Anyone remember George W. Bush?

[JaneyVee]

Because it is pretty hilarious/sad seeing "progressives" blame all of America's problems on the Clintons and Obamas.

Remember that guy who was handed a budget surplus and turned it into an economic collapse? That guy who was handed a 3.3% unemployment rate and turned it into a 2nd Great Depression and catastrophic job losses? That guy who was handed documents titled 'Bin Laden Determined To Strike the US' and turned it into a national security fail known as 9/11? That guy who botched every detail of a hurricane response then told his team how they did a heckuva job?

Etc

etc

etc

Bill Clinton was a southern Democrat in the 90s who had to wrestle 12 years of power back from the Republican party during the height of the conservative revolution, not exactly an era of progressivism, yet his presidency also resulted in him creating 23 million jobs, the longest stretch of peacetime in US history, the lowest Af-American unemployment rate in US history, nominated the 2 most liberal justices in US history, taxed the rich, and left a budget surplus. Pretty impressive.

And then there's Barack Obama; THE GREATEST DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT IN US HISTORY. The guy who saved America from a 2nd Great Depression. The most CONSEQUENTIAL president of our lifetime. 💯

But somehow here on DU, progressives have seem to forgotten George W. Bush and his legacy of destruction and incompetence. Weird. Everything is the Clintons and Obamas fault.

[bigtree]

1. from my perspective

...much of the progressive left's politics has been co-opted by the right, using the left's opposition as a cynical wedge between Democrats.

We've seen that in this campaign with millions spent in our primary by the right in opposition to Hillary in almost every key state, right alongside Sanders' money, and more than often using the exact same rhetoric.

[Fawke Em]

25. That's because your prospective isn't from the left.

We aren't talking about Benghazi or Bimbogate or Travelgate or whatever. We're talking about a REAL FBI investigation. We're talking about her corporate money (what Republican can talk about that, for Pete's sake?). We're talking about how she's for fracking, for bad trade deals.

We aren't using any of the right's rhetoric because we don't care about stupid crap any more than you do. What we care about is the having a party that represents the working class instead of the Party of the 1 percent vs. the Party of the 10 percent.

[Chasstev365]

39. BRAVO!

[840high]

41. .+1

[bigtree]

43. funny when internet people talk as if they know perfect strangers

...what you did there isn't progressive, it's as divisive as any right-wing slur.

You've run out of a real campaign and now you're just slurring Democrats. I know where you can find a ready audience for that.

Blocking.

[Fawke Em]

47. Funny when low-info thinkers can't distinguish the left from the right, which only

proves my point.

Your candidate is divisive. She has sidelined the working and middle class. She's gotten herself in criminal trouble by being so elite that she couldn't stand to play by the rules. She hangs out with Wall Street villains and right-wing neocons and you have the NERVE to tell ME I'm using right-wing slurs? Her candidacy is a right-wing slur against me.

And, yeah, you've blocked me, but others need to see this. I was NEVER going to vote for Hillary, well before Bernie because I was TIRED of the corporate influence. I didn't vote for her in the 2008 primaries and I won't do it now. Bernie was just icing on the cake.

[Andy823]

2. I have come to the conclusion

That those who continue to spew that shit are not really "Progressives", but trouble makers who come here every election, though this one seems to have more of them, and stir things up trying to piss off the supporters of the candidates, get them mad at each other, and try and get them to not vote for the "other" candidate if their chosen one is not elected.

[Lil Missy]

9. Some are simply Purists who tend to exaggerate beyond exponential proportions.

[Fawke Em]

26. Then you would be wrong.

Get ready to see your left flank - the real progressives - protest your corporate owned party who bends the rules for your war hawk candidate in Philly. You got a taste of it tonight and that was really nothing.

[CorkySt.Clair]

35. Protest all you want.

The fringe left always loses. You could set your watch to it. Or, if you need a picture to illustrate:

/revision/latest?cb=20100523172400

[Fawke Em]

38. Which would explain why this country is in the crapper.

Thanks for clarifying that we are an oligarchy, now.

[BootinUp]

3. Thier all corporatists! %$%#%$%$

[Lil Missy]

4. Yes, Hillary Clinton is blamed for all of that now. And she single-handedly started the Iraq War.

She's obviously very, very, VERY powerful!!

