A Long-Lived Privilege?

So much for what George W. Bush along with Karl Rove and what Both Did To this Great Nation and it's People.

Read Onward


President Bush issued a statement yesterday in which he heralded New Year's day as "an opportunity to remember the events of the past and look forward with hope to the year ahead."

But as Bush looks forward to leaving office, the nation is stuck with the results of many of the Bush administration's failed policies.

To mark the passing of Bush's last full year in office, ThinkProgress rounded up statistics on some of the most significant effects of Bush rule in 2008:

??? Number Of U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq: 322.
??? Number Of U.S. Troops Killed in Afghanistan: 151.
??? Number Of Jobs Lost: 1.9 million.
??? Number Of Banks Federal Government Now Owns Stock In: 206.
??? Number Of Uninsured Americans: 47.5 million.

??? Change In Housing Prices: declined 18 percent.
??? Change In Health Insurance Premiums: increased 5 percent.
??? Change In Number Of Delinquent Mortgages: increased 75 percent.
??? Change In Use Of Food Stamps: increased 17 percent.
??? Change In Dow Jones Industrial Average: declined 35 percent.
??? Change In Bush Approval Rating: declined 9 percent to 29 percent.

Paul Krugman noted recently that the Bush administration's failings have often been obscured in the short-run because the White House was particularly effective at inventing an alternate reality that it then "impressed on the public."

In 2008, however, despite its repeated attempts to wish it away, the reality of its domestic policy failures caught up with Bush administration and the nation.

I hope I live to see these people squirming and brought to justice.

When iknowledge essential to the Democratic Process of the United States are hidden from authorized individuals than we are no longer working within a Democracy, but in fact we have degraded to a Dictatorship. The Bush Administration has set back the Democratic Process in this Country to a time before our Constitution was even written.

"Obama Ducks Hard Choices"

http://www.newsweek.com/id/182762

I can't help but believe that the political two-party system literally fails and is actually a large part of the problem. That is just my opinion but as an example just look at all of the comments offered, how emotional, irrational and illogical they are with their extremely polarized biases and with no real objectivity or discipline for validity. True that some just enjoy the debate, even invite argument and then laugh at their ability to prompt emotion from others but yet many seem to honestly defend a strong bias without giving credit to the real validity of the more moderate positions. Any defense of the Bush-Cheney administration as being other than self-indulgent, irresponsible, sociopathically belligerent and even criminal in having arrogantly pursued their private agenda is totally blind and unreal. Any rationalization offered for having elected Obama as the result of other than having had eight years of Bush-Cheney is totally naïve and also unreal. One extreme simply demands the need to be tempered by the opposite extreme. Both parties take advantage of manipulating opinions based on individual biases, without ever allowing the recognition that their extreme positions are only exploiting people's emotions while pursuing their political interests. The country's best interests consistently fall victim to the politicians' best interests and that isn't about to change.

The only way it can change and have the benefit of offering the people positions that represent their best interests is to have power more diluted and with entities presenting real answers to each of the real issues rather than the pendulum always swinging back and forth providing total power first to one and then to the other party. It isn't a matter of having power divided between the two parties and then causing dead-lock but rather of having additional legitimate parties dividing the power, aligned with the people's different concerns and necessitating honest cooperation, coalitions and more consistent moderate governing. The following conditions really prohibit that from ever happening. First and foremost, the necessity for huge amounts of capital in politics literally prohibits many of the best candidates and any new parties from getting off the ground. Next, the reality is that 'power corrupts and total power totally corrupts' and that is what they all seek. Then, extremism actually satisfies their political goals and is what they won't easily give up. And lastly, the politicians, Special Interests, lobbyists and the select few all have real control because of the large demand for humungous amounts of capital and there is no way they want to lose that control. It can also be added that it is simply a desirable, easy and lucrative life for them. Whatever they say to sway the people the truth is 'it ain't going to change' and they know it and it is just silly for us to then say what should be or to debate it.

It doesn't matter whether you are a Republican or a Democrat: the words "absolute immunity" have NO PLACE in a democracy. As a wise man once said, truth is not afraid of questions. It remains to be seen how Democrats will handle this and if they finally managed to grow a pair but every single one of them should be held in contempt if they allow this to go on and not hold those responsible to the full measure of justice.

Hold them accountable!

Ahh...
These embers have burnt out.

Where do they burn now?

life2go-I replied to your rude comment.

Pia

Executive privilege, even before Congress, is not absolute for Rove and Miers; and their claims are weakened by the facts that Bush is no longer President and that Congress has a legitimate and important interest in the politicization of the DOJ and the U.S. attorney firings. The letters signal the former administration's intent to stand by its claims of executive privilege, but they do not change the underlying legitimacy of the claims or provide legal cover for Rove and Miers. More at the Constitutional Law Prof Blog here: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/conlaw/2009/01/president-bush.html

People like you two just reassure the idiocricy of America. The real question is why are we still spending tax payers money so that some congressional commitee can continue this witch hunt? Like it or not it is the right of the president to hire and fire US Attorneys as he/she see's fit to do so. If they want to continue this then I think they should call up Bill Clinton because he fired all but 3 when he was elected. The last thing we need right now is more wastefull spending by government and this my fellow Americans is a waste!!

Really?? What a waste of tax payers money. I would think there are more pressing matters that need to be addressed other than the firing of US attorneys. It is at the sole discretion of the Prsident to hire and fire the attorneys as they see fit, Bill Clinton fired all but 3 during his time, where is the witch hunt there? It's time for Bush haters and petty little people such as the 2 that posted here to get on with their lives and for congress to get to work on the issues that help move America forward, which is what we are paying them for.

This is another example of the lawlessness in America...we impeached a president who refused to leave office and allowed him to do so. We hold contemp for the real truth...if we are going to require former presidents, v.p.'s, etc to hold information confidential, how can we expect them to not pleade the 5th Amendment or use everything they can to stay out of trouble caused by yet another contemptable politician.

Bush fires 8 prosecutors, but Clinton fired ALL 93!! Glad to see that there is no bias at all in the American political/judicial system.

Nothing more than a partisan witch hunt by Conyers! Why hasn???t he subpoenaed Daschle and Geithner for not paying their taxes?