No alternative but to rank him as the worst president in U.S. history (WaPo)

[kpete]

He's The Worst Ever

By Eric Foner
Sunday, December 3, 2006; Page B01

Ever since 1948, when Harvard professor Arthur Schlesinger Sr. asked 55 historians to rank U.S. presidents on a scale from "great" to "failure," such polls have been a favorite pastime for those of us who study the American past


................

Despite some notable accomplishments in domestic and foreign policy, Nixon is mostly associated today with disdain for the Constitution and abuse of presidential power. Obsessed with secrecy and media leaks, he viewed every critic as a threat to national security and illegally spied on U.S. citizens. Nixon considered himself above the law.

Bush has taken this disdain for law even further. He has sought to strip people accused of crimes of rights that date as far back as the Magna Carta in Anglo-American jurisprudence: trial by impartial jury, access to lawyers and knowledge of evidence against them. In dozens of statements when signing legislation, he has asserted the right to ignore the parts of laws with which he disagrees. His administration has adopted policies regarding the treatment of prisoners of war that have disgraced the nation and alienated virtually the entire world. Usually, during wartime, the Supreme Court has refrained from passing judgment on presidential actions related to national defense. The court's unprecedented rebukes of Bush's policies on detainees indicate how far the administration has strayed from the rule of law.


.....................

Historians are loath to predict the future. It is impossible to say with certainty how Bush will be ranked in, say, 2050. But somehow, in his first six years in office he has managed to combine the lapses of leadership, misguided policies and abuse of power of his failed predecessors. I think there is no alternative but to rank him as the worst president in U.S. history.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101509.html

[malaise]

1. Well he'll finally be best at something

Best at being the worst ever.

[seemslikeadream]

5. Downpressorman where are ya gonna fuckin' run to

:hi:

Downpressorman where ya gonna run to
tell me
Downpressorman where ya gonna run to
Downpressorman where ya gonna run to
oh on that day

if ya run to the sea the sea will be boiling
if ya run to the sea the sea will be boiling
if ya run to the sea the sea will be boiling
oh on that day

Downpressorman where ya gonna run to tell me
Downpressorman where ya gonna run to
Downpressorman where ya gonna run to
oh on that day

if ya run to the rocks the rocks will be melting
if ya run to the rocks the rocks will be melting
if ya run to the rocks the rocks will be melting
oh on that day

Downpressor man where ya gonna run to tell me
Downpressor man where ya gonna run to
Downpressor man where ya gonna run to
oh on that day

And if ya make your bed in hell I will be there
make your bed in hell i will be there
I say make your bed in hell i will be there
on that day

Downpressorman where ya gonna run to tell me
Downpressorman where ya gonna run to
Downpressorman where ya gonna run to
oh on that day

if ya run to the rocks the rocks will be melting
if ya run to the rocks the rocks will be melting
if ya run to the rocks the rocks will be melting
oh on that day

Downpressorman where ya gonna run to
Downpressorman where ya gonna run to
Downpressorman where ya gonna run to
oh on that day

Where are ya gonna fuckin' run to
Downpressorman
where are ya gonna fuckin' run to

[philly_bob]

46. Please identify song.

Nice lyrics. Simple, but the motif "if ya run to...will be" is strong. And particularly in this context, emotionally satisfying.

Reggae?

[malaise]

61. Peter Tosh

Downpresser Man -a classic.

Here's some Tosh on UTube - not this one though.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Peter+Tosh&search=Search

[Tanuki]

64. You can hear it here:

http://play.rhapsody.com/petertosh/scrollsoftheprophetthebestofpetertosh/downpressorman?didAutoplayBounce=true

[seemslikeadream]

75. of course philly_bob

Peter Tosh's Downpressorman

It's on Sinead O'Connor CD Throw Down Your Arms

[wickerwoman]

101. It sounds like a parody of "Sinnerman"

The Nina Simone song.

[bvar22]

35. Worst. President. EVER!

The only people ranking beneath bush* on my Contempt-O-Meter are the idiots who voted for him.....twice!


The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[malaise]

62. That's about 100% correct

:D

[jody]

2. But Bush maintains his perfect record, failed at every job he ever had. n/t

[blm]

3. The corporate newsmedia should share that spot with Bush - they protected him and lied for him

every step of the way. It took a category 5 hurricane to blowback the spin the corporate media was feeding the American people since 1999 - making the biggest asshole in the world into a heroic figure.

Remember when presscorps was trying to tell us from 2001 -2005 that Bush would go down in history as one of our greatest presidents?

[The Wizard]

33. In particular

one Chris Matthews spuging in his pants when the nitwit landed on an aircraft carrier. :puke:

[FredStembottom]

45. This can't be said enough!

This petulant little retard was a disaster from Day 1 and only constant media propagandizing kept him afloat for this long.

As I say to all who will listen it is the Captive Media that are our greatest problem. Whether steered into absurdity by conspiratorial owners, infiltrated by the CIA(?) or simply the most visible symptom of general societal decadence, the media made this all possible - and got tens of thousands killed in the process. May God have mercy on them all - for we will never be able to bring anyone to account for it.:mad:

[jhrobbins]

81. I have said this from the beginning-how could the RNC...

view the republican hopefuls landscape and decide 'Yep, that's the one for us, he's the best of the bunch'. Unbelievable!!

[WinkyDink]

108. He was picked as the puppet of Bush41/Cheney. There was no desire,

let alone a requirement, for Dubya to be smart.

