The President Has Kept Us Safe

Wall Street Journal ^ | May 30, 2008 | THANE ROSENBAUM

[FocusNexus]

With President Bush-bashing still a national pastime, it's notable how much international terrorism has been forgotten, and how little credit the president has received for keeping Americans safe.

....

We all waited for terrorism's second shoe to drop, and, seven years later . . . nothing has happened.

Other cities around the world became targets: Madrid, Glasgow, London and Bali; the entire nation of Denmark; and, of course, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Here in America, however, the focus moved from concerns over counterterrorism measures and the abuse of presidential authority to the war in Iraq, the subprime mortgage crisis, the failing economy, the public meltdown of Britney Spears, and now, the presidential elections.

All this time Americans have been safe from suicide bombers, biological warfare and collapsing skyscrapers, while the rest of the world has been on red alert. And yet President Bush is regarded as the worst president in American history? Sorry, I must be missing something here.

Terrorism is now largely off the table in the minds of most Americans.

But in gearing up to elect a new president, we are left to wonder how, in spite of numerous failed policies and poor judgement, President Bush's greatest achievement was denied to him by people who ungratefully availed themselves of the protection that his administration provided.

[CindyDawg]

The Lord has kept us safe.

[Southack]

Presidency of George W. Bush -- the first 48 months

 

President Bush signing a federal ban on Partial Birth Abortion

Banned Partial Birth Abortion

Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy

Stopped foreign aid that would be used to fund abortions.

Supported and upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals

Signed E.O. reversing Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act

Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty

Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court

Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California

Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules that would have shut down some home businesses in America

First Missile is Installed For NMD on July 23, 2004

Killed the U.S. - CCCP ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses

Built ten ABM silos in Alaska and California so that America has a defense against North Korean nukes

Killed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty so that the U.S. can once again test our nuclear weapons

The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (less romantically known as H.R. 5382) ultimately allows average Americans to hitch a ride on a civilian space craft at their own risk. The federal ban on such citizen travel was repealed by HR 5382 in 2004. The President signed that bill into law two days before Christmas.

President Bush pledged to Israel on 4/14/2004 that it could keep parts of the West Bank, giving international legitimacy to Jewish settlements there

Denied Palestinian refugees any right of return to what is now Israel, saying they should be resettled in a future Palestinian state instead

Part of coalition (Russia, Israel, EU, Palestine, USA) for Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace"

Pushed through THREE raises for our military

Increased Defense Dept funding which had deteriorated during the previous 8 years

President Bush's Grand Strategy (click here)

President Bush's Environmental Record - 2004 (click here)

Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit

Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers

Ordered Attorney-General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, NOT a leftist-imagined *collective* right

Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e. the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty)

Signed the 2004 Omnibus Budget 1/26/2004 that now MANDATES that gun buyers' background check information be fully and permanently destroyed within 24 hours of the completion of the check, no matter what.

Repealed Gun Controls Against Active, Retired, and Off-Duty Law Enforcement Personnel Carrying Weapons Into Local and State Prohibited Zones (7/28/2004)

Enacted powerful tort reform legislation that moves many class action lawsuits from state to federal courts. Requires federal courts to hear cases where the amount of the dispute is more than $5 million, and when the defendant and any of the plaintiffs live in different states.

Disarmed Libya of its Chemical, Nuclear, and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed

Won an agreement that U.S. Navy sailors may now freely board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction under a landmark pact between the United States and Liberia, the world's No. 2 shipping registry (signed Feb 11, 2004), and Panama 5/10/2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/11/international/americas/11ship.html).

Approves The First U.S. Counter-Intel Plan

Successfully executed 2 wars and rebuilt 2 nations: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50+ million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom...epitomized by their own free and democratic elections.

Provided Billions in aid, machines, and manpower to tsunami victims.

