Was Bush the worst President ever?

[JoeB131]

[

Bush is responsible for the banks making risky loans? Correct me if I'm wrong here, Joe but wasn't Bush the one warning that we were putting ourselves in a risky position with what we were doing with home loans? As for running up huge deficits? Unless something has changed from my high school civics class then I believe Congress still controls the purse strings in our government? Trust me when I say that W. doesn't get much love from me on his willingness to spend...but it was the Nancy Pelosi led House that's REALLY to blame for that.

Actually, Bush said nothing of the sort. In fact, he considered the increase in home ownership one of the accomplishments of his administration- until the bottom fell out.

Also, most of the huge deficit spending happened in the years 2001-2007, when Congress was controlled by Republicans. Nancy only "led" the House for two years under Bush. And FY2007 actually had some small deficits compared to previous years. FY2008 is another story, because unemployment shot up, revenues went down and so on.

Bush also engaged in shenanigans like putting the cost of the war off budget so we couldn't see how bad it was.

[
Quite frankly, I don't see Iraq being a big issue long term. I think Bush will be judged first and foremost on his reaction to 9/11. The fact that he did successfully go into Afghanistan and root out the Taliban coupled with his ability to prevent another terrorist attack on the US homeland during the rest of his two terms will bode well for his future reputation...especially if subsequent Presidents have "issues" with attacks like Boston.

Not really.

More than likely, until we get the sale of guns and such under control, we are probably going to have terrorism as the background noise. They probably won't ever pull off something as impressive as 9/11 again. But we'll see a lot of small attacks as long as we keep sticking our hands in the Middle East beehive.

 

[JoeB131]

[

Only if Bush was responsible for 9/11, Joe. Do you want to make that case?

I'm sorry but if Slick Willie was still President when 9/11 took place then the "peace dividend" that he took advantage of (not to mention the Dot Com Boom, which had ended before his last year in office) would have vanished like smoke in a strong wind. Bush didn't REALLY fuck things up...he got hit with a serious of problems that he had to deal with. The recession that was already underway when he took office and then an attack upon the US that was a total shock to all of us.

I would say Bush didn't treat the problem seriously.

When the CIA gives you a breifing that reads "Bin Laden determined to strike US" and your response is to say, "Well, you covered your ass" and go fishing for the rest of the afternoon, you really aren't taking the problem seriously.

Bush's response to the Recession was to cut taxes for rich people. It was the wrong cure for the wrong problem. The recession was caused because too much inventory had built up from manufacturing and companies had to lay people off to cope with it. Giving tax breaks to rich people and then keeping them there after the recession was over did nothing to help.

Ironically, what did help was that there was a boom in government spending related to teh GWOT. But Supply Siders and Austerians will never make that connection.

 

[Oddball]

I provided the link. You want me to read it to you, too? LOL
Not happening.

Your link didn't list any Bush deregulation.
Maybe you should read it to yourself?

As of 2003, this practice was removed by the passage of the Sarbines-Oxley Act. Signed, notably, by George W. Bush. At the same time, however, this same president invoked an obscure 1863 law forbidding states to regulate local banks. Therefore, the second Bush administration has a mixed record on financial deregulation

Read more: Deregulation of Financial Markets Under George Bush | eHow.com Deregulation of Financial Markets Under George Bush | eHow.com

Nothing wrong with my reading comprehension...You, not so much.

Had zero to do with the housing bubble and eventual bust.

Besides that, shitty regulation is vastly different from deregulation.

 

[Trajan]

As of 2003, this practice was removed by the passage of the Sarbines-Oxley Act.

Hey, moron, Sarbanes-Oxley was a massive increase in regulations.

Nothing wrong with my reading comprehension

LOL! You're stupid, but at least you're funny!

you should stick to spraying your free verse on on subway walls 'poet'..


here-

Sarbanes?Oxley Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My verse is not for "free". I don't spray. And I live in Houston, and we don't have "subways". LOL Massive "fail". Stick to Emperoring. As it were.

read the link dopey......

