Bush To Say Goodbye Tonight

[ploto]

Bush was lazy and too narrow-minded ever to consider alternatives, and those together make for a bad combination. He did not want to go fight in a war himself, but he had no problem sending off others on false pretenses. He is responsible for putting an incompetent person in charge of FEMA and hence shoulders the blame for the Katrina disaster. Mostly, he really is clueless.

[Crookshanks]

Hopefully, I'm offensive, to racist morons such as yourself

I mean seriously, I'd worry about offending like, a priest. Or I'd be worried about offending a hot girl. Or I'd be worried about offending my boss. But a dumbass-southern fried piece of racist like you. Yeah, any offense a head like you would take, can only mean I'm doing something morally right.

You are so stupid - you know nothing about me. First of all, I'm NOT a southerner - I'm a Yankee born and bred. And I'm certainly not a racist. But that's going to be the mantra for the next 4 years - anybody who doesn't like Obama or who disagrees with him will be branded a racist.

I have nothing against black people individually - I really admire Justice Clarence Thomas and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. I also like Bill Cosby. I've even dated a few black guys. I'm just not too thrilled with black people as a voting block.

BTW - I bet my IQ is higher than yours!

[balli]

But that's going to be the mantra for the next 4 years - anybody who doesn't like Obama or who disagrees with him will be branded a racist.

I branded you a racist for stammering about black people like you were that racist er from 12 Angry Men. You sounded like that dude- to a T.

BTW - I bet my IQ is higher than yours!

Okay????

In any event, you sure aren't putting that ever so lofty IQ to good use.

[ChumpDumper]

Willful ignorance? What are you talking about? Are you accusing Bush of purposely ignoring bin Laden and the 9/11 plot?

Through their dismantling of the counterterrorism apparatus built up during the Clinton administration and his foreign policy shift to considering Russia as the biggest concern, I am absolutely accusing Bush of purposely ignoring the threat of terrorism.

Anyway, Bush definitely deserves credit for responding to the terrorist threat. That's his job, and the results are hard to argue with.

He sure shut the barn door after the wolves got in. Woo-hoo!

Could he have done more to prevent 9/11? Sure. Bill Clinton could have done a of a lot more, too.

The thing is Bush did less than Clinton before 9/11. He went backwards regarding the terrorist threat.

9/11 put us all on notice, finally, about the threat posed by Muslim extremists.

We were on notice long before that. Bush simply ignored the notice. His fault. There is no excuse or forgiveness for that.

As far as knowledge of the threat and tools at his disposal to address the threat, Barack Obama on September 11, 2009 will be in a much different position than George Bush was on September 11, 2001.

Thanks, Captain Obvious.

[baseline bum]

As for me - I'm going to love watching Obama and his cronies totally screw up the country and you guys aren't going to know how to react.

Makes sense, as you and your cronies have loved seeing Bush destroy it.

[ChumpDumper]

Damn, you really have to hate America if you want two administrations in a row to screw up the country.

[MannyIsGod]

Successes: no terrorist attacks on the United States since 9/11; trusted Petraeus and made the courageous decision to start the surge; his commitment to fighting AIDS in Africa

Failures: did not make tax cuts permanent; overall budget mismanagement, failed to control spending, rarely used his veto; failed to reform social security and immigration

TBD: the decision to go to war in Iraq; to a lesser extent, the decision to go to war in Afghanistan; the Katrina fiasco; his role in addressing the financial crisis


This is my basic assessment of his presidency:

1. He trusted his instincts without agonizing over any doubts or alternative courses of action;
2. He was loyal to a fault, and he probably verged on cronyism;
3. He was well-meaning and sincere;
4. He was not an intellectual, but he was highly intelligent;
5. He deferred too much to Cheney, and thus looked weak at times;
6. He failed to control the rivalry between Powell's State Department and Rumsfeld's Pentagon, which is a big deal during a time of war; and
7. He was a consequential president, much like Truman, and his major foreign policy and national security decisions will be debated by historians for decades.


In other words, Bush had his successes and his failures. But the defining issue of his presidency--terrorism and Iraq--is the key to his legacy. Because of the importance of hsi defining issue, he may be remembered as a great president, or a horrible president. There really is no middle ground.

This is a fairly resonable post with one glaring exception and a minor one. Katrina is not a TBD. Its an abject failure and could possibly be his greatest failure. The Iraq war - regardless of revisionist history - is also a huge failure even if we manage to fix the situation simply because there was no justification for the invasion. The ends do not justify the means.

You also failed to mention Abu Graib, Guantanamoo and FISA as other areas he failed or could be mentioned as failures.

[MannyIsGod]

Man - you guys are so hateful. And so wrong! You're all suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome and there's no cure. You'll still be screaming about all his "failures" years from now.

