Is Bush The Worst President Ever?

[Crankyshank]

I think most Americans are not familiar enough with past Presidents to make a good judgement here..............

ITA. While I think GWB is probably in the top 5 list of bad Presidents, I don't think he's the worst Harding, Jackson, and Van Buren certainly have him beat. Worst in my lifetime? For sure!

 

[lyeag]

Nope, not even close...

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

most definately of our time!

I had a bad feeling at the first election and I had a bad feeling that after eight years of him things would be awful...it is going to take this country forever to recoup from this..in so many ways...that was my fear then and sadly it has been born out in ways I could not even begin to imagine back then. I don't hold bad feelings for those who did vote for him - it takes alot to stand up admit that it may have been the wrong thing or that they are coming to regret it.

 

[hokiefan33]

But wait, I think we have both with Bush's Administration. What do you call the impending indictments against the top two presidental aids (Karl Rove (ie., Bush's brain) and Scooter Libby) AND the fact that the VP Chenny is also closely involved with the CIA identity leak of Valerie Plame for revenge? AND the arrest of Republican House Majority Leader Tom Delay for campaign fraud and money laundering AND the investigation of Republican Senate Leader Bill Frist for insider trading? I think there is plenty of corruption at the top to consider this presidency one of the absolute worst ever.

I think with what you've written, you would have to change your term to "alleged corruption", as everything is pending, and nothing has yet been proven in a court of law.

 

[dcentity2000]

Rich::

 

[kydisneyfans]

I am 32 and can remember the days that I could actually afford to fill my gas tank and heat my home-like 5 years ago. Any money that supposedly made it to my pocket by tax cuts has gone out 10 fold due to increased inflation.

Why does it seem like every Republican is in ethical trouble right now-not only do we have the federal problems but Taft in Ohio and Fletcher in KY (governors) are on the hot seat too.

Is Bush the worst pres of all time-no. Of my lifetime, yes.

The problem is that the Democrats did not run an electable person for president in 2004-leaving no choice for those "in the middle"

I think anyone with the last name of Clinton is electable in 08. People want to go back to the way things were 10 years ago-growing economy, no useless wars due to faulty intelligence, budget deficit shrinking, low unemployment.

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

I agree with the above caption. Bush is the worst.

 

[eclectics]

Rich::

Is that the BBC? Gotta love it!

 

[twojo21]

i would say yes. hes the #1 worst on my list for u.s. president.

 

[conciergekelly]

yes

 

[jimmiej]

I think most Americans are not familiar enough with past Presidents to make a good judgement here..............

Of recent Presidents, I'd say Carter was the worst domestically (his results in foreign policy were not exactly stellar either)

Nixon had a fair amount of trouble that Bush has not had................

Clinton had his share of "cronyism" issues (Travelgate). Also check up on Ron Brown & Tyson Foods.

Reagan - - -> Iran/Contra

Johnson - - -> Vietnam. Research the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident"

GWB is just the most recent, therfore the most visible in eveyone's thoughts.

If you want some REALLY good stuff, read up about Woodrow Wilson & his thoughts on National sovereignity (he did not like it).

Teapot Dome, etc., etc.......

This is the most intelligent post on this thread. Thank you!

 

[toto2]

He dismantled the Soviet Union and debunked the myth of communism. He freed MILLIONS of Eastern Europeans without firing a shot.

I think that Mr Reagan was president when the Soviet Union dismanteled itself. Of course , a lot of country in the world pressured the soviet union to change. Lech Walesha in Poland was not put there by Ronny. It is the people of Poland who put him there .

 

[DawnCt1]

I think that Mr Reagan was president when the Soviet Union dismanteled itself. Of course , a lot of country in the world pressured the soviet union to change. Lech Walesha in Poland was not put there by Ronny. It is the people of Poland who put him there .

And do you really foolishly believe that empires and countries "dismantle" themselves? Even Gorbachov acknowledged that Ronald Reagan was responsible. Lech Walesha had support of the Pope and of the President of the United States. Without it, the reforms would have never happened. President Reagan shared the Soviet troop movements (top secret information from spy sats) with the Pope. A lot was orchestrated behind the scenes with regard to Poland. Gorbachov knew that RR would never back down and that to go toe to toe with him would bankrupt the Soviet Union when they could least afford it.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

But wait, I think we have both with Bush's Administration. What do you call the impending indictments against the top two presidental aids (Karl Rove (ie., Bush's brain) and Scooter Libby) AND the fact that the VP Chenny is also closely involved with the CIA identity leak of Valerie Plame for revenge? AND the arrest of Republican House Majority Leader Tom Delay for campaign fraud and money laundering AND the investigation of Republican Senate Leader Bill Frist for insider trading? I think there is plenty of corruption at the top to consider this presidency one of the absolute worst ever.

Everything needs to play out. As you said, the indictments are pending. Every administration has some corrupt individuals in them, even Bert Lance in the Carter administration.

