Was Bush Really That Bad?

stebo · November 5, 2008

I am curious- there seem to be a lot of conservatives on this board.. Was Bush really that bad? He kept us safe for 7 years after 9/11. What else can you list? Will history show him in a different light?

Green Mean · November 5, 2008

I thought what he did til the Iraq war was just fine. Infact I thought how he handled post 9/11 was just fantastic. Once the war started really started making things go downward in my opinion. I have several freinds/family members part of the republican party and even they were waiting the day til Bush got out of office. Some of them even voted for Obama. I think the general consensus is that most people disapproved with Bush. I believe his approval rating is in the range of like 25-30&.

bigrobdsp · November 5, 2008

I am one of the 6-7 Americans who think Bush was fantastic. He dealt with the worst terrorist attack in history, The worst natural disaster in history, two economic downturns, a war that he belived in but that was very unpopular nationaly, and somehow my family is still happy, safe, and finanicaly pretty well off in our nice house in a nice suburb of a nice city. that gets an A++ in my book. Having said that, did anyone else watch the acceptance speach last night? I dont agree with a single policy of Obama's so far, but he is one hell of an orator.

Green P1 · November 5, 2008

I voted for him once, not twice.

Now I'm just waiting for him to buy back the Rangers and get us some pitching up in here!!!!!!

FirefightnRick · November 5, 2008

The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace

An oppinion piece in today's Wall Street Journal by ex John Kerry legal team member Jeff Shapiro.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

Rick

MDH · November 5, 2008

The media went beserk on him in an unfair way. He had some questionable characters and decisions surroudning him on the onset of the Iraq War however.

FirefightnRick · November 5, 2008

The media went beserk on him in an unfair way. He had some questionable characters and decisions surroudning him on the onset of the Iraq War however.

Also, the article fails to mention the Katrina disaster, just as our economy was starting to recover from 9-11.

Short memories we have.

Rick

KRAM1 · November 5, 2008

I firmly belive that history will treat President Bush much kinder than those who want to bash "Bush" and blame him for every challenge, problem, etc. under the moon. Those of you who study this sort of thing will certainly liken this current sentiment to that experienced by President Truman. President Truman also

had a VERY low approval rating while in office. I do believe "history" has shown him to be a much more successful president than his detractors at the time indicated.

untbowler · November 5, 2008

Also, the article fails to mention the Katrina disaster, just as our economy was starting to recover from 9-11.
Short memories we have.
Rick

Which he is unfairly blamed for the response, which anyone in emergency management, knows that Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin royally screwed the pooch on the response, yet like the Wall Street meltdown the blame got placed on Bush, why Nagin and others hid like the rats they are.

meangreendork · November 5, 2008

I never had a real problem with Bush until he more or less mismanaged the 2nd Gulf War. And by mismanaged, I meant that he didn't give the inspectors enough time, he didn't get enough international support, the post-war strategy was flawed horribly, and the logistics to start the war weren't entirely in place. The case for the war was already building against Iraq, especially when they started turning away the inspectors and suspicious actions and movements were being reported. Then, Bush went hair trigger and rolled in, guns-ablaze. The initial military conflict wasn't that hard, but those in handling the strategic end of the war never really planned for what to do when it "ended". That's really the MAJOR problem I've had with Bush was that he didn't really plan that war out properly and he took bad advice from the wrong people. After that, we had some of the various homeland security/personal privacy invasion policies kick in and I wasn't ever a fan of that.

Had he given his case at least 3 more months, the international support would probably have been there, and if not, the supply and logistics would have and the post-war strategy could've been developed more. His impatience is really what doomed his public opinion, and that led to a lot of the negative press and the unbalanced media coverage of the war.

Mind you, I was worried about Bush taking a 2nd term, and I was really worried. But like Stebo said, the country managed to keep itself upright and the checks and balances more or less worked. Bush didn't do what so many of the far-lefts thought he would do prevent an election from happening by calling a long-standing state of emergency, he didn't start a draft, and while the profiling against Muslims is something I am VERY not fond of, we're not all in detainment camps.

Was Bush bad? No, but he was a good few steps from being an excellent president. History will treat him a little bit better because some terrible things happened while he was in office and he wasn't exactly 100% ready for them and though few, if any, are, he could've done better.

MeanGreengdub · November 5, 2008

I am one of the 6-7 Americans who think Bush was fantastic. He dealt with the worst terrorist attack in history, The worst natural disaster in history, two economic downturns, a war that he belived in but that was very unpopular nationaly, and somehow my family is still happy, safe, and finanicaly pretty well off in our nice house in a nice suburb of a nice city. that gets an A++ in my book. Having said that, did anyone else watch the acceptance speach last night? I dont agree with a single policy of Obama's so far, but he is one hell of an orator.

Couldn't have said it better. And like someone else said, here's hoping he can own the Rangers again!

November 5, 2008

Couldn't have said it better. And like someone else said, here's hoping he can own the Rangers again!

I can't tell you if you guys are being serious... He owned 1.8% stake in the Rangers: which equaled $500,000 of borrowed money.

