Mrs Bush, Rice: Bush presidency not a failure

Monday 29th December, 08:40 AM JST

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 74 Total Comments Show All

adaydream at 11:43 PM JST - 31st December

Sarge

I can think of several presidents who have been worse,

Several huh? Show me your list of worse presidents. Show me the list of presidents that have forgotten the middle and lower classes like george bush has done.

Show me a list of presidents who gave away $4,000,000,000,000.00 to the top 1% uf the population.

Show me a list of presidents who sold the American people to the pharmeceudical companies.

Show me a list of presidents who worked their ass off to get us into a war.

Show me a list of presidents who took us into deficit situation as deep as we are right now.

Show me a list of presidents who lied to get us into a war.

You might show me a list of presidents who weren't the best, but show me a list of presidents who were worse than george bush. < :-)
smithinjapan at 08:15 PM JST - 1st January

adaydream: don't you know the score yet? sarge just does not appear when he's been proven wrong, be it the billionth or ten-billionth time. What response could he possibly have for your post? My guess is at best he would cut and paste 'Show me a list of presidents who' and then add 'bush' and say "are great".

You know full well by now the sandbox has only four corners and allows no thinking outside of that. sarge was told bush was great, bush's wife says so, who cares what 6 billion others think?
Capster78 at 10:42 PM JST - 1st January

Many of those who have already called the presidency a failure are obviously politically biased. I think much of it has come from the constant barrage of negative media coverage over the past 8 years. It only makes sense that after hearing the negative propaganda of the opposing party and of the militant propaganda machine, the bush presidency is being looked at the way it is. If people are judging the presidency purely on the war in Iraq then they are judging to quickly. God forbid, a country can come out of dictatorship and become a democracy in less than 6 years! If Iraq were to become a sucesfull democracy, setting an example for the rest of the middle east, it could be the greatest accomplishment this century. Peace in the middle east where atleast 7 nuclear armed countries exist or surround it would be a GREAT accomplishment.
Taka313 at 01:53 AM JST - 2nd January

Capster78, However, it's NOT just the war in Iraq. It's a combination of many things: The decaying infrastructure; the response to Hurricane Katrina; the cronyism; the erosion of civil liberties; the economy; the blatant bias toward the rich and the deregulation of environmental protections. That's JUST what I could pop off the top of my head. And then there's Iraq. It's not just about the validity of the invasion. It's about the mishandling of the occupation, including: the no-bid contracts; abu-Ghraib; allowing KBR to stay after they were found to be knowingly serving our troops contaminated water; the pallets of money that disappeared AND the erosion of our military readiness.

None of that is the medias fault. They whole "liberal media conspiracy" is a myth. Pure BS. Blame the media for reporting what's happening. How that tripe can continue to be peddled. Amazing.

And yes, peace in the ME would be a great accomplishment. Monumental. Unfortunately, we're going in the other direction. The ME is not more stable now. So it's pretty hard to hang your hat on that one.

Taka
bdiego at 03:31 AM JST - 2nd January

These discussions won't get anywhere, you're always going to have people on both sides taking things to absurdities where nothing is Bush's fault or everything is. I thought he was completely incompetent as a leader overall, but he did get much better after the 2006 midterm results came in. He started realizing what his biggest mistakes were and moderated them although not completely fixing any.

I'll give him credit for that, but he's simply failed on an wide breadth of policies including diplomatically, economically, the deficit, and the Constitution. It's amazing the slack fake conservatives give Bush just because of God, when Bush is probably the most fiscally liberal and socially fascist "Republican" in the last five decades. He makes Bill Clinton look like a fiscal conservative (which he was), and about his only real base of support are religious activists and people who care more about party affiliation than America.
Capster78 at 05:28 AM JST - 2nd January

