Iran or North Korea
24. Improved information-sharing across agencies
25. Set the timetable for exiting Iraq, which was then followed by the next president
26. Iran didn't get a nuclear weapon under Bush, despite not invading Iran
27. Spent new aid money specifically to fight Aids/HIV, Malaria, and TB across the world
28. Led a bipartisan coalition, with the support of Democratic Senator John Kerry, to create a program called the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
29. Took a diplomatic lead in Sudan and secured a north-south peace agreement
30. Did not privatize Social Security
31. Deported fewer illegal immigrants than his successor
32. Immigration proposal supported by Democrats
33. Increased funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which purchases development rights or land in environmentally sensitive areas
34. Did not rescind Clinton's directive requiring manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks and buses to reduce diesel emissions by more than 90 percent and refiners to reduce sulfur in diesel fuel by 97 percent, to 15 ppm.
35. Embraced a Clinton initiative to subsidize cleanup of "abandoned" urban toxic sites
36. Sought $4.9 Billion for national parks
37. "Clear Skies" initiative, which requires reductions of 70 percent in emissions of three of the worst air pollutants (nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and mercury) by 2018.
38. Allocated about $1.8 billion for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation Cleanup in Washington State
39. signed a treaty under which the United States will share civil nuclear fuel and technology with India.
40. Economic Stimulus Act of 2008
41. The Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002
42. Signed The Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act, co-authored by Democrat Ron Wyden
43. Signed the do-not-call Implementation Act
44. Signed the PROTECT Act of 2003 (Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act)
45. Signed the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, the first United States federal law passed dealing with the sexual assault of prisoners, co-authored by Ted Kennedy, Diane Feinstein and Dick Durbin, and supported by Human Rights Watch.
46. Signed the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (Public Law 109-59; SAFETEA-LU) is a funding and authorization bill that governs United States federal surface transportation spending
47. Signed the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which includes more disclosures to workers about the performance of their pensions and extends contribution limits to 401(k)'s
48. Appropriated money for Katrina disaster relief
49. Raised Federal minimum wage from $5.15/hour to $7.25/hour
50. Signed The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 which contained a new tax credit for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and extended existing tax credits for renewable energy initiatives, including cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel development, and wind, solar, geothermal and hydro-electric power
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/11/1082539/-Bush-s-Progressive-Accomplisments-Or-why-your-List-of-Obama-s-Accomplishments-Don-t-Convince-Me

[DMX7]

Watched passively as Katrina hit New Orleans


Don't forget the guy he appointed to FEMA.

[ElNono]

The last 4 years were so bad, it makes it hard to remember, tbh... If I had to give him a certain quality is that he had a way to go out there, sell stuff to the public, and get Congress passing shit, good or bad. Which is a big contrast to the interaction between Barry and this Congress.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Let me add that the Middle East is still the same clerical shithole that was when we got there. If anything, we merely delayed Israel nuking the fuck out of a few of those countries by 10 or so years...
If anything the middle east has become an even bigger clerical shithole since we started our nation building. Hussein and Qaddafi were both secular leaders who ensured their wasn't an Islamic extremist presence in their country. Now Iraq and Libya are overrun with Islamic extremists :lol


Do you ever have a well thought out post? I could understand if you were some moronic 19 year old college kid who has done nothing in your life but live off of mom and dad-but your in your 20's. Instead of reading the intro to history books, you should actually try and read up on it.
This post is a shining example of well thought out.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

across the board pay raises for military


tax cuts
So he increased spending and cut taxes. That was a very fiscally responsible thing to do.

[Winehole23]

RIP PEPFAR

at this point, Republicans are pretty much pro-disease and anti-public health

[DMX7]

As bad as Trump may be, he is still better than Bush.

[Winehole23]

As bad as Trump may be, he is still better than Bush.Trump isn't done yet, but it makes a certain amount of sense to say that.

The Iraq War, domestic surveillance, and the Gitmo gulag were all pretty bad decisions.

