h***@theback.do
2009-01-16 16:39:20 UTC
So Long Worst President Ever; 10 Reasons History Will Hang You
By Bernie Horn, Campaign for America's Future. Posted January 16,
2009.
There are probably a hundred examples where Bush conservatism failed;
here are the top 10.
George W. Bush presented his valedictory last night, desperately
seeking thanks and congratulations. So here goes: Thanks and
congratulations, W, for showing the world that today's conservatism is
an abject failure.
Thanks to Bush, we know that conservatives are not fiscally
responsible, they are not for small government, they don't stand up
for moral values and they won't make Americans one bit safer.
Conservatives aren't even true defenders of "free markets" -- having
presided over the biggest market bailout in the world.
After eight long years, Bush can no longer fool the public. Polls show
that he is the most unpopular president in the history of survey
research. When the 2006 and 2008 elections are considered together,
Bush policies resulted in the landslide rejection of his party at both
the federal and state levels. There are probably a hundred examples
where Bush conservatism failed, but let's stick with the top 10.
1. The worst recession since the 1930s. The current recession will be
the deepest and longest downturn since the Great Depression. And
unlike other recessions, this one was directly caused by conservative
anti-regulatory policy. In fact, recent evaluations show that Bush
policies never created any real growth -- the ephemeral financial
upswings of the past eight years were based on market bubbles and
economic Band-Aids.
2. The worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The Bush
administration, flacking an "ownership society," helped manufacture
the housing bubble. When it burst, Americans lost $6 trillion in
housing wealth (so far), fueling a market crash that has cost
Americans $8 trillion of stock wealth, according to economist Dean
Baker. On a grand scale, we've been mugged.
3. The worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country.
That's what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., correctly
called the Iraq war. This pre-emptive war -- based on phony pretenses
-- is now the second longest in our nation's history (after Vietnam).
Some 35,000 Americans are dead or wounded, as well as an enormous
number of innocent Iraqis. And even today, more than five years later,
can anyone explain why Bush marched us into this quagmire?
4. Unprecedented rejection of human rights. Recently, a Bush
administration official finally admitted that the U.S. government
engaged in torture at Guantanamo Bay detention center. Bush admitted
that he personally authorized waterboarding. While these clear
violations of the Geneva Conventions would have been unthinkable a few
years ago, today we're not surprised. From Abu Ghraib and
extraordinary rendition, to years-long detention of innocents and the
unrestrained killing of civilians by U.S.-paid mercenaries, this
administration has systematically squandered our nation's moral
standing in the world, making us less able to protect Americans and
American interests worldwide.
5. Watergate-style abuses of power. As the House Judiciary Committee
staff has documented, Bush used the politics of fear and division to
justify warrantless wiretapping of innocent Americans (including U.S.
soldiers fighting overseas), spying on peaceful domestic groups and
the use of national security letters to pry into the private records
of millions of Americans. He also presided over illegal politicization
of the Justice Department and retribution against critics. In fact,
Bush claimed the authority to disobey hundreds of laws -- as if
Richard Nixon were right when he famously said: "When the president
does it, that means it's not illegal."
6. Unprecedented increases in inequality. The Economic Policy
Institute reports, "For the first time since the Census Bureau began
tracking such data back in the mid-1940s, the real incomes of
middle-class families are lower at the end of this business cycle than
they were when it started." That's because Bush policy was designed to
increase economic inequality. The richest 1 percent of the population
received 36 percent of the Bush tax cuts; the least-affluent 40
percent received only 9 percent. While the rich got exponentially
richer, the poverty rate and the percentage of uninsured dramatically
increased.
7. A culture of sleaze. This was an administration without shame.
Kicked off by Vice President Dick Cheney's secret energy task force,
the administration fostered a "greed is good" culture. The subsequent
conservative money scandals (Jack Abramoff; White House officials J.
Steven Griles and David Safavian; Republicans Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio,
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Rep. Duke Cunningham of
California and Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska) and other lawlessness
(Cheney's Chief of Staff O. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Sen. David Vitter
of Louisiana, Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho) have toppled the conservative
"moral values" façade into the gutter, where it belongs.
