Bush’s legacy can be summed up in four words: Leave No Disaster Behind. What do I mean by that? Let’s do a short list of them, shall we (in no particular order)?
Allowed 9/11 to occur. Iraq. Patriot Act. Illegal Spying on Americans. Eviscerated civil liberties. Gitmo. Secret Overseas Prisons. Abu Ghraib. Torture. Lies, lies and more lies (about everything). Destroyed CIA. Millions of dead people. Censored (not just ignored) news of global warming. Faith based health care (stem cell research eliminated, CDC and NIH cuts, abstinence only sex education and a Medicare Drug program only Big Pharma and the Insurance industry could love). Katrina. Halliburton. Blackwater. Food and Drug insecurity. Disaster capitalism and a worldwide economic meltdown. Using the US Military as our primary means of conducting foreign relations. Ran the Department of Justice as a criminal conspiracy. Ran the most corrupt and inept administration in American history. Enron. Wall Street. Valerie Plame Wilson. Stole elections. Walter Reed Hospital. Denial of veterans health care and disability benefits. PTSD. Broken US military. Trillion Dollar deficits. Letting North Korea obtain nuclear weapons. Pakistan. Increased global terrorism. Made “Patriotism” synonymous with supporting his policies right or wrong. Made Freedom of Speech a crime against the state. Made the rule of law a joke.
Want more? Post your own. I’ve given myself a headache just recalling this much.
The only positive mark of his Presidency? Made it possible for a Black man with the middle name “Hussein” to be elected President of these Divided States of America, something I would have bet would never happen in my lifetime before Bush. Only Nixon could go to China. Only Bush could pave the way for Obama. It ain’t much, but it’s all he’s got.
If you want the long list, it is quite complete and can be found here:
http://www.netrootsmass.net/hughs-bush-scandals-list/
Much time and effort went into compiling it. You will be impressed if not depressed reading it.
Excellent resource. Thanks for the link.
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The environmental giveaways including the closing/destruction of the EPA research library system, only recently reopened on a much, much smaller scale.
I’m always reminded of the ultimate tragedy here where by denying the will of the people in 2000, the Supreme Ct forced the wrong man into history to run this country. All that is inbetween that date and Jan 20 is a legacy of just how vulnerable this country is to bad leadership’s returns.
Then made an ass out of himself in China by trying to walk through a wall. In Russia by massaging Angela Merkel’s shoulders like he’s in a drunken mating ritual. Dressing up like a pilot and landing on an aircraft carrier like its a kids costume party. Everytime he opened his mouth to say anything I would cringe in embarrassment.
Goodbye George W. Bush you stupid idiot.
Personally, I won’t feel safe in bidding Dubya farewell ’til he’s safely enshrined in his new Texas McMansion.
The sad story of the Terry Schiavo “law”. Pushing to privatize Social Security. Looking back, where would we be if we had allowed Wall Street to take over SS? I shudder at the thought.
These are the items that I imagine an ardent Republican might complain about:
Here is just one example that shows the types of hits Bush has taken from the conservative side:
…followed by a 15-item bullet list.
And here’s the punchline: That linked essay was written circa the 2004 election.
Or to sum it up simply: Bush, his henchmen, and the Republican Party accomplished what al Qaida and all the other America-haters could only fantasize about. He killed and displaced humans on a scale exceeded only by the likes of Pol Pot, Stalin, and Hitler. He destroyed our economy and our economic dominance in the world. He ruined our credibility and respect worldwide. He trashed our Constitutional rights in every possible way. He shat on the rule of law. He turned the idea of meritocracy on its head and gave us instead rule by the worst fools and criminals available. He made the whole concept of crime irrelevant because no one deserves punishment for anything as long as Bush and his cronies run free.
His crimes against America make anything done or contemplated by detainees at Guantanamo or Bush’s hidden torture rooms worldwide mere misdemeanors by comparison.
Bush’s assaults on our country are rivaled only by the “opposition” that still finds it inexpedient to bring him and his cronies to justice. That failure will haunt our dreams of resurgent greatness for generations.
On the positive side, he appointed many women and people of color to high office. The era of first-this and first-that for cabinet officials is over.
On the negative side, most of those appointments were awful and helped lead the country to ruin.
Wouldn’t it be easier to come up with a list of Bush’s great successes?
That would be… um
…well, there’s…er, no not really…
Okay, well, give us a week or two and I’m sure we’ll come up with something.
The ascendancy of George W. Bush made it possible for VP candidate Sarah Palin to be taken seriously.