It was bad enough for President Bush to have shoes tossed at his head during his farewell journey to Baghdad. Now comes a new poll in which Americans call Bush all sorts of names -- some of them a lot worse than "dog."

In a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, respondents were asked to volunteer their assessments of how Bush would be remembered after he leaves office. The most frequent response, from 56 people, was "incompetent," followed by "idiot," "arrogant," "ignorant," "stupid," and so on. Nine people volunteered a three-letter synonym for donkey.

No matter how much we learn, we still don't get it. Bush is a C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L. He might be an incompetent criminal, an idiot criminal, an arrogant criminal, an ignorant criminal, a stupid criminal, and so on. My might even be an ass. But it's the noun, not the modifying adjective, that really matters.

Bush has committed crimes. At some point it seems that all of our presidents commit some crime or another. I have a pretty low opinion of the morals of every president since Jimmy Carter, and Carter was no saint. But Bush's crimes are consequential. Bush's crimes wrecked the country. We could afford to overlook JFK's affairs but we couldn't afford to overlook Nixon's. The same is true of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

And no, it's not all Bush's fault. People voted for Bush after they'd had every opportunity to see him in action. The media and the opposition enabled Bush in his criminality almost as much as his own party. And, for that very reason, they're inclined to give him a pass for his crimes. Understand this...the people already think Bush is lower than a dog. There's not that much political peril in adjudicating him as one.

I understand the need for national unity and healing. Believe me, I do. But real unity and real healing can only come after we stop thinking of Bush as some hapless blunderer and pass the verdict of felon on him and his legacy.

Will it happen? All I know is that it should happen. Richard Nixon was a quarter the crook that Bush has turned out to be. And Nixon could actually run the country's affairs without bankrupting us.