UNTLifer · November 5, 2008

I am one of the 6-7 Americans who think Bush was fantastic. He dealt with the worst terrorist attack in history, The worst natural disaster in history, two economic downturns, a war that he belived in but that was very unpopular nationaly, and somehow my family is still happy, safe, and finanicaly pretty well off in our nice house in a nice suburb of a nice city. that gets an A++ in my book. Having said that, did anyone else watch the acceptance speach last night? I dont agree with a single policy of Obama's so far, but he is one hell of an orator.

I would agree 100%, and I would claim that is approval rating is tied to the Democratic led Congress, who's approval rating is much worse than his.

The Fake Lonnie Finch · November 5, 2008

No. He wasn't. His problem is the same as it was for Ronald Reagan - the press never gave him credit for anything. His prescription drug plan has allowed many to get needed prescriptions for free or very little. The No Child Left Behind Act has seen reading comprehension rise in 4th graders.

To me, the most important thing is that he protected life. My fondest memory of Bush is his stance against embryonic stem cell research. Now that seven years have passed, medical researchers have made break throughs without having to destroy embryos.

And, of course, I always appreciate that Bush was forward-thinking enough to fight terrorism where it is - over there. The last thing we need is to wait and fight the battle only if foreign boots hit our soil, as mega-idiot Ron Paul suggested. Note to Ron Paul - hello, McFly? Ever hear of intercontinental ballistic missles? Yeah. Those things would allow rogue nations to strike us without putting their boots on our soil. What an idiot.

At his core, Bush is and always will be, a good man. He was the right man to be the leader when terrorist brazenly struck us.

In the end, it was my admiration of Bush that led me to sit this election out. After moving to Frisco in May, I chose not to register to vote. I neither respect nor do I believe Barack Obama or John McCain. I view both as liars who were both too interested in being president. It manifested itself in different ways between them. With McCain, it was evident in the fact that he couldn't really pick a direction for his campaign. He couldn't really say why he wanted to be president. In Obama, it was evident in the fact that he wouldn't say in detail what his plans were. And, only when pressed did he release vague, talking-points type of answers.

As always, Viva Bush!

meangreendork · November 5, 2008

I would agree 100%, and I would claim that is approval rating is tied to the Democratic led Congress, who's approval rating is much worse than his.

It's all probably a sign that politics in America needs to be revamped or something. And that's on BOTH sides of the red/blue fence.

FirefightnRick · November 5, 2008

An interesting read on Bloomberg.

Obama Foreign Policy May Keep Some Bush Initiatives

Rick

Mean Green 93-98 · November 5, 2008

No. He wasn't. His problem is the same as it was for Ronald Reagan - the press never gave him credit for anything. His prescription drug plan has allowed many to get needed prescriptions for free or very little. The No Child Left Behind Act has seen reading comprehension rise in 4th graders.
To me, the most important thing is that he protected life. My fondest memory of Bush is his stance against embryonic stem cell research. Now that seven years have passed, medical researchers have made break throughs without having to destroy embryos.
And, of course, I always appreciate that Bush was forward-thinking enough to fight terrorism where it is - over there. The last thing we need is to wait and fight the battle only if foreign boots hit our soil, as mega-idiot Ron Paul suggested. Note to Ron Paul - hello, McFly? Ever hear of intercontinental ballistic missles? Yeah. Those things would allow rogue nations to strike us without putting their boots on our soil. What an idiot.
At his core, Bush is and always will be, a good man. He was the right man to be the leader when terrorist brazenly struck us.
In the end, it was my admiration of Bush that led me to sit this election out. After moving to Frisco in May, I chose not to register to vote. I neither respect nor do I believe Barack Obama or John McCain. I view both as liars who were both too interested in being president. It manifested itself in different ways between them. With McCain, it was evident in the fact that he couldn't really pick a direction for his campaign. He couldn't really say why he wanted to be president. In Obama, it was evident in the fact that he wouldn't say in detail what his plans were. And, only when pressed did he release vague, talking-points type of answers.
As always, Viva Bush!

I agree with this post 100%, except for the fact that I felt compelled to vote for the lesser of two evils.

Perhaps W's biggest shortcoming is that he rarely stood up for himself; and when he did, he was not very good at it.

Green Mean · November 5, 2008

I said this the day it happened that it is rediculous to blame Bush on Katrina. What could he have done? I just think in general the situation just exceeded what most people probably anticipated. I have been critical of Bush these last several years but it is completely stupid blaming him for Katrina.

Rudy · November 5, 2008

Dont you know, Katrina was plotted by the Russians, hence the Russian name, "Katrina"

yes, I am being a smartass.

meangreendork · November 5, 2008

I said this the day it happened that it is rediculous to blame Bush on Katrina. What could he have done? I just think in general the situation just exceeded what most people probably anticipated. I have been critical of Bush these last several years but it is completely stupid blaming him for Katrina.

I don't like Bush either, but the response for Katrina wasn't really something he had control over. It's really the state of Louisiana at fault and the city of New Orleans and the neighboring cities to blame.