American politics and journalism is now broken beyond reasonable repair.
BOTH Bush “Presidencies” can be summerized by the phrase “Missed and/or Squandered Opportunities”, sad but true.
GWB is a saint compared to what we’re stuck with now.
Roberts? Impressive?
Thank you VDH!
As he points out, however, the things that Bush was criticized for are completely ignored in the case of Obama. Can you imagine what would have happened if Bush had made a joke about siccing drones on his daughters' suitors?
Also, even the very highly manipulated statistics are now being ignored. There is no logical reason for the press to ignore the fact that unemployment has been higher every month of Obama's terms than it was in any one month under Bush. But the press doesn't care, because it's all about covering Obama's posterior.
I think Bush's biggest failure was in not confronting the media and confronting his critics; he always thought it was more gentlemanly and contributed more to domestic harmony to just ignore it. But the problem is that so many unanswered challenges left the impression of guilt in the minds of the masses, and it was very easy for the Dems and the press to go on to demonize him (even here on FR, I have seen people refer to Bush as practically a horned monster).
The issues that hurt Bush with the mainstream are not those that hurt him with conservatives. While the mainstream certainly has a voice, it is when a person loses the protection afforded by one’s supporters that true vulnerability peaks. The following is my prioritized list of Bush’s actions that crippled his standing with conservatives.
1. The amnesty plan
2. spending
3. new drug benefit
4. refusal to defend wartime record
5. scooter libby sacrifice
6. Dubai port authority
7. harriet miers
Democat Lite, would be the term I would use to describe them....
Bush lost the ‘House’ in 2006 because of his mismanagement of the war, and he ‘checked-out’ in 2007 with the start of the financial crisis, and gave a start to ‘Bailout Mania’ in Sep 2008 that made it ‘acceptable’ to be fiscally irresponsible amongst the ‘ruling class’ and which easily gave ‘birth’ to Obama’s election.
American politics and journalism is now broken beyond reasonable repair.
This Bush family doctrine of post presidential politeness is handing Dems the keys to the revisionist bulldozer.
W got a bad rap. His ratings will improve with time.
Hate to be accused of recycling one of my earlier comments, but this is the truth about GWB:
“Yes I do blame GWB. But I understand what his fault TRULY was.
He squandered the greatest opportunity since Pearl Harbor!
From his famous scene standing on top of a burned out fire truck, till his famous quote of “you are either with us or against us” he had it right. But then, like his father’s entire term, and Reagan’s second term, he committed the unpardonable sin - he began listening to and acting in accordance with the advice of “advisers”.
Soon words like “inclusiveness” and “consensus” replaced direct action. And the laser like focus that should have been there was replaced with muddled group speak. This nonsense ruined GHWB’s term in office in its entirety. It really made Reagan’s second term nowhere equal to his first. And once GWB stopped listening to his own heart and started following the advice of the nitwits around him, his presidency was lost as well.
To bring this country together, even for a few months, takes a Pearl Harbor type event. They don’t happen often. And to have been President during one and squandered the opportunity, it a failure of the highest order.”
I met W once here in Texas when he was Gov.
He seemed like a really nice persona and was personable.
He just let the media win...
We wanted Regean and were sick of Clinton.
I reconsidered him. He still sucked.
Bush was a disaster that the Republicans and America in general are a long ways from recovering from. His failure to stop illegal immigration alone should be the end of the discussion, all but assuring the death of the GOP and really all hope for restoring republican government by demographics. He destroyed any credibility the GOP might aspire to have on deficits.
His signature on the TARP bailout renders Republican claims to standing for free market accountability as just irrelevant prattle, not to mention that he should’ve stepped in to reign in Fannie and Freddie years earlier. Though I certainly shed no tears for Mullah Omar and Saddam, he committed the U.S. to exactly the kind of foolish nation-building that he campaigned against, and that inevitably results in failure amid massive losses of blood and treasure, especially when attempted in any past of the world under the sway of Mohammad. He never met a freedom he wasn’t willing to sacrifice for “security”.
The best that can be said for him is that he kept Gore and Kerry out of the Oval Office, which I suppose is no small thing.
W and his father were both poor presidents and not actual believers in the conservative cause. Their damage to the GOP and the country has been substantial.
I said it at the end of Bush’s presidency and I’ll say it again now, GW Bush was one of the finest men to ever serve as president.
Even Bono praised the president for this...
W and his Daddy put us on the road to ruin. No more Bushes.