 

Executed a WAR ON TERROR by getting world-wide cooperation to track funds/terrorists (has cut off much of the terrorist's funding and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network)

Bush Administration diplomacy led to the 5/25/2004 peace accord that ended a massive 20-year civil war between Sudan's Islamic north and Christian south after two million deaths Click Here

  Delivered vital emergency aid to millions of survivors on multiple continents (e.g. Africa, SE Asia) of a devastating Tsunami caused by a 9.1 earthquake near Sumatra.

Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed

Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.

Bush and Putin sign historic anti-nuclear treaty

· Largest ever missile cuts agreed
· Russia stands by Iran relations
· Putin jibe over US help to North Korea

Staff and agencies
Friday May 24, 2002


Russian president Vladimir Putin (left), and US president George Bush shake hands before signing the treaty. Photo: Yuri Kochetkov, AP.
 

Presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin today signed a landmark treaty to make the largest reductions ever in US and Russian nuclear arsenals but public differences were voiced over Iran.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,721544,00.html

Initiated comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE was critical.
Created NATO's Rapid Response Force
Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the Presidency

Reorganized bureaucracy...after 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency: the Department of Homeland Security.

Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts.

Improving govt. efficiency with .8 million jobs put up for bid...weakening unions and cutting undeserved pay raises. Wants merit based promotions/raises only.

Orchestrated Republican control of the White House, the House AND the Senate.

Killed the liberal ABA's role in vetting federal judges for Congress.

GWB signed an executive order enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision (re: union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes)

Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession.

Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.

Signed 2 income tax cuts ---- 1 of which was the largest Dollar-value tax cut in world history

Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains

In process of eliminating IRS marriage penalty.

Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people

Eliminated the Estate Tax (AKA "Death Tax") that was taking small farms and businesses from families

Signed into law the No Child Left Behind legislation delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations)

Reorganized the INS in an attempt to safeguard the borders and ports of America and to eliminate bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.

Signed trade promotion authority

Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa

Passed Medicare Reform (authorized $39.5 Billion per year for preventive medicine such as drugs and doctor visits as well as included a ten year Privatization option)

Urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits

Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims

Submitted comprehensive Energy Plan--awaits Congressional action (works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc.)

Endorses and promotes The Responsibility Era ("In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else -- to one in which every single American understands that he or she are responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself. " -----this quote was too good to leave out)

Started the USA Freedom Corps

Initiated review of all federal agencies with a goal to eliminate federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of federal gov while increasing private sector jobs.

Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become The League of Nations ( in other words, completely irrelevant)

Nominated strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.

President Bush opened up an additional part of Alaska for domestic oil drilling. In 2004, the National Petroleum Reserve, an area west of the existing Prudhoe Bay field, was approved for new energy exploration and production.

Increased U.S. Oil Drilling Permits 70% Above Clinton-era

Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary clean-up of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.

As part of the national forests clean-up, the President restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges) and removed the need for an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
New Forest Rules Gives States Power Over Federal Forests Inside Their Borders
Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.

President Bush signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal Aliens
S. 1685, the Basic Pilot Extension Act of 2003, was signed by President Bush on December 3, 2003.
It extends for five years the workplace employment eligibility authorization pilot programs created in 1996. It expands the pilot programs from the original five states to all 50 states.

U.S. Forces In Baghdad

---

2nd Term Supplimental (incomplete)

---

Broke the Chinese Yuan to Dollar currency peg

CAFTA - President Bush signing CAFTA

Bolton to the UN

Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the second group of eight ABM silos in Alaska and California so that America has a land-based defense (in addition to our sea-based SM-3 and AEGIS systems) of 18 ABM's against North Korean nukes (note: China itself currently only has 24 -out of several hundred- nuclear ICBM's capable of reaching the U.S.)

