What Bush Got Right

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  • Posted By: Klancy51 @ 08/10/2008 4:23:08 PM

    What kind or article is this supposed to be? I agree with everything stated: The Bush Presidency was a disaster. Why does the title give him credit, even though they changed policies in so many areas secretly?

    Why doesn't it mention that there are tens of thousands of dead people who are victims of Bush policy? It also fails to mention that attempted (with great success) to politicize every aspect of goverment possible. The DOJ is in shambles and the second in command at the Department of Education recently said that the whole program of No Child Left was to exemplify school failure!

    In our name, the Federal Goverment still detains people indefinately and tries them in absurd secret hearings, without due process. They probably still use a few "Enhanced interrogation Techniques."

    "What Bush Got Right" will probably be the cover story on Newsweek all over the country, is an attempt to make the election seem closer than it is. How horribly disingenuous!

    Here is my post from last week. It also applies to this article:


    K
    *****

  • Posted By: ghostcommander @ 08/10/2008 4:18:28 PM

    Name me just one positive accomplishment of the Republican Fascist Criminal Enterprise that has set the USA back decades. They have almost destroyed the government from within while enriching themselves and their criminal cronies through privatization, no bid, and inflated contracts. It's the economy, Stupid!

  • Posted By: billp @ 08/10/2008 4:18:13 PM

    It's amusing to me that the credit that Zakaria does give to Bush is for the movement in his second term, while McCain is trying to run on the point that things have gone wrong over the past 4 years, but were going in the right direction the previous 4. McCain is trying to make the exact opposite point that Zakaria is.

  • Posted By: spacecadet @ 08/10/2008 4:13:38 PM

    The reason why there's no acknowledgment in Bush's policy modifications is that on these matters - matters like rejecting or ignoring treaties, invading sovereign countries, sanctioning torture, etc. - you do not get a second chance. It's like a murderer who walks around shooting people and eventually says "you know, I'm bored with this, so I'm not going to do it anymore. You don't need to arrest me." Well, yes, we do, and you would need to pay for those crimes.

    So is it with Bush, who threw our country to the dogs and want rampaging around the world for five years, then suddenly has an epiphany and expects us and the rest of the world to forgive him? No way. We can't throw him in jail, but we can make him pay in the only way allowed us - by electing someone with a completely different ideology, and pegging Bush as the "failure" that he is or even attaching the "worst President in history" label when that history ends up finally being written.

  • Posted By: olderwiser @ 08/10/2008 4:10:49 PM

    Hey, great point. Things are much better now. Now we have finally learned to use the troops in Iraq that should have been in Afghanistan for the past five years, that should never have gone to Iraq in the first place and will be too tired and beat up to go to Afghanistan if we ever take them out of Iraq. He is in China right now daily insulting the leadership after having rebuked his hosts to the whole world a day before arriving there to keep insulting them every day while he is there. They need to insult him back each day for sending the mightiest army in the world to the wrong place to squander his nation's treasury which China now holds in U.S. Treasury Bills. This is probably some degree of "better than before", but they came from so far below our minimum standards that we still have to give a big maximum number ten grade of "crappy at best, near fatally horrible". Get these bastards out of my government as soon as you can get to a voting booth.

  • Posted By: n83nbu @ 08/10/2008 3:58:40 PM

    Give me a break! Bush's policies are now mainstream? He has (and continues to) destroyed our country and spit upon our Constitution. He belongs in prison with other war criminals. Maybe a stint at Gitmo would help straighten him out?

