Is Bush worse than Nixon?

[teach1st]

John Dean has a book coming out in April: "Worse than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George Bush." (Discussed on DU in this thread). Shortly after reading the thread, I heard somebody on the Fox News (Don't ask who - it's the first time I've listened to Fox in years) commenting that Wesley Clark's statement that Bush is worse than Nixon was ridiculous. I assume Clark made that statement recently, but I'm not sure.

It's not my intention to start a Clark thread. I'd like to read opinions about who is the worse (worst?) President - Nixon or GW?

According to some mainstream analysts, Nixon did have foreign policy successes. In addition, Michael Beschloss writes: "Scholars sensitive to the constraints on the powers of the modern president now give Nixon high marks for his ability to form coalitions to get bills passed in a Democratic Congress."

I personally think that of the two GW Bush will prove to be worse than Nixon for many reasons: his administration's policies in all all domestic areas; his administration's degradation of Constitutional rights; his administration's foreign policy, including the preemptive war and the possible war crimes; and, of course, his expansion of the powers or the presidency and his lying all will prove more damaging or potentially damaging to our nation that did Nixon's considerable policy catastrophes. Offhand, I can't think of anything he's done that I believe is a success, but some people would point out that Bush's handled the immediate after-effects of 911 well (I don't think he did). I'd like to know if anybody thinks GW has done anything particularly well (anything positive - a great case can be made that GW is a successful liar, etc.).

So, what do you think? Who is the worse President, Bush or Nixon?

(Edited to fix link)

[papau]

1. I agree - Nixon was a nut - but a social liberal -ok'd universal health

The Bush gang seem to be organized crime - with no marks on the plus side of the ledger.

[dawgman]

4. He also dumped huge amounts of money into Head Start, Medicare, Medicaid

and had a five year experiment with negative income tax or guaranteed income.

[gbwarming]

31. Nixon also signed EPA, OSHA, clean air act nt

[LeahMira]

44. See?

Nixon also signed EPA, OSHA, clean air act

It's possible to think of some good things Nixon did. I can't think of a damn thing that shRubbish has done for the good of the nation. No contest. Nixon was better than Chimp.

[Must_B_Free]

2. Nixon was mild compared to Bush

and was also, at least, an educated man.

[ButterflyBlood]

3. Nixon was actually pretty moderate by today's standards

he did suggest a wealth cap, and I heard somewhere he was pro-choice.

Bush is far worse. I'd put him as the worst ever except possibly Reagan.

[Poiuyt]

9. Reagan never started a major war for his own personal benifit

I agree with Helen Thomas...Bush is the worst

[bahrbearian]

5. Nixon never started any wars, had insider trading, ect ect ect

[gator_in_Ontario]

6. definitely bush...

Yes there was vietnam when nixon was president, but it wasn't constructed by him...he inherited it.
Yes he lied, but his lies resulted in the death of no-one ( that I know of
Last and certainly not least...he was ELECTED...fair and square

[dmkinsey]

7. bush

"worst President EVER"

[Cat Atomic]

8. I think I'd vote for Nixon before I'd vote for some modern Democrats.

Christ, that's weird.

[wuushew]

10. Bush is a combination of Harding,Nixon and Raygun

Harding for the apathy towards the office and corrupt scandals
Nixon for executive abuse of power
Raygun for insistance on tax cuts, military buildup and screwing the poor.

[Poiuyt]

14. Bush is still worse

Bush is the only president to actually start a war. Up until Bush it was considered un-American to do anything militarily except defend our shores or those of our allies.

[wuushew]

24. McKinley was also a warmonger.

The destruction of the U.S.S. Maine was the 1898 version of 911. Even though the Spanish denied responsibility. Cuba is the parallel of Iraq and instead of oil it was Cuba's sweet sweet sugar.

[pocoloco]

11. No contest. We survived Nixon and Watergate,

but we still have almost a year at best of bush* to get through, and then God knows how long to get everything straightened back out.

You have to trust Dean's assessment, he was right in the middle of Watergate!

[Chomskyite]

12. You just didn't have the profiteering on THIS scale

. . . under Nixon. With the Halliburton contracts we're talking tens of billions going directly to Bush's campaign donors. Admittedly, not as many Americans have died under Bush's watch as did under Nixon's. But Bush has a few more years to go yet and has a stable of Klingon's running his foreign policy. So you can bet that Bush's international crime spree will continue apace.

And Bush has been able to operate with very little scrutiny or accountability thanks to the Democratic leadership in both houses of Congress being defanged or even complicit. Then you've got the mainstream press virtually shilling for him. Under Nixon they were generally more skeptical, although they weren't all that adversarial.

