George W. Bush Reveals His Biggest Failure Was Not Privatizing Social Security

[sufrommich]

Former President George W. Bush signaled on Thursday that he sees not privatizing Social Security as his greatest failure from the eight years he served in the White House, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The unpopular Republican leader made the suggestion while speaking at a trade conference in the Windy City, where he discussed his legacy and also offered a glimpse into what readers can expect from his forthcoming memoir, Decision Points.

"I would like to be remembered as a guy who had a set of priorities, and was willing to live by those priorities," explained Bush. "In terms of accomplishments, my biggest accomplishment is that I kept the country safe amidst a real danger."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/22/george-w-bush-reveals-his_n_772209.html

:wow:

[deutsey]

1. Well, that was hard work....hard work.

Especially when he was busy being pampered and all.

Fuckwad.

[Happyhippychick]

2. It must be fun to live in la la land like that.

But just in case he's reading I'll tell him this:

Hey asshole, your biggest failure in office is that you have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children. So fuck you.

[midnight]

3. K&R.

[spanone]

4. hey junior, fucking up the world could rank a little higher

his greatest disappointment is not delivering the hard earned money of the taxpayers to wall street......i can certainly believe that

[fascisthunter]

5. yeah... taking from the poor so they can die is such a great idea

gawd these people are sick, sick, sick...

[Brewman_Jax]

6. If that's the worse thing he can think of...

then he really is the intellectual lightweight we think he is and had no business being president of the US. :eyes:

[donco6]

7. Well, it's good he's doing some self-analysis.

Now when he's burning in hell for all eternity, maybe he'll know why.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. So close, George.

"I would like to be remembered as a guy who had a set of priorities, and was willing to live by those priorities," explained Bush. "In terms of accomplishments, my biggest accomplishment is that I kept the country safe amidst a real danger for 7/8 of my term."

[HughBeaumont]

9. Siiiiiigggghhh . ..

Dumb at birth. Dumb then. Continues to be dumb.

[kentuck]

10. That asshat !

Kept America safe??

[young but wise]

11. Not the two wars or katrina?

Wow, he is truly an asshole.

[thereismore]

27. Yes, you see, he failed to privatize SC, but achieved both wars and Katrina. nt

[marmar]

12. He's clearly back on the sauce

nt

[Botany]

13. does he not remember the 2008 market crash?

And if the Republicans get back into power they will try to privatize social security again.

thanx for reminding us what the GOP is all about again, W.

[Bitwit1234]

14. And the poor seniors would have lost the little bit of social security

they do get. While wall street would have had billions more to sock away in their pockets.

[Blue_Tires]

31. that was another success for him -- look at who cashed out big and

look who got the blame....

[ProfessionalLeftist]

15. Excuse me. 9/11 happened on HIS watch, while he vacationed

and ignored the PDB reports and threats. HOW does that equate to "keeping the country safe amidst a real danger"?

George W. Bu$h WAS the real danger. And we are still dying with the consequences of the damage this psychopath has done to this country.

[madmom]

16. Wait....what? Kept the country safe? What country is he talking about? Definitely NOT the US.

[unblock]

17. that pretty much was his one stated goal for his second term, so i see his point of view

but from any rational observer's point of view, his administration was one failure after another, and failing to implement yet another failure doesn't even make the list.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. 2nd Term?

Let's face it, the powers that be put him there so Norquist could force this idea through and those damn terrorists on 9/11 changed the whole menu.

That's all he was EVER sent to D.C. to do, so it has to be high biggest failure. The powers that sent him there wanted that and just that. They got nothing.
GAC

[unblock]

30. i seem to remember some crazy tax cuts in the first term

and not much talk of social security at all, either before or after 9/11.

perhaps someone somewhere had in mind that social security would be privatized during his first term, but as it unfolded, it was clearly a second term objective. make that THE second term objective.

[ProfessorGAC]

33. I Never Said It Was A Manifest

I just believe that this was the goal all along. Of course, they only talked about tax cuts. You can sell that to the sheeple.

But, the majority of the middle class would remain unconvinced on gambling with SS money. So, they didn't talk about it, but given the influecne the idiot Norquist had on the administration, and given that this has ALWAYS been his raison d'etre, i'm quite sure this was the goal the whole time.

