Andrew Jackson when asked why he made James Buchanan the US ambassador to Russia said "Because we do not have an Embassy at the South Pole) (Paraphrase not exact quote).
James Buchanan seems to have provoked a fight with the Mormons on Utah (while Congress was trying to diffuse the conflict) so to unite the Country against a Common Enemy (and to delay the Civil War till after he was President). James Buchanan other dis-service to the Country include the following:
1. Leave Southerns move arms from Northern Armories to the South in 1860s (Often Stopped only by open protest against such movements of Weapons in the towns being stripped of weapons).
2. Recognize the Election of a Slave Constitution in Kansas when you only had something like 10,000 people in the Territory but the votes was something like 30,000 to 5,000 in favor of being admitted as a "Slave State". The extra votes were the result of Missouri residents crossing the State line to vote in the Kansas election. Now this was under his predecessor, but James Buchanan was involved in the decisions of that administration.
3, Permitting Officers in the US Army to Resign in 1860 rather then fulfill they obligations to the US (And then permitting them to travel freely to the South).
4. Refusing to reinforce Southern Garrisons with arms and supply in 1860 so that when the Election results lead to South Succession those Garrison had to surrender do to lack of Supply (Except for Ft Sumter which had adequate Supply do to previous administrations AND the actions of its Commander to keep his Garrison properly supplied BEFORE hostilities broke out.
5. Spoke Bravely of Supporting whatever the decision of the Supreme Court would be regarding Dred Scott BUT only after he knew what that result would be (But before it was released to the general Public).
6. Refusing to send adequate forces to stop Bleeding Kansas let the South take this as him supporting the North Settlers of Kansas (Who were by far the clear majority in Kansas during his Presidency). THis started unDer Franklin Pierce but continued under Buchanan.
7. His refusal to enforce Federal Law in Kansas in regards to deprivations done by Slavery Supports in Kansas. This lead to John Browns decision to take the law into his own hands and go after many of the people who had committed such attacks and to publicly executed them for that crime. Again this started under Perice by continued under Buchanan.
Unlike Bush jr, James Buchanan was know for his intelligence, but also being devious (Thus he had been in Federal Politics for over 20 years by the time he was Nominated by the Democrats in 1856, but no one knew where he stood on any real issue). I can go on and on as to the crime of James Buchanan and make the case he is worse than Bush Jr, but James Buchanan had a country divided over an issue that could NOT be resolved short of fighting, James Buchanan best he could hope for was to minimize the upcoming bloodbath. This James Buchanan did NOT do, in fact by giving into the South he gave the South more provisions and arms to fight the upcoming Civil war.
On the other hand George Bush's war is dividing this country but can be resolved WITHOUT any Fighting in the US. Furthermore Bush's actions will lead to widespread hardship in the US given his overall finance policy as while as his war Policy.
Thus it is a hard decision, but I have to go with Buchanan, more because we have NOT seen the full extent of the damage Bush jr has done while we can judge Buchanan's crimes quite well.
More on James Buchanan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Buchananhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jb15.htmlJohn Brown:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)