Everyone Who Dislikes/Likes George W. Bush, Tell Us Why In Your Own Words (1 Viewer)

[blackadder]

mg450, a well-thought out and logical assessment. I especially liked the touch at the end.

Blackadder, one more point on "copy and paste."

I don't want to hit this too hard or directly point a finger at anybody, but you can go to various websites in the political spectrum and readily find a canned set of links and posts for the purpose of indoctrinating new members or swaying opinions or rebutting the opposition.

A free and open discussion is one thing, spreading Ann Coulter's vicious bile or Limbaugh's twisted lies or seeking to "educate" people using using a mind-numbing formula of postings laid out at ThinkProgress is another thing entirely. Indoctrination in the guise of discussion is still indoctrination and it's something I personally resent from either side.

I do my best to stay away from that stuff. I do have a tendency to go to the Guardian or Haaretz, which would both be cosidered left leaning papers in their respective countries. But I also find a lot in Washington Times (right) and oter centrist sources.

I do try to find as many primary sources as possible, or a few sources that cut across the political spectrum that agree with my position. "Opinion pieces" by the like of Coulter, Limbaugh or even Al Franken I do not care for. Too partisan.

But I'll try to be mindful of "link fatigue."

 

[DadsDream]

I don't stay away from that stuff. I browse it to see what impact (if any) it's having on the web or in the media in general or the posts here.

Sure, I visit DailyKos, LittleGreenFootballs, DemocraticUnderground, Michelle Malkin, a sampling of the political spectrum and all the mainstream media sites every day.

Ann Coulter is off my list though. She's turned into that blonde chick from the last Indiana Jones movie as far as I'm concerned, remember her? Limbaugh charges money for you to even read his tripe.

Occasionally, I'll see a piece on a TV news show that will pique my interest.

The interview with the Baathist Party member/village chief was one of those. They didn't show him on camera, but showed shots of the town with armed Baathists roaming the streets...armed with ammo we just gave them.

From their perspective, they hate Islamic fundamentalists like the ayatollahs in Iran and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The way they see it, they stood watch for us for 30 years, keeping these fanatics out of Iraq. We gave them the guns, they did the dirty work. They didn't mind doing it either.

Then, George Bush goes all cowboy on the town and all Baathists and declares them to be the enemy!

So, they started letting the foreign fighters through the border and started fighting against us.

The foreign fighters drew bloody responses in the form of U.S. Marines fighting their way through town.

The foreign fighters then exercised reprisals on anybody who even remotely aided us. They killed tribal leaders, their families and influential people in the community.

The backlash was swift. The old Baathists started rounding up and executing the foreign fighters, Saddam style, like the old days.

The Marines reported this to the Pentagon, the Pentagon woke up and contacted the CIA and an offer was made and accepted.

So, now, in the corner of Iraq where Syria, Iraq and Iran merge, there's a village full of Baathists, freshly resupplied with weapons and ammo by the CIA, plugging up what was a porous hole in the border. They ain't letting nobody through, either.

Funny thing, they said they were willing to forgive George Bush for being stupid in the first place, as long as we keep giving them what they need to keep out the foreigners.

It's a weird, weird world out there.

 

[JimEverett]

I like George because he can get really good coke.

 

[Taurus]

I don't stay away from that stuff. I browse it to see what impact (if any) it's having on the web or in the media in general or the posts here.

Sure, I visit DailyKos, LittleGreenFootballs, DemocraticUnderground, Michelle Malkin, a sampling of the political spectrum and all the mainstream media sites every day.

Ann Coulter is off my list though. She's turned into that blonde chick from the last Indiana Jones movie as far as I'm concerned, remember her?

She was a much more sympathetic figure than Ann. I see Ann like a skinny, younger version of Tony Soprano's mom.

 

[saints225]

He sat there in Crawford for three days with the most expensive and elaborate mobile command post in the history of man at his disposal.

He did leave Crawford, remember he went to California the day after Katrina.

 

[DadsDream]

That's what I meant in the paragraph above the one you posted.

Total abdication of the power at his disposal. He kept up fluff piece meetings with political groups and remained technically "on vacation" in Crawford.

 

[saints225]

I don't like George Bush personally, but I dislike him because of the policies he's allowed to be enacted in his name. I don't think alot of the agendas pushed by his administration are ideas he's come up with or really supports, but are the policies of the special interest groups he's cozied up with for votes. I don't think George Bush is dumb, I actually think he's really smart and that his mispronunciation of words and some of the "dumb" things he does are an act to make him seem as though he's a common person. There's no way you can drill for oil, never find any, yet still become a millionaire if you're dumb.