What did you have in mind?

[GAustex]

Bush sucks
Iraq was a terrible mistake
Bush the drunk let the economic disaster occur at the end of his term. That downturn hurt me badly along with many others.
Fuck him.

[Winehole23]

Bush sucks
Iraq was a terrible mistake
Bush the drunk let the economic disaster occur at the end of his term. That downturn hurt me badly along with many others.
Fuck him.The conventional wisdom about the great financial crisis of 2008 is that Clinton era financial reform (Gramm-Leach-Bliley, aka the Financial Modernization Act of 1999) allowed banks and other financial institutions to start piling a bunch of money into derivative assets they didn't understand. The banks then failed to do due diligence on mortgage loans on which these derivative assets were based, blowing up a huge real estate bubble. In 2008 there was a liquidity crunch that started a wave of defaults in derivative assets. Once the market-makers realized what a fix they were in, they sold MBSs and CDOs (mortgage backed securities and collateralized debt obligations) even faster, while selling short against their customers. They basically broke our system of payment, and that broke the real estate market. We had to keep interest rates at zero for a decade and throw trillions in liquidity at the banks to muddle through.

I don't like GWB very much, but it's not really fair to blame him for 2008. That debacle goes down to greed, ignorance and financial fraud. The banks, non-banks and brokers fucked us, then Obama saved the fraudsters and pissed backwards on the rest of us.

Truth to be told, Presidents and Congress seldom do anything that moves the macroeconomic needle that much. Smoot-Hawley is a notable counterexample.

[GAustex]

My recall is that your statement is correct. Bush did nothing though to head it off. He could have but did not.

[Winehole23]

My recall is that your statement is correct. Bush did nothing though to head it off. He could have but did not.You could be right, but I do not see how.

[GAustex]

You could be right, but I do not see how.

I am not using AI here so

To the best of my recollection action was needed years before the 2008 collapse. The warnings signs were there. Bush (lol he is/was too stupid to know any different) advisors failed to act then due to the pain that would had to have occurred. Plus Bush the drunk was letting Cheney and the war machine drag him around thus the distraction. Instead Bush the drunk let it all melt down.

[Winehole23]

I am not using AI here so

To the best of my recollection action was needed years before the 2008 collapse. The warnings signs were there. Bush (lol he is/was too stupid to know any different) advisors failed to act then due to the pain that would had to have occurred. Plus Bush the drunk was letting Cheney and the war machine drag him around thus the distraction. Instead Bush the drunk let it all melt down.Bush was a terrible president for sure.

I hadn't heard he was a drunk while he was president, where did you hear that?

[ChumpDumper]

Drunks good now tho.

[Winehole23]

more backpedaling, this time on AIDS medication

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/health/trump-pepfar-freeze.html

[DMX7]

Trump isn't done yet, but it makes a certain amount of sense to say that.

The Iraq War, domestic surveillance, and the Gitmo gulag were all pretty bad decisions.

What did you have in mind?

He had a report on his desk that said bin Laden was looking to high jack planes and follow the example of the WTC attacks from the previous decade.

When he was told about the attack while sitting at the school on 9/11... I have no doubt he knew exactly who it was and how he had dropped the ball.

[Winehole23]

He had a report on his desk that said bin Laden was looking to high jack planes and follow the example of the WTC attacks from the previous decade.

When he was told about the attack while sitting at the school on 9/11... I have no doubt he knew exactly who it was and how he had dropped the ball.I'm sure Bandar Bush (http://ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandar_bin_Sultan_Al_Saud) was able to debrief him on the inside baseball afterwards, but yeah, it was clear the operation was Saudi-based and staffed

[Winehole23]

I am not using AI here soask anybody who was here contemporaneously, I posted thickly on the great financial crisis and its aftermath

I drew my take spontaneously from memory, believe it or not

[Winehole23]

Trump to his credit backpedals again


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4cz5weomlvu4rlvrhk72ueqe/bafkreibskwglnk57ys373fcw76336a56hj44jbsz27bea7auc acby4jppq@jpeg