  • Posted By: david-fahey @ 08/10/2008 9:45:26 AM

    for a guy who questioned b. obama's judgement and called him an "appeaser" and the second coming of n. chamberlin where does that historic reference leave bush? as we sit here a young democracy, Georgia, is about to be brought back into the 'family' that is fascist russia(an even more ironic historic turn). you know RR's , "evil empire", just under new managment. yet no-one is calling bush, at the moment, the new chamberlin. he is about to 'loose' Georgia to russian fasism, the same evil, nutless, sin that he(and C's) accused chamberlin of. this from a party and a political wing(conservatives- D's and R's) that spent 30 yrs in the political wilderness hammering the liberal D's for losing china, korea yada, yada... now mr bush is about to lose Georgia despite looking into the eyes of his new BFF vlad! the big question, is this just the 1st case of russia creating a new, fascist empire and mr bush has done nothing to stop it. he does not even have a piece of paper to wave to the cameras! mr bush is in the same town with putin but all he does is babble on about china while Gerogians die! where is the R/C outrage that they veted on L's when D's lost some country? maybe the fact that we are tied down in iraq has limited our posture to react? or that the R's borow and spen policy has left us broke and wage war? or the R's have learned that trying to defend a country deep in your enimies territory is not possible(ex. czech, hungry)? have te R's learned it is easier to bitch while out of power than to act while in power. F A you can add Georgia to the consequences of bushie administration bad eadership and world judgements!

    • Posted By: Mimi13 @ 08/10/2008 3:49:48 PM

      It's not that simple. Things rarely are any more. The territory under dispute, South Ossetia, was appropriated by Georgia when it declared independence and it is within Georgia's internationally-recognized borders. HOwever, South Ossetia has functioned as an independent territory within Georgia and its nationals have sought recognition as an independent state, which the UN -- led by the United States -- has declined to give. You see, there is an oil pipeline that crosses Ossetia and it is in the interests of the United States to back Georgia to maintain access to that oil supply. The Ossetians, however, tend to identify with the Russians and many carry Russian passports. Russia could make a case that it is liberating a nation state that has been appropriated by Georgia. Russia, of course, also wants access to the oil carried by the pipeline that crosses Ossetia. So, in the end, it's not about young democracies (which can be as ruthless as old democracies). It's about oil. Everything these days seems to be about oil. The sooner we put American technology and ingenuity to the task of creating alternative, renewable sources of energy, the better off we all will be.

  • Posted By: Rick0101 @ 08/10/2008 3:49:30 PM

    Why would the world now be better off if Saddam and Sons were still running Iraq? Fareed doesn't say. The author just says that everyone knows it was a mistake to invade and assumes that we all know he is correct.

    I wonder if the Kuwaitis, Israelis, and the Kurds are among those who agree with what the author "knows" to be obvious.

  • Posted By: robert56001 @ 08/10/2008 3:10:28 PM

    Whether you know or not, Bush's IQ is 86. Bush's IQ is little more than a mentally retarded person. So what do you expect from an alcoholic who can't speak his own language correctly, writing would be different story.

    • Posted By: Skypoint @ 08/10/2008 3:36:32 PM

      Obviously you don't check your facts, and if you have, please share with us where you found his IQ of 86. Look, rather than babel your nonsense here, why don't you save yourself some time and just say you're a Bush hater and be done with it. I hate defending him, but really, get your stuff straight....alcoholic? he hasn't had anything to drink since 1986....

  • Posted By: easleyt @ 08/10/2008 3:24:09 PM

    Republicans, 8 years ago you chose Bush over McCain in the primaries. Now, after a disasterous two terms, you've nominated the guy you then considered "not as good as Bush". You couldn't have made a worse choice if you tried. If this is really the best you've got, maybe you should just punt and McCain can go take a nap.

  • Posted By: lorainewells @ 08/09/2008 6:41:50 PM

    But Bush has gotten 98 percent of everything WRONG!!!

    • Posted By: Porkov @ 08/10/2008 3:05:03 PM

      If, by chance, your celestial idiot gets into executive office, may we hold him to a standard of not doing more that two percent of what Bush has done, right or wrong? Since Bush has vetoed virtually no bills sent him by Congress, we'll be expecting Obama to do the opposite. Path to immigration for undocumented aliens? Nope. Acknowledging the genocide in Darur? Forget about it. Don't forget to kill all the support to Africa for AIDS. I'm sure that every humane thing Bush has done will be undone as quickly as possible by you math whizzes who think that Bush is 100% wrong on everything.