 

[Oldstyle]

My pointing out that the country W inherited from Clinton was going into recession before Bush ever walked in the door to the Oval Office and that nobody...including Clinton...saw 9/11 coming...is "lies and sissy chatter"? How so? Did Clinton NOT have the Dot Com Boom to help his numbers? Did Clinton NOT have the so called "peace dividend" to allow him to cut military spending back? Enlighten me on what I'm "spinning".

It seems you've been misled by deceptive right-wing propaganda, so you need to read this: The three best charts on how Clinton?s surpluses became Bush and Obama?s deficits

In the simplest terms, by imposing a sensible tax policy Clinton was able to leave the Economy in good condition with an impressive projected budget surplus. Bush immediately commenced a profligate spending spree, wasting the accumulated revenues and eliminating the surplus.

He initiated two massively costly military adventures (Iraq and Afghanistan) without budgeting for either one. And rather than negotiating with the pharmaceutical industry for reduced drug prices, as Canada has successfully done, he instituted Medicare Part-D, which has collapsed the Medicare budget but was a boon for that industry -- a major component of Bush's "base."

So I suggest you educate yourself and stop propagating false information about the cause of our present economic problems.

It's "deceptive right wing propaganda" that Clinton had the revenues from the Dot Com Boom to help balance his budgets while Bush didn't? It's "deceptive right wing propaganda" that Clinton didn't have have to deal with the aftermath of 9/11 and the inherent costs of going to war against Al Queda? That's amusing...

I suppose it's also "deceptive right wing propaganda" that Clinton had a Congress controlled by Newt Gingrich that tightened up spending while Bush had to deal with a Congress controlled by Nancy Pelosi? Who is it again that controls the purse strings in our governmental system? Is it the President or is it Congress?

 

[Oldstyle]

[

Only if Bush was responsible for 9/11, Joe. Do you want to make that case?

I'm sorry but if Slick Willie was still President when 9/11 took place then the "peace dividend" that he took advantage of (not to mention the Dot Com Boom, which had ended before his last year in office) would have vanished like smoke in a strong wind. Bush didn't REALLY fuck things up...he got hit with a serious of problems that he had to deal with. The recession that was already underway when he took office and then an attack upon the US that was a total shock to all of us.

I would say Bush didn't treat the problem seriously.

When the CIA gives you a breifing that reads "Bin Laden determined to strike US" and your response is to say, "Well, you covered your ass" and go fishing for the rest of the afternoon, you really aren't taking the problem seriously.

Bush's response to the Recession was to cut taxes for rich people. It was the wrong cure for the wrong problem. The recession was caused because too much inventory had built up from manufacturing and companies had to lay people off to cope with it. Giving tax breaks to rich people and then keeping them there after the recession was over did nothing to help.

Ironically, what did help was that there was a boom in government spending related to teh GWOT. But Supply Siders and Austerians will never make that connection.

Come on, Joe...Bush didn't treat the "threat" of Osama bin Laden any differently than Clinton did. Be honest about this...our intelligence services didn't see 9/11 coming. You REALLY want to make the case that something different would have taken place if Bill Clinton was sitting in the Oval Office (Or Al Gore for that matter?)? The planning for 9/11 went on for years, much of it DURING the Clinton Administration and we appear to have been oblivious to it. Was Clinton "gone fishing" as well?

The recession that W was forced to deal with at the beginning of his Presidency was the aftermath of the Dot Com Boom which had gone "bust" a year earlier. All Bush did was to use classic Keynesian economic theory and provide economic stimulus by letting people keep more of their own money. And if the Bush tax cuts were only for "rich people" as so many of you progressives keep repeating as some sort of mantra...then why did would their expiration cause taxes to go up for so many Middle Class Americans?

 

[candycorn]

"Ever" is a long time. I tend to doubt it

To be truly reckless you need to have near total power. Thanks (if you want to use that word) to our binary system and the partisan atmosphere, Congress checked a lot of what was going to be absolutely devastating on Bush's part.