[PurpleChez]

67. I remember, even before 9-11,

feeling that I would not have hated * nearly as much as I did if it had not been for the legion of bubbleheads -- on the streets and in the media -- who were intent on convincing the rest of us that this simpering buffoon was somehow one of the wisest leaders who had ever graced the face of the planet. There aren't as many of them now as there were then, but I'm in a very "red" area, and there are still a good number of clods around who think that * is just the keenest preznint we've ever had. And most of them aren't institutionalized. Go figure.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Name An Accomplishment??? Anyone? Beuheler???

The other day someone tried to compare Numbnutz (now the official name...thanks to Danny DiVito) with LBJ...and quickly it was pointed out that LBJ sheppared the Civil Rights act and other important legislation through. Nixon pushed through a lot of the Affirmative Action leglistlation that the right wing so detests and Raygun...dare I say...did hasten the bankruptcy of the Soviet Bloc (almost bankrupting us in the process) but never played "Decider" in the many disasterous ways this Numbnutz has.

We're looking at the gold standard of ineptness...ranking with the likes of Millard Fillmore, Rutherford B Hayes, Benjamin Harrison and Herbert Hoover...combined with the mass corruption of Grant, Harding and Nixon (notice a pattern here???). The stain of the Iraq invasion will be his lasting legacy that will rival the darkest days of McCarthyism and set the true definition of what losing a war is all about. History books won't blame us "traitors" or the media, the blood will be all Numbnutz. He'll only be compared to a Lincoln or FDR or even a Clinton as the opposite.

I'm thinking I might donate to the new booooosh family mausoleum...err library...make it a living reminder to how bad these times were and put all of his crimes and ineptness on display so voters don't come close to voting in another wingnut in my lifetime.

Cheers...

:hi:

[mnhtnbb]

10. Donate to the Bush library? You gotta' be kidding. It wil be the biggest whitewash in history.

It will be a museum of lies.

[Demeter]

16. It Won't Get Built, Either

Just like the World Trade Center--take the money and run.

[tridim]

78. And just like the "Counter Clinton Library"

Remember that one? :rofl:

[PADemD]

17. I wonder if they will have a torture room

[Mendocino]

44. I ws listening to NPR a few minutes ago,

to Michael Feldman's What Do You Know. He said Haliburton was awarded a half a billion $ contract to build the GWB libary...yes LIBARY. It will contain only two books and no papers. You know how Bush hates a paper trail.

[NJCher]

69. you spelled that wrong

I do believe it's "lie-berry."




Cher

[PegDAC]

90. What's the second book?

The first one has to be The Pet Goat.

[ClintonTyree]

94. Probably his bible.....

you know how tight he is with The Big Guy upstairs. I mean, these two guys are TIGHT, ya' know? :eyes: You kick one in the ass and the other one feels it. Yep, he was chosen for the pResidency buy god itself, he's on a first name basis and #1 on speed dial. That's our pretzlenit, George Dubya Bush. :puke:

And just where the fresh HELL has the Washington Post been with this little nugget of information? :wtf: It looks like they waited for the coast to clear. for the ax to fall, for the final nail to be driven in Bush's coffin before they dared speak up about the abject failure that is known as George Dubya Bush. If they'd have taken their head out of Bush's ass sometime within the past 6 years they'd have had a scoop here, but this is OLD NEWS, Washington Post! You have a firm grip of the obvious. Nice going! :sarcasm:

[howmad1]

95. Two books by Shakespere.

Instruction manuals on how to use Shakespere fishing reels. :evilgrin:

[Mendocino]

110. Reels would be too complicated for him,

cane poles yea hehehehehe.

[Mendocino]

107. Dumbo?

[HappyWeasel]

93. Will it be...

a 40-story glass pryamid known as minitruth?

[fujiyama]

99. The museum would contain only one book which defines his presidency:

"My Pet Goat".

OK, maybe another - "The Hungry Caterpillar".

[exlrrp]

18. The turkey pardoned a turkey

I mean, its not big, but when you have NOTHING to brag about, it looms large in his acomplishments. What I wonder is where theyre goig to get all those comic books to fill his half billion $$$$ "library."

[KharmaTrain]

23. The Video Game Section Will Be Awesome, Dude...

Ya know...there'll be the X-Box where he invaded Iraq (free pretzls for all visitors) and then there's the Playstation where he hunted down the "terrirsts" with the dirty bomb through Miami and killed them with the chainsaw. :rofl:

I should have put a :sarcasm: on that comment about the donation, but my point is that I want the last six years thoroughly investigated and all crimes to be accounted for...and then make sure we don't forget how dark these times were and make sure it doesn't happen again. Also to pass on to future generations the dangers we faced and how close to the abyss we've come.

Above all I want this to be the Numbnutz Legacy:





:hi:

[LongTomH]

74. "Close to the abyss?"

KharmaTrain wrote:

I want the last six years thoroughly investigated and all crimes to be accounted for...and then make sure we don't forget how dark these times were and make sure it doesn't happen again. Also to pass on to future generations the dangers we faced and how close to the abyss we've come.

Sorry friends, we're still too close to that abysss for comfort. The idiot boy-king has been discredited; but, the whole horrid, well-funded structure of lies that built him into a god-emperor still exists. The corporatist media, the foundations (Heritage, Cato, etc.), and worst of all, the influence of lobbyists and big money on our election process.