[Armstead]

8. Very wrongheaded -- She was either naive or complicit or amorally opportunistic. Take your choice,

[Lil Missy]

11. She killed Kenny too. n/t

[Armstead]

12. No that's one thing she didn't do.

But she did fall in line and voted for the Iraq War....which was a bad decision for America

[JaneyVee]

13. Did you ever read her speech?

It was literally none of those things you named. It was all nuance and restrain. Try again.

[Armstead]

14. GW Bush was selling a bridge in Brooklyn. Millions recognized that.

There were no nuances. GW was determined to go to war, WMDs or no WMDs.

She either agreed with GW on the con game, or she got conned. Either way she was wrong.

[timmymoff]

5. I remember an empassioned speech in support of the iraq War that aided

President Bush. Well one candidate for the democratic nomination did that. We know who that was. So yea we remember Bush and we remember who helped him. So let us not forget how he was aided by a certain candidate.

[HooptieWagon]

6. Yes. Hillary is just as bad as W.

War monger er. Corruption. Incompetent. Poor judgement. Represent the 1%.

[JaneyVee]

32. None of what you wrote is true though.

Bernie voted for more wars and war funding than any candidate running on either side. She has never been implicated for corruption. And as far as competency, every newspaper editorial board in the country has endorsed her calling her "the most qualified candidate in a generation".

Perhaps you are just blinded with hatred.

[timmymoff]

44. Yea it is my hatred and not fact

that Hillary voted for the regime change in Iraq, and to show us how she learned from her mistake she gave us Syria and Libya, Bravo Madame Secretary, Bravo

[Armstead]

7. No -- Bullshit from the GOP is expected. Similar bullshit from Dems is angering

Unfortunately if you see the Big Takeover by Corporate America, Wall St. and their Elite Allies as an ongoing process, the Clinton years were forward movement for that -- with all the Trade deals, Deregulation, privatization and RW Crap about Fuiscal responsibility. They handed GW the keys. 2008 was a logical result of the inevitable screw-ups and power grabs. But a temporary setback for them. The results were very predictable, and WERE predicted by many -- including Sanders -- back in the 90's.

GW just advanced what Clinton handed to him.

[JaneyVee]

33. Corporations arent your enemy.

Seriously, that trope is tired. Want them to pay higher taxes? Fine. Then what?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

10. Ok, Hillary might be better than PGB.

There's an endorsement.

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. Sure. He considers Clinton a sister-in-law.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/13/george-w-bush-responds-bill-clinton-tweet-brotherf/

[cwydro]

16. I've been astounded at the hate towards Bill Clinton.

I remember when he was loved here.

I also remember who loved him then, and now suddenly seem to have developed a real aversion toward him. Things that make you go hmm.

I've not seen as much Obama hate (maybe I've missed it), but all the "voters are pissed off, miserable, in desperate straits, etc." threads certainly imply that his presidency has been a failure in their minds.

Sad to DU so down on good American presidents.

[whatchamacallit]

17. Some remember him lovingly

[scscholar]

18. Disgusting, and this is who some people here want to elect?

[whatchamacallit]

22. Boggles the mind huh

[JaneyVee]

34. This is whats so warped about modern progressivism...

Its all emotion, little nuance. They are at a funeral. It isnt some diabolical plot for new world order.

[Progressive dog]

19. K&R

[Thinkingabout]

20. Unfortunately he is a nightmare for me. Four times I was given an opportunity to vote for

The Post Turtle and four times I voted for someone else. I heard when he moved to Houston to establish residency, I researched him, found the information of missed Reserve duty, found he refused to have a yearly required medical exam and "told" them he was going to his personal physician and the rumor was because of cocaine use. I failed to copy the information to a personal file and soon the internet was scrubbed.

Since that time I have copied this type of information to a file. He was a terrible governor and equally a bad president.

[jillan]

21. I have not seen a lot of dislike around here for President Obama.

There's been things he has done that we liberals have questioned, such as putting chained CPI on the table & drilling in the artic (thankfully that never happened!); and at the beginning he was too quick to compromise - but learned his lesson the hard way. There's been other things too. I'm not going to make a laundry list.

