Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

Legacy

by Steven D
Thu Dec 4th, 2008 at 07:30:32 AM EST

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.

Legacy | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Legacy (4.00 / 2)

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.

by RevDeb on Thu Dec 4th, 2008 at 08:38:27 AM EST

Re: Legacy (none / 0)

Excellent resource. Thanks for the link.

by gottlieb on Thu Dec 4th, 2008 at 09:42:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Legacy (none / 0)

The environmental giveaways including the closing/destruction of the EPA research library system, only recently reopened on a much, much smaller scale.

Fear will keep the local systems in line. -Grand Moff Tarkin -SLB-

by boran2 (blogistan@yahoo.com) on Thu Dec 4th, 2008 at 09:04:05 AM EST

Re: Legacy (none / 1)

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.

by mainsailset on Thu Dec 4th, 2008 at 09:05:03 AM EST

Re: Legacy (none / 0)

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.

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; now we know that it is bad economics;" - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

by Salunga on Thu Dec 4th, 2008 at 09:10:23 AM EST

Re: Legacy (none / 0)

Personally, I won't feel safe in bidding Dubya farewell 'til he's safely enshrined in his new Texas McMansion.

by wilderness wench on Fri Dec 5th, 2008 at 01:47:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Legacy (none / 0)

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.

We need to push for Progressive change, now more than ever.

by keepinon (jaukkuri@sbcglobal.net) on Thu Dec 4th, 2008 at 09:57:02 AM EST

And from a conservative's point of view (none / 0)

These are the items that I imagine an ardent Republican might complain about:

Wasn't on the right side of immigration.
Tried to offer Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court Justice.
Let Democrats regain Congress in 2006.
Let Democrats regain the WH in 2008.
Wasn't really a conservative.

Here is just one example that shows the types of hits Bush has taken from the conservative side:

It is difficult to contemplate that this is the same George W. Bush who, as a [2000] candidate repeatedly promised not to engage in the "nation building" misadventures of Bill Clinton, and to never commit troops without a well defined "exit strategy". Candidate Bush promised a "humble" foreign policy in which he would correct what he described as an America "over-extended", "over-committed", "over-deployed" in "too many places around the world".
...
The Bush presidency has misused the rhetoric of traditional conservatism to advance an agenda that is neither conservative nor consistent with traditional American values.

...followed by a 15-item bullet list.

And here's the punchline: That linked essay was written circa the 2004 election.

by Sawgrass on Thu Dec 4th, 2008 at 10:03:31 AM EST

Re: Legacy (none / 1)

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.

FDR's response to progressive demands: "I agree. Now go out and make me do it."

by DaveW on Thu Dec 4th, 2008 at 11:57:26 AM EST

Re: Legacy (none / 0)

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.

by Joyful Alternative on Thu Dec 4th, 2008 at 02:19:01 PM EST

Re: Legacy (none / 0)

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.

by Snarki child of Loki (whatever@snark.r.us) on Fri Dec 5th, 2008 at 07:15:00 AM EST

Also (none / 0)

The ascendancy of George W. Bush made it possible for VP candidate Sarah Palin to be taken seriously.

by wilderness wench on Fri Dec 5th, 2008 at 01:45:10 PM EST

Legacy | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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