The theocracy of George Walker Bush . . . its legacy . . .

[TaleWgnDg]

The theocracy of George Walker Bush . . . its legacy . . .

"As surely as Franklin Roosevelt is remembered most for his leadership during World War II and Lyndon Johnson for Vietnam, presidential scholars and some of Bush's own advisers predict that history will judge Bush by his decision to order a pre-emptive attack on Iraq on March 19, 2003, and by the long-term consequences of America's first war of the 21st century."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-03-13-bush-iraq-cover_x.htm
("Conflict will define Bush's role in history," by Susan Page, USAToday online, 3/14/06, as visited March 22, 2006. Bold-faced type emphasis added by TaleWgnDg.)

However, despite Bush's followers and some of his detractors wish to place Bush's legacy with Harry S Truman's administration which was unpopular as well during the last few years of his administration, there's no doubt that Truman never recited God as often and as openly advocating Christianity than does George Walker Bush. Nor did Truman wish to place his own religion into our laws.

History will not be favorable to George Walker Bush as it has been to Truman over the years. That's due, in part, because a dark and expansive part of George Walker Bush's legacy will be Bush as the unwavering, rigid leader of the ultra-conservative Christian religion-into-law zealots. And most importantly, Bush's view that God talks directly to him and through him.

Thus, Bush will most likely be one of our least favorable presidents. No doubt about it. Bush may also be remembered as the president who led us into an unnecessary, bloody, long, protracted, and costly war because of his messianic complex: God talks to George Walker Bush! God talks through George Walker Bush! God (read: GWBush) can do no wrong!

Scary stuff that George Walker Bush.


George Walker Bush, The Christian


George Walker Bush, The Divine


______________________________________________________

"I believe that God wants me to be
president."
— Richard Land, a Director
of the conservative evangelical Southern
Baptist Convention, quoting GWBush on
"the day (GWBush) was inaugurated for his
second term as governor (of TX) in 1999."

"I could not be governor (of Texas) if I did not
believe in a divine plan that supersedes all human
plans."
- George Walker Bush

"I, George W. Bush, Governor of Texas, do
hereby proclaim June 10, 2000, Jesus Day in
Texas and urge . . . all Texans to answer the
call to serve those in need. By volunteering
their time, energy or resources to helping others,
adults and youngsters follow Christ's message
of love and service in thought and deed."
— GWBush, as Governor of TX, officially
proclaiming June 10, 2000, as "JESUS DAY in TEXAS."

"And the religious people (GWBush) was connected
with in Texas aren't anything like the
mainstream — even the mainstream in Texas."
— Molly Ivins, political pundit, on GWBush as Governor of Texas.

"I always laugh when people say that George W. Bush
is saying this or that to appease the religious right. He
is the religious right."
-- GWBush first cousin John Ellis

"After all, religion has been around a lot longer
than Darwinism."
— GWBush, reported in George Magazine, September, 2000

"Government cannot make people love one
another . . . (; instead,) love comes from a
higher calling, a higher authority; the great
strength of America lies in the hearts and
souls of citizens who've heard that call, not
in the halls of government."
— GWBush, campaigning for president in the
2000 election explaining his "faith-based initiatives"
vs. government run programs w/o regard for the
Separation of Church and State.

"Together, we have a charge to keep,"
— GWBush authored in his presidential campaign
book which was not too subtly entitled "A Charge
to Keep" (which is a quote from an Evangelical hymn
"associated with a Bible verse, 1 Corinthians
4:2: 'Now it is required that those who have been
given a trust must prove faithful.')," page 45.

"(G)overnment should welcome (and grant federal
monies to) the active involvement of people who
are following a religious imperative to love their
neighbors through after-school programs, child
care, drug treatment, maternity group homes, and
a range of other services. Supporting these men
and women is the next bold step of welfare reform."
— GWBush's presidential campaign book,
co-authored by Karen Hughes, entitled, “A Charge
to Keep”, p. 232.

"I called on Congress to join me in passing laws that
would allow the — open up the federal treasury to
faith-based programs, and (Congress) balked," Bush
said. "So I signed an executive order instructing all
federal agencies not to discriminate against religious
groups."
— GWBush, January 15, 2004, explaining to a black
New Orleans church audience why he signed
the "faith-based programs" bribery contained in
several Executive Orders over-riding congress' refusal
to pass federal laws.

"Faith-based programs are only effective because they
do practice faith. It’s important for our government to
understand that. (F)aith-based programs only conform
to one set of rules, and it’s bigger than government rules.
The inspiration is not from (government) bureaucracy,
and that’s what’s important for government policymakers
to understand."
— GWBush on the campaign trail, 2004, putting a new twist
on the 1st amendment's Separation of Church and State,
and the Establishment Clause.

"I believe that it points up the fact that we
need common sense judges who understand
that our rights were derived from God. Those
are the kind of judges I intend to put on the bench."
— GWBush, June 27, 2002, explaining his litmus
test for federal judicial nominees upon hearing that
"under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance (which
was heavily lobbied by the Roman Catholic Knights
of Columbus and inserted by a zealous anti-communist
U.S. congress in the 1950s) was being challenged in
the federal courts as unconstitutional by an Atheist.