 

[saints225]

That's what I meant in the paragraph above the one you posted.

I know, the guitar thing was scheduled far in advance and he refused to cancel. I guess he really wanted that free guitar.

 

[DadsDream]

I know, the guitar thing was scheduled far in advance and he refused to cancel. I guess he really wanted that free guitar.

A month before you joined SR.com, EE Board had a Katrina Political Cartoons thread

Here's a link from the Archives:

http://srarchives.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=173047

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com

 

[dapperdan]

Ok, now that I’m home from work I can give this a go, no links, I promise.

Dislikes about the Bush Administration Policies:
1. Spending. Fiscal responsibility has different meanings for different people. Some feel that large budgets are fiscally irresponsible. In my opinion, budget deficits are not proxies for budgetary responsibility. One can be perfectly responsible and run fiscal deficits. My view of fiscal responsibility is more toward reigning in social spending. In this area of social spending, W has spent more on social programs, and more importantly, increased the rate of spending on these programs more than any President since Nixon. In terms of social spending, Bush resembles Nixon. He uses social spending as a political tool, not necessarily by buying votes, but by neutralizing his liberal critics. During Reagan’s tenure, it was routine for the media to trot out a fellow by the name of Mitch (I can’t remember his last name) who organized the homeless across the street from the White House. W remembers this and figures, ok, they ain’t going to trot out Mitch on my watch because I’m going to spend more on this than Clinton ever dream. I haven’t seen Mitch, or any homeless advocates showing up on the CBS Evening News during Bush’s watch. Lot’s of critics, but no Mitch. Same thing for the old gummers. Bush puts out the idiotic prescription drug plan, spends tons of money on a really wasteful program. But guess what, the old gummers weren’t a problem when it came to the 1984 re-election. Bush has his economic advisors devising his tax plan, which is costing the wealthy much more than is ever admitted to on this board, and Karl Rove devising his spending policy.

2. Communication. The Administration is terrible at explaining itself. Just awful. The most recent example is the recent Attorney firings. Gonzalez should come right out, explain why they were fired, and tell Shumer to have a coke and a smile and that’s the end of it. Instead, he’s hemming and hawing, looking guilty. But much more important than the recent firings, the Administration has done a horrible job of explaining, in detail, the Iraq war. Terrible job. The internet age is no time to attempt to parse words and hide behind vague slogans/sayings. The internet age is, more than at any time in the history of mankind, a time where leadership is more transparent than ever. It is the age of truth. CBS News has felt the sting. And political leaders are finding out that the old way of delivering information is outmoded. The Iraq war overshadows everything else in politics today; and the Administration is downright inept at explaining their strategy to the American people. To use a boxing analogy, the Administration is terrible at counter-punching with their political opponents. Their opponents will say something that is easily taken apart, any high school sophomore debater could dissemble many of the Murtha arguments, for example, but the Bush Administration typically stays silent. Not that they have to answer each and every argument their opponents bring up, but on the big issue of the day, you simply cannot allow the argument to be ceded in the minds of the American people through silence. This silence is a tremendous injustice to the country.

Likes:
1. Big picture on terrorism. W is the first President in my lifetime to treat terrorism with a military response to mesh with covert operations versus dealing with terrorism through the prism of a criminalized/prosecutorial approach. Some would say it is inevitable after 9/11; I do not believe that to be true. For example, if Al Gore were to win the 2000 election, I do not believe he would have taken nearly as militaristic of an approach. This is a huge shift in our attitudes. I also believes that with regards to civil liberties, the civil liberties lost are relatively minor up to this point. And by taking this military approach relatively early in the game, it reduces the probability that the country takes a much more totalitarian lurch in the future.

Many of the most interesting issues regarding Bush, I honestly cannot make judgment. For example, the overhaul of the military as far as internal structure, as well as the way we conduct military operations appears to have changed significantly. The coordination between the branches of military have improved significantly. This is merely observational, I’ve got no military experience to back that up. Also, this is hardly the doing of Bush, it is a part of a coordinated policy shift that goes back long before Bush took office, from my understanding. Often times a President gets credit or blame for things that are really none of his doing. They are natural extensions of policies which have been in place, or are evolving. There are times that it’s tough to separate institutional policies from Administration policies.