Energy Bill (new tax cuts...after 5 years of opposition)

Immunity For Gun Manufacturers From Crime-Related Lawsuits

4.5% unemployment
3.4% annual (after inflation, 5.5% actual) reported GDP Growth

Syrian Troops forced to withdraw from Lebanon

Russians Troops Peacefully Withdraw From Georgia

Chief Justice John Roberts
Justice Sam Alito

Dramatically improved U.S.-India relations via a breakthrough nuclear agreement

Signed Bankruptcy Reform Into Law

Full Immunity From Frivolous Lawsuits For Our Domestic Gun Industry
Click Here

Fed Chairman Bernanke

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1518385/posts
Iraqi's Thank America (Wow, this is moving!)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1518877/posts
Iraqi Kurds thank the United States for liberation in New T.V ads (From MoveAmericaForward)

US forges trail-blazing UN condemnation of Hizbullah

US rules out extra pledges on global warming

Bush-appointed Judges: Most Conservative On Record, New UH Study Finds

The Essential President Bush (click here)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060623-10.html

Executive Order: Protecting the Property Rights of the American People

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to strengthen the rights of the American people against the taking of their private property, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to protect the rights of Americans to their private property, including by limiting the taking of private property by the Federal Government to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation, and for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken.

Sec. 2. Implementation. (a) The Attorney General shall:

(i) issue instructions to the heads of departments and agencies to implement the policy set forth in section 1 of this order; and

(ii) monitor takings by departments and agencies for compliance with the policy set forth in section 1 of this order. ...

White Sands missile test 'phenomenal'

	The rising sun lights a contrail pattern made by a missile test launch at the White Sands Missile Range in the sky over Phoenix, Ariz., early Wednesday (7/12/06). The launch was a test of the Missile Defense Agency's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system. (AP photo)

AP

July 27, 2006: John Walsh, right, gives a thumbs up as President Bush, left, looks on during a signing ceremony for the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act in the Rose Garden at the White House.

U.S. govt gets giant cross in San Diego [with President Bush's signature...........]

Algeria has held its first competitive presidential election, and the military remained neutral.

The United Arab Emirates recently announced that half of its seats in the Federal National Council will be chosen by elections.

Kuwait held elections in which women were allowed to vote and run for office for the first time.

Citizens have voted in municipal elections in Saudi Arabia and parliamentary elections in Jordan and Bahrain and in multiparty presidential elections in Yemen and Egypt.

700 Miles of Border Fencing Approved And Funded

New Civil and Military Space Policy (includes using nuclear power for long-range space exploration)

Implemented "clean diesel" EPA mandates that reduce diesel air pollution by up to 97% as well as enable U.S. refiners to profitably use U.S. coal or natural gas to produce diesel in a move that aids our environment as well as enables the U.S. to gradually wean itself from Middle-East oil

Lifted The Oil-Drilling Ban in Alaska's Bristol Bay

Waived Make-Work Enviro Studies For New Oil Drilling

Using Closed Bases For New Refineries, Cutting Refinery Red Tape

Enforced Mandatory Declassification of All Government Documents older than 25 years, Automatically

US Senate passes Peru free trade pact

President Bush opens NAZI Holocaust records to the public for first time (after more than 60 years!)

============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================ ============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================ ============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================ ============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================

Presidency of George W. Bush -- Top Achievements

No New 9/11 Attacks On The U.S.

Tax Cuts

Signed 2 income tax cuts ---- 1 of which was the largest Dollar-value tax cut in world history

Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains

Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people

Eliminated the Estate Tax (AKA "Death Tax") that was taking small farms and businesses from families

 

President Bush signing a federal ban on Partial Birth Abortion

Banned Partial Birth Abortion

Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy

Stopped foreign aid that would be used to fund abortions.

Supported and upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals

Signed E.O. reversing Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act

Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty

Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court

National Missile Defenses (PAC-3, AEGIS SM-3, ABL, Silo-based ABM's)

First Missile is Installed For NMD on July 23, 2004

Killed the U.S. - CCCP ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses

Built ten ABM silos in Alaska and California so that America has a defense against North Korean nukes

Killed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty so that the U.S. can once again test our nuclear weapons

Gun Rights

Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit

Full Immunity From Frivolous Lawsuits For Our Domestic Gun Industry
Click Here

Ordered Attorney-General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, NOT a leftist-imagined *collective* right

Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e. the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty)

Signed the 2004 Omnibus Budget 1/26/2004 that now MANDATES that gun buyers' background check information be fully and permanently destroyed within 24 hours of the completion of the check, no matter what.

