Was George W Bush a good president?

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28 Apr 2010, 10:44 am

Most of the people who voted "absolutely terrible" are probably too young to remember worse presidents. I lived through LBJ, Nixon and Carter so I know whereof I speak.

Aside from the Civil Rights act passed during LBJ's administration he was one of the most corrupt and rotten presidents. Only Dick Nixon can possibly match him. Carter was just pathetic and a confirmed Loser. Dick Nixon was evil. Carter was feckless.

ruveyn

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28 Apr 2010, 12:21 pm

Guys, let's try to stay on topic here. I'm not denying that Nixon and Carter were lousy presidents. I'm certainly not saying I like Obama. But this thread is about George W and whether you guys thought he was a good prez or not.

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28 Apr 2010, 12:23 pm

Jacoby wrote:

No, still bad. Obama is basically a continuation and expansion of the Bush policies.

I totally agree. When I tell people this they say I'm crazy. Like as if a democrat would pick up where a republican left off. That's our one party system for you.

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28 Apr 2010, 3:24 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:

Bush was a terrible president, that goes without saying. But what does it say about my fellow Americans who elected that village idiot twice? I had lived in growing fear for that terrible eight year period, seeing intellectuals and artists labeled and derided as elitists, while the country seemed to enjoy wallowing in mediocrity, bigotry, and out and out stupidity, all in the name of "populism," and traditional values (meaning, God hates Gays). They never seemed to scream and holler that much as the insurance companies and Wall Street tycoons left the middle class a devastated thing of the past. When Obama was elected, I thought my anxiety level could go down. But lo and behold, the ghost of idiocy past was alive and kicking in the form of the tea baggers, and the insurance companies, and right-wing political hacks backing them. No, I don't think Obama is perfect - I never thought he was anything close to being a Messiah. But neither is he a communist - socialist - Nazi - Muslim terrorist - Anti-Christ, determined to destroy America.
My anxiety level is flying high these days whenever I flip on the news, and see those "populist" cretins with their racist anti-Obama signs, and threatening violence.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

The insurance companies, Wall Street "tycoons", big business in general LOVE Obama. He may talk tough to them in the media but they have a hand in everything he does in the White House. They supported him by a wide margin in the presidential election and now Obama is "paying" them back. These guys like to say they're champions of the free market but they're anything but, they love bailouts, corporate welfare, and the government running their companies.

Bush was never a small government conservative either. He probably grew the size and scope of government probably more than any president we ever had at least up until Obama. Most so called "conservatives" in Washington are the same way.

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28 Apr 2010, 3:55 pm

Jacoby wrote:

Bush was never a small government conservative either. He probably grew the size and scope of government probably more than any president we ever had at least up until Obama. Most so called "conservatives" in Washington are the same way.

That "honor" goes to the Ronald Regan administration. On Regan's watch the size of the Federal Register doubled.

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28 Apr 2010, 6:13 pm

George Bush was easily the worst president we've had since Buchanan, and probably worse than Buchanan himself.

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28 Apr 2010, 6:31 pm

pandabear wrote:

George Bush was easily the worst president we've had since Buchanan, and probably worse than Buchanan himself.

Nonsense.

ruveyn

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28 Apr 2010, 6:50 pm

Oh, we have outed a Buchanan fan, have we?

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28 Apr 2010, 7:56 pm

pandabear wrote:

George Bush was easily the worst president we've had since Buchanan, and probably worse than Buchanan himself.

That's a pretty strong statement. I'm going to wait until I'm old and have a nice big buffer of historical context before I would be willing to make such a bold claim about the Bush administration. I can say right now with a good level of confidence that Bush was a sucky president. Labeling him as the worst in the past century and a half is harder to judge when we don't even have two years of retrospect on his administration yet.

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28 Apr 2010, 8:03 pm

Oh, really?

If you were a millionaire banker, or a rich government contractor, then you absolutely loved George Bush. His presidency was very profitable to you.

If you're a patriotic American, then you loathed him.

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28 Apr 2010, 8:23 pm

pandabear wrote:

That kind of polemic is really, truly stupid.

I rather loathed all the presidents I lived under, with the exception of Harry Truman. I liked him because he was Plain Folks. He entered the office un-wealthy and left the office un-wealthy.

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28 Apr 2010, 8:29 pm

Bush = Worst President in the past 100 years if not more. Obama has failed by trying to make everyone happy instead of acting on the mandate and momentum he had developed during the campaign. To borrow from his failed predecessor, but he failed to spend his political capital and instead frittered it away in PR-created debacles.

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28 Apr 2010, 8:58 pm

We could have had much better, we could have had much worse. I agree with ruveyn that the management of the wars frankly sucked, however I'd also be terrified to know how things would have gone if it had been someone who didn't understand the psychology of the situations we were in and came at it too dovey.

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28 Apr 2010, 10:13 pm

Quote:

I'd also be terrified to know how things would have gone if it had been someone who didn't understand the psychology of the situations we were in and came at it too dovey.

Bush understood the psychology of the Middle East?? The same Bush who didn't know the difference between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims? The same Bush whose generals used Crusade imagery? The same Bush who gave Al Quida thousands of new recruits by invading a country and torturing people? The same Bush who had an overwhelming mandate to fight in Afghanistan and then diverted all resources to Iraq? Yeah.. I'd hate to think how things would be worse under someone more "dovey."

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28 Apr 2010, 11:08 pm

I think that was actually John McCain who confused Shiites and Sunnis. Bush could of done it too I guess.

I think there is a point tho that the wars could of been handled a lot worse if John Kerry were president. I would assume there would of never been a surge and if we did what democratic leadership wanted during the worst part of the insurgency, who wanted to evacuated Iraq like we did Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. Lord knows what Iraq would look like now. However, that's just going off what Kerry ran on, if he were president it probably would of been a completely different situation. Obama ran as an anti-war candidate too.

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28 Apr 2010, 11:16 pm

Celoneth wrote:

Quote:

I'd also be terrified to know how things would have gone if it had been someone who didn't understand the psychology of the situations we were in and came at it too dovey.

Yeah, that one.

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