Lower taxes??? He ran up massive deficits when he had his own party for 5-6 years, and got worse afterward. I take away any credit I gave him for tax cuts before. It was insanity. What good are tax cuts now with what remains of the economy handed to Pelosi/Obama by Bush with the Bush debt?? And he wanted to give illegals SS and other benefits by legalization. HIS two bailouts sent the WORST possible message about what republicans stand for.
Bushes popularity?? He had 90% and a republican congress in early 2003. You blame his massive loss in popularity as a defense for him doing even WORSE things?? So everything bad he does he loses more popularity and gets a pass for worse actions? Unfortunately that is how he acted.
Don't blame President Bush for losing the Republican majority in Congress. They did that all on their own with their profligate spending and by turning their backs on the conservative message. The President was concentrating most fully on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of that 90% approval was from folks who still had intact memories of 9/11, and were truly frightened that it could happen again. The further away we got from 9/11, folks started forgetting WHY we were in Afghanistan and Iraq, and started believing the constant negative drumbeat from the MSM, and sadly, from much of what passes for the conservative media in the US.
As for the collapse of parts of the economy, I am truly suspicious of the timing of it. The housing bubble had burst two years ago, but the big bad news about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac didn't come out until the summer before the Presidential election? Color me suspicious; the timing was just a little too coincidental.
President Bush had tried, in 2003, and again, in 2005, to get legislation through that would have mitigated much of the financial distress caused by the problems with mortgages, but the Democrats blocked him. He didn't get much support from Republicans in Congress, either, because they were too cowed by the screaming Democrats and the MSM on the war situation. They also had no credibility with their own voters on any fiscal matters, as they discovered, to their chagrin in November of 2006, when they lost their majority.