Free Republic

At first glance, Bush hatred and Obama euphoria could not be more different. Hatred of Mr. Bush went well beyond the partisan broadsides typical of democratic politics. For years it disfigured its victims with open, indeed proud, loathing for the very manner in which Mr. Bush walked and talked. It compelled them to denounce the president and his policies as not merely foolish or wrong or contrary to the national interest, but as anathema to everything that made America great. In contrast, the euphoria surrounding Mr. Obama's run for president conferred upon the candidate immunity from criticism despite his newness...

Unable to let go of its campaign mantra blaming the nation's ills on the "failed policies" of George W. Bush, the White House of President Barack Obama immediately posted on its website charges that Bush broke promises and allowed "catastrophic failures" responding to the needs of Americans. continued at link...

Attention all shrinks! You will have a field day analyzing the incredibly childish BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) exhibited by this Hate Bush thread over at the Democratic Underground. The author of the thread, William Rivers Pitt, is a real piece of work. In case you never heard of Pitt, he was a perpetrator, along with former fashion photographer and Truthout publisher, Marc Ash, and "investigative reporter" Jason Leopold of one of the biggest journalistic hoaxes of this decade: the supposed indictment of Karl Rove by Patrick Fitzgerald on May 12, 2006. All that Pitt managed to accomplish when the indictment...

On his last full day as president, George W. Bush commuted the prison sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, two former Border Patrol agents who were sent to prison for crimes they committed related to the shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler. Upon being charged, these agents became convenient symbols, and far too many good people tried to justify their behavior through the prism of their own beliefs. Border Patrol officers saw them as fellow officers unfairly accused of tryin But Compean and Ramos are anything but heroes. They are not good cops unfairly accused...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston police are looking for a vandal who defaced a monument in honor of former President George Bush. monument on Bagby at Preston in downtown Houston. Witnesses say a man who appeared to be homeless was using paint to vandalize the monument. The man was described as having long blond hair, possibly in a ponytail, and wearing a plaid shirt. He may still have some yellow paint on him.

Here is video from yesterday's inauguration of classless Obama supporters booing and jeering President George W. Bush as he made his way to the platform for Obama's swearing in as President. I don't ever remember such a thing happening at an inauguration. Republicans would just never do such a thing because we have a great sense of respect for the Office of the Presidency. Democrats demonstrated just how lacking in class they are with this conduct. . . . . . (watch video)

The press was all Obama all the time for the inauguration - with a bash of Bush and Cheney - EVEN AS THEY ARRIVED for the big event.

Tuesday was the rarest of days in Washington: partisan wrangling was mainly put aside as America swore into office its first black president, and for one brief moment of hope and optimism, Capitol Hill residents, black and white, handed out hot chocolate to shivering passers-by, who were, at least on this one day, just like them -- Americans. But the camaraderie and good will did not extend to the men who would soon add "former" to their once lofty titles, and there remained a bubbling discontent just under the surface. Obama supporters mocked former Vice President Dick Cheney with derisive...

The Media Research Center head reflects.

Modern liberalism shows remarkably little concern for freedom, democracy, and the will of the people if it's not politically expedient, but now some of the most influential members of the Democratic Party are starting to drift towards outright fascism with the suggestion that members of the Bush Administration should be jailed once they leave power. For example, we have Paul Krugman caterwauling that Bush should be investigated for his policy on the environment, voting rights issues, political appointees, contracts in Iraq, and because ludicrously, Krugman claims Bush "deliberately misled the nation into invading Iraq." Furthermore, John Conyers has spoken of...

I am thoroughly confused as to how folks continue to try to prop up George W. Bush's failed government. Months ago, surveys indicated 81 percent of Americans felt the country was going in the wrong direction. Of that 81 percent, there must be Republicans who feel the same way; it cannot be just Democrats. Historians are already writing that Bush did not possess the intellect, discipline or basic interest in governmental politics to make a good president. The failures are for all to see. We do not need pundits to point out Bush's failures. How about the current economy? Who...

