Will Bush go down in history as worst president ever?

[Cari 0]

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Can you name another President that had to deal with as much in his first two years??? Dot com bust, 9-11 and starting of a war that had been brewing for years??? Now that i have spelled it out for you please comment.

You haven't really spelled out much at all. He had some shitty things thrown his way and proceeded to deal with them in a shitty manner. He's awful and flat-out saying that people who don't realize what he has (not) done are ignorant is pretty ridiculous. The only good thing that he's done is incite quite a few people to involve themselves in the democratic process instead of sitting idly by while the "ignorant" proceed to vote another GWB into office.

You havent answered my question????

Lincoln had to deal with the nation in the state it was left by Buchanan and took the country through its biggest internal strife EVER. FDR had to deal with WWII and the Great Depression and still managed to bring about the New Deal (SEC, FDIC, SSA), the UN, eliminated prohibition, FLSA, the Wagner Act, and a variety of other accomplishments. Kennedy had to deal with the ramifications of the Cold War, Cuba (Bay of Pigs, CMC), Vietnam, and the civil rights movement. Through all of this, he still managed to have a prolific, albeit short, career.

Being President of the US generally involves dealing with a lot of pretty big situations simultaneously. It's how you react to those situations that ultimately determines your legacy. Bush's legacy is not going to be well-regarded, if you ask me.

I'm still waiting for you to enlighten us ignorant masses....

[kelpdiver 2]

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Kennedy had to deal with the ramifications of the Cold War, Cuba (Bay of Pigs, CMC), Vietnam, and the civil rights movement. Through all of this, he still managed to have a prolific, albeit short, career.

Kennedy (and McNamera) are responsible for the deepening of the Cold War, and Vietnam. At least they didn't end the world over Cuba, but those issues were as much made by them as dealt to them.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Can you name another President that had to deal with as much in his first two years??? Dot com bust, 9-11 and starting of a war that had been brewing for years??? Now that i have spelled it out for you please comment.

I think it's fair to argue that Iraq II was brewing, but it was still Bush that set the timetable to make it happen in early 2003. If the other shit in the first 2 years was too much, it could easily have been deferred another year or five.

[FlyerSG1234 0]

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nope...In my lifetime so far, I'm gonna say Bill Clinton. He's the one that got the economy messed up. He got it going in that direction.

Ridiculous. Clinton gave us a record surplus. Bush flushed it down the crapper.

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And he looked America in the eye and said and I quote " I did not have sexual relations with that woman".

Yeah, look at the thousands of soldiers killed when he did that.

[NoShitThereIWas 0]

Yeah and I would also go insofar as much to say that Clinton balanced the budget like he said he would, a far cry from anything Bush did except to get us deeper and deeper into debt with his "war on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction"

Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires."

Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

[Belgian_Draft 0]

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nope...In my lifetime so far, I'm gonna say Bill Clinton. He's the one that got the economy messed up. He got it going in that direction.

Ridiculous. Clinton gave us a record surplus. Bush flushed it down the crapper.

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And he looked America in the eye and said and I quote " I did not have sexual relations with that woman".

Yeah, look at the thousands of soldiers killed when he did that.

Any policies a sitting President makes concerning the economy don't show an impact for several years, usually after that person has left office. Clinton enjoyed the economy set up by Carter & Reagan, Bush2 got blamed for the mess Clinto started, and Obama will enjoy a revival of the economy since it has nowhere to go but up.
People can argue for days on end about who did what to the economy but, in all reality, if it were as simple an issue to solve as most would have you believe then everyone would be in agreement as to what measures to take. Hell, we can't even get Congress to agree on whether a small tax break is good or bad for the economy, and it's impact is very minute either way.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[FlyerSG1234 0]

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Any policies a sitting President makes concerning the economy don't show an impact for several years

That's the usual crap people who hate Clinton and won't give him any credit like to say. The only people who say that lost the last election. Get a new tune to play. Reagan gave us a huge deficit. So did Bush.

[Belgian_Draft 0]

Vote your information I have voted twice for each major party in the last four elections.
Clinton is one of the best, if not THE best, politicians we have ever seen. But as a leader he failed miserably. He never actually balanced anything, he merely borrowed more from future revenue than most other presidents.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[NoShitThereIWas 0]

Here is an article from 1998 posted on CNN that proposed how Clinton was going to create a surplus (which he did) and achieve his objectives of how he wanted the money spent. Not only did he balance it but when he did enact taxation, he gave clear descriptions of where the $$$ would go and contrary to some's beliefs, the spending was controlled unlike Bush's fiscal philosophy which has had no control and increased our deficit by staggering amounts.

Clinton Unveils His Balanced Budget

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Feb. 2) -- Touting its zero deficit at every turn, President Bill Clinton on Monday unveiled his $1.7 trillion 1999 spending proposal for the federal government.

"This budget marks the end of an era," Clinton said, "an end to decades of deficits that have shackled our economy, paralyzed our politics and held our people back. It can mark the beginning of a new era of opportunity for a new American Century."

The budget contains no giant surprises. It is four volumes and 2,514 pages of legal language formally proposing the programs that Clinton has been talking about for weeks, and which he summarized in his State of the Union address last week.

Major initiatives include a new $21 billion child-care initiative, more than $7.3 billion in new education spending, controversial new proposals to expand Medicare and a challenge to the states to aggressively sign up poor children who are eligible for Medicaid but not now enjoying its benefits.

Clinton several times emphasized his State of the Union pledge to apply every penny of any surplus to bolstering Social Security, though many congressional Republicans are eyeing tax cuts instead.