[Codeblue]

60. But then

He sat down and ate a different turkey. So his pardon didn't really make much of difference.

[kath]

54. RE: Ronnie Rayguns - It's not clear that he had anything AT ALL to do with

the collapse of the USSR. Lots of right wing spinners have attempted to deify him, but it's all bullshit.

And Iran-Contra was TREASON, dammit.

[PurpleChez]

84. The USSR spent itself into oblivion

trying to keep up with US defense initiatives, real or imagined. Ronnie may have helped that along by encouraging the sense of "competition" but the cost was a degree of international tension that rivaled the "duck and cover" days of a generation before. I came of age during the Reagan years, and I remember that the feeling was now "if" but rather "when" there would be a noo-ku-lar war. Ronnie risked 100's of millions of lives to bring about an event that would likely have happened on its own before too long without him. He pushed the world to the edge of nuclear destruction; the fact that it didn't go over the edge is not a cause to celebrate the man.

[WinkyDink]

109. ITA. We have the Pope and Lech Walesa to credit, not "Bitburg" Ronnie.

[Lasher]

119. Saint Ronnie of Reagan did nothing to bring down the Soviet Union.

By 1980, the Soviet Union was trying to cut its own defense spending. Reagan made it harder for them to do so. In fact, Reagan increased the possibility of a nuclear war because he was -- frankly, and sadly -- senile. He thought we could actually recall submarine-launched nuclear missiles (talk about a Reagan myth), and bullied the Soviets to highest alert several times.

<snip>

Here's the truth: we'd already won the Cold War before Reagan took office. All Reagan needed to do was continue the tried-and-true containment policies Harry S. Truman began and all subsequent presidents employed. The Soviet Union was Collapsing from within. The CIA actually told this to Reagan as he took office.

<snip>

Maggie Thatcher finally cajoled the Gipper into meeting Gorby, and Gorby cleaned Reagan's clock. Reagan's hard-right "handlers" nearly had to drag Reagan out of the room before he signed away our entire nuclear deterrent. Reagan -- and the planet -- was lucky Gorbachev sought genuine and stable peace. Had Yuri Andropov's health held, Reagan's "jokes" and gaffes might have caused World War III.

<snip>

Eventually Reagan even gave Gorbachev his seal of approval. Visiting Moscow before the August Coup, Reagan said the Soviet Union was no longer the "Evil Empire." He predicted his friend Gorbachev would lead the Soviet Union for many years to come.

As usual, Reagan was wrong. A few months later, disgruntled military officers kidnapped Gorbachev, throwing him out of power forever. Reagan remained disengaged: nothing he did caused the coup, and nothing he did made the Soviet military support Boris Yeltsin over their superiors.

http://www.americanpolitics.com/20020319Hersh.html

http://www.geocities.com/thereaganyears/coldwar.htm

http://www.quickchange.com/reagan/index.html

[tabasco]

73. I don't think Grant was personally corrupt.

AFAIK, He was bamboozled by his businessmen friends. Bush is personally corrupt, not just incompetent. I always try to stick up for US Grant. For some reason I relate to him. Also, Hoover had some very notable accomplishments in his life. Neither of these men is in the same "bush league" with Bush AFAIC. :hi:

[a la izquierda]

6. Gotta love Eric Foner

I think it's great that historians are calling him out. I'm surprised that he beat out Hoover, the do-nothing president of the Depression. Now that's BAD!

[Bitwit1234]

7. You have that almost completely wrong

bush is the worst PERSON in history. He's right up there with Attila the Hun.

[aquart]

28. I think you're ignoring Genghis Piles-of-Skulls Khan.

And there were some guys in Babylon and Egypt you never wanted to meet. Trust me.

[ArbustoBuster]

47. And there was this guy in Europe, mid-20th century...

...caused a bit of a kerfluffle when he invaded Poland. The name escapes me.

More seriously: I wouldn't call Bush the worst person in history. But he's certainly one of the worst. There is blood on his hands from the hundreds of thousands dead in Iraq from his illegal war.

[aquart]

53. As in all things, little Caligula is a wannabe.

I am sure he would be delighted to kill multiple millions, especially if he could watch...but he's going to fail at that, too.

He'll have to settle for worst President.

[knight_of_the_star]

59. At least the Khan got things done

In his defense at least his barbarity had a purpose beyond just for the sake of it, Bush's abuses seem to be just for the hell of it.

[happyslug]

65. No the pile of Skulls was Timurlane outside Dehli

Now, Genghis Khan was also a butcher, but he NEVER ordered (to my knowledge) any pile of Skulls as did Timurlane when Timurlane took Baghdad. Now Genghis Khan was no saint, he would sack and destroy any city the resisted his forces (But that was the style of the time period and remained so till AFTER Napoleon) but any City the Submitted Genghis Khan would leave alone.

The destruction of Timurlane was legendary and considered harsh even during that harsh period. he best example is the story that he told every one of his soldiers to bring to him ten heads each once Baghdad fell to his forces. It was said that some soldiers could not do the butchery so paid other soldiers to provide the heads required. Thus the pile of Skulls was considered excessive even for that brutal time period.

Now some of of the problem of Timurlane was his radical view of Islam, he was a devout Muslim but hated Christians and would go out of his way to butcher them. Timurlane was stopped by a combination of Christian Greek and Moslem Turks when the Greeks still held Constantinople and the Ottoman Turks having been defeated by Timurlane losing to Timurlane (on a temporary basis only) what is now Central Turkey, left controlling the Dardanelles. Both sides worked together to deny Timurlane a crossing into Europe (Which is strange for the Ottoman had been besieging Constantinople at the time of Timurlane's invasion of Asia Minor). Frustrated Timurlane turned East but died on his way to conquer China.