But I think I'd have to put Bush in third place if you're measuring presidential awfulness. Wilson took us into a world war for similarly venal reasons. Buchanan's dithering and allowing of the South to steal federal arsenals probably made the Civil War far bloodier and longer lasting.

So it's 1. Buchanan 2. Wilson and 3. Bush for me.

[mike1963]

13. Shrub is far worse than Dicky, and also the worst of all 43.

"worse" is the comparative form and is used when there are two alternatives..."worst" is the superlative form and includes all members of the considered set.
:D

Edit: Perhaps I should have included the indicative form "bad"...that's for just one. ;-)

[Devlzown]

15. There's no comparison.

If it hadn't been for Nixon's paranoia, he'd probably be considered one of our better Presidents today. I can't think of anything good to say about the shrub.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

16. Nixon was delusional; Bush is plain stupid

Nixon had mental problems, but did some good things with foreign policy, including opening up China. Nixon was his own man, even though it cost him the Presidency (he ordered the breakin, after all). Bush is manipulated, and seems to be concerned only with political expediency, not his place in history (as Nixon was). Nixon had intelligence and cunning; Bush is, as a medical expert told me,is obviously a 'dry drunk'.

Bush is by far the worse of the two. I never thought I'd say that about anyone after Nixon, but we are living in strange lives.

[intheozone]

17. Bush, a hundred times over! eom

[salinen]

18. Nixon actually normalized relations

with China. Chimpco is the Mafia. Only the security is tighter with chimpco because the world wants him and this administration to be fitted for concrete shoes.

[DieboldMustDie]

19. * has managed to combine...

Reagan's reactionary politics and Nixon's mendacity all in one handy package. Definitely the worst in my lifetime, and probably ever. :mad:

[grasswire]

20. Nixon was a brilliant man...

...and got caught up in his paranoia and inferiority complex. I really feel he loved the country and the American people and he revered our founding principles. His emotional problems just got out of control and he just went nuts.

Bush and the BFEE are a whole other thing. They do not revere democracy. They believe the world exists to serve them. I think "evil" applies.

[patricia92243]

21. Bush makes Nixon look like a paragon of virtue!

[AtTheEndOfTheDay]

22. No contest

Bush is the worst President ever in the history of our country. I wish he'd have a aneurysm.

[randr]

23. The fact that the congress has failed

is what is making * more dangerous. During the Nixon reign we had a bipartisan legislature with many historical characters i.e.:Sam Erwin,who understood their constitutional responsibilities and acted out of love for their country, regardless of consequences.

[onecitizen]

25. Having lived through Watergate.........

I have to say bush is worse. Maybe it's just because I know the signs to look for now when back then I had no idea. In fact I told someone yesterday that Nixon looks good to me now.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

26. No contest

Bush is a Bible thumper!

[newyawker99]

46. Hi asteroid2003QQ47!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[amber dog democrat]

27. No question, * is the worst

Given a chance I would actually vote FOR Nixon - hands down.
Bush is the worst president EVER.

[NoPasaran]

28. I want to say Bush is worse

But when I force myself to think objectively about the Nixon years I am not so sure.

True, Nixon didn't actually start a war. But he lied about having a secret plan to end the war and casually expanded it into Cambodia.

Nixon used the IRS and the FBI to harass those who disagreed with him. Thanks to Tricky Dick, our political lexicon includes the "Enemies List".

Tired of having your patriotism questioned for questioning the Dear Leader. Come back with me to 1970: "America Love It Or Leave It". If you're lucky, maybe a hardhat will oblige and crack your skull open.

So far, protesters against the Booosh junta have not been shot down with live ammunition. And what did Nixon call demonstrators? "Bums", that's what.

I think that Nixon doesn't look so awful to many of us today because we know how that story ends. He was driven from power. The good guys won.

What the future holds for the current junta is in many ways up to us. And only when we know how this saga ends can we really say who is the worse President.

[Cleita]

29. Nixon had a brain and was also pretty good with foreign policy

and diplomacy. You certainly can't say that about Bush. So Bush is definitely the worse. Even his father wasn't this bad.

[Faygo Kid]

30. Bush is worse; knew Nixon well, and GWB is much, much worse

Nixon was vp when I was in elementary school; I remember the 1960 election well. I was a high school senior when he was elected in '68, and got to despise him through my college years. He was a crook, and a figure of evil and tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, but he was in the "mainstream." We have never - repeat, never - had as radical and dangerous an administration, and president, as this one. The guys running Bush's campaign would laugh at the cheap piker things that Nixon did, with his plumbers, break-ins and dirty tricks. Rove, Cheney, Card, et al won't waste their time on such junk. They will go right to Diebold, do what it takes, pass legislation against dissent, turn out the well compensated dogs (orcs?) like Hannity and Limbaugh, anything - again repeat, anything - to maintain and expand their power. It's not close. GWB is beyond anything we have ever seen.

