That’s an excellent point.
It should be said, though, that the fact research dollars from Bush administration grants using adult stem cells has contributed to some 73 treatments will never be brought forth. He’ll get zero credit for having advanced science in this regard; all anybody will say is that he stood in the way.
I have no special brief for Bush, but I’m not sure there has ever been a president who’s had so many lies told about him. Funny thing about lies, though - they get found out eventually. Just ask Obama.
By the time Bush did the veto he was politically toxic. He had lost all credibility.
Yes democrats were on rapid-fire. Shoot at anything that moves.(I watched MSNBC during that painful period.) But the key was that the public already had lost faith in him : Iraq, Katrina, Marriot Myers, Gas prices, deficits, ... all fit together in a nice narrative that voters believed(except FR and talk radio maybe) : ‘Bush was a screw up with no credibility’.. So then he tries to pitch a case against research?? (as his first veto?) Not going to fly at that point.
John Adams. Jefferson's party attacked him relentlessly and he came to be regarded by history as the worthless President who created the hated Alien and Sedition acts. In recent years he's been given a more balanced treatment and comes out remarkably well, the lightning bolt that struck and sparked the revolution!