There's a reason we need to keep reminding people about George W. Bush

[babylonsister]

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/theres-reason-we-need-keep-reminding


There's a reason we need to keep reminding people about George W. Bush
By David Neiwert Saturday May 15, 2010 4:00pm
Video at link~

The other day, Rep. Ed Markey made the following mundane but true observation:

For years, the Bush administration's oil strategy placed the granting of drilling leases ahead of safety review.

This irked Neil Cavuto no end:

Ipso-facto — Bush to blame for the big leak-o.

Just like he's apparently behind that big thousand-point swing-o.

Just like he's to blame for the unemployment rate that's higher than when he left office, and the deficits that are much higher than any year he was in office.

All problems, all Bush, all the time — probably until the end of time.

Cavuto wants a "statute of limitations" on blaming Bush. "Just give it a break," he pleaded.

Nuh-uh.

It's true that the miseries we're currently enduring are not merely the fault of the sole personage of George W. Bush, the man now widely viewed by conservatives as The Man Who Betrayed Conservative Values. He had lots and lots of help. In fact, he had millions of little helpers -- all those movement conservatives who now want to pretend that he wasn't a real conservative.

This is because, in reality, Bush is The Man Who Nearly Destroyed the American Economy. It wasn't Bush's "betrayal" of the "conservative values" they believe are so time-honored and proven that caused his abysmal failure -- it was those values themselves, and Bush's steady adherence to them throughout his tenure. Right-wingers like Cavuto and everyone else at Fox, however, simply cannot accept this cold reality; the resulting cognitive dissonance has now driven them pretty much insane.

The conservative approach to mis-governance comes up at every turn today for the liberals and centrists now dealing with repairing the damage, from managing the economy back onto its feet to fighting the two wars Bush got us into to coping with environmental disasters produced by his safety regulations. And it would be stupid to pretend that it's not what we're dealing with.

Because you see, if we don't constantly remind people of the disastrous consequences of conservative rule, they start listening to people like the talking heads at Fox News. They start forgetting just who got them into this big damned mess in the first place. Some of them even start blaming liberals for it (especially the hard-core insane conservative defenders).

We can't let that happen. Conservatives need to be slapped with the Bush legacy on a daily basis. Sure, they'll whine. But they have it coming.

[samplegirl]

1. Great Post!!!

Good Morning :hi:

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

2. Not a 'betrayal" of conservatism...

This can't be stressed often enough. The Cheney Administration was six years of unalloyed conservatism. Democrats were sometimes (literally) shut out of the legislative process -- not even allowed to hold hearings on some subjects.

George W. Bush never so much as THREATENED to use his veto powers until 2007 when the Democrats took over Congress.

Cheney demanded and received nothing but conservative legislation, and they followed up with a pack of Executive Orders and Signing Statements to put an even more conservative spin on that was coming off Capitol Hill.

The result was not conservatism "gone wrong," it was simply the result of conservative (read: bad) policies.

Conservatives got EXACTLY what they wanted. No fair complaining after the fact.

[Stuart G]

3. K and R

[OHdem10]

4. Remind People, GWB had the Rubberstamp of Republicans in Congress

By only blaming Bush you have let the GOP go up in the polls.

You permitted them to distance themselves from Bush.

We tend to blame Presidents. Presidents are only as strong
as their Congress make them. GWB was effective in getting
his RW Agenda only because he had a Congress who backed him
went on TV to promote him . Now of course, they act like
they never heard of him and we permit them to get away with
this.

Their Conservative Economic Fundamentalism drove us in the
ditch and they continue to spout these principles and the
Democrats act as if they are deaf.

Blame the GOP as well as Bush.

[Captain Hilts]

5. They gave him carte blanche. nt

[butterfly77]

6. Their talking points are..

The dems had the power in 2006,Dems are doing too much spending,Dems have been in office too long so voters are getting rid of them.Dems love government...

No,Bluedogs/Republicons were being outted for who they are therefore, some of them left or switched to the republiCON party since they were working for them anyway.

We are suppose to list what they spent money on,Ask them how can a country run without a government,how can you fix a problem without spending money,and for all of them when will they take a pay cut?

[rasputin1952]

7. One of the reasons the GOP has become the "Party of no"...

is because of bush. If they brought up anything from his administration, (which is what they want to do, but realize those "values" bush brought in kicked the country to it's knees), they see monumental loss at the doorstep. bush is a very real vision of just why GOP policy fails time after time. One of the reasons the GOP has moved intot he fringe camp w/the teabaggers, is because they are trying to drive a base that doesn't see the GOP as having anything of value for the populace.

