Which presidents actions hurt this country the most?

[Quixote1818]

It's easy to point to Bush but when you think about many of the things Reagan did that allowed Corporations to gain power and control over the media and our culture, I wonder if Reagan may have done more damage in the long run. Reagan was also the one who started many of the bad ideas Bush ran with. Reagan also empowered the "me, me, me" culture that is so common now.

Reagan was certainly more competent at running the government than Bush, but many of his policies did major damage that we may never recover from.

It's possible we never would have had a Bush without Reagan.

[Captain_Nemo]

1. We are living the Reagan Legacy. Reagan enabled Bush Sr and thus GW.

Reagan didn't really want Bush Sr. as VP (according to a bio I read on Reagan) yet the Moderate Republicans knew Reagan couldn't win without a northeastern moderate Republican. So Reagan accepted Bush.

Under Reagan the Republican platform added anti-gay stuf and anti-abortion stuff and jettisoned the ERA.

Reagan brought in the evangelicals.

Without Reagan no GW.

[dave_p]

6. Reagan again

Bush may be most reactionary, corrupt and incompetent president in living memory, but Reagan did the more damage and set the tone - the lies, the widening social inequality, the appeal to fundamentalism, even arming the jihadis of his day and turning Afghanistan into a failed state.

This didn't start in 2001.

[krkaufman]

2. Making a preemptive strike on Godwin's Law...

... Hitler wouldn't have been possible without Hindenburg and several other politicians, but that doesn't make them worse through some butterfly effect extrapolation.

[krkaufman]

3. p.s. Reagan was a symptom of a larger movement ...

... and the far Right would have found someone else to front their agenda, if not Reagan. Shrub is the inevitable result of Conservative politics unchecked.

[Skittles]

4. I would say bush by far has been the worst

but you are correct: reagan set the climate of corruption, arrogance and idiocy that made a bush misadministration possible. It still boggles my mind to this day that so many people were fooled by that evil bastard reagan, incuding many DUers

[The_Wizard]

5. Right On Quixote1818

I tryed to explain that on the right wing forum that I post on. They don't get it... and it's tough fighting alone.

[Perky]

7. Therre is absolutely no question that Bush is far worse than Reagan

Reagan did not suspend Habeus Corpus
Did not abridge the constituional rights of US citizens
He did not open our mail or lie to get warrants or use jackbooted thugs to get his way
He was wrong headed and occassionaly asleep at the switch but was never a lying sack of shit

He had his problem overseas, but after 8 years there was not a huge diplomatic mess to clean up. However many misked dones and problems created. They were largely undone by Clinton

this idiot has so damaged our standing in the world and to our cosntitutional rights that it may take a full generation of presidents to undo all the damage he has done.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. I never thought that anyone top could Ronnie "The Drool" Reagan..but Boobya has.

For sheer, unmitigated stupidity, that is.

Special mention should be given to Nixon, LBJ, and Andrew Johnson for real damage done, but the repercussions from the Fratboy's stunning blunders and unabated blockheadedness have yet to be felt.

[Bitwit1234]

9. One thing he did that is causing the ass kissing of bush in the press today

is, he did away with the Fairness Doctrine. Where the press had to TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THE NEWS AND COULDING FABRICATE THE LIES THEY DO.