Do you remember when he wanted to privatize social security in 2005? You would take a lot of what you're paying into the plan and play the stock market. Democrats in Congress blew that out of the water in about 8.6 seconds. So much so, he abandoned it. Good thing too...in October 2008, the stock market lost about 800 points or about 8% of it's value.

So when there is the "worst ever" rating, I think we should take into account what didn't happen through the lens of history. For as bad as Bush was, he could have been MUCH worse had the democrats not stopped him at some crucial moments. They should have been more active in stopping him, of course.

But worst "ever"? No...we've had truly bad people who were installed.

 

[poet]

you should stick to spraying your free verse on on subway walls 'poet'..


here-

Sarbanes?Oxley Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My verse is not for "free". I don't spray. And I live in Houston, and we don't have "subways". LOL Massive "fail". Stick to Emperoring. As it were.

read the link dopey......

whatever for? As if you could change my mind about anything, your empressness. Ha!

 

[Oldstyle]

Ah...if it isn't "The Conservatives Bane"!!!! LOL

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

The worst thing W did was to be replaced by Obabble.

Actually, Bush laid the groundwork for a string of Democratic Presidents to come

The far right contended that all Obama had going for him were great speeches, but after listening to Bush literally sputter for 8 years it only stood to reason that a backlash would occur with the 2008 election.

But then add these list of fuck-ups to his resume and yes, Bush was a total failure and yet the pinhead righties on this board think Obama is worse.....

• 45 million Americans without health care

• 60 percent of EPA scientists report political interference with their work

• 1,273 whistleblower complaints filed from 2002-2008; 1,256 were dismissed

• 190,000 U.S.-supplied weapons missing in Iraq

• $212.3 million in overcharges by Halliburton for Iraq oil reconstruction work

• $455 billion deficit for fiscal year 2008; estimated to reach up to $1 trillion in 2009

• $9.91 billion for government secrecy in 2007 — a record

• 809 government laptops with sensitive information lost by FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

• 30 million pounds of beef recalled in 2007

• $300 billion over budget for Department of Defense weapons acquisitions

• Less than 3 percent of U.S. electricity needs met by alternative energy

• 2,145 troops killed and 21,000 injured in Iraq from March 2003 through November 1, 2008, by IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and other explosives — many while awaiting body armor. Additionally, tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in the conflict

• 34.8 percent of oil used in America imported during Nixon administration; 42.2 percent during first Gulf War; 59.9 percent in 2006

• $100 million for failed FBI computer network

• $100 billion in federal tax revenues lost annually to corporations using off-shore tax shelters

• 163 million airline passengers delayed 320 million hours; cost to U.S. economy: more than $41 billion in 2007

• $60 billion stolen in Medicare fraud each year

• 2.5 million toxic toys recalled in summer of 2007

• $12.5 billion for defective National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System

• $4 billion to upgrade National Security Agency computers that often crash, have trouble talking to each other, and lose key intelligence

• 60,000 flights made by 46 Southwest Airline jets in violation of FAA safety directives due to lax FAA enforcement

• 12.8 percent job turnover at Department of Homeland Security in 2006 — double that of any other cabinet-level agency

• 730,000 backlogged patent applications

• 148,000 troops not enough to secure Iraq, enabling insurgency to take root

• $1 billion, six-year “Reading First” program called ineffective by Department of Education Inspector General

• 20,000 U.S. deaths annually from lack of pollution controls on diesel vehicles and power plants

• 60,000 newborns a year at risk for neurological problems due to mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants

• Two-thirds fewer clean ups of EPA Superfund toxic waste sites during 2001-2006 than in previous six years

• 935 demonstrably false statements in lead-up to Iraq war by President Bush and seven members of his administration

• At least $500 million for FEMA trailers contaminated by formaldehyde occupied by thousands displaced after Hurricane Katrina

• 558 detainees at Guantanamo detention facility reduced to 255 after court-ordered case reviews

• 26 percent of corporations holding at least $250 million in assets audited in 2006; percent audited in 1990: more than 70 percent. IRS audit staff slashed by 30 percent