And no, I'm not referring to the coming inauguration of the chosen one, but rather the last day of gratuitous Bush bashing. It's been a long time coming. What started before the man was even sworn in, with the debacle in Florida in 2000, is now finally---yes finally---over. Or at least it will be when today's final editions hit the newsstands. Feel free to go to any newspaper website today to witness all the editorial writers getting the vitriol out of their systems. I'm not going to link them here, but they're fairly predictable in what they have to say:...

Editorial writers around the world have been taking their final printed whacks at George W. Bush, accusing the president of tarnishing America's standing with what many saw as arrogant and incompetent leadership. Some newspaper editorials, for all their criticism, suggested historians might just be kinder later on than those now writing first drafts of history. A success often cited by those seeking a silver lining was the United States' freedom from further homeland attacks following September 11. Bush's successor, Barack Obama, will be sworn in as the 44th U.S. president on Tuesday. "A weak leader, Bush was just overwhelmed in...

Editorials worldwide pillory Bush one final time Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:36am EST By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - Editorial writers around the world have been taking their final printed whacks at George W. Bush, accusing the president of tarnishing America's standing with what many saw as arrogant and incompetent leadership. Some newspaper editorials, for all their criticism, suggested historians might just be kinder later on than those now writing first drafts of history. A success often cited by those seeking a silver lining was the United States' freedom from further homeland attacks following September 11. Bush's successor, Barack Obama,...

There is one thing certain to go through Barack Obama's mind during the inauguration: at one point or another, while glancing at George W. Bush, he will consider the treatment that Bush got as president and hope to God he suffers nothing even vaguely similar. It can be stated without fear of serious argument that no previous president has been treated as brutally, viciously, and unfairly as George W. Bush. Bush 43 endured a deliberate and planned assault on everything he stood for, everything he was involved in, everything he tried to accomplish. Those who worked with him suffered nearly...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Good riddance, Dubya. The most telling aspect of President George W. Bush's treatment of the media is that his incoming successor, Barack Obama, has already eclipsed the nation's 43rd chief executive in relations with journalists. Obama has (smartly) reached across the media divide to listen to conservative journalists and show them some measure of respect. It's hard to imagine that Obama would truly embrace the views of Bill Kristol, the journalist who was an early champion of Sarah Palin and has espoused classic right-wing views. But Obama is, at least, giving an audience to his critics,...

Activists who have spent years protesting President Bush admit their chances are slim of seeing Bush or any members of his administration face legal recourse for what they say are "crimes against humanity." Several activists hoped to squeeze out a few parting shots against the outgoing president in the run-up to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday. Demonstrators are trying to organize final shows of force in the last hours before Obama becomes president. "People give [Obama] all kinds of excuses because they want so much to believe in him," she said. "That's how they make a tyrant. ... If...

Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration. “I don’t believe that anybody is above the law,” he responded, but “we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.” I’m sorry, but if we don’t have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years — and nearly everyone has taken Mr. Obama’s remarks to mean that we won’t — this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don’t face any consequences if they abuse their power. Let’s be clear what...

Not lacking in brains and possessing a confidence that bordered on arrogance, President Bush would probably have thrived in less interesting times. But the challenges that emerged beginning with the attacks on September 11, 2001, right on through today’s financial meltdown of which we still haven’t glimpsed bottom, showed a man out of his depth, lacking in judgement, unable to come to grips with the forces that were reshaping the world and America. He is not without gifts. But when a president is proved wrong by events as often and as consistently as Bush, there is little alternative but to...

President Bush once remarked at a White House party that in the famously liberal enclave of San Francisco, his supporters were so rare that "you could probably fit them all in one room." He wasn't exaggerating, and he would do little to alter his standing. He never once set foot in San Francisco during his two terms, and he was hardly much chummier with California as a whole, the nation's most populous state and the world's eighth-largest economy. The 43rd president's legacy in the Golden State, according to the unsparing assessment of Democratic consultant Phil Trounstine, is "zilch." "He regarded...