I didn’t vote for Bush either time (Buchanan in 2000 & abstained in 04). The context of the article was that 0bama has “improved” GWB’s approval ratings. I agree with that. He was no conservative, it’s true- but he was the product of the system we’ve been condoning forever. I think he did the best he could.
Some people think that “worse is better”. I don’t. Worse is worse. I hate it. It’s self destructive & crazy. I see a president & first lady who despise America & are doing everything they can to undermine us. No one can ever say that about George W & Laura Bush.
I was *no* fan of George HW Bush. But if you set these men alongside the Clintons, the communist creeps in Congress since 07, & the 0bamas, there is no comparison. Except for a very select few in Washington, they all squander the opportunity to correct the mistakes. They back down & they “compromise” & they sell us out.
We are our own worst enemy.
The Wall Street stuff started under Clinton with the repeal of Glass-Steagall. (though IIRC, NAFTA belonged to Bush I)
> “The Wall Street stuff started under Clinton with the repeal of Glass-Steagall. (though IIRC, NAFTA belonged to Bush I)”
That was all Sandy Weill and +++Phil Gramm+++.
Gramm was the PhD Economist and Texas conservative member of Congress for over 20 years as a Congressman and Senator.
By all accounts Gramm was insightful with his mind in the right place but who as many do when they get steeped in Beltway culture, they lose their common sense.
By teaming with Weill over the repeal of Glass-Steagall. Gramm forgot that Human Greed is timeless and universal. As a brilliant PhD and policy formulator, he forgot millennia of experience and history of what governs and elicits the worst of the human behavior. Following the spirit of Ronald Reagan whose deregulatory movement created an atmosphere of empowerment to American business, Gramm thought the same should be done with the US banking system meanwhile forgetting that banking is a fundamentally different business creature than other businesses that produce goods and services.
In effect Banks are the financial treasury and security to businesses and individuals. If American financial treasury and security are lost, the consequences are disastrous and possibly fatal. Therefore, banks and banking need a heavy government oversight to maintain and govern their critical role.
Gramm, a Republican, forgot all that. His brilliant mind overruled his common sense.
Gramm’s reforms were analogous to allowing city police to ask for donations for their police fund from the public every time they would respond to a call to duty. Pretty soon those requests for donations could become extortionist or else they would respond only to households that had given the most in the past.
The way to view Bush following this analogy is that the police internal affairs (SEC) was down-funded and muted allowing bad cops (banksters) a free hand on the financial security of the public.
Bush did the squelching of the SEC not because he was sinister but because he was charmed by the economic statistics coming forth from Wall St. and he didn’t want anyone disturbing his political golden goose. He didn’t think it would all become a charade.
Bush’s family was and is to this day involved heavily in banking and financial trade. Bush was influenced by his family, many of whom were moderates and ruling class minded when it came to business and banking; especially in regards to tax reform (which was a total waste).
Bush was weak and lost the game. As Americans and as conservatives we cannot afford to have our quarterbacks fumble or pass to interceptions on a frequent basis, to have our baseball team hitters strike out over and over again or to have the pitchers give up the long ball every inning. We cannot tolerate poor team performance and lost games even if an individual player has great statistics. We need star performers, not mediocre ones but we also need the team to win. We demand this from the conservative bleachers.
Bush became a RINO, a loser. He lost the game. Therefore, we must resolve that there will be no more Bush’s, McCains, Romneys and the like.