The 8 years of bush and his cronies brought serious devastation to the economy, destroyed many lives and eviscerated many protections Americans had from the very government the GOP says is "too powerful". The GOP needs a Lincoln or TR, what they are offering is a Harding or a Coolidge; Americans are not stupid, (although we can act stupid at times), and the torching bush did to the country is still raw, the GOP cannot remake history, although they are trying.

I maintain that as we get closer to the mid-term, the GOP will get more desperate, they've already cornered themselves into a no win situation, and if D's get out and vote, as we should in every election, the GOP will be crushed to dust, and a different party will emerge. The Whigs absorbed the Republicans, both on a platform of limited government and a less powerful president, way back in 1848; (the Democrats on the other hand were the party that wished to retain slavery). This changed back in the 30's when FDR because a progressive Democrat, looking to TR and Wilson as templates for action, (Wilson left a lot to be desired, as he held deeply rooted views on racial and religious points that were bigoted, close to the extreme. TR today, would be considered a Progressive D).

Democrats, since FDR, have been seen as the "party of the people", there was a huge change when FDR took over, and the GOP had aligned with the very institutions is aligned with today, corporate America and the financial structure...two things the "common man/woman" have little in common with. bush exemplified this association, and because of that, we can sweep the GOP from the the political table.

Forces are coming together that can crush the GOP, much of it is their own doing. The AA vote, the Latino vote, the blue collar voters are aligned against the GOP, more are pushed away from them every day by the likes of Teabaggers and people who have never read the Constitution, yet speak of it as if they were scholars of said Document. The GOP is on the road to ruin, and I'm ore than willing to help them along. The D's have passed a lot since the bush/cheney were tossed into the street along with their "values"...it comes down to people voting, not sitting this one out. We can put a stake into the GOP corpse...but only through action. Sitting this election out is the worst thing we could do...it's time to send the GOP into the history books...bush's "legacy" can be invaluable in ensuring we do...:D

[Cha]

13. The gNOp is between a vise grip

so massive that could only result in the high pitched, whining lies bellowing out of their gravy holes.

[Jennicut]

8. Bush had plenty of conservatives values...deregulate. Make the govt.

dysfunctional and give it a bad name. He always had the conservative values. Spending for the wealthy and elite IS a conservative value.

[depakid]

9. If the administration and Congress had fought HARD for the peoples' business

-even if we lost the battles, we wouldn't be seeing articles like this from David Neiwert.

And we surely wouldn't be falling back on them in search of reasons for people to come out and volunteer and vote for our candidates.

Telling, don't you think?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. There was apparently no "statute of limitations" on blaming things on Clinton

Bush and/or the Republicans blamed just about every problem they encountered from the economy to 9/11 on Bill Clinton and I don't recall any of them taking responsibility for ANYTHING- let alone being critical of the fact that Bush and the Republicans were constantly blaming the previous administration for their problems and shortcomings whether it was even realistic or not. As recently as this past year (NINE-TEN YEARS after Bill Clinton left office), people like Mary Matalin are still making and defending arguments like Bush "inherited" 9/11 from Bill Clinton. :eyes: Whatever his shortcomings, Bill Clinton left office with the country in better shape than just about any recent POTUS and the country was wrecked by the time Bush left office eight years later-morally, socially, physically, politically, and economically (which is indisputable) and they NEED to be held to account for the stuff Bush did that got us to where we are today and that the Republicans in Congress defended/enabled every.single.time. Unless Clinton was serving as a "shadow President" during the GWB years, there is no reasonable way that anybody can seriously claim that any portion of the last eight years has ANYTHING to do with anything that Clinton did during his Presidency.

[Atticus]

11. This country will begin to recover its stature when 1.) Bush and Cheney are prosecuted, convicted

and publicly perp-walked to prison, AND 2.) people "look down and spit on the ground every time their name is mentioned!"

[Cha]

12. I'll freakin' Blame bush and his puppeteer cheeeney the

rest of my life and neil fuckingtool cavato can suck it up.

[greencharlie]

14. what's the afterlife of W?

How long will people believe that EVERYTHING is the fault of Shrub?

One year? Sure. Two years? Maybe half the populace... After 4 years? Maybe a few...

Like it or not, after a certain period of time... no matter what the issue, you OWN it.

[rasputin1952]

15. If the problem traces back to bush...he owns it...

No one else can lay claim, until it has been challenged and the challenge defeated.

There are many things that must be reversed, we can't do it all at once...bush was a travesty, his administration was a serious disaster...there will be things uncovered for decades to come...the R's still blame FDR for things!

FWIW...As far as I'm concerned, I'll blame bush for every nasty thing he did to this nation for as long as I live...:hi: