tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post1391693488671541840..comments2023-10-31T09:14:26.930-05:00Comments on Manifesto Joe's Texas Blues: Bush's Last 10 Days, Part 1: Recipe For Fiscal DisasterManifesto Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06521151220297061304noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-33176091749796644182009-01-12T15:54:00.000-06:002009-01-12T15:54:00.000-06:00Judge a president not by what they say (since poli...Judge a president not by what they say (since politicians are notorious for their false promises) but rather by their actions in office.<BR/><BR/>To that end, the ideologically driven president has done nothing good for most American people. Perhaps by his own measures, he has been remarkably successful (the income gap hasn't been this big since the 1920s, and the robber barons of our time are richer than ever before), but by any objective measure, it has been an enormous failure.<BR/><BR/>The US had 2 major recessions, a terrorist attack (which was possibly preventable with a properly functioning intelligence and security agency), 2 major wars, a record surplus turned into a record deficit, the reputation of the US turned into mud, general inaction on our warming climate, the US falling behind even on education and healthcare (in comparison to other developed nations), an increasingly corrupt government, and a bunch of lunatics who more or less ruined the nation. <BR/><BR/>By that measure, he was utterly horrible. And the US is in deep danger of falling over a cliff that many seem to refuse to acknowledge exists.AltandMainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01014823246265859953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-37299418987969022172009-01-12T15:15:00.000-06:002009-01-12T15:15:00.000-06:00Hi, Helen:Good points. But please note that in my ...Hi, Helen:<BR/>Good points. But please note that in my comment I said "deliberately evil." One of this blog's main purposes since the beginning has been to point out the evil of the outcomes of Bush's policies, and his basic unfitness for the office.<BR/><BR/>But it's a sad fact that many people on Earth walk around leaving disasters big and small in their wake; but if you asked them, "Are you evil? Look what you did," they would say, "No!" What makes these sorts especially dangerous is the absence of self-doubt.Manifesto Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06521151220297061304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-26345116956230779472009-01-12T09:56:00.000-06:002009-01-12T09:56:00.000-06:00Let me see if I understand this correctly: you're ...Let me see if I understand this correctly: you're saying that if a leader is convinced he is right, then he's not evil?<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure I buy that argument. Hitler, for example, was passionately and fanatically convinced in every fibre of his being that he was doing the right thing for Germany.<BR/><BR/>Ironically, Bush himself would disagree strongly with your viewpoint---as long as it applied to other people.<BR/><BR/>This, after all, is a man who gleefully embraced the death penalty as governor. Pleas to spare certain inmates from lethal injection never swayed Bush in the least bit. It didn't matter if the inmate had had a trial in which his attorney slept through the proceedings. It didn't matter if the inmate was mentally retarded.<BR/><BR/>In Bush's view, if they were on Death Row, they were all evil, period, and they all deserved execution, with no exceptions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-15750855584666204462009-01-11T16:42:00.000-06:002009-01-11T16:42:00.000-06:00Manifesto Joe, I too would categorize Bush as the ...Manifesto Joe, I too would categorize Bush as the absolute worst President in our history, even worse than Buchanan. Why? Buchanan's notoriety sprung from his inaction on key issues like slavery, which only led to inevitable conflict. His inaction did nothing to destroy our economy or our prestige in the world. Bush, on the other hand, engaged in a pre-emptive war of aggression opposed by the rest of the world, tax cut and spent us into de facto bankruptcy, and has economically enslaved the next several generations. Plus, he deliberately tried to drive a wedge between various groups of Americans on numerous occasions, and battered and bruised our Constitution with his defiance of Congress and abuse of power. NO President has ever been so detrimental in so many areas as has Bush. I am counting the days, and would love to see him tried for war crimes, too.Jack Jodellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02165430903903838990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-91777009564674603452009-01-11T15:15:00.000-06:002009-01-11T15:15:00.000-06:00Hi, Anon:I know about the poll you mention. It see...Hi, Anon:<BR/>I know about the poll you mention. It seems hard, though, to compare a president in James Buchanan's day to a U.S. "president" now, so I was reluctant to accuse beyond modern times.<BR/><BR/>Hi, Marc:<BR/>I'm not sure Bush is deliberately evil so much as he is absolutely convinced of his rightness on all matters. This is a man who has said that he believes that God talks to him. That could actually make him even more dangerous than an amoral Machiavellian like Cheney. Thankfully, we will be rid of them both in 9 days.Manifesto Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06521151220297061304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-15050160187321759652009-01-11T11:36:00.000-06:002009-01-11T11:36:00.000-06:00Bush gets my vote as the worst-ever president in U...Bush gets my vote as the worst-ever president in U.S. history.<BR/><BR/>The usual "worst-ever" candidate, James Buchanan, was indeed a terrible president.<BR/><BR/>But Buchanan wasn't evil.<BR/><BR/>Incompetent, yes. A failed leader, yes, A mediocre politician who failed the test of his office, yes.<BR/><BR/>But he wasn't evil.<BR/><BR/>George W. Bush, on the other hand, is evil.<BR/><BR/>This is a man, after all, who yucked it up in a "comedy" skit about Iraq's missing WMDs.<BR/><BR/>That goes beyond bad taste. That goes beyond being a bumbling, mediocre president.<BR/><BR/>That is pure evil.<BR/><BR/>And George W. Bush is clearly an evil man (in addition to all his other flaws).Marc McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17105754072842852126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-35017336200720247362009-01-11T02:33:00.000-06:002009-01-11T02:33:00.000-06:00In an April 2008 poll of over 100 historians condu...In an April 2008 poll of over 100 historians conducted by George Mason University's History News Network, an astonishing 61 percent <A HREF="http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html" REL="nofollow">said</A> George W. Bush is the worst president ever in the nation's history. Not just in modern times. But in the entire history of America.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com