George W Bush rules from the shadows.

[kentuck]

<snip>
To Democrats, George W. Bush is the Voldemort of American politics, an evil force. But even to Republicans, he is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, someone you dare not talk about as you try to win the votes of conservative Iowans.
<snip>
The reasons for Bush's invisibility among Iowa Republican/conservatives are obvious. He was unpopular when he left office. With the help of Democrats, he piled up more federal debt than any of his predecessors. He vastly expanded the role and reach of government. He launched but did not "win" in the War on Terror. He and the Fed bailed out the big banks and financial firms on Wall Street and Europe.
<snip>
Fiscal policy in the U.S. remains shaped and confined by the massive and successful tax cuts that the former president and his GOP allies put in place in 2001 and 2003. Obama has tried -- ineptly, half-heartedly or both -- to change them, to no avail. He has been unable even to tweak the top rate for millionaires and billionaires. Those tax cuts have and will cost the Treasury as estimated $2.6 trillion in over a decade.
......
In the name of fighting recession, Obama has expanded on Bush's own penchant for borrowing money. Bush piled up $5 trillion in two terms, from 2001 to 2009; the current president has amassed that much in half the time.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-fineman/george-w-bush-election-2012_b_1179655.html

[loudsue]

1. There are a lot of twisted "facts" in that article.

One in particular:
"With the help of Democrats, he piled up more federal debt than any of his predecessors."

From 1994 until 2008, there were only...what...3 years where democrats had a majority?

[hayrow1]

3. Please review history

Plenty of Democrats, always at least more than 1+ the needed amount, voted for the Bush tax cuts, and even the biggest blunder since Vietnam, the Iraq War. Facts be facts. Enough Democrats were usually available to assist Bush with just enough votes when it was required.

[edhopper]

7. Fineman phrases it as if

it were the Dems and Bush, NOT the GOP and Bush with a few Dem votes, It is very disingenuous.

[RC]

5. What does having the majority have to do with it?

It says "with the help of Democrats" No need for a majority for that.

[spanone]

2. this is why thugs have no credibility...bu$h* was a disaster

[ixion]

4. Yes, Bush sucked. This is why I was pissed when Obama codified the Bush Doctrine

in the NDAA.

[Octafish]

6. And in Smirko's shadow is Poppy.

When I was a kid, Democratic presidents were considered "activist" leaders who used the power of government to make life better for all Americans. Republican presidents were thought of as "caretakers" who used their terms to merely watch over government.

It would take a lot of backbone to reverse the rightward slide of governing. So far, President Obama has not demonstrated the needed backbone to change that direction, let alone tackle the nation's toughest challenges from wars without end to welfare for the wealthy.

[Marnie]

8. The Don of the Bush Mafia.

They are far more dangerous to America than any foreign power.

If they have not dirty secrets, why was it so important to get junior in a position where he could stop the release of the Don's archived papers?

[Octafish]

10. The Family that Preys Together

Experts agree, 5-4.



The Family That Preys Together

Covert Action Information Bulletin
From Issue No. 41, Summer, 1992
by Jack Colhoun

GEORGE JR.'S BCCI CONNECTION "This is an incredible deal, unbelievable for this small company," energy analyst Charles Strain told Forbes magazine, describing the oil production sharing agreement the Harken Energy Corporation signed in January 1990 with Bahrain.

Under the terms of the deal, Harken was given the exclusive right to explore for gas and oil off the shores of the Gulf island nation. If gas or oil were found in waters near two of the world's largest gas and oil fields, Harken would have exclusive marketing and transportation rights for the energy resources. Truly an "incredible deal" for a company that had never drilled an offshore well.

Strain failed to point out, however, the one fact that puts the Harken deal in focus: George Bush, Jr., the eldest son of George and Barbara Bush of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC, is a member of Harken's board of directors, a consultant, and a stockholder in the Texas-based company. In light of this connection, the deal makes more sense. The involvement of Junior-George Walker Bush's childhood nickname-with Harken is a walking conflict of interest. His relationship to President Bush, rather than any business acumen, made him a valuable asset for Harken, the Republican Party benefactors, Middle East oil sheikhs and covert operators who played a part in Harken's Bahrain deal.

SNIP...

Junior's value to Harken soon became apparent when the company needed an infusion of cash in the spring of 1987. Junior and other Harken officials met with Jackson Stephens, head of Stephens, Inc., a large investment bank in Little Rock, Arkansas (Stephens made a $100,000 contribution to the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980 and gave another $100,000 to the Bush dinner committee in 1990.)

CONTINUED...

http://mediafilter.org/caq/bushfamilypreys.html

[loudsue]

11. Thank you, Octafish!!

There is no end to the bush corruption, criminality and greed. They are a mafia, plain and simple.

[L. Coyote]

9. They invented the "Tea Party" just to rebrand the GOP as the "Not-Bush Party" n/t