Also interesting, what I’d like to know after the Administration leaves office is why the sudden shift with regards to Iran. The Iranians essentially put up the Army For Rent for the Afghanistan invasion that we paid for; it’s also obvious that we turned on the Iranians. The question is: why did we turn on the Iranians. What happened with that relationship.

 

[dapperdan]

Some who have read this board for a few years may be surprised that I didn’t mention the tax cuts. Here’s why. After doing considerable reading on the subject I’ve come to the following conclusions: 1) the Bush taxes “cuts” have had an overly burdensome impact on the most productive members of society. Translated: the productive rich are paying too much in taxes. The “tax cut” has been a tax increase on the top tax brackets in the country. I’m sure most will think I’m over the top crazy to say this, but take a look at the actual tax numbers. Not the rhetoric. Look at the numbers. The wealthiest Americans, as a group, are paying a much higher share of taxes today than they were before the tax “cuts”.

So what has accounted for the economic recovery, you may ask. Well, first off, the tax cuts did initially have a stimulative affect, which was needed at the time (2002, 2003). But the bulk of the economic boost the economy received in the 2002-2004 timeframe came from artificially low interest rates brought on by the Fed, which led to the housing boom. I was reading a study from Northern Trust over a year ago, which concluded that low interest rates were basically responsible for the vast majority of the economic gains coming out of recession. The more I look at the data coming out, the more I believe that report. I put up a thread in late 2005 talking about a virtual certainty of an economic slowdown in 2006 versus 2005. After all the revisions have settled in, that forecast, I’ll admit a very low risk forecast, has proven to be true. But the reasons behind the forecast are what is important.

 

[CitySaint]

He was illegally elected because his brother purged his own fellow citizens from the voter rolls
From the beginning before he was even “elected” he was stomping the rights of citizens guaranteed by the constitution into the mud
He gave a tax cut to all his rich buddies
He was involved with Enron and Ken Lay
The Bush and Bin Ladens have a great relationship
Bin Laden killed 3 thousand Americans
Before 9-11 Bush ordered the CIA to back off hunting down Bin Laden
After 9-11 he flew all of his friends (the Bin Ladens) out of the country
Patriot act
Military commissions act
LIED to get us into a war with Iraq so he could pay off all his rich buddies
He blew the cover on an under cover CIA agent that could have gotten her killed he did this because he wasn’t going to let anyone stop him from going to war.
Murdered thousands of U.S. soldiers
Murdered tens of thousands of Iraqis
Won’t listen to pentagon commanders on Iraq
Won’t listen to generals on the ground in Iraq
If their opinions differ from his he fires them
Won’t listen to congress on Iraq
Won’t listen to the American people on Iraq
Probably won’t listen to the Iraqis on Iraq
He acts like he is a Texan when he is really a yuppy from up north
He acts like a cowboy but he is afraid of horses
Pre Katrina he didn’t provide enough funds to protect New Orleans
During Katrina he just let people die
Post Katrina he has done nothing to protect my city, the protection we have is probably worse than before Katrina. If another hurricane hit he would just let people die again.
He wants to go to war with Iran and will LIE to get that one going also.


There is nothing that I like about Bush. He is a criminal and his administration is full of criminals. They should all be arrested and put on trial for treason.

 

[DadsDream]

Dapperdan, LOL, funny you should mention "Mitch."

In Journalism school, they showed us a film of a student reporter approaching a bum sleeping on a vent on an icy cold Washington day. The student offered the guy a cab ride to a shelter, money and a job referral. The man angrily chased the student away and went back to curl up the vent.

Later, the man was picked up by a car and another man took his place. The car went to the headquarters of a political action committee. The man entered looking like a homeless bum and walked out wearing a suit.

Although he'd been interviewed for various evening news shows as a homeless person and an indication of Reagan's neglect of social issues, he was actually a paid political activist/actor symbolically playing the part of a homeless man.

I never forgot that video.

CitySaint, know what? I honestly believe that all you wrote is your honest opinion. I totally disagree and take great exception to about half of it, but you're entitled to your opinion.

 

[BullDawg]

Since I am on military orders, I am bound by regulation to not say anything negative about the Commander-in-Chief. This law was reemphasized during the Clinton administration and somewhere I have a copy of the official message to all members of the US Armed Forces to prove it. Therefore I will abstain from commenting at this time.

Somebody bump this thread after April 6.

 

[Comus]

but have governed like a drunked spend happy liberal.

As a liberal drunkard I resent that remark and would have you know ,I too try to spend my children's money. and I don't have kids.