First of all, much of the blame for the Katrina response has to lay on the state government, not on Bush. While the Federal Government and FEMA were slow acting, the state government was poorly prepared for the situation. I was there before, during and after Katrina. The state government and its agencies are the first responders and they failed. You can not possibly blame bush for decaying infrastructure. It did not just decay over the last 8 years. Civil liberties? Oh, your talking about wire tapping im assuming? There has not been one case of an innocent civilian not involved in anything against the law being unjustly wiretapped. The economic situation was in full swing well before Bush took office. Bush and McCain tried stopping the situation. The loose regulation over bank lending started well before Bush took office. Everyone also seems to want to blame the government for their irresponsibility as well, that is quite convinient for them. They are also the first one's looking for handouts from the very government they blame for it as well. Abu Gharib has little to do with Bush, it has a lot to do with a few immature and mentally instable individuals. I don't see how you can possibly blame bush for the actions of these individuals. It's almost as if there is a fad going on here. Blame just about everything negative that happens on the president, rather than putting the blame on the actual source because that is the convinient thing to do and easier than actually investigating the facts. Life would be a lot less stressfull if I could blame all my mistakes on someone else as well. Again, you are judging in hindesight with the middle east. It is really easy to judge a war in hindsight. If you want to mull on the past we will never get anywhere. The fact is that we now have a winning stategy in Iraq. I don't see anyone praising Bush for that. I suspect that Obama will be the one that takes credit for work started before he took office, and little credit given where it is due.
Taka313 at 07:33 AM JST - 2nd January

Capster78,

Just out of curiosity, is there anything that you would hang on george bush? Is he responsible for anything as president? Who was to blame for his DUI? Was it the bartender or the cop?

Look, what I gave was just off the top of my head and what you offered would put you in the American Dodgeball Association of America Hall of Fame.

There used to be a plaque that sat on President Harry Truman's desk. It read, "The Buck Stops Here."

I'm not going to take the time to deconstruct your arguments because we've all been down that road for years.

Let's just let it go at, we disagree about whether or not george bush should be held accountable for the state of the nation during his presidency. I feel he should shoulder a great deal of the responsibility and blame for our current state. That comes with the territory, in my opinion.
If one of my employees commits a crime in the performance of his/her duties, I will also take a lot of the heat. That's one of the reasons why managers get paid more than employees.

You, apparently feel otherwise, as is your right.

As for praising bush for a winning strategy in Iraq...well...first of all, in the Navy, there's a saying, "1 'oh sh*t' erases 10 'attaboys'." It doesn't work the other way. You don't erase hundreds of mistakes with one correct move. Also, failing to a lesser degree isn't success. Success (especially in Iraq) is you and I (at least me in this case) tearfully welcoming all of our troops back to the states. It's not lessening the clusterfork.

Taka
Capster78 at 08:47 AM JST - 2nd January

Why don't you take off the media perscription bush hate sunglasses off for a second. It is well known that the decisions a president makes will not start to effect a country sometimes until well after his term is up. If you believe that you can judge the bush presidency based on what is happening now then you are an idiot. Many of the problems we are having are due to previous administration's. The financial crisis is a direct result of decades of loose loan practices.

So who are you going to blame for the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in mistakes during WW2, WW1, Vietnam war, Korean war, Civil war......... Wait, can you really say that there has ever been a perfectly fought war where every casualty could be accounted for by good decision making? You can not judge a war looking back on it, it is just not fair to do so.
Taka313 at 09:48 AM JST - 2nd January

dip, duck, dodge, deflect and defend at all costs.

The buck stops elsewhere.

It's all really the fault "liberal media conspiracy."

Noted.

Taka
Taka313 at 09:48 AM JST - 2nd January

Forgot the "of the"
Sarge at 09:52 AM JST - 2nd January

"The financial crisis is a direct result of decades of loose loan practices"

Democrat-inspired loose loan practices, I might add. And yet some people want to blame President Bush and the Republicans. Incredible...
Loki520 at 03:45 PM JST - 2nd January

There are many things that need to be taken into consideration if we are gonna try and decide Bush is the worst.... Some of it required him to simply react to situations outside of his control, others were within his control...