[Winehole23]

even the PEPFAR pause has life and death consequences



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:bpc7nm4rtcchhdq5sfxyrujl/bafkreiew7kugxyibqgalv3gm7k3ebodarfxh5gyp4ewlxi7fa dnr6vjui4@jpeghttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jia2.26433

[Winehole23]

but apparently compliance with the spirit of the limited waiver for PEPFAR and life-saving missions so far has been ~100% implied, not actual

humpty-dumpty -- USAID -- will not be reassembled

[Thread]

but apparently compliance with the spirit of the limited waiver for PEPFAR and life-saving missions so far has been ~100% implied, not actual

humpty-dumpty -- USAID -- will not be reassembled

...I'll believe when I no longer see it for the next 5 years.

D's NEVER take (no) for an answer. Ever. It's their religion.

[Winehole23]

they say agency heads are responsible for any cuts, but when people push back on DOGE they get pushed out, like this guy who just got put on administrative leave


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kxjuo2ald26nwf4s5zz3cbks/bafkreibzglvcu4wc6vk5h3kvsjqrhatpoqb6ldcyj72pm2i72 cel4ex33q@jpeg

[Winehole23]

Musk/Trump AIDS pogrom, tbh


An estimated 1,650,000 people could die within a year without American foreign aid for H.I.V. prevention and treatment
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/15/opinion/foreign-aid-cuts-impact.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E4.H8Lx.GD39r ucUfloD&smid=url-share

[Thread]

Musk/Trump AIDS pogrom, tbh

[/CENTER]https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/15/opinion/foreign-aid-cuts-impact.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E4.H8Lx.GD39r ucUfloD&smid=url-share

...and we're over 36 trillion dollars in debt. Let these other countries stand or fall on their own.

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:73aicoale2mqwrap63rdzwep/bafkreihtjlufcwyg5twxc37usumdemtcqzxb46z6kczz4lqkg xkdcdix4i@jpeg

[Thread]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:73aicoale2mqwrap63rdzwep/bafkreihtjlufcwyg5twxc37usumdemtcqzxb46z6kczz4lqkg xkdcdix4i@jpeg

I would no more believe that happy horseshit above than I would the man-in-the-moon.

[Winehole23]

"back of the napkin" style was declared

tough crowd

[Winehole23]

back from the dead?



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreihuin27ypvquevtrmk4oouilk3dnz6jr5v6nlay2e5mp tuto6vgju@jpeg

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreic62aa2frb6zvgps6ws3pk7y76feacgtzeqtqln2mamo atiyaygqa@jpeg

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.576293/gov.uscourts.mdd.576293.77.2.pdf

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tnuicsvuryhq7qjqdm7mqjn3/bafkreiexgn3lcek262tufwwv3tehpy7ql3jkhuh5lsl4yo23g xieav5s2q@jpeghttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/modelling-predicts-millions-extra-hiv-infections-us-aid-cut/

[Thread]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/modelling-predicts-millions-extra-hiv-infections-us-aid-cut/

If you can believe it. I wouldn't it as far as I could throw it.

[Winehole23]

worse than Hitler


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xmw2kxsisgsh5rdkmgkz6d5k/bafkreifo5aicnsnbrkw3uwh7aqdlcavjpnu7uho4ied5jnpll qycpuyy2a@jpeghttps://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01191-z

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5199076

[SnakeBoy]

Why are we responsible for global healthcare?

[ChumpDumper]

Why are we responsible for global healthcare?American exceptionalism, remember?

Or are you just full of shit?

[Thread]

Why are we responsible for global healthcare?

Amen & hallelujah!!!

[Winehole23]

unsourced, but believable


by comparison, the number of people who are likely to die due to the illegal suspension of PEPFAR is about 60% larger than the number of Africans trafficked during the 400 years of the transatlantic slave trade

[Thread]

Why are we responsible for global healthcare?

Let us proceed...