  • Posted By: ourantispam @ 08/10/2008 3:01:58 PM

    What a "feckless" article. I am still trying to find what "bush did right:.

    star3. You are kidding right? Saddam "invited" us in? Tell me you are joking. By the way, star, good luck with that drilling thing. In 2025, when the price of a gallon of gas is down 2 cents and the price of a barrel of oil has gone down 75 cents, from that drilling, sing your praises then. As an aside, those price figures are from the bush energy department.

  • Posted By: b21wayne @ 08/09/2008 11:46:25 PM

    Congress taking vacation time in the midst of energy crisis discussions, well take a guess which President has taken the most vacation time......BUSH. Of course soon he'll be on a long overdue vacation, thank goodness!

    • Posted By: star3 @ 08/10/2008 2:57:30 PM

      Glad to hear you have nothing better to do than keep track of Bush's vaccations, bet he appreciates it, too. At least President Bush's vaccations were, usually, working vaccations, whereas, some other presidents often took their "vaccations" in the oval office, entertaining "guest", discussing the fine qualities of cigars. Any more comments on the subject, dear?

  • Posted By: bluesgutter @ 08/10/2008 2:56:53 PM

    Bush has had to go begging to the International Community for help in his 2nd term because he was such an arrogant moron in his first. Nevertheless, he has still manage to set not only the US, but the World 25 years. He is a traitor to his country.

  • Posted By: aguasticas @ 08/10/2008 11:48:38 AM

    This is a keen eye for the obvious. Bush is a war criminal, plain and simple, and need to be removed from office along with Cheney and prosecuted. You can babble in foreign policy speak til your face is purple a la Kissinger, another war criminal, but it wont change the facts as Suskind, many others, and any passing acquaintance with the law of war and US law will tell you.

    • Posted By: star3 @ 08/10/2008 2:07:51 PM

      You sound like a flower---a blooming idiot! There is only one rule in war: WIN! Yes, innocent people die in a war, thats fact, not a pretty fact, but a fact, none the less. Accept that. Bush is no more a war criminal than Truman was, so lets not go there. What some of you don't get is that this enemy is unlike any we have ever had to deal with before, terrorist do not care about life-- not ours, or their own. They feel dying for their Allah will glorify them, so we are just helping them reach their goal to become "glorified". If they had not wanted our help in becoming glorified and collecting their 10 virgins, then they should not have asked for it by attacking us. You plastic Americans had better understand one thing: Either get your heart in America or get your ass out of it!

  • Posted By: zapotec49 @ 08/10/2008 2:04:51 PM

    The Bush disaster will be the defining moment for the decline of the USA from THE Super power to just an important market. The transition from 'Brave dependable Old Yeller' to rabid animal that has to be caged. Every "good thing" he does is a reversal of his 'policy'.

  • Posted By: Mariana S @ 08/10/2008 12:01:55 AM

    Btw, if I could vote for Bush again in this election, I would - in a heartbeat.

    • Posted By: bwlear @ 08/10/2008 2:00:42 PM

      What a sad thing to say.

  • Posted By: RO in Reno @ 08/10/2008 1:29:44 PM

    I think credit for Bush's moderation is the fact he lost the majority in Congress and the rubber stamping of his policy decisions no matter how insane stopped, and not that he has somehow matured.
    He is after all in China at the moment trying to convert the Chinese to Christianity.

    But I do want to also comment on what can only be described as false advertizing, that blinking ad that says Bush's IQ is 125.....Bush's IQ is 90 just barely average.

    • Posted By: Skypoint @ 08/10/2008 1:40:25 PM

      Quote: "He is after all in China at the moment trying to convert the Chinese to Christianity."

      Wrong. I'll be the first to say Bush should shut his mouth (at least while he's at the Games) about Freedom of religion, but that's exactly what he's said, freedom of religion.... he's not trying to convert the Chinese to any particular religion, including Christianity.

  • Posted By: MontereyDean @ 08/10/2008 1:34:52 PM

    What a windbag. All of the verbal twists and turns you had to take to call something "right" pretty much shows there wasn't anything "right" about the mess George has created.

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