Form more on Timurlane:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timurlane


For more on Genghis Khan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan

[aquart]

68. I bow to superior knowledge.

Genghis just killed every single person in the town, right?

[happyslug]

86. Just enough to put the fear of God into people

In fact Genghis liked making sure they were survivors, so to spread panic to other towns. They was a method to his tactics which as a whole lower the number of people Killed. Remember the Mongols did NOT have that big a population thus any war of attrition the Mongols would lose (in fact this is the chief reason the Russians finally replaced the Mongols in Central Asia). Thus FEAR was the most important weapon, fear produced by Terror.

On the other hand if you submitted you could carry on as before WITH additional connections AND the protection of the Mongols. Thus you had a Carrot and a Stick, the Stick was Terror, the Carrot was improved Trade. This is how Genghis made his Empire the largest in History (and which survives in radically changed form as the Present Russian Republic and the former Soviet Union).

[Norrin Radd]

104. And Vlad III the Impaler. n/t

[aquart]

118. Vlad's people still think he's a hero.

Which makes me realize we're looking at this from the outside. Who are rulers who were detested by their OWN people? Mussolini? That Romanian I can't spell who was more recent than Vlad? Stalin?

People rarely get mad at their leaders for killing lots of OTHER people. They tend to be proud of it. It's when their own ox is gored that they notice a problem.

[Jiyah]

51. i'd refer that to hitler. . .bush is awful, but not the worst person in history

maybe the worst person in american history.

[NJCher]

71. What a legacy

Can't even be the most evil. Just runner up.




Cher

[Faygo Kid]

70. Not as bad as Hitler: Somewhere between Benedict Arnold and Vlad the Impaler

Except W. has done more long term harm than either, hands down.

[The Wizard]

87. The Caucasian

Pol Pot in a business suit.

[Straight Shooter]

8. "He has sought to strip people accused of crimes of rights ..."

His collaborator in this egregious behavior is Gonzales. As a team, they did exactly the same thing in Texas. One defendant after another was given only the barest of considerations under the law.

The only Death Row inmate granted clemency by bush was the notorious serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas. Although the crimes of Lucas are debatable as to the number of murders, he killed with impunity. It caused an uproar amongst the justice community at the time.

IMHO, the reason bush would not grant clemency to Karla Faye Tucker ("Please don't kill me") is because he hated her for showing remorse for her crimes. He thought she was weak. He also wanted to show even back then that he would ignore the will and desires of everyone else. There were tens of thousands of pleas around the world to spare her, as she was doing a lot of good in prison to turn inmates to a better way of thinking. A truly reformed Christian.

bush has shown a predisposition for refusing to abide by the rule of law and the rules of justice and fair play for a long, long time. And Gonzales is his accomplice and guide.

[Montauk6]

9. The funniest part...

This means he's ranks under William Henry friggin' Harrison!

:rofl:

[5X]

11. K & R, and don't forget to go email the article. n/t

[Kerrytravelers]

12. I bet momma bush is proud! His pResidency has worked out well for him...

...just like the people of New Orleans.

:sarcasm:

[aquart]

31. I want him to regret ever so much as wanting the job.

Now, what's the best way to do that?

[SaveElmer]

13. Wow...Eric Foner is an excellent historian...

Wrote the seminal work on Reconstruction...

I have always considered Bush second worst behind Buchanan...but if a guy like Foner, who has made the Civil War and Reconstruction his lifes focus thinks Bush is worse than Buchanan...who am I to argue!!!

[Joanne98]

14. Helen Thomas was right.

[jhrobbins]

82. She usually is.....

[IWantAChange]

15. Amazing how the media is coming out of the closet and doing their job..

once the American public stood up at the polls and said enough is enough. Too bad the fifth column failed miserably at their job of keeping the electorate informed with all the facts and yes, opinions, that should have been made available to them. I guess the axiom better late than never truly applies.

[MisterP]

22. don't worry, if he ever crawls above 35%, Congress and the media will

pile right back into the Chimp camp

[Aviation Pro]

19. May I add....

...back in 1999 when Little Monkey's name first surfaced as the preemptive candidate for the RepubliCON party I sounded the alarm to anyone who would listened. This midget of a man, a stunted boy really, had no business coming within a whiffing distance of the office. Because we didn't confront his political machine early on, he, this obtuse, ignorant know-nothing, was inflicted on our great country. He will rank as the worst President ever, surpassing the incompetence of Buchanan.

We must not only remove this small simian from office and we must make him an example for the future and imprison him and his whole filthy crew to the worst hellhole of a prison available.

[wryter2000]

29. Amen to that

We must not only remove this small simian from office and we must make him an example for the future

Just getting rid of Bush and Cheney won't fix this country. The whole enterprise that put them into power has to be dismantled. That includes PNAC, corrupt unbridled capitalism, and the faux "Christians" who've propped him up. There are more Bushs waiting in the wings. Just getting rid of this one isn't enough.

[The Wizard]

88. "There are more Bushs..... Just getting rid of this one isn't enough."

Ship them off to Elba.

[wryter2000]

113. Why do you hate the Elbanese?

:rofl:

Unlike Bush, Napoleon was a good general.

