65%.

[LynnTheDem]

65%.
























President Bill Clinton's approval rating when he left office.












27%.

"One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief. My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade---if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency."
-George W. bUsh, total failure.

[John Q. Citizen]

1. You are confusing public approval with success.

They aren't the same thing.

bush succeeded better than any President I've seen in the last forty years.

I hate what he accomplished.

[LynnTheDem]

2. He certainly succeeded at destruction.

Even caused more American deaths than Osama bin Laden.


The filthy rich love what he accomplished. He made them richer.

[TooRaLoo]

3. Success is not simply getting what one wants. Not by any stretch. nt

[gravity]

6. You are implying that Bush is competent

Bush didn't try to destroy this country, he just fucked up with his crazy ideas.

Remember Mission Accomplish? The neocons wanted to be out of Iraq in a couple months so they can invade the next country. How did that work out for them?

[Laelth]

8. I disagree. I think the Neocons planned to stay in Iraq for a long time.

That's why we started building permanent bases there almost immediately. The Neocons wanted us to have a permanent military presence there to guard all the oil supplies in the region. In fact, we may end up staying there for exactly that reason.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[gravity]

13. They wanted bases like we have in Germany

The neocons plan was that there will be a democracy flourishing in Iraq after a short time period, which the US could use as in influence on other nations in the region and also allow them to have access to oil. They expected it to be a peaceful country within a short period of time, that the oil revenue will pay for itself. Rumsfield imagined a bunch of cheap and short war, not a long dragged out one.

The execution of this plan has been terrible to say the least. These guys were living in a fantasy world with a broken ideology.

[Laelth]

15. It was a bad idea from the very beginning.

You can't just "plant" a democracy and expect it to work. Cultural and economic conditions have to be right, and the people have to want it. The minority Sunnis, who held power through Saddam Hussein, had no interest in handing over power to the majority Shiites. It was insane to believe that a democracy could or would work in Iraq as the nation is currently configured.

So, while I agree that the execution was flawed, the real problem was that the idea, itself, was flawed.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[John Q. Citizen]

9. Implying nothing. I'm flat out stating it. Read the shock doctrime to learn about

the far right idea of "creative destruction."

[gravity]

11. I still think you give him too much credit

It doesn't take a genius to completely fail at everything.

[unblock]

7. his first term was arguably a success, but not his second

his first term, while a disaster for the vast majority of this country and all that is good in the world, served the interests of his narrow set of those rich and corrupt enough to make significant bribes campaign contributions. he increased the power of the fascist wing of the republican party. a loss to kerry might have them well for a long time as the shit might well have hit the fan with a democrat in power.

his second term has been an abject failure by any metric. his narrow group of greedy bastard donors lost money, a cardinal sin among fascists.

[John Q. Citizen]

10. Which bush cronies are getting by on foodstamps? Can you name one?

While their corporations may be gutted, that has no bearing on their personal fortunes. It's the whole reason for corporations after all, to limit personal liability.

[avaistheone1]

12. It's better than that. We reward failure on the executive level in the U.S.

10% of the $700 Billion dollar bailout will go to to executive pay and bonuses for the Wall Street firms who have caused the historic financial melt down we are experiencing in this country and that is being felt around the world.

[unblock]

14. i said "lost money", not "on food stamps"

the economy has a HUGE impact on the wealth of these people. you're correct that they rarely risk that last few million of their personal fortune, so they'll never be "poor" even if they fail miserably. but they could have made many brazillions had their companies earned big profits; instead their companies are posting losses and they get nowhere near what they might have.

[John Q. Citizen]

16. Simular to Enron or the Savings and Loan failures they lose other peoples money.

It looks bad and is momentarily embarrassing.

[unblock]

17. true but misses the point.

the point was that they prefer making obscene amounts of money, not escaping with a golden parachute. shrub failed them because he created a disasterous economic environment where it was hard to make oodles and oodles.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. I love it....George W.Bush:TOTAL FAILURE

[uponit7771]

5. K & R