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George W. Bush was worse than you remember
MSNBC ^ | 02/20/2023 | Michael A. Cohen

Posted on 02/20/2023 9:16:26 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27

The American presidency is one of the strangest jobs in the world.

Politicians aspire to it. The media focuses obsessively on the person who holds it and those who want to win it. Millions of books and articles have been written about it. And yet, most of the people who’ve held the job really weren’t that good.

There are a few truly great presidents, some pretty good ones and a handful of complete disasters. But most can be summed up, as the Simpsons famously once did, as the “adequate, forgettable, occasionally regrettable, caretaker presidents of the U.S.A.”

In fairness, the presidency radically changed in the 20th century, especially as the United States became a global power, so it’s a bit hard to compare the earlier commanders in chief to the modern ones. And despite the many mediocrities, ranking the presidents is a popular pastime, one I’ve dabbled in myself. So let’s ask a slightly different question: Who are the most overrated and underrated holders of the most thankless job in American politics?

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: bush; cohrn; michaelacohen; pos; president; remember; rino; stayoutthebushes; thesmirkingchimp; traitor; worse
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To: DIRTYSECRET
It’s funny. Our biggest enemy since ‘79 has been Iran.

And Iran was the big winner in our War on Iraq.

41 posted on 02/20/2023 9:42:48 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Midwesterner53

Gore probably would have gotten us into war as well. They basically flipped a coin to see which party would be the opposition.


42 posted on 02/20/2023 9:43:36 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Pretty much, yes. He dinged Reagan for his tax cuts, and offered no reason why. The tax revenue to the government went way up after those cuts, so the only reason one wouldn’t like them is that they didn’t like Capitalism and free markets.

That says more about Cohen than it does about Reagan.


43 posted on 02/20/2023 9:46:20 AM PST by budj (Combat vet, second of three generations.)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

> First term was decent. <

I won’t even give him that. Right after 9/11 George W. Bush decided to “nation-build” in Afghanistan instead of carrying out a quick, sharp punitive mission.

Then it got worse. He invaded Iraq while Afghanistan was still simmering. We were no longer undeniably the good guys. And the Muslims were no longer undeniably the bad guys (for many people, anyway).

It would like if FDR decided to invade neutral Spain in the middle of fighting Germany and Japan. And then got all bogged down.

I will never forgive Bush II for all the misery he caused. And for what? For nothing.


44 posted on 02/20/2023 9:46:39 AM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: Leaning Right

The first George Bush ….Reagan’s biggest mistake…


45 posted on 02/20/2023 9:51:07 AM PST by Hojczyk
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To: Mr. N. Wolfe

Excellent point. Unfortunately, it’s still that way. The bottom feeding Dung Beetles in the DNC’s “yellowstream media” wanted so bad to bring down Trump but couldn’t lay a glove on him. So, instead, that are taking it out on Caucasian, non-Dung Beetle Americans. They have painted the finest and most giving people in the world as being the most evil people on the planet.


46 posted on 02/20/2023 9:51:51 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Remember what FJB Brandon said, "...more than half of the women in my administration are women.")
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To: entropy12
I count Vietnam as bigger blunder because of the number of Americans killed and maimed.

I can't argue with your logic; it's a very good point.

We just don't know what the final bill is going to be for the damage we've done in Iraq; there may be more American blood to be shed.

47 posted on 02/20/2023 9:52:39 AM PST by Captain Walker (Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.-Pascal)
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To: piasa

Deep state actually. Designed to cause ware and make military industrial complex much richer.


48 posted on 02/20/2023 9:58:26 AM PST by mountainlion (Live well those that did not make it back.)
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To: gundog

Was he an adult when Carter held office? Because even as a young adult, it was obvious he was a disaster. I grew up a Democrat because of my maternal grandmother’s influence, but when it came time to vote for Carter’s re-election, my first Presidential, I couldn’t do it. And have voted Republican since.


49 posted on 02/20/2023 10:14:11 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: PGR88
Two words:

Scooter Libby

50 posted on 02/20/2023 10:14:32 AM PST by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

We inadvertently shot down one of their Airbuses.

We should have done a lot more to them given their actions in Iraq.


51 posted on 02/20/2023 10:15:58 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

The tax cuts helped us to afford the cost of raising our childrens.


52 posted on 02/20/2023 10:22:57 AM PST by Honest Nigerian
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To: ChicagoConservative27

The article not so much about Bush. Treats it as a given that Trump’s presidency was bad. All in all a very shallow article, with little meat to back up its conclusions.


53 posted on 02/20/2023 10:30:44 AM PST by Real Cynic No More (Things are fraying my nerves!)
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To: dfwgator

Why?


54 posted on 02/20/2023 10:37:26 AM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: entropy12; Captain Walker

I despise LBJ for how he handled the Vietnam situation. But I will cut him a bit of slack on one thing. He really had nothing to guide him except the Korean War. And there we fought communism to a stalemate.

On the other hand, George W. Bush had all the lessons of Vietnam right in front of him. And yet Bush went ahead and repeated almost every one of LBJ’s mistakes.

I despise LBJ. But I’ll kick that feeling up a notch when it comes to George W. Bush.


55 posted on 02/20/2023 10:37:46 AM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: mountainlion

56 posted on 02/20/2023 10:43:51 AM PST by C210N (Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.)
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To: dfwgator

You need to evaluate them in the same time period. Carter during 2000-2008 was a lot more liberal than Carter during 1976-1980.


57 posted on 02/20/2023 10:46:45 AM PST by alternatives?
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To: entropy12

Correct. Iraq and Saddam kept Iran in serious check. Huge Bush blunder to destroy that dynamic.


58 posted on 02/20/2023 10:49:18 AM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: ChicagoConservative27
He's EXACTLY as I remember. WEAK, STUPID FAILURE. And most of FR kissed his ass like they did Trump. I got a temporary ban because I spoke out against Jesus W. Jorge Arbusto's failures.

Trump should have run in 2000. (He was likely still a liberal democrat, though) Trump, along with 9/11 would have got the border secure with none of the saudi knob slobbing special breaks they received under Mush.

59 posted on 02/20/2023 10:50:16 AM PST by Captainpaintball (America needs a (temporary) CONSERVATIVE dictator to return it to a Constitutional Republic. )
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To: wildcard_redneck

You are BAD!
LOL


60 posted on 02/20/2023 10:53:14 AM PST by Zathras
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