In 2000, could you have imagined an America so captured by evil?

[Writer]

Think back to 2000 after Bush weaseled his way into office. We knew it wouldn't be a great presidency - maybe he'd be a one-termer. He'd push for conservative causes while pretending to be bipartisan and centrist. We would hate him. Republicans would love him. So the political formula goes...

But, truthfully, could you have fathomed the size and scope of the disaster that is the Bush presidency? There's more high-suspense, dramatic hyperbole packed tightly in the last six years to stroke the ego of Jerry Bruckheimer. (Wait a minute... hasn't there been a movie already?) Even those of us who recall the Reagan presidency believed in the righteousness of American presidents, even if we disagreed with them, and we trusted that they would handle their jobs with at least the barest inkling of goodwill.

But this American president would be like no other American president.

After the 2001 Terror Attacks. After the bungling of locating Osama bin Laden. After the incomplete Afghanistan War. After the successive lying and fear-mongering preceding Iraq. After the genesis of the Iraqi military and political mess. After Halliburton's private plundering of Iraqi oil assets following the invasion. After trillions of dollars oddly disappearing during that venture. After the Hurricane Katrina classicide in downtown New Orleans. After the discovery that Bush tossed aside FISA to spy on Americans without warrants. After, as we have just learned, selling the control of major U.S. ports to the United Arab Emirates... what more can Bush do to convey his pernicious, morally evil ethics? His souless actions as our current American president?

Now we understand the fiber of Bush's being. And of the men and women who comprise his presidency. Is this the tone of American presidencies we should expect in the future? Should we prepare for an era when an American presidency acts like the thieving and manipulative rulers of Mexico's long-standing PRI Party? Has our country now matured into a state where no longer we cling to the innocence of the Enlightenment project, but acknowledging that this project has failed, must accept a questionable and corrupt future?

We Americans are left in an insecure, inquisitive state. No longer have we the assurance that our leaders will employ reason over madness. That we are at mercy to their great evil, while many still are entralled by the glossy Godliness in which the evil is wrapped.

Perhaps we will see the day that America will once more recapture her spirit. That we can breathe easy that level-headedness will steer her clear of this darkened storm that is the Bush Administration.

If we could not have imagined an America encased in Bush's evil, are we capable of imagining an America without it?

[BlueEyedSon]

1. I knew it right away

[JuniperLea]

2. Me too...

I was telling my b/f the other night that when Prince had a hit with lyrics that went, "tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999," we all thought yeah, end of the world. Then we hit 2000 and thought, guess not. But when you think about it, the world as we know it did end in 1999. Prince was right! AAAIIIIIAH! < (Prince squeal)

[Orrin_73]

6. AAAIIIIIAH?????

What does that mean? Is someone attacking you?

[JuniperLea]

10. haha!

No, that is Prince's trademark squeal... I always thought it sounded like someone was giving him a wedgie!


:P

[Orrin_73]

13. OK

I was a bit worried. :bounce: :)

[knowbody0]

3. i looked into his eyes

and saw war

[sickinohio]

7. I saw total evil

in his eyes.:grr: :scared: :hide:

[acmejack]

9. I looked into his eyes

and saw absolutely nothing

[MadMaddie]

30. I lived in Texas when he was Governer...

it was the prelude to how he would run his Presidency....Complete Disaster!!

[Selatius]

4. I thought we'd simply have a mediocre presidency at first

This country had a lot of problems even before Bush Jr. We had problems with health care, public education, labor standards, environmental standards, our dependence on oil and a lack of mass transit, graft and corruption in government, the national debt, the massive trade deficit, free trade and the destruction of American manufacturing, economic segregation between the rich and the poor, etc.

It's 2006 now.

This country was bleeding before Bush came like a man who came out of a brutal fight. Now, this man has been struck by a car and is bleeding to death. This Republic will die if nothing significant changes.

[AzDar]

5. Nope. Never....My big concern was that he was 'appointed' rather

than elected;was clearly UNQUALIFIED; and would try like hell to overturn Roe v. Wade.
I've despised him since I laid eyes upon him, but had NO IDEA he'd was the Anti-Christ, out to destroy all things good,while cloaked in the American Flag.
I'm also beginning to believe MIHOP, btw.