"(Hanging in my office is) a beautiful oil painting
by W.H.D. Koerner entitled A Charge to Keep.
The painting, inspired by the hymn, (pictures) a
horseman determinedly charging up what appears
to be a steep & rough trail. This is us. (The painting
and) hymn have been an inspiration for me and for
members of my staff. 'A Charge to Keep calls us
to our highest and best. It speaks of purpose and
direction. In many hymnals, it is associated with a
Bible verse, 1 Corinthians 4:2: 'Now it is required
that those who have been given a trust must prove
faithful.' "
— GWBush's presidential campaign book,
co-authored by Karen Hughes, entitled, “A Charge
to Keep”, p. 45.

"This crusade . . . is going to take a while."
— GWBush, speaking 5 days after 9-11
about retaliatory issues, Washington, DC,
September 16, 2001

"I think President Bush is God's man at
this hour, and I say this with a great sense
of humility."
— Timothy Goeglein of the
White House Office of Public Liaison told
World magazine, a Christian weekly.

"There is a human condition that we must worry
about in times of war. There is a value system
that cannot be compromised — God-given values.
These aren't United States-created values."
— GWBush, as quoted by Bob Woodward,
in his book "Bush at War. "

"God loves you, and I love you. And you
can count on both of us as a powerful
message that people who wonder about
their future can hear."
— GWBush, Los Angeles, Calif., March 3, 2004

"I trust God speaks through me. Without
that, I couldn’t do my job."
-- GWBush, quoted in the Lancaster New Era, July
16, 2004, during a private meeting with an Amish group.

"I'm the commander, I do not need to
explain why I say things. That's the
interesting thing about being the President.
Maybe somebody needs to explain to me
why they say something, but I don't feel like
I owe anybody an explanation . . ."
— GWBush, asserting what seems to be
a messianic complex.

"Where there is tyranny, oppression and
gathering danger to mankind, America
works and sacrifices for peace and freedom.
The liberty we prize is not America's gift to
the world, it is the Almighty God's gift to all
humanity."
-- GWBush, as photographs and videos of
U.S. military, U.S. intelligence, and
U.S. private contractors abuse of Iraqi
prisoners are filling the headlines around the
world, May 14, 2004, in a speech before an
evangelical Lutheran college commencement
in Wisconsin, a state that GWBush lost by
by 5,709 votes of nearly 2.5 million cast in the
2000 presidential election.
______________________________________________________

[jeff30997]

1. He will be remembered as a damn nut that's for sure.

[TaleWgnDg]

2. Yup, and a damn dangerous nut, too!

[oscarmitre]

3. "A Canticle for Bushowitz" - n/t

[TaleWgnDg]

5. Sung or otherwise, tis quite a negative legacy! And,

welcome to DU, oscarmitre.

[SeattleGirl]

4. Thing is, Bush SAYS he believes in God, yet so many of his

actions are very un-God-like. And they certainly do not reflect the work of Jesus. Most of us, I think, know that Bush is pandering to the right wing fundies, because they are most likely to follow someone who professes to be doing "God's work". They do not truly SEE what he is doing, because they cannot get past the talk he talks. They don't see the walk he walks. Bush is responsible for the deaths of so many people, and the wounding of so many more. History may judge him harshly; I already do. His impact on this country, and on the world, is the most negative and destructive I have ever seen in my life.

[TaleWgnDg]

6. Here's NPR's Terry Gross' take on Bush's Theocracy . . .

NPR's Politics & Society, Terry Gross' Fresh Air Program
A Political Warning Shot: 'American Theocracy'

by Terry Gross, NPR's Fresh Air from WHYY, March 21, 2006



Kevin Phillips, 65, lives in Connecticut,
where he is registered as an independent.
photo by Katherine Lambert


"Kevin Phillips rose to prominence on the heels of Richard Nixon's political triumphs. His 1969 book, The Emerging Republican Majority, was hailed as a visionary work of political analysis. But his new book, American Theocracy, argues that the Republican Party -- and the country -- is headed for disaster.

Subtitled "The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century," American Theocracy puts the trials of modern America into the context of other great historical powers. From Rome to Great Britain, Phillips identifies the keys to their decline -- and draws parallels to modern America.

Phillips wrote a 2004 bestseller, American Dynasty, about the Bush family. American Theocracy is a harsh criticism of the current Bush administration and the Republican Party. Phillips, a senior strategist for Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential bid, registered himself as a political independent in 2002.

The Emerging Republican Majority correctly predicted the trend of American voters toward greater conservatism -- particularly in the South. Since then, Phillips has written 11 books about economics, history and politics.

In 1978, Phillips became a radio commentator for CBS News, and in 1984, for National Public Radio as well."

. . . more at . . . http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5290373
(podcast, streaming audio, and excerpts from Phillips cited book)

[NoGOP]

12. Was that God speaking through him when.........

he called that reporter an asshole during his first Presidential Campaign?

[vssmith]

7. I remember Harry Truman and

Bush is no Harry Truman

[TaleWgnDg]

8. How true . . . and welcome to DU, vssmith!!

[opihimoimoi]

9. Even the Cowboy Foreman in BLAZING SADDLES is smarter than Bush

[cap]

10. this is a MSM reporting this!

kind of amazing to see.

[TaleWgnDg]

11. and long overdue.