[antigop]

50. I,too, sounded the alarm

>>
back in 1999 when Little Monkey's name first surfaced as the preemptive candidate for the RepubliCON party I sounded the alarm to anyone who would listened.
>>

I find no joy in telling family members,"I told you so."

[kath]

55. What's interesting is that, back in 1999-2000, even some of the Reich Wing pundits

realized that Chimpyshit was just an empty suit. Hubby and I distinctly remember William Kristol, on one of the Sunday gasbag shows, saying that if his last name wasn't Bush, W wouldn't be considered even for dogcatcher, much less President. (this was in late '99 or early 2000, prior to or during the early primaries)

(I've looked and looked for a reference to this on Google, but with no luck. We're POSITIVE he said it. Does anyone else here recall this??)

[TroglodyteScholar]

20. Who ever really doubted it?

[Turbineguy]

21. 44

of 43, 11 on a scale from 1 to 10.

[ruggerson]

24. Interesting that Foner didn't include Bush's pandering to homophobia

which is a stark, direct parallel to A. Johnson's white supremacist policies.

In a hundred years, historians will be horrified that Bush actively sought votes by inciting hatred against gay and lesbian families with his war against marriage equality.

[Cha]

83. I hope it doesn't take

"a hundred years"..2012 would be nice.

[wake.up.america]

25. He is inept, but worst of all, he is not a nice person.

[HappyWeasel]

27. Are you sure that he will be worse than Warren G. Harding?

"Fuck him. Hes the biggest taint to ever occupy the oval office. By I taint, I do not mean a stain on a dest, but the area between the testicles and anus"
- Stephen Colbert or Warren Harding

[Turbineguy]

26. It's a shame Alan Sherman isn't around anymore

He could write a nice song about Bush like "You went the wrong way old King Louis"

(Sung to the tune of the Marsalaise)

Louis the 16th was the King of France
In 1789
He was worse than Louis the 15th
He was worse than Louis the 14th
He was worse than Lou-hou-is the 13th
He was the worst!
Since Louis the 1st!

etc.

Lots of people died because of him too.

[krispos42]

30. Good, but the Rolling Stone article offered more meat

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

<snip>

Now, though, George W. Bush is in serious contention for the title of worst ever. In early 2004, an informal survey of 415 historians conducted by the nonpartisan History News Network found that eighty-one percent considered the Bush administration a "failure." Among those who called Bush a success, many gave the president high marks only for his ability to mobilize public support and get Congress to go along with what one historian called the administration's "pursuit of disastrous policies." In fact, roughly one in ten of those who called Bush a success was being facetious, rating him only as the best president since Bill Clinton -- a category in which Bush is the only contestant.

<more>

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9961300/the_worst_president_in_history

And the Rolling Stone article from 1999 was interesting as well...

George W. Bush was head cheerleader in prep school, a hard-partying frat rat and mediocre student at Yale. After skirting the draft in 1968, he failed at business three times, got bailed out by powerful friends, made a fortune at taxpayer expense and became the popular but weak governor of Texas, an evangelical Christian who preaches morality but ducks questions about his own past. And now he might be president?

<snip>

But questions linger about Bush. Is it enough that the only political post he's held is governor of Texas -- a state whose constitution renders its governor a virtual figurehead with no real power? Will he be hurt by the wishy-washy stands he's taken on abortion, hate-crime legislation and Kosovo? Will he be sunk by persistent rumors of illegal drug use and carousing in his past? When one examines the fullness of his life -- and for this article, Rolling Stone interviewed some 100 people who know Bush -- a more disturbing problem emerges. What Bush is saying now, with its overtones of evangelical Christianity and a moral one-upmanship, has almost nothing to do with the way he has actually lived most of his life. Is Bush being hypocritical? Or is he, as his supporters claim, a man who has recognized the error of his ways -- the one politician who can point the country in the right moral direction?

<snip>

How Bush got into the Guard when its nationwide waiting list had 100,000 names is a story that illustrates his privileged position in life. Although the likelihood of his being accepted through standard channels was remote, Bush applied to the Guard during his last semester at Yale and was immediately admitted to the 147th Fighter Group of the Texas Air National Guard at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, near the congressional district then represented by his father. He enlisted in May and was commissioned in September. Later, Bush's commanding officer, Brig. Gen. Walter Staudt, insisted that congressman Bush did nothing to get his son into the Guard, but this is contradicted by a source close to Ben Barnes, the speaker of the House in Texas in 1968, who was elected lieutenant governor that same year. According to the source, George Bush telephoned Barnes and asked him to make a phone call to facilitate George W.'s acceptance into the Texas Air National Guard. Barnes made the call.

<more>

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/6482734/all_hat_no_cattle

[lpbk2713]

32. Really a no-brainer choice.

No other President comes close to this asshole's abyssmal record. Katrina is a fine example of this asshole's stewardship. He sat on his dead ass while thousands of his people suffered and died.

The list could go on and on.

[namvet73]

34. I keep wondering has his parents ever held him accountable for ANYTHING?

Even now, his father is defending his bad behavior. Blaming it on Democrats or whoever or whatever comes in handy.

I think it's time for him to get a spanking and be grounded!

[Beetwasher]

36. Bush Takes All The WORST Qualities from the WORST President's

It's "funny", I'm reading that article and as they are pointing out the worst qualities of all the lowest rated Presidents, I'm realizing Chimpy has outdone them all in every dept. He's an amalgamation of shit.

