Posted on 01/20/2009 9:26:58 AM PST by jbwbubba
In August 1951, with a little more than a year left to Harry S. Truman's presidency, historian Henry Steele Commager published an essay in Look magazine with this prediction: "By all normal standards, [Truman's] Administration has been one of almost . . . unparalleled success . . . the verdict of history will not be the same as the verdict of contemporary critics."
At the time, Truman's popularity hovered in the low 20s and most Americans considered his presidency a failure. Look's editors even published a note declaring "doubts" about "whether history will accord Harry S. Truman as generous a place as Professor Commager assigns him." History eventually sided with Commager.
Today, President George W. Bush leaves office with approval ratings only slightly higher than Truman's. And I will make this prediction: The verdict of history on the Bush presidency will not be the same as the verdict of contemporary critics.
While Mr. Bush made mistakes during his time in office, like Truman he racked up a record of unparalleled success that will be increasingly appreciated in the years to come.
Like Truman at the start of the Cold War, Mr. Bush set our nation's course at the start of a new and unprecedented war. And like Truman, he responded by laying out a clear doctrine to guide America through the conflict. Mr. Bush created the institutions necessary to prevail in this struggle. He created the Department of Homeland Security and a new director of national intelligence. He transformed the FBI and the Justice Department to fight terror. He established new military commands. And he transformed NATO from a defensive alliance into an expeditionary alliance that is now leading the fight in Afghanistan.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
You must have slept through his work with Teddy Kennedy in persuit of legalizing 20 million illegals.
Here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Immigration_Reform_Act_of_2007
All true, Deb.
There are still things left undone as it relates to border security, and the fact is W had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do what you site.
The poster is at the point where he/she is making things up, and attributing them to other posters as if they are ‘real’.
That demonstrates he/she knows the debate is already lost.
Relative to your assertion (above), I got to thinking...
I cast my first vote for President in 1964. From that point forward, there were eight Presidents (Obama makes nine). Reagan was clearly the best of the lot.
Who would be #2...???
Hmmmm. Ya know...I don’t have an answer. Never really thought about it...but now that I have...I can’t come up with one.
There was Reagan...and everybody else.
Ewwww ....says the guy who has attempted to paint me as 'scared' of immigration.
Bush wasn’t a Conservative. Get your hearing checked.
Good. We agree.
Again, Bush isn’t a Conservative. That said, we are all from ‘other places’ including YOU.
I have no problem with immigration. I have problems with illegal immigration. I have stated that before. If you would like I will state it again. I am against illegal immigration. There. Now, Bush has been catastrophic on illegal immigration. Had he gotten his way on his work with Teddy Kennedy he would have been even worse.
Have a great day.
You too. I wish you nothing but the best.
I plan to watch the news later and see the coverage of the inaguration of Barak Hussein Obama. I will ponder how when Bush came to Washington the GOP was the majority party and how he leaves it ruins. Obama would not have been possible if not for Bush.
Reagan actually accomplished amnesty for 20 million illegals and he is our hero. Bush's mistake was thinking that illegals and resident Latinos could become supporters of the Republican party like they did in Texas. That may be altruistic, but it's not worth all the vomitous screaming and blind hatred from conservatives.
Bush had a lot of help from a disfunctional GOP majority in both the House and the Senate.
2006 tom DeLay ‘There’s nothing left to cut’ in a budget featuring 31,000 plus earmarks
2000 - 2007 John McCain, daily attacking Republicans and the President who was the leader of his party, for the benefit of Chrissy Matthews on MSNBC’s ‘Softball’.
Indeed it did not. Bush failed on that. Thank God. So did McCain and the other lefties in the GOP. You should think about the fact that Bush the 'conservative' worked so well with Teddy Kennedy.
Reagan actually accomplished amnesty for 20 million illegals and he is our hero.
He did nothing of the sort. He did legalize about 2 or 3 million illegals. You do know that 20 million is a lot higher than 2 million, right?
Bush's mistake was thinking that illegals and resident Latinos could become supporters of the Republican party like they did in Texas. That may be altruistic, but it's not worth all the vomitous screaming and blind hatred from conservatives.
Altruism had nothing to do with it.