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I figured we'd have four years of mediocrity and then we'd

elect someone else. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine any one person doing as much harm to our nation in so short a time. And then he gets to spend another four years! What were these people thinking? I don't know how long it will take to undo the mess that this pitiful excuse for a human being has made, but we're going to feel the effects of this administration for years to come.

[hippiegranny]

11. in a word - no

I really figured he'd just be a lame-o and we'd be rid of him in 4 years. I never could have imagined what we have had to endure lo these past 5 years.

[musical_soul]

12. In 2000.

I didn't want him getting it because I feared he'd increase the death penalty a lot. I thought that was the worst he would do. I was wrong.

[Strong Atheist]

34. Welcome to D.U.!

:toast:

[WePurrsevere]

14. Imagined? I knew & others I shared my feelings with knew too.

I've never been so distressed about an election and it's outcome as I was for 2000 and then 2004 when I knew the fix would be in that time just as I knew the fix was in the night I watched Bush and his brother Jeb reactions when Florida was called for Gore.

Call it luck, observation, intuition or whatever... I just knew when Bush was declared President by the SCOTUS that we'd be attacked and/or at war within a year or two. There was NO doubt in my mind that he and his handlers/cabal would do everything they could to destroy the country I love.

As for can I imagine an America without BushCo and the neo-con agenda of "evil"? Yes, and do so at least once a day as a form of "visualization" but also as a way to keep hope alive, to remember what I am fighting for and to hold in my heart and mind the knowledge that "this too shall pass".

[Radio_Guy]

15. No way

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine he would cause what happened on 9/11 to happen, though I figured he would start something in Iraq to make his daddy proud. I just shudder to think after all he has done so far, what is he going to do the next three years...or more?

[Strong Atheist]

35. Welcome to D.U.!

:toast:

[Cocoa]

16. nope, I voted for Nader

but don't worry everyone, I quickly learned how much of a mistake that was.

[Capn Sunshine]

23. At least you realized it in time

:shrug: I wonder how many Nader voters wish they had that vote back

[Vinca]

17. I never thought I'd remember the Nixon or Reagan years as

the good old days.

[Lisa]

18. it's bizarre to think that SNL's prediction was on the right track!

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/00/00dglimpse1.phtml



I remember that in late 2000, there were a lot of people (even on the left) who thought that Bush would mess things up, but not too badly, and he'd be a one-termer just like his dad. That author who was on Jon Stewart's show yesterday said that, during the inauguration, she was crying because she thought Bush would tank the economy and let people pollute our water -- and she's always thought of herself as being somewhat pessimistic!

At the time, I tried to think rationally, and managed to convince myself that the reason I was so bummed out about the election result (and I'm not even in America!) was due to misplaced disappointment over a tough time at my workplace, etc.

[area51]

19. amazing, isn't it?

I certainly didn't think it was possible to push the nation into the 2nd Great Depression, but Bush did it.

[bemildred]

20. Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over

Check the date.

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."

Bush swore to do "everything in power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.

During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28784

[ZRB]

21. I remember reading that when it came out

And I've thought back on it many times since. Incredible, isn't it.

[bemildred]

24. Incredible it is, the funny thing is how right it was. nt

[midnight]

22. Does anyone remember the first attorney that represented Gore?

Saturday he filed the court papers to fight for Gore that next day he was found dead. Of natural causes. He had been in a wheel chair and had health issues. That was all very concerning and the argument that this would harm Bush. Something to the effect of psychological strain on Busch because he thought he already won. I kept telling myself it was going to be bad. I never thought how many people would be destroyed via IRS audits, war, black balling people from working because of their political leanings. No I never would of guessed.

[Strong Atheist]

36. Welcome to D.U.!

:toast:

[Gemini Cat]

25. Like several others, I never thought it would be this bad.

I actually thought he would be rather low-key considering SCOTUS put him in office. I was obviously wrong.