[terrya]

37. You sure as hell don't achieve greatness by peddling fear.

That's all that this President has offered this country. Fear. Nothing more.

Washington, Lincoln, FDR all were great Presidents because they offered hope. Washington, by being the first President of a fledging country, Lincoln by uniting the Union and beginning to end slavery, and FDR by bringing the country hope during the Great Depression.

The current President peddles in fear. Nothing more. He has offered no hope, nothing positive to offer Americans, nothing that would make this country and the world a better place. Well, there's the "war on terra" and we know how THAT is going. And of course we know what a shameful, disgraceful thing our current adventure in Iraq is.

I completely with this...George W. Bush will rank dead bottom as the worst President in our country's history. No question. When you're compared unfavorably to Richard Nixon, you're in deep, deep, shit legacy wise.

[WCGreen]

Well, one of the other articles that is also published rating the

president in the Sunday WP claims that Bush is getting a less than fair shake from the "Left Leaning History Departments.....

Sigh, they always, always raise that hoary canard as first defense against criticism. How droll, how utterly droll...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101497.html

[WCGreen]

38. I have no idea why this happened....

president in the Sunday WP claims that Bush is getting a less than fair shake from the "Left Leaning History Departments.....

Sigh, they always, always raise that hoary canard as first defense against criticism. How droll, how utterly droll...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101497.html

[WCGreen]

39. Well, one of the other articles that is also published rating the

president in the Sunday WP claims that Bush is getting a less than fair shake from the "Left Leaning History Departments.....

Sigh, they always, always raise that hoary canard as first defense against criticism. How droll, how utterly droll...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101497.html

[WCGreen]

40. Well, one of the other articles that is also published rating the

president in the Sunday WP claims that Bush is getting a less than fair shake from the "Left Leaning History Departments.....

Sigh, they always, always raise that hoary canard as first defense against criticism. How droll, how utterly droll...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101497.html

[tlsmith1963]

41. I Agree With This Assessment

I have *never* seen a President behave as horribly as Bush, & I lived through Nixon & Reagan too. At least they knew what lines they shouldn't cross. Bush just bulldozes through them. And he won't listen to anyone who offers good advice. Maybe if he had listened to other people, he wouldn't be in the mess he is in today.

[OzarkDem]

42. Holy crap

Would have been nice if the WaPo acknowledged this years ago instead of covering up for him.

[RoyGBiv]

43. Okay, Mr. Foner ...

I take back everything I ever said about your writing being boring. :-)

Seriously, this is a severe indictment. Foner is one of maybe a dozen historians in the country that has the clout to make such an assessment and have others listen to it.

[RedEarth]

48. LOL... Foner is one of Karl Roves favorite authors... this is great

....from Wikipedia

Presidential advisor Karl Rove has described Foner as one of his favorite authors.<6> Journalist Nat Hentoff called his Story of American Freedom "an indispensable book that should be read in every school in the land."<7> "Eric Foner is one of the most prolific, creative, and influential American historians of the past 20 years," according to a write-up in the Washington Post. His work is "brilliant, important" a reviewer wrote in the Los Angeles Times. <8>

Theodore Draper described Foner as "one of our most distinguished historians" and "a partisan of radical sects and opinions."<9> John Patrick Diggins of the City University of New York describes Foner as "both an unabashed apologist for the Soviet system and an unforgiving historian of America."<10> Rightwing critic David Horowitz described as "anti-American" a Columbia University teach-in that Foner helped organize in 2003; Daniel Pipes named Foner among the "Profs who hate America" (for the historian's opposition to the Iraq War.<11> Bernard Goldberg opined that Foner is #75 in Goldberg's personal list of 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America in 2005.

Foner, in turn, has asked conservatives why they appeal to racism. For example, in an article questioning why modern conservatives such as Gale Norton and John Ashcroft praise the Confederacy, Foner assumed that when they answered questions from a magazine's reporter they agreed with all the magazine's editorial positions. <12>

Kevin C. Murphy, one of his graduate students, praises Foner: "Beloved by undergraduates and reviled by right-wing ideologues, Columbia University's Eric Foner is arguably the world's foremost authority on the tumultuous period of American Reconstruction (1865-1877). Foner placed newly freed Africans-Americans at the center of the post-Civil War story and, in so doing, illustrated the brief moments of political and social possibility available for Southern blacks before the racial and economic discrimination of Jim Crow was enthroned throughout the 'New South.'" <13>


Quotations
"Like all momentous events, September 11 is a remarkable teaching opportunity. But only if we use it to open rather than to close debate. Critical intellectual analysis is our responsibility—to ourselves and to our students." - "Rethinking American History in a Post-9/11 World" History News Network


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Foner

[npincus]

91. that's rich!

[NightOwwl]

49. Every business venture Bush has ever been involved with....

has been an unmitigated disaster. Or to put it more bluntly, everything he has ever touched has turned into a big steaming pile of shit.

I will never understand what made people think his presidency would turn out any differently.

[npincus]

92. you have to wonder whether he

he fails on purpose.. subconsciously destructive. Some people do that in relationships, others do it to countries.

[EstimatedProphet]

52. He's not only the worst ever, he's the worst possible

He's s spoiled little brat that thinks the world owes him a favor, and his policies are all about him - the war in Iraq is about making him money and letting him feel like a big man, as is the entire Unitary Executive concept and all the crap that comes along with it. Bush wants us to cower in fear in front of him. He wants us to beg for scraps so that he can feel important. He's a shitheel, a bully that revels in people's pain and misery. None of the terrible things that have come from his presidency are due to incompetence, they're all by design.