Clinton's budget also proposes roughly $25 billion in "loophole closers" -- otherwise known as tax increases -- including eliminating tax breaks enjoyed by banks, real estate investment trusts and multinational corporations.


The new Clinton budget also envisions raising more than $65 billion over the next 10 years through a national tobacco settlement; that translates into roughly a $1.50-a-pack increase in cigarette taxes.

Many of the president's new initiatives would be paid for from the proceeds of the settlement, which is hardly a done deal.

"The whole budget is based on the tobacco settlement and ... I think it is fair to say when you talk to people on the (Capitol) Hill that the tobacco settlement is dead," Richard May, a former House Budget Committee staff director, told The Associated Press.

The White House says it will find the money elsewhere should the settlement not pass.

Budget director Franklin Raines says he is optimistic about the tobacco bill's chances. "We are quite confident that the majority of the American people want to see this kind of legislation to raise the cost of cigarettes," he told the AP, "and we believe that ultimately the Congress is going to reflect the view of the American people."

Clinton's budget forecasts surpluses of $218.8 billion over the next five fiscal years: $8.5 billion in 2000; $28.2 billion in 2001; $89.7 billion in 2002; and $82.8 billion in 2003.

"It is obvious that you can have a smaller government, but a more progressive one, that gives you a stronger America," Clinton said.

"We've done more than simply balance the budget, more than just line up numbers on a ledger," he said. "We have restored the balance of values in our policy, restored the balance of confidence between government and the public. Now, we'll have a balanced budget not only next year, but as far as the eye can see."

Clinton called for bipartisan cooperation in passing the first balanced budget since 1969, but his own budget is crafted with congressional politics in mind.

Its proposed spending for defense and transportation, for example, is significantly lower that the levels favored by congressional Republicans. The White House deliberately earmarked funds for Clinton's pet programs and left transportation, defense and other areas to negotiations with Republicans.

Clinton applauded the efforts of past and present Congresses that have voted for tough measures to bring the deficit down, and saluted the American people for staying the course.


"For more than two centuries, Americans have strengthened our nation at every critical moment with confidence, unity and determination to meet every challenge," Clinton said. "For too long, the budget deficit, a worsening crime wave, the seemingly unsolvable welfare difficulties, they all seems to challenge our innate American confidence. In the past five years, the American people have met these challenges, and have moved to master them."

Clinton's budget projections are based on conservative economic growth estimates. The administration is predicting growth of just more than 2 percent per year; annual growth in the last quarter was more than 4 percent.

White House aides say their lower estimates leave room for a cushion in case the Asian financial crisis has a greater effect on the U.S. economy than now anticipated. Of course, increasing the growth estimates during budget negotiations would also open the door to higher spending and make it easier to bridge the differences between White House and GOP priorities.

At the end of the president's presentation, Vice President Al Gore handed Clinton a ceremonial magic marker, and Clinton turned to a chart entitled 1999 deficit, filling in the blank with a bold "0!"

CNN's John King contributed to this report.

Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires."

Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

[Belgian_Draft 0]

Old news. Real old news.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[quade 3]

According to THIS STORY President Bush, at a 76% disapproval rating, is now the least popular President since modern polling techniques have been in place; worse than Nixon.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[NoShitThereIWas 0]

Well I tried to warn everybody back then before his first election and then before being re-elected. I couldn't fathom how he even stayed in office. It still bursts my bubble how the American people impeached President Clinton and held onto Bush. It boggles my mind, really does.

Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires."

Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

[quade 3]

You weren't the only one.

I've always been perplexed by it.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Cari 0]

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You weren't the only one.

I've always been perplexed by it.

I think it's kind of like giving the kid that rides the short bus an easier grading scale because...well, I'll just leave it at that.

[mpohl 1]

I, for one, am excited about the next eight years. We (and Barack) will undo the damage done to the extent possible. And yes, we all are survivors!

P.S.: Now how is that for a T-shirt idea: "I survived George W Bush".

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You weren't the only one.

I've always been perplexed by it.

I think it's kind of like giving the kid that rides the short bus an easier grading scale because...well, I'll just leave it at that.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Well I tried to warn everybody back then before his first election and then before being re-elected. I couldn't fathom how he even stayed in office. It still bursts my bubble how the American people impeached President Clinton and held onto Bush. It boggles my mind, really does.

It's not that complicated. GOP had the majority in Congress from Jan, 1995-2007.

They didn't manage to impeach Clinton until it was nearly irrelevant, he easily won reelection, so this was the only leverage the majority opposition party had on him. (nevermind the fact that he did in fact lie in court to avoid the embarassment of being sued for sexual harassment while President)

Bush barely won in 2004 against a fairly lame opponent, and couldn't be impeached before 2007 because his party had the majority. Had he been up for reelection in 2006, he probably would have lost. But the war was still going well by most standards in 2004. Pelosi then elected not to try for impeachment, given the political consequences, the wish to win more in 2008, and the obvious fact that the GOP Senators would never vote to convict.

[JohnDeere 0]

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According to THIS STORY President Bush, at a 76% disapproval rating, is now the least popular President since modern polling techniques have been in place; worse than Nixon.

And what is the approval rating of your Dem. congress???? Cant be one of the best!

Nothing opens like a Deere!

You ignorant fool! Checks are for workers!

[quade 3]

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According to THIS STORY President Bush, at a 76% disapproval rating, is now the least popular President since modern polling techniques have been in place; worse than Nixon.

And what is the approval rating of your Dem. congress???? Cant be one of the best!

Let's see what it is when they actually have the ability to do something.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver