Tuesday, December 20, 2005

 

W is for WOPICUSHION

No, this is not a typo -- I know this is not the proper spelling of "whoopee cushion," (if there is a "proper" spelling). It's a reflection of my limited acronym skills. But don't let that detract from my official announcement:
"W" is the WOrst President In Combined United States History In Our Nation

Yes, it's official. Here are just a few of the key facts about how W the Boy President is our worst ever.

1. Winning the Iraq War -- again and again. May 1, 2003: Bush announces victory in Iraq. December 15, 2005: Bush projects confidence about the prospects for victory in Iraq.

2. Making the world less safe for democracy. The reason we were supposed to put up with all the other bullshit (e.g., the far right wing domestic agenda, drilling for oil in Alaska nature reserves, privitizing Social Security, etc.) is because Bush was supposed to be strong on national security, particularly in leading us in the war on terrorism. But it is now widely agreed even by bipartisan and middle-to-conservative experts (e.g., 9/11 Commission, Council on Foreign Relations) that the Iraq war has not only stretched our military resources dangerously thin, but has also been a dangerous diversion of leadership attention from the real security issues. This is no joke: the attention and energies of people in charge are a resource, and it's all going into the Iraq war, rather than actual terrorist threats and the growing potential for nuclear threat from rogue states, terrorists and criminal organizations.

3. Fighting against our rights here at home. Bush is now "vigorously" defending the recently disclosed domestic spying by national security agencies on U.S. citizens, in blatant violation of the 4th amendment. What were they going to do with this illegally obtained evidence, when it would not be usable for prosecutions in a court of law? Oh, right, I guess they'd use it in the unconstitutional military tribunals in which the Bush administration claims power to try, convict and punish people without having to go through the court system.

4. Wrecking the economy. Turning a budget surplus into the largest deficit in our nation's history was a challenge, but was accomplished with the creative idea of cutting taxes (primarily for the rich, of course) during a war.

5. Scandal and corruption. Waging a thinly-justified war that creates an opportunity for war profiteering of historic proportions by business interests connected to the administration tops this list, in my book.

6. Dismantling the government. This story, while largely below the national news radar screen, is one of my favorites. Because the Bush administration has no interest in enforcing our environmental, civil rights and antitrust laws, there is not enough work for lawyers in those divisions of the Department of Justice. To fill up their time, the Bush administration is putting the department's civil rights and antitrust lawyers to work on deportation cases. That is, the entire justice department is going into the business of getting rid of "illegal aliens." Meanwhile, the Bush administration is driving out career professionals from DOJ and replacing them with political hacks.

WOPICUSHION Meme: do YOU think Bush is the Worst President in Combined U.S. History In Our Nation? What are your top 6 reasons?

Comments:
Great post, Oscar. I'll have to order my six and do the meme.
 
History shows that there may have been some worse Oval Office managers, but Dubya has to contend for the worst two-term President. The level of disconnect of his administration is almost unfathomable. This isn't even about Republicans and Democrats anymore.

But he is who he is, and you have to be deluded to think the person you voted for is going to change for the better once he's in office. (This isn't the NBA draft. You don't elect a leader based on potential.) For that reason, I demand an apology from every American who voted for Bush, and at least a sheepish, embarrassed look from anyone who abstained.
 
OK, here goes (annotation to follow later chez moi):

1. Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S. Bush determined to clear brush in Crawford.

2. The Iraq war. Where to start?

3. The end of fiscal conservatism.

4. The Republican war on science.

5. Heckuva job, Brownie.

6. Stasi lite.

So, some significant overlap with yours.
 
1. making this a christian nation

2. making this a *very* christian nation

3. making this such a christian nation that non-christians must be uncomfortable in order to be deemed patriotic

4. making this such a narrow, fundamentalist form of a very christian nation that not only are non-christians uncomfortable, but so are many regular old christians

5. making this such an anti-science form of a fundamentalist form of a very christian nation that not only are non-christians and regular christians uncomfortable, but so are almost all the people who ever took biology in college

6. taking the lord's name in vain -- i don't think god votes republican or roots for america to go on a 21st century version of the crusades.
 