[BrewAz]

56. I agree...and most here have come to the same conclusion...

But...it might be a bit premature to debate and assume the Shrub is on the bottom. I mean come on, unless something happens, he still has 2 years in office to solidify his hold on the bottom.

The article was very telling...Who knew that James Polk was Dubyas favorite president. I can see it now...discussing the Presidents at Phillips and all the kids (including the teacher) are talking about Polk as an example of a "below average president". There is young Georgie..saying: "NO...he is a hero...he got those Mexicans good...he just "stayed the course" and set free all those people in the southwest. Freedom is a great thing...Polk was greeted as a liberator....to heck with "misleading the congress"...look how we got bigger? Polk was NOT a poor president...I want to be just like him when I grow up....."

BrewAz

[wickerwoman]

102. Do you honestly think George Bush knows who Polk is?

He probably just giggles every time he says the name.

hehehehehehe.... Polk... heheheheheee

[cali]

57. I have long said that history will not be kind to georgie.

That, of course, is an understatement. He'll be crushed by it, and that is very, very satisfying indeed.

[Buzz Clik]

58. Blah. Rating current presidents on the "all time" list is ca-ca.

The polls should be restricted to dead presidents who've been out of office at least 6 terms.

It's too easy to be either really down or really high only on those presidents they've observed directly.

[bobbolink]

63. It's a damned good thing Pelosi has taken impeachment "off the table"

I"m sure we can count on the Supremes to do what's right.




:sarcasm:

[TroubleMan]

66. Still think Reagan was much worse. bush is the tip of the iceberg,

but Reagan is the big foundation that you don't see beneath the surface. All of bush's failures were build on the foundation that the Reagan administration built. Reagan is the worst, and bush is the 2nd worse.

[thereismore]

72. No. Reagan talked to Gorbie. In foreign policy, Raygun is a giant compared

to dimson. No comparison.

[TroubleMan]

85. Reagan is a giant compared to nobody.

His foreign diplomacy was better than bush's - no doubt, but bush wouldn't be able to do what he's doing without Reagan setting this whole situation up for him. That's why I use the iceberg metaphor. It's easy to see the iceberg part that's sticking out of the water - bush's failures are all out in the open. You can't see the part below the water - and that's Reagan's part. Without Reagan, the bush administration would have never existed. bush is just the icing on a Reagan cake. Reagan funneled weapons to both sides of the Iran-Iraq war. Reagan supported Saddam Hussein, not only giving him lots of conventional and chemical weapons, but he also gave satellite photos pinpointing when and where to use the the chemical weapons. Reagan propped up and supported Osama bin Ladin more than anybody else. Osama bin Ladin became the power he is in the world today because of Reagan. All of our "enemies" of today were Reagan's buddies. The Contras he supported were mass-murderers and terrorists. These mass-murders were witness by US personnel, and even unofficially sanctioned.

Even as dismal as bush's domestic policy is, Reagan's was far, far worse. Iran-Contra was the reason for the crack epidemic in the 80's. The whole Iran-Contra thing is probably the most treasonous group of operations ever in the USA. First they cut a deal with the Iranians to not release the hostages for Carter, then they made sure the hostage rescue operation failed - if you think that's far fetched, look who was in charge of the rescue operation: Richard Secord and Oliver North. The same two guys who were knee deep in Iran-Contra were in charge of the hostage rescue that failed. That failed rescue attempt lost Carter the election and got Reagan elected. Also, William Casey, who was Reagan's campaign manager knew about the hostage operation before it failed. But if that wasn't bad enough, they were now beholden to sell weapons to the Ayatollah Khomeini because of this. Then they used that money to prop up the mass-murdering contras against a democratically elected government. The Iran money wasn't enough, they also sold cocaine powder and crack to raise more money for them. So they did all this, and still had time to give Hussein chemical weapons, and give Osama bin Ladin weapons, money, and power.

But back to the domestic policy. As part of Iran-Contra, they made the drug problems in inner cities blow up into an epidemic, but then he prosecuted the "war on drugs" more vigorously than ever before. He passed draconian drug laws to imprison and terrorize the communities from the law side, and but he made millions off of the illegal side of it to support his illegal foreign wars. This to me, is the one that really gets me....he sells drugs on one side and gets political capital and money vigorously enforcing draconian anti-drug laws. Also, Reagan did all of the "fox in the henhouse" appointments of HUD, the FDA, and almost every federal institution in order to ruin them and make them ineffective. He increased the poverty and desolation of the poor more than any president since Hoover. He ended the fairness doctrine, also, which allowed Gingrich's contract on America to develop later on, and which allowed Faux to become a right wing Pravda.

And what's even worse is that he got away with almost all of this. None of this is conspiracy theory and is all well documented, but 90% of people didn't even know all this. Reagan's slickness and competence allowed him to be the worse, because bush's incompetence makes it so he can't cover up as well. Also, all the neocons and war profiteers in the bush administration today, were all Reagan guys. All of the people working for bush, except for a couple were all Reagan disciples, and all of the things they are doing under bush are just continuations, the final touches, of the work they did under Reagan. bush is just the finishing touches on Reagan's painting...that's all. Fortunately he's incompetent enough to not be able to get away with it like Reagan did.