• $431.5 billion spent on Medicare in 2007, double amount in 2001

• 47 dead in mining accidents in 2006 blamed on lax oversight

• $9 billion in federal oil and gas royalties mismanaged by agency linked to drug-and-sex scandal

• 275 largest U.S. corporations pay, on average, about 17 percent in taxes in 2007, half the standard corporate tax rate

• $45 trillion in credit-default swaps, without federal oversight, in 2007

• 760,800 disability claims backlogged, awaiting hearings at Social Security Administration as of October 2008

• 806,000 Veterans Affairs disability claims in 2006, up 39 percent since 2000; backlog reached 400,000 claims by February 2007

• 2,640 days Osama bin Laden at large since September 11, 2001 (as of December 10, 2008)

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2008/12/10/2997/numbers

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

My verse is not for "free". I don't spray. And I live in Houston, and we don't have "subways". LOL Massive "fail". Stick to Emperoring. As it were.

read the link dopey......

whatever for? As if you could change my mind about anything, your empressness. Ha!

As if you could change my mind about anything

You're right, you'd have to learn something. That's impossible.

 

[Trajan]

My verse is not for "free". I don't spray. And I live in Houston, and we don't have "subways". LOL Massive "fail". Stick to Emperoring. As it were.

read the link dopey......

whatever for? As if you could change my mind about anything, your empressness. Ha!

bragging that your mind is closed is kind of stupid...you know?

 

[MondoBongo]

"Take a chill pill, ya assfucking little Goddamned beaaaaaaaatch"

LOL

He must have a macro for that. I got the same message.

 

[poet]

read the link dopey......

whatever for? As if you could change my mind about anything, your empressness. Ha!

bragging that your mind is closed is kind of stupid...you know?

Who ever said that my mind is "closed". I only indulge "common sense", not opinion, or propaganda, which is all you have ever offered. You're insane, to believe that your opinion ranks as plausible or relevant. After all, you believe you're actually Trajan.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

whatever for? As if you could change my mind about anything, your empressness. Ha!

bragging that your mind is closed is kind of stupid...you know?

Who ever said that my mind is "closed". I only indulge "common sense", not opinion, or propaganda, which is all you have ever offered. You're insane, to believe that your opinion ranks as plausible or relevant. After all, you believe you're actually Trajan.

I only indulge "common sense", not opinion, or propaganda

Tell me again how Sarbanes-Oxley deregulated our economy. LOL!

 

[poet]

bragging that your mind is closed is kind of stupid...you know?

Who ever said that my mind is "closed". I only indulge "common sense", not opinion, or propaganda, which is all you have ever offered. You're insane, to believe that your opinion ranks as plausible or relevant. After all, you believe you're actually Trajan.

I only indulge "common sense", not opinion, or propaganda

Tell me again how Sarbanes-Oxley deregulated our economy. LOL!

First tell me what you and Roger Daltrey have in common?

 

[IlarMeilyr]

Who ever said that my mind is "closed". I only indulge "common sense", not opinion, or propaganda, which is all you have ever offered. You're insane, to believe that your opinion ranks as plausible or relevant. After all, you believe you're actually Trajan.

I only indulge "common sense", not opinion, or propaganda

Tell me again how Sarbanes-Oxley deregulated our economy. LOL!

First tell me what you and Roger Daltrey have in common?

What do you have in common with a black man?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Who ever said that my mind is "closed". I only indulge "common sense", not opinion, or propaganda, which is all you have ever offered. You're insane, to believe that your opinion ranks as plausible or relevant. After all, you believe you're actually Trajan.

I only indulge "common sense", not opinion, or propaganda

Tell me again how Sarbanes-Oxley deregulated our economy. LOL!

First tell me what you and Roger Daltrey have in common?

We're both smarter than you......

 

[poet]

I only indulge "common sense", not opinion, or propaganda

Tell me again how Sarbanes-Oxley deregulated our economy. LOL!

First tell me what you and Roger Daltrey have in common?

We're both smarter than you......

LOL....in what way?

 

[IlarMeilyr]

First tell me what you and Roger Daltrey have in common?

We're both smarter than you......

LOL....in what way?

In all ways.