I'm quite glad they failed.
GAC

[tinrobot]

19. So all those dead soldiers were... a success?

I can see how not privatizing Social Security was a failure for him - because it was the one place where he failed to make people worse off.

(edit:grammar)

[Gin]

22. keep talking george...makes it easier to remember how we got in the

ditch....bet the rethugs are thinking...STFU

[ProfessorGAC]

35. Answer To Your Question: Yes

At least to that crowd. War, war, war, is a good time and a good thing.
GAC

[Historic NY]

20. The sidewalks would be splattered with bodies.

[AndrewP]

21. What an absolute asshole n/t

[gatorboy]

23. Hmm. I thought his biggest failure was hiding like a coward for 3 DAYS after 9/11...

But that's just me.

[yellerpup]

24. Not just you, gatorboy.

That was his 1st biggest failure--then came everything else.

[glitch]

25. Still evil. nt

[trusty elf]

26. N. Ron Shrubbard

[Poll_Blind]

28. That's TWICE today I couldn't and shouldn't write the reply I really have in mind.

Instead I'll just say "Fuck you, George."

PB

[Patiod]

29. "Bin Laden determine to strike in US"

Ring any bells, ex-President DumBunny?

[doc03]

32. He considers it a failure that he was only able to screw up 99% of our

country in 8 years.

[Thav]

34. If he had privatized SS

It'd be bankrupt NOW, not in 2037, NOW. Sure, the value of SS would have gone up a little bit, then it would have fallen off a cliff with an anvil tied to it's neck, straight into the ocean. The only ones benefiting would have been wall street robber barons.

But then again, that has always been, and continues to be, the plan: Screw those who really need SS to benefit already filthy stinking rich wall street executives.

[WinkyDink]

37. Exactly! That was one major task he had, and he DID mess up. His handlers must not be happy.

[surrealAmerican]

39. Indeed it would be.

I think his hope was that the inevitable crash would have been delayed a few months, so as not to happen until he was out of office.

The fact that he would bring this up now, when it's pretty easy to see what a disaster that would have been, just demonstrates his total disconnect from reality. I hope it hurts the republicans, but I doubt it will.

[WinkyDink]

36. 9/11/01. Real safe, PSYCHO. But then, "all in all, it was a fabulous year for Laura and me."

http://www.serendipity.li/more/bush03.html

[randr]

38. Goes right along with his missing the pampering comment

His wall street buddies must be snubbing him.

[Stevenmarc]

40. Bush's biggest failure is that he dislodged that pretzel

[Arugula Latte]

41. Laura Bush ran over the wrong boyfriend.

:hide:

[Stevenmarc]

47. That was certainly her biggest failure.

[spanone]

42. funny how the ex (thank god) president forgets that 911 happened while he was in charge

no amount of lying about your administration will change that mr bu$h*

[Canuckistanian]

43. He was an incomplete total failure, then

He FAILED even at being his absolute worst.

How fitting.

[Ratty]

44. SS was designed to keep the elderly fed and off the streets

It was not intended to be a get-rich investment opportunity. SS was not designed to make you money. Why must every last single little thing in this country be about making money? Republican philosophy is if it doesn't make *somebody* money it has no value.

[Meatball]

45. I could think of quite a few more failures that were larger than that. n/t

[letterwriter]

46. My Letter to the Editor

http://marc.perkel.com/2010/10/22/bush-says-not-privatizing-social-security-was-his-biggest-failure/

Former president George W. Bush says that he considers his biggest failure of his presidency was NOT privatizing Social Security. I think what he really means is that his biggest failure was not destroying Social Security. Even with the advantage of hindsight, knowing what happened with the Wall Street collapse and the bank bailouts he wishes the Social Security Trust Fund was in there too.

Although Wall Street used to be a place to invest in promising companies it has deteriorated into a casino where the betting is manipulated by inside trading and the government is on the hook when the deal go bad. The Republicans want to dump our savings into this system and deregulate it so that they can gamble away our future and then come begging the taxpayers for a bailout when they collapse the system.

If Bush claims that not privatizing Social Security was his biggest failure then the Democrats biggest success was keeping Bush’s hands off Social Security. Republican candidates have made it clear they want to phase out Social Security. That is why it is important for us to elect Democrats so that Republicans can’t give all our Social Security money to Wall Street to be gambled away.