Also, bush would have talked to Gorbie, because it's the exact same people running the show. They same people who ran the show under Reagan are running the show now. His handlers would have made him talk to Gorbie. The reason Reagan's worse is because he's slick away to get away with most of it. Also, he was able to control his people better than bush is. Under bush they ran out of control, which is actually better for the USA, because they got so cocky they exposed themselves. Under Reagan they were effective and relatively smooth about it. Reagan being more competent than bush makes him worse, because they can get away with it. Under bush they get exposed (eventually).

[wickerwoman]

103. I guess Reagan doesn't get under my skin quite so much

because he didn't pander to the religious right in quite the same way that Bush does.

Yes, he was a doddering old fool led around by indescribably evil men but even Reagan wouldn't have been stupid enough to describe the current misadventure in Iraq as a "crusade". Or to claim that he was an instrument of God sent to wipe out "evil" in the world. Or to not care about history's judgement because "we'll all be dead then anyway."

I can't see Reagan cutting short his vacation to "save" Terri Schiavo or installing flat-earthers to positions of power in NASA and the EPA.

Bush is the "who cares what you think" president and to me that's worse than being the "when's my nap" president.

[Mendocino]

106. Raygun

A "Family Values" type who was divorced, knocked up Nancy before marriage, and raised a famously dysfuctional family.

A former union president that endangered thousands of lives by destroying the Air Controllers Union.

A fiscal conservative that ran up the largest national debts to date at that time.

[Herman74]

111. You do make a good case, and perhaps I shall reconsider

Yes, you're right that the Contra mercenaries that Reagan was using U.S. taxpayer money to support were in fact mass murderers who sought to overthrow a democratically elected government (overthrowing democratically elected governments is a Republican tradition). And yes, I've read that some evidence has come to light that Reagan did in fact seek to prevent the hostages from being released just before the 1980 election in order to ensure his victory.

In addition to what you've pointed out, Reagan didn't give a damn about fighting AIDS when it first came out. And despite people thinking he was so great for the economy, there was one period in Reagan's first term when the unemployment rate was above ten percent (double digits!!) for like six straight months.

[Herman74]

77. Reagan was quite bad, and people tend to forget this...

He should have been indicted and convicted not only for Iran-Contra, but for mining Nicaragua's harbors in violation of international law.

Still, Bush II is worse, in my opinion.

[TroubleMan]

89. But what about their selling drugs in the USA as part of Iran-Contra

and then he gets political capital being the anti-drug champion? That's the one that gets me. He played both sides of the drug war, and more vigorously pursued both sides than anybody had ever before.

Plus Reagan set up all of our enemies. Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Ladin were all Reagan powered. He set up the situation for bush, and bush thankfully blundered it. If Reagan had been in charge now, worse things would have happened that have happened under bush, and he would have been slick enough to get away with it.

[Yavin4]

96. The Difference Bet. Reagan and Bush Is...

Reagan had a much tougher Dem congress to deal with. The Dems passed the Boland amendment which prevented Bush from outright invading Nicaragua. That's why Iran-Contra happened in the first place.

[NotGivingUp]

76. i think bush would take pride in being the worst president...

afterall, he and his administration had set out to destroy democracy and destroy america...mission accomplished.

[lovuian]

79. Yep and its a travesty learned men followed and supported

such a corrupt mafiosa dictator

[Yavin4]

97. Learned? Try Corrupted

They all knew that he was a light weight, but those tax cuts were too enticing.

[Marrak]

80. Hey Jr!

you've won something! Declare victory and resign!
<>

[lovuian]

98. kick

:kick:

[Danger Mouse]

100. Damn straight!

It would be so bitterly amusing, though, if Bush were loved and adored by future generations...I cannot imagine how, though. Conservative whackos still worship Reagan, but I highly doubt Bush will be as well-loved.

[Norrin Radd]

105. I would say that poppy bush has caused as much harm, though not as much

out in the open as shrub.

[Joe Chi Minh]

112. If there is one thing more than anything else that scares the wits out of me

about Americans, it is how anyone could have even conceived of framing such question, however rhetorically! Really! Think about it. and yet this is by no means the first time I've seen the question raised on DU. To European ears, and I mean just the people with a moderate interest in politics, the question is mind-blowing. it's not even an adult question, for crying out loud....

Quite apart from other egregious personal aspects we won't go into here, to the best of my knowledge, not a single person has yet managed to cite a single beneficial measure implemented by Bush and his team since his inauguration six years ago, while the catalogue of utter disasters, still in the pipeline, embryonic or full-blown, becomes ever more voluminous.

More than most professions, politicians have to rely on networking, forming coalitions (way beyond cronyism) - on being politic. To Bush, who owes everything to nepotism and electoral fraud, politics is for losers. He loathes it and despises it. How he manages to keep awake during his meetings with foreign leaders must be one of life's great mysteries.

[Rageneau]

114. Thyis issue has already been decided by BartCop, and I have the T-Shirt.

WORST...PFRESIDENT...EVER!

[Ganja Ninja]

115. Just the fact that we're debating over whether or not he's the worst

is really telling. How often does a conversation about the worst President take place let alone while the man is still in office!

[LonelyLRLiberal]

116. And we still have two more excruciating years of * to endure.

If the Democrats in Congress don't stand up, there's no telling what other atrocities he will commit.

[NotGivingUp]

117. georgie boy...you take the cake! ain't you proud!