8. Blind rejection of science. The Bush administration thumbed its
nose at scientific evidence that contradicted conservative political
goals. The resulting lies about global warming, endangered species,
toxic chemicals and consumer products threaten the health and safety
of every American. And the virtual outlawing of stem cell research has
delayed important medical advances by years, causing immeasurable
suffering and loss of life.
9. Utter refusal to protect the health, safety and legal rights of
Americans. Following the conservative business-is-always-right
philosophy, Bush dismantled the agencies and rules designed to protect
consumers from unscrupulous businesses, workers from reckless
employers and small companies from anti-competitive large companies.
If conservatives didn't like a federal law, they blocked, hindered or
defunded agency enforcement.
10. Presiding over our nation's worst natural disaster, and not
caring. Hurricane Katrina was transformed from a calamity into a
national disgrace by the sheer incompetence and indifference of the
Bush administration. Before the hurricane struck, Bush had downsized
the Federal Emergency Management Agency and placed in charge a
political crony with no relevant experience. When Katrina ripped
through Mississippi and Louisiana and inflicted nearly $100 billion in
damages in New Orleans to become the costliest hurricane in U.S.
history, FEMA was unprepared to help, and thousands of Americans
suffered the consequences. More than three years later, New Orleans
still has not recovered.
So, congratulations for being the worst president in American history.
That's not just my personal opinion; that's the opinion of 109
historians polled by the History News Network. Fully 61 percent ranked
Bush as the "worst ever;" 98 percent labeled his
George W. Bush presented his valedictory last night, desperately
seeking thanks and congratulations. So here goes: Thanks and
congratulations, W, for showing the world that today's conservatism is
an abject failure.
Thanks to Bush, we know that conservatives are not fiscally
responsible, they are not for small government, they don't stand up
for moral values and they won't make Americans one bit safer.
Conservatives aren't even true defenders of "free markets" -- having
presided over the biggest market bailout in the world.
After eight long years, Bush can no longer fool the public. Polls show
that he is the most unpopular president in the history of survey
research. When the 2006 and 2008 elections are considered together,
Bush policies resulted in the landslide rejection of his party at both
the federal and state levels. There are probably a hundred examples
where Bush conservatism failed, but let's stick with the top 10.
By Bernie Horn, Campaign for America's Future. Posted January 16,
2009.
There are probably a hundred examples where Bush conservatism failed;
here are the top 10.
George W. Bush presented his valedictory last night, desperately
seeking thanks and congratulations. So here goes: Thanks and
congratulations, W, for showing the world that today's conservatism is
an abject failure.
Thanks to Bush, we know that conservatives are not fiscally
responsible, they are not for small government, they don't stand up
for moral values and they won't make Americans one bit safer.
Conservatives aren't even true defenders of "free markets" -- having
presided over the biggest market bailout in the world.
After eight long years, Bush can no longer fool the public. Polls show
that he is the most unpopular president in the history of survey
research. When the 2006 and 2008 elections are considered together,
Bush policies resulted in the landslide rejection of his party at both
the federal and state levels. There are probably a hundred examples
where Bush conservatism failed, but let's stick with the top 10.
1. The worst recession since the 1930s. The current recession will be
the deepest and longest downturn since the Great Depression. And
unlike other recessions, this one was directly caused by conservative
anti-regulatory policy. In fact, recent evaluations show that Bush
policies never created any real growth -- the ephemeral financial
upswings of the past eight years were based on market bubbles and
economic Band-Aids.
2. The worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The Bush
administration, flacking an "ownership society," helped manufacture
the housing bubble. When it burst, Americans lost $6 trillion in
housing wealth (so far), fueling a market crash that has cost
Americans $8 trillion of stock wealth, according to economist Dean
Baker. On a grand scale, we've been mugged.
3. The worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country.
That's what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., correctly
called the Iraq war. This pre-emptive war -- based on phony pretenses
-- is now the second longest in our nation's history (after Vietnam).
Some 35,000 Americans are dead or wounded, as well as an enormous
number of innocent Iraqis. And even today, more than five years later,
can anyone explain why Bush marched us into this quagmire?