Repealed Gun Controls Against Active, Retired, and Off-Duty Law Enforcement Personnel Carrying Weapons Into Local and State Prohibited Zones (7/28/2004)

Enacted powerful tort reform legislation that moves many class action lawsuits from state to federal courts. Requires federal courts to hear cases where the amount of the dispute is more than $5 million, and when the defendant and any of the plaintiffs live in different states.

 

INTERNATIONAL

Disarmed Libya of its Chemical, Nuclear, and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed

Won an agreement that U.S. Navy sailors may now freely board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction under a landmark pact between the United States and Liberia, the world's No. 2 shipping registry (signed Feb 11, 2004), and Panama 5/10/2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/11/international/americas/11ship.html).

Approves The First U.S. Counter-Intel Plan

Successfully executed 2 wars and rebuilt 2 nations: Afghanistan and Iraq.

U.S. Forces In Baghdad

50+ million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom...epitomized by their own free and democratic elections.

Provided Billions in aid, machines, and manpower to tsunami victims.

 Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa

Executed a WAR ON TERROR by getting world-wide cooperation to track funds/terrorists (has cut off much of the terrorist's funding and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network)

Bush Administration diplomacy led to the 5/25/2004 peace accord that ended a massive 20-year civil war between Sudan's Islamic north and Christian south after two million deaths Click Here

  Delivered vital emergency aid to millions of survivors on multiple continents (e.g. Africa, SE Asia) of a devastating Tsunami caused by a 9.1 earthquake near Sumatra.

Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed

Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.

Bush and Putin sign historic anti-nuclear treaty

· Largest ever missile cuts agreed

Friday May 24, 2002


Russian president Vladimir Putin (left), and US president George Bush shake hands before signing the treaty. Photo: Yuri Kochetkov, AP.
 

Presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin today signed a landmark treaty to make the largest reductions ever in US and Russian nuclear arsenals but public differences were voiced over Iran.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,721544,00.html

Syrian Troops forced to withdraw from Lebanon, ending their 2 decades of illegal occupation 

Russians Troops Peacefully Withdraw From Georgia

Dramatically improved U.S.-India relations via a breakthrough nuclear agreement

Algeria has held its first competitive presidential election, and the military remained neutral.

The United Arab Emirates recently announced that half of its seats in the Federal National Council will be chosen by elections.

Kuwait held elections in which women were allowed to vote and run for office for the first time.

Citizens have voted in municipal elections in Saudi Arabia and parliamentary elections in Jordan and Bahrain and in multiparty presidential elections in Yemen and Egypt.

Broke the Chinese Yuan to Dollar currency peg

CAFTA - President Bush signing CAFTA

Signed the Peru free trade pact

US rules out extra pledges on global warming

Bolton to the UN

DOMESTIC

Chief Justice John Roberts
Justice Sam Alito
Killed the liberal ABA's role in vetting federal judges for Congress.

Bush-appointed Judges: Most Conservative On Record, New UH Study Finds

Fed Chairman Bernanke

GWB signed an executive order enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision (re: union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes)

Signed Bankruptcy Reform Into Law

Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession.

Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.

Signed into law the No Child Left Behind legislation delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations)

Reorganized the INS in an attempt to safeguard the borders and ports of America and to eliminate bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.

Signed trade promotion authority

Passed Medicare Reform (authorized $39.5 Billion per year for preventive medicine such as drugs and doctor visits as well as included a ten year Privatization option)

Started the USA Freedom Corps

Nominated strong, conservative judges to the judiciary

Energy Bill (new tax cuts...after 5 years of opposition)

President Bush opened up an additional part of Alaska for domestic oil drilling. In 2004, the National Petroleum Reserve, an area west of the existing Prudhoe Bay field, was approved for new energy exploration and production.

