Beat downs of old Presidents
 

So I says this to myself the other day when I saw the Bush bashing go into high gear. Why do people feel the need to beat down every president that has run this country the best they could.

Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Ford (Forgot to add thanks Spence) Bush1 and now Bush2. Every president in the last 30 years has been ripped apart by people. I don't think it's right, these people were/are great men. They were elected and ran the country for at least 4 years which is no easy job. I think some of these guys have gotten a serious raw deal. No matter what you or I say these people did what they thought was right and that should be more important to the American people than naming a friggin sewer station after them :(

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584386627599251.html

Wow, that WSJ article is some serious sour grapes...Dude, get over it.

But I don't think you can make a blanket statement as every president is different.

Nixon did lie after all, and his authoritarian leadership didn't help matters much.

I see you missed Ford, wonder why?

Carter gets ripped for the wrong reasons. Yes, he wasn't effective but he also was right on energy (for the time) and the first evangellical President.

Reagan doesn't get ripped much aside from the far Left who found his social cuts excessive. I'd say the vast majority of the Country looks at him in a positive light.

Bush 41 doesn't get ripped all that much.

Clinton get's ripped by the Right because he was lucky enough to be in office during an economic boom. They're just jealous.

But to Bush 43, sure he's worked hard and tried to what he thinks is best for the Country...yea...but a serious critique of his management style, policy and administration integrity is so painful that perhaps, for the good of us all, he does indeed deserve it.

-spence

Because Bush 2 is the Worst President in the history of this country. In the end I feel he will go down as a simple minded tool. Wow that felt good.

Look at the mess Obama is inheriting!! I do not envy him!:hs:

In defense of Bush....look at what he had to deal with!! 911!!! Boy I remember everyone thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread when that happened! You blame Bush for what??? Lets hear what he did wrong???

I missed Ford because I forgot him Spence. I used that article as an example is all.

Another one as said by the article too is Harry Truman. Truman was one of this country's greatest presidents. I did numerous essays on him in school years ago.

"We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."

"The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House."

"his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House."[/QUOTE]


I doubt it. Goodbye and good riddence Dounce.

I am not Bush fan but I have to state that he cannot be blamed for all that is wrong with the Country right now.
Let's look who has the majority vote and give them some of the blame ....THE DEMOCRATES!!!!

He went on vacation.
Awesome way to deal.

i've thought about this
 

it's not all about political parties.... really

it's about everyone wanting to make a friggan JOKE
out of everything....

Saturday night live .... and the tonight show appearences, david letterman...the daily show in particular... the cobert report

now it's the U-tube phenomenon ... photoshopping
everything to death....the computer age - of which i am guilty too... of course...

there's millions of comedians all making a mockery
of the presidency continuously

which makes it difficult
to do a JOB thats not EASY :lasso:

He was not on vacation when 911 happened and did not go on vacation during the crisis.....you are mis-informed.

Nixon was a great President, a great diplomat that opened the doors with China. His reputation was ruined forever byWatergate, otherwise I think he would be viewed in a better light.
Kennedy (this is heresy living in MA) to me is overrated. The reality is that he was the one that got us into Vitenam and lied to the American people. IN the senior year of HS, government class, we watched a documentary that showed what Kennedy was saying and what the military was doing. Everyone thinks teh world of him, but he was shady and had no problem lying outright to the American people.
No president will make everyone happy, we are too divided in our beliefs and values.

This is an earlier rant as to why I can't stand the man.

I had no problem with Reagan I was in the military from 82-89 so I was all for the guy. he did some great things to help take down the wall.

Didn't have a problem with Bush Sr.....very smart man, you don't get to be the head of the CIA by being a Dummy.

I had no problem with Clinton....Economy was good, I was making good money and his only issue that a lot of people had was a hummer and the fact he used an intern as a humidor.

But "W"...:wall:

I agree with everything you say Kevin...all of it.....but I am still looking for performance evaluation....what did he himself do wrong?? He does not act alone!!

I still don't think we should have gone in Iraq. We should have friggin leveled afghanistan until we pulled Bin Laden's ass outta there.....and pretty much most off the country would be behind him on that strategy.

You gotta remember Larry since I was in the Navy for my informative years that the way I think is that the Captain has full responsibilty for his crew's actions...that's just me. If the ship sinks while the captain is on Shore its still his fault for not putting someone Competent in charge.

again, this is how I look at things...not everybody see things that way

They have an entire website(s) dedicated to them

Hate to chime in but to aid to the we hate bush speech

He gave wicked tax breaks to big companies mainly oil companies..

He ignored the UN and pushed the false idea that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that basically created this war we will be fighting for another 10-15 years and how many of our finest will be buried for it.

he encouraged foreign out sourcing and stated that foreign out sourcing was good for American economy. I still wonder how promoting the lose of 100k American jobs to overseas markets is good for our economy

This is just a few of the large issues in my eyes I could keep going if you like

Again Bishop you also are misinformed. The NAFTA trade agreement prodded the outsourcing and that was before Bush! This war was gonna happen.....biggest problem is we have been there too long and I see no need for that! As for him pushing to go in to Iraq....he went based on intelligence that was bad to say the least. Again.....Presidents do not act alone.....congress voted to go into Iraq and Bush had full backing both ethically and financially!

I beg to differ

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/feb.../na-bushecon10

here is an artical of back on 04 when bush pushed the out sourcing of american jobs. You re right he didn't start it but he did encourage it

here are two notable quoetes remember from 04

Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade,” said N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors, which prepared the report. “More things are tradable than were tradable in the past. And that’s a good thing.”