4. Unprecedented rejection of human rights. Recently, a Bush
administration official finally admitted that the U.S. government
engaged in torture at Guantanamo Bay detention center. Bush admitted
that he personally authorized waterboarding. While these clear
violations of the Geneva Conventions would have been unthinkable a few
years ago, today we're not surprised. From Abu Ghraib and
extraordinary rendition, to years-long detention of innocents and the
unrestrained killing of civilians by U.S.-paid mercenaries, this
administration has systematically squandered our nation's moral
standing in the world, making us less able to protect Americans and
American interests worldwide.
5. Watergate-style abuses of power. As the House Judiciary Committee
staff has documented, Bush used the politics of fear and division to
justify warrantless wiretapping of innocent Americans (including U.S.
soldiers fighting overseas), spying on peaceful domestic groups and
the use of national security letters to pry into the private records
of millions of Americans. He also presided over illegal politicization
of the Justice Department and retribution against critics. In fact,
Bush claimed the authority to disobey hundreds of laws -- as if
Richard Nixon were right when he famously said: "When the president
does it, that means it's not illegal."
6. Unprecedented increases in inequality. The Economic Policy
Institute reports, "For the first time since the Census Bureau began
tracking such data back in the mid-1940s, the real incomes of
middle-class families are lower at the end of this business cycle than
they were when it started." That's because Bush policy was designed to
increase economic inequality. The richest 1 percent of the population
received 36 percent of the Bush tax cuts; the least-affluent 40
percent received only 9 percent. While the rich got exponentially
richer, the poverty rate and the percentage of uninsured dramatically
increased.
7. A culture of sleaze. This was an administration without shame.
Kicked off by Vice President Dick Cheney's secret energy task force,
the administration fostered a "greed is good" culture. The subsequent
conservative money scandals (Jack Abramoff; White House officials J.
Steven Griles and David Safavian; Republicans Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio,
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Rep. Duke Cunningham of
California and Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska) and other lawlessness
(Cheney's Chief of Staff O. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Sen. David Vitter
of Louisiana, Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho) have toppled the conservative
"moral values" façade into the gutter, where it belongs.
8. Blind rejection of science. The Bush administration thumbed its
nose at scientific evidence that contradicted conservative political
goals. The resulting lies about global warming, endangered species,
toxic chemicals and consumer products threaten the health and safety
of every American. And the virtual outlawing of stem cell research has
delayed important medical advances by years, causing immeasurable
suffering and loss of life.
9. Utter refusal to protect the health, safety and legal rights of
Americans. Following the conservative business-is-always-right
philosophy, Bush dismantled the agencies and rules designed to protect
consumers from unscrupulous businesses, workers from reckless
employers and small companies from anti-competitive large companies.
If conservatives didn't like a federal law, they blocked, hindered or
defunded agency enforcement.
10. Presiding over our nation's worst natural disaster, and not
caring. Hurricane Katrina was transformed from a calamity into a
national disgrace by the sheer incompetence and indifference of the
Bush administration. Before the hurricane struck, Bush had downsized
the Federal Emergency Management Agency and placed in charge a
political crony with no relevant experience. When Katrina ripped
through Mississippi and Louisiana and inflicted nearly $100 billion in
damages in New Orleans to become the costliest hurricane in U.S.
history, FEMA was unprepared to help, and thousands of Americans
suffered the consequences. More than three years later, New Orleans
still has not recovered.
So, congratulations for being the worst president in American history.
That's not just my personal opinion; that's the opinion of 109
historians polled by the History News Network. Fully 61 percent ranked
Bush as the "worst ever;" 98 percent labeled his
George W. Bush presented his valedictory last night, desperately
seeking thanks and congratulations. So here goes: Thanks and
congratulations, W, for showing the world that today's conservatism is
an abject failure.
Thanks to Bush, we know that conservatives are not fiscally
responsible, they are not for small government, they don't stand up
for moral values and they won't make Americans one bit safer.
Conservatives aren't even true defenders of "free markets" -- having
presided over the biggest market bailout in the world.
After eight long years, Bush can no longer fool the public. Polls show
that he is the most unpopular president in the history of survey
research. When the 2006 and 2008 elections are considered together,
Bush policies resulted in the landslide rejection of his party at both
the federal and state levels. There are probably a hundred examples
where Bush conservatism failed, but let's stick with the top 10.