[Niccolo_Macchiavelli]

26. i remember it as it was yesterday

standing with a friend of mine, an old hippie, standing on the backpark of the Muenster/Cathedral of Bern between the leafless trees and the empty benches in early spring 2000.

We knew he would mean trouble, we felt it.

The withdrawal/denial of eminent treaties, the pressuring for exempting US Forces of prosecution for war crimes. i was pretty sure to see the storm coming.

Then came 9/11

I remember almost beeing banned from a forum of an allied gameclan for suggesting they will only use it as an excuse to increase surveillance and military aggression.



Nhi'Vanye-i-Chya~<´> aka Tim Ryan, if you should read this (i know how much you love to peek "behind the lines") let me rub it in your face:


I WAS RIGHT YOU STUPID FREEPNIK, BUSH IS A COMPLETE FUCKUP, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF OCEANIA!!!!


that beeing said: I hope you and your family are well and not biting sand in Afghanistan/Iraq. Your Jr. must be 18-19 by now, i hope he's fine too, take care.


For my part the air is so thick i just wish it would begin to rain. The waiting makes me sick. Since the moderate forces ain't making any efficient move towards deescalation, i somehow wish the moonbats will bring it on, just to be done with it. Since they are already hiding in their nukeproof mountainhideout in Colorado Springs and moving the pretorians there as well, i'm very positive they will unleash their fireworks pretty soon now.

[Arugula Latte]

27. No.

It's beyond breathtaking.

[mtnsnake]

28. I exagerrated how bad it would be & I still underestimated how evil he was

From the minute I heard he was going to run, I warned everyone I talked to how this country would go down the tubes if this guy became president.

[Neil Lisst]

29. I never dreamed it would get this bad.

Who would have thought in 2000, that if Republicans controlled DC,

1. The balanced budget would go out the window?
2. Nation building would be the theme?
3. Spending would go up?
4. Illegal immigration would get worse?
5. The price of oil would double?
6. Liberties would be routinely infringed upon, in the name of security?

Where did the real conservatives go?

[Skittles]

31. I had put up with that stupid, evil bastard for 6 years before

his installation into the White House; I knew the reason bush was governor was because they were primping him to be president and I knew it would be a disaster

[AlGore-08.com]

32. Yes, yes, yes and yes.

When Smirk was running, I thought he would be an unbelievably bad President. I didn't think he'd flat out trample the Constitution until the Florida recount, when that mob of Republican Congressional aides were flown down by the Bush/Cheney campaign to Miami Dade to fake a riot on live TV - - and assaulted a Democratic County official in the process. Then the faux rioters were fed Thanksgiving dinner by the Bush/Cheney camp, and received congratulatory phone calls from both Bush and Cheney.

And then when these rioters were named by the Wall Street Journal, and the press ignored it...

I knew then it would be this bad - - or worse.

[lucca]

33. I too, could never, never have imagined

what has happened to America.

We see secrecy, lies, obstruction of justice, an illegal war; and suppression of our democracy (among a long list of treasonous acts) from *bush & co.

Have they no decency?
Who are these people?

[Strong Atheist]

37. Welcome to D.U.!

:toast:

[tom_paine]

38. I didn't want to believe it, but began to immediately after 9-11...Bush

was ALL SMILES!

I, like everyone else was glued to the Boob Tube and caught most of his immediate post-9/11 interviews. In each one, he was as a child with barely concealed glee, trying unscucessfully to stifle it.

It was clear he was VERY HAPPY about SOMETHING.

Naturally, to even suggest this was out of bounds of the New Amerikan Politikal Korrectness, but I am guessing that, after three days of smirks and smiles and glee, I wasn't the only one who was thinking this.

Because around that third day, after all the smirking, smiling and glee, Bush had his scripted, phony, brief "alligator tears" photo-op.

And, then of course, was this Freudian slip that Chimperor gave when asked about 2001:

"All in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011221-2.html

[Rocknrule]

39. At first, I thought he was just an idiot, not the Antichrist

I joked about how he would start WWIII because he was such an idiot, but I never in my wildest dreams thought he would be trying his hardest to make it happen!