Increased U.S. Oil Drilling Permits 70% Above Clinton-era

Implemented "clean diesel" EPA mandates that reduce diesel air pollution by up to 97% as well as enable U.S. refiners to profitably use U.S. coal or natural gas to produce diesel in a move that aids our environment as well as enables the U.S. to gradually wean itself from Middle-East oil

Lifted The Oil-Drilling Ban in Alaska's Bristol Bay

Waived Make-Work Enviro Studies For New Oil Drilling

Using Closed Bases For New Refineries, Cutting Refinery Red Tape

Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary clean-up of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.

As part of the national forests clean-up, the President restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges) and removed the need for an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
New Forest Rules Gives States Power Over Federal Forests Inside Their Borders
Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.

4.5% unemployment
3.4% annual (after inflation, 5.5% actual) reported GDP Growth

IMMIGRATION

President Bush signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal Aliens
S. 1685, the Basic Pilot Extension Act of 2003, was signed by President Bush on December 3, 2003.
It extends for five years the workplace employment eligibility authorization pilot programs created in 1996. It expands the pilot programs from the original five states to all 50 states.

700 Miles of Border Fencing Approved And Funded

 

 

 

The Essential President Bush (click here)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060623-10.html

Executive Order: Protecting the Property Rights of the American People

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to strengthen the rights of the American people against the taking of their private property, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to protect the rights of Americans to their private property, including by limiting the taking of private property by the Federal Government to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation, and for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken.

Sec. 2. Implementation. (a) The Attorney General shall:

(i) issue instructions to the heads of departments and agencies to implement the policy set forth in section 1 of this order; and

(ii) monitor takings by departments and agencies for compliance with the policy set forth in section 1 of this order. ...

AP

July 27, 2006: John Walsh, right, gives a thumbs up as President Bush, left, looks on during a signing ceremony for the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act in the Rose Garden at the White House.

U.S. govt gets giant cross in San Diego [with President Bush's signature...........]

New Civil and Military Space Policy (includes using nuclear power for long-range space exploration)

Enforced Mandatory Declassification of All Government Documents older than 25 years, Automatically

President Bush opens NAZI Holocaust records to the public for first time (after more than 60 years!)

[DoughtyOne]

I believe there is a case to be made for Bush on this score. I also think there is another side to the issue.

It took 19 Saudi Arabian terrorists here on student visas to pull off 09/11. We now have something like 30,000 Saudi Arabian nationals on our soil under the student visa program.

Bush may have pulled it off, and he may not have. Will the next incident take place on his watch? We don’t know. We are one incident from him getting credit, to him being the goat.

He has allowed people from terrorist states to come here. He has allowed tens of millions of illegal border crossings by God knows who. And we have no idea where all those folks are, or what their intent is.

We have no way of knowing what plans are in the works today, and if they will take place tomorrow, next year or seven years from now.

When it happens, and it will, we will know. And not until...

[CindyDawg]

I don’t think people will realize what a good President he was until he’s no longer in office.

[FocusNexus]

Fantastic!

Thank you for posting all the FACTS that unfortunately many people ignore.

President Bush is a GREAT president.

[JennysCool]

The thing that really ticks me off about Bush-bashers on the left and the right is that we have no idea how many possible attacks may have been prevented and thwarted since 9/11, and which had to remain secret for security reasons. It’s quite possible the Administration has saved our butts on numerous occasions, while dealing with vicious attacks from our own press, politicians, and the public.

[pepsionice]

I would be agreeable...Bush has had positive points and negative points. The lack of any real attempt to build the border fence...makes the administration look foolish. This stimulus package stuff this year? A major joke...which I doubt does anything but fluff up Wal-Mart and help buy more Chinese products. The safety of America? Well....tons of foreign students on our soil....from China and Russia...and Arab countries...doesn’t sound like a safe practice to me.

