So Long Worst President Ever; 10 Reasons History Will Hang You

[leftchick]

:applause:


By Bernie Horn, Campaign for America's Future
Posted on January 16, 2009, Printed on January 16, 2009

http://www.alternet.org/story/120220/

George W. Bush presented his valedictory last night, desperately seeking thanks and congratulations. So here goes: Thanks and congratulations, W, for showing the world that today's conservatism is an abject failure.

Thanks to Bush, we know that conservatives are not fiscally responsible, they are not for small government, they don't stand up for moral values and they won't make Americans one bit safer. Conservatives aren't even true defenders of "free markets" -- having presided over the biggest market bailout in the world.

After eight long years, Bush can no longer fool the public. Polls show that he is the most unpopular president in the history of survey research. When the 2006 and 2008 elections are considered together, Bush policies resulted in the landslide rejection of his party at both the federal and state levels. There are probably a hundred examples where Bush conservatism failed, but let's stick with the top 10.

1. The worst recession since the 1930s. The current recession will be the deepest and longest downturn since the Great Depression. And unlike other recessions, this one was directly caused by conservative anti-regulatory policy. In fact, recent evaluations show that Bush policies never created any real growth -- the ephemeral financial upswings of the past eight years were based on market bubbles and economic Band-Aids.

2. The worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The Bush administration, flacking an "ownership society," helped manufacture the housing bubble. When it burst, Americans lost $6 trillion in housing wealth (so far), fueling a market crash that has cost Americans $8 trillion of stock wealth, according to economist Dean Baker. On a grand scale, we've been mugged.

3. The worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country. That's what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., correctly called the Iraq war. This pre-emptive war -- based on phony pretenses -- is now the second longest in our nation's history (after Vietnam). Some 35,000 Americans are dead or wounded, as well as an enormous number of innocent Iraqis. And even today, more than five years later, can anyone explain why Bush marched us into this quagmire?

4. Unprecedented rejection of human rights. Recently, a Bush administration official finally admitted that the U.S. government engaged in torture at Guantanamo Bay detention center. Bush admitted that he personally authorized waterboarding. While these clear violations of the Geneva Conventions would have been unthinkable a few years ago, today we're not surprised. From Abu Ghraib and extraordinary rendition, to years-long detention of innocents and the unrestrained killing of civilians by U.S.-paid mercenaries, this administration has systematically squandered our nation's moral standing in the world, making us less able to protect Americans and American interests worldwide.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Time to get out of Dodge. Smirk." - Commander AWOL (R)

"You'll never pin a thing on me or VP Dickie 'Five Military Deferments' Cheney. Smirk. We gots republicon homelander chickenhawks in occult positions in government to cover our guilty butts while we and our Cabal O' republicon cronies count up our massive oil and munitions profits. Smirk.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot my republicon homelander propaganda talking point: 'Too bad about you Americans.' Smirk."

- Commander AWOL (R)

[Kitty Herder]

8. K&R Let this nation never forget, lest we allow it again. nt

[WinkyDink]

2. Oh, would that it not be metaphorical.

[baldguy]

3. Iraq was not a mistake.

what outsiders see as disaster is the result of over 10 yrs of careful planning and execution: Saddam made the head of the BFEE look bad, so he had to be killed; Saudi Arabia had to maintain control of the world oil supply, so Iraq's oil had to be removed from the market; chaos is perpetuated in the Middle East for the benefit of Israel.

So what if a couple million people die?

[Beausoleil]

5. And the "war president" had to be reelected in 2004. n/t

[bobd0]

4. K&R Go to hell, George and Dick, where you belong

If they hung Saddam then surely George and Dick need to swing from the end of a rope with a cell phone video of the event broadcast around the world.

[chill_wind]

6. A keeper. Getting it down to a *short* list is no easy task. K & R.

[smorgma]

7. It cannot believe that...

So many think he's worse than Andrew Johnson. Johnson was a public drunk, who conspired to halt reconstruction. He vetoed legislation that provided food, shelter, health care, and protection from violence to the former slaves. He vetoed the very first civil rights statute, which literally gave to blacks all rights of "white persons." He vetoed legislation to permit blacks in DC to vote. He vetoed a public accommodations statute. He blocked the distribution of land to the former slaves. And he rushed the process of "redeeming" Southern states and readmitting them to the Union -- despite the fact that they had all enacted Black Codes which reduced blacks to the conditions of slavery. This was bad even for his time. Bush is not worse than Johnson.....He just isn't.