During the last election there were warnings about how bad Bush would be

[patricia92243]

as Prez. I thought most of it was just political hype, and didn't really pay much attention to it. Of course now that he really is in the WH, he is much, much, much worse than I ever imagined and I realize that all the warnings about him were for real.

Not that it makes any difference now, but my question is: Did MOST other people realize just how horrible he would be as prez or was I just the only naive person.

Yes, I did vote for Gore - I'm not that stupid!

[jpgray]

1. I knew it would be bad, but I didn't imagine THIS

No one expected Sept 11th to occur, and that allowed Bush to be popular long enough to do his terrible work. :(

No question in my mind that another four years of this guy will bring more death and suffering, now that I know what to expect.

[BeatleBoot]

2. I did!

I was warning everyone about it for a year or so before the election when an acquaintance heard junior was running...

This guy was the last thing this country needed. And, now, its pretty obvious.

[salinen]

5. This will sound funny but I thought it would be worse

than it is. Mind you, I thought by now creationism would be required reading. 9/11 delayed the evangelical blitzkrieg, but in the last 2 years it has been what I expected, an all out onslaught on everything good. Reagan + Bush + Bush = Fascism.

[quaker bill]

3. The day after the election

I told my brother and some friends that if Bush gets in the WH we would be bombing brown people within a year. Sure enough.

I voted and worked for Gore. Not so much out of love for him (I liked Gore fine) but more motivated out of a concern over Bush.

[Skittles]

4. I knew it

he was my governor so I am a veteran victim of the BFEE.

[Frances]

6. I felt like Cassandra

I worked in the campaign to elect Chris Van Hollen as a representative from Maryland's 8th district, so everyone I was around was planning to vote for Gore.

But the only people who really understood how dangerous Bush would be were from the South. We knew that Bush would be representing the kind of people who did everything they could think of--from physical violence to economic betrayal--to keep Martin Luther King's dream from coming true.

[JPJones]

7. It's as bad as...

I thought it would be. On Dec. 12, 2000, I said that we would be invading Iraq within the next four years.

[GOPEC]

8. In jest, SNL had it about right

Justt before the 2000 election, SNL had a series of sketches offering alternative visions of Nader, Gore and Bush presidencies. President Gore was depicted as a disappointed teacher who interrupted regular broadcasts for civics lessons. Nader made the world a wonderful, ethical place marred only by the appearance of flying pigs. Under Bush, the Capitol was on fire and we were at war in the midst of a depression within months. Funny.

[pansypoo53219]

11. this segment would make a great commercial

for the democratic nominee. with the tag line-
next time, this isn't parody.

[neverforget]

9. I was saying he was a trojan horse for the right wing to anyone

who would listen. Compassionate conservative are code words for "fuck the poor and middle class".

[hlthe2b]

10. I knew enough about his background to suspect, but my intuition clinched

the impression. I was really shocked that fellow dems, including some extremely highly educated people that I really admire, didn't pick up on any of this. I truly think they thought he'd be a centrist...

Pay attention to your hunches, (or to the ladies' intuition in the family if you are not so intuned...)

[Old and In the Way]

12. Silly me.

I thought people would be validating the 8 year run of good Clinton-Gore stewardship and would see that Bush's biography was just so much puffery. His busines and AWOL problems should have been enough to sink him.

Biy was I wrong.

[Tesha]

13. The media made sure that MOST had NO CLUE. (NT)

Gore, on the other hand, was a serial-lyin', Internet-non-
inventing, Alpha-Male wanna-be who was always trying to
re-invent himself with WOMEN'S help and who sighed WAY
too much while wearing WAY too much make-up to debates!

Tesha

[diamondsoul]

14. I knew he was BAAAAD news-

but I honestly didn't think he'd sink the economy within a year. I'd seen his crap in action in Texas and I didn't want any part of it on a National level.*sigh*

[dansolo]

15. I expected gridlock

I was expecting that not much would get done, but I have been shocked at how cowed the Democrats have been.

[snippy]

16. The Onion seems to have been the most accurate.

WASHINGTON, DC—Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over."

"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."

. . .

Turning to the subject of the environment, Bush said he will do whatever it takes to undo the tremendous damage not done by the Clinton Administration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He assured citizens that he will follow through on his campaign promise to open the 1.5 million acre refuge's coastal plain to oil drilling. As a sign of his commitment to bringing about a change in the environment, he pointed to his choice of Gale Norton for Secretary of the Interior. Norton, Bush noted, has "extensive experience" fighting environmental causes, working as a lobbyist for lead-paint manufacturers and as an attorney for loggers and miners, in addition to suing the EPA to overturn clean-air standards.

. . .

The speech was met with overwhelming approval from Republican leaders.

"Finally, the horrific misrule of the Democrats has been brought to a close," House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert (R-IL) told reporters. "Under Bush, we can all look forward to military aggression, deregulation of dangerous, greedy industries, and the defunding of vital domestic social-service programs upon which millions depend. Mercifully, we can now say goodbye to the awful nightmare that was Clinton's America."

. . .

Bush concluded his speech on a note of healing and redemption.

"We as a people must stand united, banding together to tear this nation in two," Bush said. "Much work lies ahead of us: The gap between the rich and the poor may be wide, be there's much more widening left to do. We must squander our nation's hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent. And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it."

. . .

http://www.theonion.com/onion3701/bush_nightmare.html

[HFishbine]

17. I distinclty remember

my brother and I agreeing with each other: if Bush gets elected, we're going to war.