As for me - I'm going to love watching Obama and his cronies totally screw up the country and you guys aren't going to know how to react. Especially the black people - are they really gonna start blaming the "black" man?! Of course, everything that goes wrong will STILL be blamed on Bush because Obama is the chosen one and he can't fail. You guys are pathetic.

Why do you hate America?

[byrontx]

1. He trusted his instincts without agonizing over any doubts or alternative courses of action;
Subs uting instincts for planning and being inflexable are not signs of effective leadership.

2. He was loyal to a fault, and he probably verged on cronyism;
It was cronyism, Brownie was a good example.

3. He was well-meaning and sincere;
He lied about the reasons for taking the country to war. In fact, he lied his ass off and had everyone in his administration lying like on just about everythiing-outing a CIA agent, politicizing the Justice Department, cir venting and undermining environmental regulations, etc. Dishonesty was rampant.

4. He was not an intellectual, but he was highly intelligent;
I don't think you really believe that. He definitely was not an intellectual (as if that is a bad thing) and there was no evidence he had the intellectual capacity to run a $1 store.

5. He deferred too much to Cheney, and thus looked weak at times;
He was weak, see number 6. Unfortunately, being weak did not stop him from moving from one blunder to the next.

6. He failed to control the rivalry between Powell's State Department and Rumsfeld's Pentagon, which is a big deal during a time of war; and
And many people died. Not that everyone considers that a problem. If you get to march around and wave flags while somebody else dying it is cool, right?

7. He was a consequential president, much like Truman, and his major foreign policy and national security decisions will be debated by historians for decades.
I hope that debate occurs in a court of law.

[ClingingMars]

Successes: no terrorist attacks on the United States since 9/11; trusted Petraeus and made the courageous decision to start the surge; his commitment to fighting AIDS in Africa

Failures: did not make tax cuts permanent; overall budget mismanagement, failed to control spending, rarely used his veto; failed to reform social security and immigration

TBD: the decision to go to war in Iraq; to a lesser extent, the decision to go to war in Afghanistan; the Katrina fiasco; his role in addressing the financial crisis


This is my basic assessment of his presidency:

1. He trusted his instincts without agonizing over any doubts or alternative courses of action;
2. He was loyal to a fault, and he probably verged on cronyism;
3. He was well-meaning and sincere;
4. He was not an intellectual, but he was highly intelligent;
5. He deferred too much to Cheney, and thus looked weak at times;
6. He failed to control the rivalry between Powell's State Department and Rumsfeld's Pentagon, which is a big deal during a time of war; and
7. He was a consequential president, much like Truman, and his major foreign policy and national security decisions will be debated by historians for decades.


In other words, Bush had his successes and his failures. But the defining issue of his presidency--terrorism and Iraq--is the key to his legacy. Because of the importance of hsi defining issue, he may be remembered as a great president, or a horrible president. There really is no middle ground.

good assessment.

i can't wait for 4 years from now when Obama is leaving, and we conservatives have a chance to exhibit some class, unlike the idiots in this thread.

-Mars

[ClingingMars]

If preventing terrorist attacks after 9/11 is a success, then his willful ignorance of the terrorist threat before 9/11 is his biggest and most unforgivable failure and makes Bush and overall failure as president.

that would be Clinton's fault, but that's for another thread.

-Mars

[MannyIsGod]

good assessment.

i can't wait for 4 years from now when Obama is leaving, and we conservatives have a chance to exhibit some class, unlike the idiots in this thread.

-Mars

Why do you hate America? Shouldn't you be hoping for your preisdentto succeed?

[Bartleby]

that would be Clinton's fault, but that's for another thread.

-Mars

Bush had been in office for more than half a year before 9/11.

[ChumpDumper]

that would be Clinton's fault, but that's for another thread.

-Mars

Bull .

Look up how many cabinet meetings Bush had on terra in the eight months before 9/11. Chances are you are as ignorant as any Republican about it.

[balli]

I cannot believe the gall of you conservative s, who simply cannot admit Bush ever did anything wrong... ever. For every single, monumental Bush up, you literally blame Clinton, or say something to the effect of, "given what Bush had to deal with."

You're pathetic. The man was a walking ing disaster on a global scale. Grow some balls, face the facts, man up and quit trying to exonerate yourselves from the horrible record, legacy and devastation you've left in the wake of Bush's God awful presidency.

Bush had been in office for more than half a year before 9/11.

Whilst ignoring just about everything related to Osama Bin Laden, that Clinton's people stressed the importance of.

edit: And I too would like to know- Mars, why do you hate America?

[angel_luv]

Were you even old enough to vote for Bush's first term?

I was 18.