I do realize that there are people on this board that have had harsh words for him. But I believe they are in the minority.

Overall, he has been a great President. I am proud that I voted for him twice - and I would vote for him again.
I supported him in 2008.

Barack Obama was the right man to lead this country at the right time. It saddens me to think that his term is almost over.
Not only as our President, but the entire family. It has been such an honor to have such a loving family represent this country.

[rock]

23. Just like Lefty likes his steaks

Well Done! JaneyVee!

[Vote2016]

24. Gore-Lieberman turned its back on the left and failed to inspire progressives = Republican win.

[Fawke Em]

27. The greatest Democratic president in history is Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Obama has been fine and helped stave off total destruction, but he didn't do much for the working class. FDR actually pulled us all out of poverty.

You need to read some history, boo.

[JaneyVee]

37. So the guy who interned US citizens and excluded women and blacks from the New Deal....

Is the best Dem prez???

I think you need to read some history, boo. Life SUCKED for EVERYONE under FDR except STRAIGHT WHITE MALES. And even they struggled.

[bigtree]

40. FDR was bold and progressive, but he left a lot of people out in the cold on Social Security

from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_%28United_...

___ Most women and minorities were excluded from its benefits of unemployment insurance and old age pensions. Employment definitions reflected typical white male categories and patterns.

Job categories that were not covered by the act included workers in agricultural labor, domestic service, government employees, and many teachers, nurses, hospital employees, librarians, and social workers. The act also denied coverage to individuals who worked intermittently.

These jobs were dominated by women and minorities. For example, women made up 90% of domestic labor in 1940 and two-thirds of all employed black women were in domestic service. Exclusions exempted nearly half the working population.

Nearly two-thirds of all African Americans in the labor force, 70 to 80% in some areas in the South, and just over half of all women employed were not covered by Social Security. At the time, the NAACP protested the Social Security Act, describing it as “a sieve with holes just big enough for the majority of Negroes to fall through.”

. . . just a reminder that most legislative progress has been historically incremental, even with passage of sweeping initiatives. FDR is the epitome of leadership, yet he was as constrained by the politics of his time as our legislators find themselves today. Actually more so today, as FDR didn't have to get 60 votes to advance his initiatives.

Would FDR find DU as hostile to his historic achievement, as many here today regard the President's own historical health law?

[betsuni]

29. Hate-scapegoat The Fictional Clintons have replaced Fictional Obama.

Everything has to be either good or bad, black or white.

I knew someone would post a picture of Hillary touching a Republican. Where's Kissinger? Bill with the elder Bush? What, is everyone on a coffee break or something? Get back to work!

[hibbing]

30. I'll never forget that world class asshole war criminal n/t

[Yavin4]

31. Most of the complainers weren't adults during Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II

That 18 to 25 year was aged 10 to 17 during Bush II. They were under the care of their parents. Sure, they may have seen hardships, but not as an adult.

[Fawke Em]

36. I'm 46. I remember all those presidents, although I really was a kid under Reagan

but came of age under Bush I.

The reason I'm a "complainer" is because there used to be a clear difference between the two parties. Now it's all corporatism on both sides.

[BootinUp]

45. You repeat a very popular netroots/Naderish meme like

its not worth debating. The parties are a reflection of the current political environment. Which is not a static thing. The primary processes help form the policies which results from the environment. We have just seen how it works. When there is enough pressure from the left it does affect the platform. We are a more liberal party than we were in 2008 and definitely more liberal than the 1990's. But change is normal and expected.

[betsuni]

42. There should be a bingo game.

Even in this short thread, the talking points:

Hillary is under FBI investigation
She's a war hawk/warmonger
She bends the rules, cheats
She's immoral
Same as a Republican (photo of Hillary touching a Republican)
Iraq War vote (cheerleading/making "impassioned speech in support&quot
She's incompetent/has poor judgement
FDR
1%
Democratic party owned by Corporate America, Wall St. & The Elites
The "real progressives"
Trade deals
Myth about Obama (chained CPI, Arctic drilling)

Add a few more and we'll be done! Somebody should really make a bingo game to give us something to do while reading GDP.

[timmymoff]

46. Or you could acknowledge these truths that would be sort of radical

for a conservadem.