Stasi *lite*?
 
1. Hatred of women: blocking the HPV, morning-after pill, etc., attempting to outlaw abortion.
2. Hatred of the poor: now championing a so-called budget-tightening plan that will increase health-care and child-care costs for the poor.
3. Hatred of youth: cutting billions in college loans and grants.
4. Hatred of the aged: jeopardizing social security--not only with the staggering deficit but also with attempts to privatize it, cutting veterans' benefits, instituting Medicare Plan B--a welfare plan for pharma at the expense of the elderly who need affordable drugs
5. Hatred of minorities: "Non-white faces have been hired for big-ticket jobs so that a black woman vouches for an unjust war, a black man defends it, one Hispanic justifies the use of torture while another supervises the slaughter of foreign civilians, and a Vietnamese refugee writes the law to maim American civil liberties. The jobs for these minorities are better than they used to be, but the tasks are no cleaner." http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2004/11/dirty-diversity-bush-minority.php

6. Hatred of Jesus Christ--yes, how ironic: "How you treat the least among us is how you treat me" JC said. (See above.)
B
 
More evidence of dishonesty: This is Bush in a 2004 speech talking about wiretaps.

"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."

Never mind the fact that he re-authorized the spy program over thirty times since 2001.

(see entire speech at White House website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040420-2.html)
 
How about FDR?

1 - Imprisonment of over 100,000 innocent Japanese-Americans during WWII.

2 - Authorized firebombing of Japanese cities which resulted in the deaths of several hundred thousand innocent people. This was prior to the use of nuclear weapons by Truman.

3 - Tried to pack the Supreme Court.

4 - Responsible for some of the bloated programs that contribute to our deficit.

5 - His inability to support civil rights.

6 - He was a chain smoker who endangered the lives of his family and coworkers with second-hand smoke.

I'm being half-serious, but seriously Oscar, how do you feel about 1, 2, 3, and 5, and how they compare to what Bush has done?
 
Too deliciously fun to pass by. I'm focusing on characteristics more than incidents.

1) Complete lack of realization of the importance of Hurricane Katrina

2) Enjoyment of rich lifestyle while others suffer, in blatant view of those who suffer and without remorse (e.g., hanging out at Crawford during a war)

3) Belief that he is above the law.

4) Fact that he probably has an IQ below 100 (average). No one should be elected who is not at least average

5) Lack of shame for using spin to the point where its not even spinning the truth (How "well" Iraq is going).

Honestly, I could rant on for DAYS though...
 
Bryan:

You forgot Lincoln: (1) inhumane prisoner of war camps (tho not as bad as Andersonville in the South); (2) authorized burning of Georgia; (3) argued that Supreme Court (Dred Scott) decision should be totally ignored; (4) supported emancipation of slaves, but dragged feet on equal pay for black soldiers and expressed view that blacks would never be social equals to whites.

Ooops, wait a second. I guess he also led the country through its greatest crisis ever; and FDR led the country through the greatest crisis of the 20th century. Bush has led us into some shit, but not through anything...
 
Thanks for responding Oscar. I guess that you think it is okay to take away our rights and liberties in times of crisis. I'm not sure how 9/11 will rank historically in terms of a national crisis, but it seems to at least reach into an area where Bush's more minor transgressions would be at least as reasonable as FDR's more major transgressions were.
 
Bush is doing a heck of a job. FDR--president during the 30's and 40's--was soooo backwards!

Thanks, BS, for enlightening me!
 
Is Dubya any worse than Chester Arthur, that mutton-chopped bastard?
 
csinla, you made me laugh out loud. The difference between Bush and that bastard, Arthur, is that Bush is alive and doing things to us, right now, and Arthur's in his tomb, not bothering anyone anymore (except possibly presidential historians).
 
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