I fault him for not having a Carville, Begala or Lanny Davis out there beating up the opposition everyday, but the Democrats who bring us the news would have done to them what they did to Bush, Rove, Cheney and every other Republican.
Deb,
He didn’t get serious about border security until the Amnesty bill was defeated in a humiliating fashion. Thats just the plain truth, he dragged his feet on it for several YEARS after 9/11, in a false belief that by legislative efforts the GOP could entice hispanics into the party.
As we have seen it was an absymal failure. What I can’t get over is how they came to that strategy in the first place, it never had a chance of working.
JMHO.
Indeed. The GOP forgot why they were the majority and decided to follow Bush down the neoconservative road. Had they stuck with what got them there they would still be the majority.
2006 tom DeLay ‘There’s nothing left to cut’ in a budget featuring 31,000 plus earmarks
Yep.
2000 - 2007 John McCain, daily attacking Republicans and the President who was the leader of his party, for the benefit of Chrissy Matthews on MSNBC’s ‘Softball’.
Yes. Which is why for the first time in my life I voted Libertarian and not Republican. I would have voted Constitutional Party but they were not on the ticket in California. McCain deserved to lose. It is sad that he was even given the nomination and was able to harm Palins chances in the future. She was the only thing good about the GOP ticket. Hopefully, she will lead the party out of the abyss.
I agree with everything you posted except ‘harmed Palin’.
She’s benefitted greatly from the contrast between McCain’s moderate BS hiding behind ‘I’m a Conservative’ campaign commercials, which were simply ridiculous.
Think about it. Outside of Obama, who’s gotten the most ink in politics since the election was over?
Sarah Palin. And yep, its been vicious attacks...but I recall an old saying. The worst thing in the world is being ‘talked about’. The second worst thing in the world is ‘not being talked about’.
Daily, people are talking about Sarah Palin. We see it EVERYWHERE, not just here at FR.
Those that want to believe she won’t be a big factor in 2012 are making a big mistake.
Watch and see. She hit a chord with the American people that McCain and his band of idiot campaign managers completely and totally misused.
Go stew in you own putrid juices and bathe in your lies. Your BS had become tiresome.
Good point. I hope you are correct. She had 'it'. She connected to people and represented the American people much more than the other three. She was magnificent. I almost held my nose and voted for McCain because of her. Then McCain let her be attacked viciously and did close to nothing.
She hit a chord with the American people that McCain and his band of idiot campaign managers completely and totally misused.
I agree and I hope you are correct. It shows the character of the people around McCain that they went about leaking negative things about her after the election.
Geez, you have to give him some credit for abandoning it when he saw the wave of support against it.
Quit projecting. I am shocked that even after all that has happened that you could be so blind in your defense of Bush.
Give the man no credit.
He deserves no credit. He deserves scorn and derision. He has brought the conservative movement to its knees which paved the way for Barak Hussien Obama. He has thus harmed his country. If you want to defend the man who laid the ground for Socialism in this country you are welcome to.
Admit nothing...oh, wait...you had to admit St. Ronald gave millions of illegals amnesty!!
Admit nothing? I am pretty open about what I think and believe. Legalizing 2 million people is quite different than legalizing 20 million. Do you understand that? I think Reagans Amnesty was a mistake but it was not the catastrophe that Bushs would have been.
Go stew in you own putrid juices and bathe in your lies. Your BS had become tiresome.
:-D
BTW - Can you name what Bush did besides his Supreme Court Nominees that was 'conservative'? What did he do differently than Clinton would have done? What makes him worth your robust defense of him? What makes him worthy of Reagan?
McCain’s people put her with Couric and Gibson.
Palin on her own hit Rush and Sean and Beck, and did very very well.
In short, her political instincts are miles beyond McCain’s, or the idiots McCain hired.
The amnesty bill under Reagan resulted in about 2.7 million people going through the process and adjusting their status.
I think in the end, it was more the GOP members of Congress that did that, they never had President Bush's back.
Yes. McCain makes me wish that I was a conspiracy theorist. He seemed to throw the election. Sadly, I have to just swallow the fact that he was a bad candidate and his staff were stupid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.