No other Prez had to deal with a massive terrorist attack on US soil from a group with a radical agenda. Not a country, but a group. Difficult to go to war with a "group".

The financial collapse. Yes, Bush was president when it occurred, but it occurred because of policies put in place by Carter, expanded by Clinton and all attempts to regulate the industry fought off by the democrats. Yes, the right normally isn't big on regulation, but in this specific instance, they saw it coming and tried.

Trying to execute above war in a flawed manner. Right intent, wrong country. This IS the fault of Bush.

A democratic party intent on fighting him tooth and nail on EVERYTHING, regardless of 'right or wrong'. He was/is so despised that he's been a lame duck for quite a while.

Too damn many RINO's professing support. Hell, he's a RINO himself most of the time.

A right wing radio and blogosphere that, while supportive to a degree, demanded more "conservative" actions from him (as would be desired from a true conservative), thereby turning the base away from him for the most part. Another of those things that is Bushies fault.
pathat at 05:17 PM JST - 3rd January

Capster wrote:

"You can not judge a war looking back on it, it is just not fair to do so."

So I'm glad to hear there is no need for historians in Capster's world.

Or even back-deck discussions of history with my old man. I thought we had informed opinions over the years, what with me being a history major at university and dad spending decades teaching HS social studies.

"It is really easy to judge a war in hindsight. If you want to mull on the past we will never get anywhere."

Spoken like a true head-in-the-sand Bush supporter. Another quote from Capster that should be bronzed and on permanent display.

However, in one sense Capster is correct: We do not need to do any more mulling over the past where the presidency of George W. Bush is concerned. Any intelligent person knows his administration should get a big, fat "F" for most everything it did.

Case closed. Good-bye and good riddance, George W. Bush!
zurcronium at 04:39 AM JST - 4th January

former puppet of Bush now calls him a total failure, which of course he

Former U.S.-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has denounced the policies of President George W. Bush as an "utter failure" that gave rise to the sectarian venom that ravaged his country.

In an interview published on Saturday in the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, Allawi found fault with American management of Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 as well as the government of present Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Allawi ruled Iraq for almost a year after U.S. occupation officials handed power to him in 2004 as prime minister of an interim government. He was selected by a council hand-picked by Washington after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

"Yes, Bush's policies failed utterly," said Allawi, describing the U.S. administration that once backed him. "Utter failure. Failure of U.S. domestic and foreign policy, including fighting terrorism and economic policy."
zurcronium at 07:08 AM JST - 4th January

These discussions won't get anywhere, you're always going to have people on both sides taking things to absurdities where nothing is Bush's fault or everything is. I thought he was completely incompetent as a leader overall, but he did get much better after the 2006 midterm results came in. He started realizing what his biggest mistakes were and moderated them although not completely fixing any. I'll give him credit for that, but he's simply failed on an wide breadth of policies including diplomatically, economically, the deficit, and the Constitution. It's amazing the slack fake conservatives give Bush just because of God, when Bush is probably the most fiscally liberal and socially fascist "Republican" in the last five decades. He makes Bill Clinton look like a fiscal conservative (which he was), and about his only real base of support are religious activists and people who care more about party affiliation than America.

bdiego, in 2006 the democrats took over congress to the great surprise of all of us. But mostly to Rove whose election magic completely ran out. The congress moderated Bush, if not for that the last two years would be more of the same incompetence and failure.

Your last point is valid. The core republicans would support bush even if he committed murder, which of course he indirectly did do in Iraq to hundreds of thousands. Since the media paints issues black and white the whole tone of politics is indeed partisan. But truth is not partisan. And the total failure of the bush administration is evident today to anyone, historians will spell it out in more detail in the years to come. Just wait till January 20 when the fear of Bush retribution will be over and more of the high crimes and misdemeanors of the bush criminal administration comes out. It will be an avalanche of truth.