As for Iraq, that needs to play out as well. Yes, we've been there for two years, but the job there is nowhere near finished. 10 years from now, what GWB has set in motion may result in a free and stable Iraq and possibly change in other Middle East countries that results in freedom and liberty and possibly an end (or at least a diminishment) of Islamic terrorism. If that's the case, it may be hard to consider him ineffective.

That's why I think it's much too early to be casting judgements on the GWB presidency, or really any presidency of the last 15 years.

 

[DawnCt1]

I think most Americans are not familiar enough with past Presidents to make a good judgement here..............

Of recent Presidents, I'd say Carter was the worst domestically (his results in foreign policy were not exactly stellar either)

Nixon had a fair amount of trouble that Bush has not had................

Clinton had his share of "cronyism" issues (Travelgate). Also check up on Ron Brown & Tyson Foods.

Reagan - - -> Iran/Contra

Johnson - - -> Vietnam. Research the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident"

GWB is just the most recent, therfore the most visible in eveyone's thoughts.

If you want some REALLY good stuff, read up about Woodrow Wilson & his thoughts on National sovereignity (he did not like it).

Teapot Dome, etc., etc.......

Carter's foreign policy was actually worse than his domestic policy. It is truly frightening what he would have "given" way to the Soviets had he had an opportunity to have a second term. Read Reagan's War. I actually think that Iran/Contra was a tremendous success, whether RR was behind it or not. Nicaragua, which was a totalitarian/communist regime now has free and democratic elections. It was nauseating to see the left, Chris Dodd in particular, commisserate with Ortega.

 

[DawnCt1]

Everything needs to play out. As you said, the indictments are pending. Every administration has some corrupt individuals in them, even Bert Lance in the Carter administration.

.

The supposed CIA leak is a ridiculous charge, that even the author of the law, Victoria Tensing, says does not meet the criteria of the law for many reasons.
Apparently all of Washington DC knew where she worked including the press corp. I would like to see Joe Wilson indicted for lying from day one. He had two stories; one before the Senate Intelligence Committee, one for the New York Times, one saying that Cheney sent him when Cheney never heard of him. It was classic nepotism. Being sent by his wife who hadn't been undercover in 5 years for partisan reasons. On top of that, he had no skills in this area. In order to violate this law, you have to know that you are deliberately outing an undercover operative who has been operating out of the country in the last 5 or 6 years. There has to be intent. I think that Plame and Wilson did more to out herself on the cover of Vanity Fair than anything that Rove or Libby could have begun to have done. This is an attempt by the left to take down the White House. It's baseless.

 

[DawnCt1]

I think that 9-11 was in the works long before Bush. It would have happened regardless of who was in office.

Able Danger found Atta long before Bush was elected. The Clinton Whitehouse didn't want to know about it. Jamie Garelick helped to erect the wall between the CIA and the FBI so they could never know about it.

 

[PrincessKitty]

Yes. Unfortunately, he has a brother in Florida who might outdo him, if given the chance.

Bumper sticker spotted here in Florida recently: "Who knew Jeb was the smart one?"

 

[MossMan]

OK, I see a consensus forming here. That’s good. It’s nice when a diverse group of people can cordially discuss a topic and establish a basic agreement.

I think it is fair to characterize the majority feeling as follows:

While it is too soon to declare George W Bush the worst President of all time, the vast majority of both liberals and conservatives believe that Mr. Bush is nevertheless ONE of the worst presidents of all time.

President Bush’s administration has been marked by a singular ineptitude that has prevented his government from successfully implementing even the most basic of policies. Furthermore, when you combine the personal incompetence of George Bush with criminal corruptness of his underlings, the result is a particular brand of government that serves only to disgrace the very people he was chosen to represent.

Americans in general breathlessly await the day when Mr. Bush will finally leave office and the executive branch of our government can once again aspire to the tenets of ethical competence. ​

 

[hokiefan33]

OK, I see a consensus forming here. That’s good. It’s nice when a diverse group of people can cordially discuss a topic and establish a basic agreement.

I think it is fair to characterize the majority feeling as follows:

While it is too soon to declare George W Bush the worst President of all time, the vast majority of both liberals and conservatives believe that Mr. Bush is nevertheless ONE of the worst presidents of all time.

President Bush’s administration has been marked by a singular ineptitude that has prevented his government from successfully implementing even the most basic of policies. Furthermore, when you combine the personal incompetence of George Bush with criminal corruptness of his underlings, the result is a particular brand of government that serves only to disgrace the very people he was chosen to represent.

Americans in general breathlessly await the day when Mr. Bush will finally leave office and the executive branch of our government can once again aspire to the tenets of ethical competence. ​

If you mean the majority feeling of the people who have posted on this topic, you might be able to justify that, but I think there's enough of us who completely DISAGREE with that that you would have to research the actual responses further. As for the entire DIS boards, and for America in general, you have absolutely NO basis to make these assumptions, b/c I don't think you can consider this DIS topic a representative sample by any means.