Oh sweet Jesus is he still here? Look, Bush, you are the poster boy for FAIL. You join folks like Nixon and Hoover in the My Presidency Screwed Up The Nation wing of history. Go away, and don’t look back.
8 days.
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You know, aside from the whole criminal bringing shame to the oval office thing and the whole sick racist electoral strategy thing, Nixon didn’t fail nearly as hard as President Bush. His administration has undoubtedly leapfrogged past Nixon but falls short of Hoover, in my opinion.
(I realize there’s a large minority economic opinion out there claiming Hoover had the right idea, which is the reason for my IMO qualification.)
Sure, FAIL by any rational human standards. But I’m haunted by Thomas Frank’s exegesis, which was that Bush had as his aim to cripple the national government so badly that entitlements shivel, watchdog agencies atrophy, as the Bolton (?) expression had it, what was left can be “drowned in the bathtub.” And that by that gauge, he’s wildly succeeded. He’s set progressivism back 20 years, at least–maybe 100, by some estimates, if we look at the gap between the rich and poor.
Anotherbozo,
the ‘drown it in the bathtub’ line is from Grover Norquist.
I’ve worked for the Federal Government since 1984 (amusingly enough), and it’s as bad now as it ever was, in terms of morale and esprit de corps. FWIW, what I do in the Civil Service is take care of disabled veterans, and we (the ones doing that) are understaffed, stressed and generally feeling rather put upon. I mentioned to an oncology care nurse the line referenced above, and she snapped, “Well, he’d be happy – we’re already drowning!”
oh but the Legacy Project will revise history as we know should the bulwark of truth vanish into the next hourly news cycle. We need to TruthSpam this debacle of history.
It’s important to recognize that Hoover did superb work with post-war relief efforts in Europe and newly Communist Russia, and responded to critics of his Russian relief program by saying, “Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed!”
Yeah, he botched the response to the Great Depression, but at least in part that was because the consensus economist viewpoint was that he needed to do as little as possible. Failed President? Sure. But as a human being, George W Bush couldn’t carry Hoover’s jock.
But as a human being, George W Bush couldn’t carry Hoover’s jock.
That’s not actually true. Bush has been solid with food aid.
Bush has been solid with lip service.
Bush could carry Hoover’s jock, except that Hoover wouldn’t let him.
I have great sympathy for Hoover, and great respect for his work after his presidency.
Without Hoover’s huge handicap of an overwhelmingly powerful Republican Congress, FDR still bowed to the “consensus economist viewpoint” to start cutting the budget back, killing the recovery that his policies had started.
Then he launched the greatest government project ever, otherwise known as WWII.
Republicans always admit that wars end depressions, but never subject that platitude to analysis, let alone grasp the implication.
Bush has done great by Africa — the funding for AIDS alone has reached record numbers.
“No Child Left Behind” achieved tangible results in improving education.
Those who say that Bush is “the worst president in history” show that they know nothing about history. That determination will take some time for proper perspective.
J.
And Jesus, Oliver — have you ANY respect for the Constitution? Bush has eight days left, then he’ll turn the reins of power over to your guy without a moment’s hesitation. “Sore winner” doesn’t even begin to describe you.
J.
“‘No Child Left Behind’ achieved tangible results in improving education.”
Not true. Not true by a long-shot, Jay “Everyone Knows I’m Full of Shit Including Me” T.
Bush II will go down as one of the three worst presidents ever in American history. Hoover is kind of hard to top.
But that’s like saying you couldn’t lose a mean-and-nasty contest to Hitler or Stalin.
He embarrassed and lessened the United States. That’s what should go on his tombstone. Politics aside, presidents tend to get remembered for their economic legacy above all else. And indeed, Bush has overseen the great loss of American capital ever. Billions more than in the 1920’s/1930’s. Let’s not even talk about the number of jobs he lost, which is genuinely scary.
Jay Tea: Those who say that Bush is “the worst president in history” show that they know nothing about history.
Yeah. Keep defending your guy as “not the worst”. There’s some faint praise for ya!
Jay Tea: “No Child Left Behind” achieved tangible results in improving education.
Those who say that NCLB improved education show that they know nothing about NCLB.
Jay Tea: And Jesus, Oliver — have you ANY respect for the Constitution?
BWAH-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Yeah, let Obama show you what a real press conferrence should look live.
You mean a coherent president who can answer questions in full sentences and not sound like a moron? Yes, Obama will be refreshing.
And Jay Tea, George W. Bush’s policies have led to thousands of dead people – American and otherwise – for no good reason, an economic crisis, a national malaise yearning for real leadership.
Yet your response is some AIDS spin and touting a program (NCLB) he doesn’t adequately fund.
So you must think Nixon was great because the EPA started under him.
Bush’s programs for food aid & AIDS programs were a joke. The media would trumpet the announcement that Bush would authorize x Billion dollars for food programs. What was NOT reported was that the countries were not given the food. The countries had to buy the food from US agribusiness (at a set price named by the US), & then pay the money back at a later date.
Similar tactics were used years ago by the “company store”. The only company providing jobs in town would set up a store. The people would have to buy from that store, because the store would give them credit, & they were broke. The company paid their employees shit, & charged high prices at their stores, keeping their employees in a perpetual state of debt. No matter how hard you worked, or how frugal you were, you ended up owing money. Used in mining towns (before unions), & used today for migrant farm workers.
AIDS relief programs? Another joke. There is a huge discrepancy between the amount of money alotted a certain program, vs how much was actually spent. There was also a tie-in to the agribusiness companies. Many European & African countries have laws against the importation of genetically modified grain. One of the fine-print provisions of AIDS relief was that the country would have to agree to import gene-mod grain.
The media reports Bush gives 100B to country “x”. They do not say that country “x” has to agree to buy all its products from US companies, & abolish their military, & agree to have 25 US military bases built, & agree to sell half their land to US farm companies. Since no country would agree to those terms, Bush gets credit for “giving” the money, but no money or goods ever changed hands.
It’s all in the details of the fine print.
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OW: Naw, they think Nixon was a commiepinkofag liberal for protecting animals. “If I own the land, I can kill any animal on that land!”
“No Child Left Behind” achieved tangible results in improving education.”
Anyone who believes that doesn’t have school-age kids.