[jrooney]

Here here. I second that. GW is a great man and a great POTUS. My family and I will miss him when he is gone.

[singfreedom]

An honest liberal? Temporarily, at least.

Yes, Cindy, the Lord has kept us safe, but I think we, with President Bush’s assistance, have helped ourselves, just as the Bible admonishes us to do.

[KDD]

By that criteria Clinton kept us safe from attack for 9 years after the...1992 WTC attack. How did he do it without a Patriot Act?

[FocusNexus]

“... we have no idea how many possible attacks may have been prevented and thwarted since 9/11, and which had to remain secret for security reasons. It’s quite possible the Administration has saved our butts on numerous occasions, while dealing with vicious attacks from our own press, politicians, and the public.”

I am sure of it. The author of the article mentions that as well:

“But when a professed enemy succeeds as wildly as al Qaeda did on 9/11, and seven years pass without an incident, there are two reasonable conclusions: Either, despite all the trash-talking videos, they have been taking a long, leisurely breather; or, something serious has been done to thwart and disable their operations. Whatever combination of psychology and insanity motivates a terrorist to blow himself up is not within my range of experience, but I’m betting the aggressive measures the president took, and the unequivocal message he sent, might have had something to do with it.”

Also, the recent information released by the CIA points to the success of the measures of the Bush administration, Al Qaeda has been nearly destroyed, and while they are still dangerous, we made major progress in thwarting them.

[txrangerette]

There are tens of millions of illegal immigrants here. They came over many, many years, through every administration. No, there was no 9-ll during those long years of neglect and malfeasance by every US administration and every Congress, but there was no more excuse then than there is the past 8 years. But you in your over the top anti-everything Bush - even the entire Bush family - say President Bush alone has allowed tens of millions of illegal border crossings in his 7 years.

[Earthdweller]

I haven't forgotten.It's not in my DNA to forget.

[txrangerette]

Oh that’s a good point.

If...say...Scott McClellan had been President instead of George W Bush, we’d have been just as safe, because it was the Lord and not the President that mattered?

[FocusNexus]

Another article from the WSJ:

Al Qaeda on the Run

CIA Director Michael Hayden painted a far more optimistic picture in an interview yesterday in the Washington Post. "On balance, we are doing pretty well," he said. "Near strategic defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq. Near strategic defeat for al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. Significant setbacks for al Qaeda globally - and here I'm going to use the word 'ideologically' - as a lot of the Islamic world pushes back on their form of Islam."

President Bush took aggressive ACTION against the terrorists.

[singfreedom]

Good job, Southack. I think, just as with President Reagan, Americans will not know “what they've lost ‘til its gone”-—and, yes, we've paved paradise and put up a parking lot. (Courtesy Joni Mitchell)

Even with his mistakes, President Bush has done an admirable job. As for the individual mentioning President Clintoon’s successes: I blame President Clinton's stinking foreign policy shortcomings for Sept. 11, 2001, not President Bush who had been in office mere months when it occurred.

[txrangerette]

No.

The second attack was formed and progressed toward culmination under the Clinton Administration.

It merely happened early in the Bush Administration.

The Clinton Administration did not respond at all to a series of terrorist attacks on its watch, with the exception of some legal prosecutions. The USS Cole, the Kobar towers...

In contrast, it is fact, undeniable, that the Bush Administration adopted a foward leaning strategy to aggressively pursue our terrorist enemies across the world.

When people say Bush kept us safe, they aren’t merely talking about passage of years without attack. They are talking about what is being done to keep us safe having come to fruition. You cannot say anything even remotely like that about Clinton.

[Gator113]

We are going to miss him dearly.

[singfreedom]

Yes, I saw that, too. Good news, but I take anything from the CIA with several grains of salt.

Al Qaeda may be “on the run”, but they're not out of the game. With an Obama presidency, I'm sure they would find new life and certain cause to celebrate our stupidity.