Bush said the economy “is strong and getting stronger,” thanks in part to his tax cuts and other economic programs. He said the nation had survived a stock market meltdown, recession, terrorist attacks, corporate scandals and war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was finally beginning to enjoy “a mounting prosperity that will reach every corner of America.”

I dont believe bush fully understood what he was doing and your right he didn't act alone but Bush's biggest flaw was he was short sighted and to easliy lead by others

just my opinion bush wasn't a president he was a puppet...

Congress did not vote to go into Iraq....they voted to give President Bush the Authority to do so If He Deemed That It Was Necessary....Big Difference.

One has congress saying "Yeehaw lets go" and the other says 'George, if you think we need to you can".....in which George said "Yeehaw Lets Go"

I also question if he had full backing ethically.....Financially, hell yeah....but Ethically?

I agree Bishop but aren't they all puppets?? Figureheads??

Bush, Chenney and Rumsfeld should be charge at the World Court at The Hauge and put on trial for war crimes against Iraq. As far as Afghanastan, we have no choice but to find Bin Laden and all the other rats and kill them.

How f()cked up would this country have to be before some of you Bush babies realized how bad a president he really was?

He was actually not that smart, lowest IQ of any president since testing began with Roosevelt.:hs:

And really now, we all know #^&#^&#^&#^& Cheney was reall in charge and he was about as nice a person as say maybe... hmmm. Hitler!:bl:

Take a reality check. Biggest deficet, highest unemployment, wall street let run rampant with greed, The oil comapnies ahd him in thier back pocket, after all he is an oilman!

Blind as bats some of you.:spin:

granted i have to admit the american people are a little hard on him...

hey he only cost us jobs, our sons and daughters, the trust of the UN, and to top it off our economy......

to defend bush

Bush being president would be like me becoming ceo of my company sure i know how it works and i know what kind of power they have but i'm not qualified and I would prob bankrupt this company with in 8 years too.. Am i at fault for this or are the people who put me there at fault?

I can proudly say i never voted for bush (i would vote ross perot before i did that)
So its not bush's fault its our fault for allowing him to do it..
also for not trying to impeach him after all the horrible things he has done... I just dont get it we were going to impeach Clinton for getting a little action but not bush for creating a ton of harmful action.....

For the record I am not defending Bush. How ever you all think he acted alone in all of his "duties". There is a little thing called Congress that can share the blame as well!:uhuh:

The title commander and chief mean anything?To me its the buck stops here so be it good or bad its on his lap.Btw how many times was one of his vetos overriden by congress?

enjoy it all now Boys, because it a few months, guess whose fault it will be then?


Big Fish, please read the article below, I posted this before, this is from a conservative, something BUsh was SUPPOSED to be, I think this about sums up what Bush as done....

Thank Bush for the Obama Dilemma

Friday, October 10, 2008 10:16 AM

Yesterday at a McCain-Palin rally in Waukesha, Wis., someone asked McCain, “Many of us in this crowd are furious . . . we’re wondering how did we get here . . . how can a man like Barack Obama be on the verge of being elected president?” Here is the answer to that question: If the Bush administration had been competent and honest, Obama and his problems with ACORN, the Rev. Wright, and Bill Ayers would never have been given a chance politically.





In 1999 and 2000, the Bush political operation seized control of the Republican Party and bought off the conservative movement. They put up George W. Bush as the new "savior" — the “son of Reagan” they called him. They orchestrated that spectacle with every local politician from all over the country traipsing down to Austin to “beg” Gov. Bush to run for president, and he was elected as the new conservative hero.


But his presidency has been anything but conservative. In fact, it has been the most incompetent, dishonest, and un-conservative administration ever.


Just look at these few items which, if done by a Democrat, would have brought calls from us on the right not only to impeach him, but to imprison him for life:



He ignored the “Bin Laden Determined to Attack US with Hijacked Jets” CIA memo.


He pledged to get Osama bin Laden “dead or alive” — a pledge still unfulfilled seven years later.



He lied, distorted, and cherry picked U.S. intelligence to scare the hell out of a nervous American people after 9/11 to justify a pre-emptive invasion of a country that had not attacked us. And then lied to create a link between Saddam and bin Laden so as to justify this invasion, when the real reason was a takeover of American foreign policy by neo-cons and payback by G.W. Bush because Sadaam had “tried to kill my dad” as he told member of Congress when he lobbied their vote for the resolution authorizing force.



He mismanaged every aspect of the war in Iraq.



He drained the U.S. Treasury of $650 billion on that war.



He lied to the Republican Congress about the true cost of a new entitlement, the prescription drug benefit under Medicare, hiding an additional $400 billion in order to secure passage.



He ran up huge annual deficits.



He exerted not one drop of fiscal control over runaway federal spending — under a supposedly conservative Republican Congress!



He federalized education and passed No Child Left Behind with Teddy Kennedy, a total flop of a program. We do not believe the federal government should be running high school education!



He showed true ineptitude in dealing with Hurricane Katrina.



He stated at every turn how we might bomb or attack or invade any country who dared to disagree with us.



He destroyed the good opinion of America around the globe.



He expanded the scope and power of the federal government at every turn and tried to turn the executive into a power unto himself.



New we face one massive bailout after another — over a trillion dollars — with talk of nationalizing banks and other industries, thus causing the headline today in the Wall Street Journal today asking: “Are We Having Socialism Now?”





So, to my fellow conservative in Waukesha — and everywhere — you wonder why are we here, with a lefty like Barack Obama on the verge of becoming president? The answer is that you helped the nation to choose, quite reluctantly, the opposite-of-Bush candidate: Barack Obama.


The voters can’t stand the thought of another four years like the past eight, so they will roll the dice, despite Ayers and Rev. Wright and ACORN, and try something different.