[elfin]

32. Yes yes yes he is far worse

Nixon's policies were actually fairly progressive and creative - EPA, Inner City Enterprise Zones, Trip to China etc. It was his paranoia that caused him to overstep and his then compound it by the cover-up. A negative persona sealed the deal.

W's policies are regressive and cruel, but since his "persona" seems sunny and genuine to the sheeple, he can get away with even more, secure in his army of "fixers" spread throughout the corporate and political right wing establishment. Nixon was essentially friendless - he, too, might have skated if he had the old boy network really committed to helping him and media control that W has.

[calimary]

33. TOTALLY bush. Completely and absolutely, undisputedly bush.

Bush makes Nixon look like a Mother Theresa disciple. Of all the presidents we've suffered through, for whom I had distaste (the republi-CONS, that is) bush surpasses Nixon, Reagan, and Bush the First. Nobody scrapes the bottom like he does. Nobody scoops the inside of the commode like he does. Nobody lines the catbox or the birdcage like he does. He is the absolute lowest of the bottom-feeders, and has redefined the concept of "miserable failure." NO negative adjective is strong enough or appropriate enough to describe this MOST appalling abortion of our political process ever in our history. EVER. He has no equal. Hopefully, he never will. But then again, I once described Nixon in much the same way. Hell, Nixon's a kitten on a satin pillow compared to this schmuck. He's a walking, talking, oxygen-sucking new low. And every time I think he's topped himself, he proves me wrong. Again. They're going to have to construct an eighth level of hell just for him. The seven levels combined aren't enough.

[Enraged_Ape]

35. You said that very well, calimary

And I couldn't agree more.

Bush = Worst. President. Ever.

[Kat45]

34. Yes. Nixon was a liberal compared to today's republicans.

[mitchum]

36. God yes!

for all of the reasons cited above

[kaitykaity]

37. Bush is much, much worse.

Bush followers are Kool-Aid drunk zomb-bots. Bush could
murder a child on live television and they would somehow
find a way to blame it on Clinton.

Woodward had some integrity back then. He's pure
whore now. All the corporate media are so afraid of the
fascist Bush administration that they are afraid to take
it on directly.

[Ruby Romaine]

38. Under Nixon we had the CETA * program, but he was a slime bucket!

It got progressively worse.
Nixon- Bad
Ronzo- Worse
Bush I- Even Worse
Bush II-Worst Ever

Which makes me fear if we don't win,
2008 will be a horror movie we'll all be in & it will be real.

*Comprehensive Education and Training Act
1974-1982
Reagan did away with it- everyone I knew got their 1st job through CETA training.

[Snappy]

39. Worse.

Nixon did a few good things but was paranoid and played down and dirty and broke laws.

Dubya is a shallow, opportunist that has allowed the office to be used to disgrace America.

We must demand an investigation!!!!

[tinanator]

40. yes, outside of Vietnam, cointelpro, assassinations, Kent State, and

enemy lists, Nixon was a swell guy. On the other hand, GW has really managed to make Ronald Reagan look good. In fact, I cant help attributing all the dark and ugly of Reagans era to GHWB's succesful coup.
-in fact, when are we going to stop pretending the idiot bastard son is in charge of anything? It is STILL GHWB and James Baker doing all of this, continuing their plots, and hiding behind the curtain. WOuldnt it be better if we demanded this sort of realism from ourselves?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

41. is the Pope Catholic?

[spanone]

42. Nixon was a rank amateur

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

43. Bush is the worst

President certainly during my lifetime.

Even though Nixon was also dishonest and vindictive he did have certain competencies in foreign policy. This pres is a total mediocrity.

[newyawker99]

47. Hi Mayberry Machiavelli!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[TomNickell]

45. Nixon was smart, but nasty.

Nixon was extremely smart and skilled at strategy but completely amoral.

Oveall, I prefer that to Bush's incompetence.

[Mz Pip]

48. Bush is much worse

Personally, Nixon was seriously unlikable, but he did go to China, much to the chagrin of the conservatives.

I hope Bush gets caught for his dirty tricks. I'm convinced that he's done much worse than Nixon ever did in that regard. Unfortunately, his machine seems to be much better in either covering them up or spinning them away.

MzPip
:dem: