Who was the worse president: Nixon or Bush?

[Bicoastal]

After seeing "Frost/Nixon" over the holidays while I was in California, I had a long conversation with my folks about this. They lived through that era and I didn't...

And I contended that for a President to be caught red-handed doing something that was indisputably illegal, to resign in disgrace, to leave the US without an elected leader at a vulnerable time due to his own corruption...to me, it was unimaginable.

But my Mom countered that at least Nixon was an intelligent man, and that Bush was not only corrupt but also deeply ignorant...and she claimed that more awful things had happened under his watch due to his ease in being manipulated by outsiders and groupthink.

But it's hard to say--Vietnam killed more soldiers than Iraq did, and then there was Cambodia, etc, etc...

What do you guys think?

[wyldwolf]

1. Bush. No contest

[HeraldSquare212]

2. Bush by a mile.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Bush.

Nixon was a bush league criminal.
Bush is about as bad as they come.

[YOY]

4. Nixon had the decency to resign.

That and he could use polysyllabic words correctly.

[FSogol]

5. Bush was worse. At least Nixon got the National Zoo two Panda bears.

[EFerrari]

6. Bush, no contest. Nixon was more liberal than some Democrats are now

and although he committed serious crimes, Bush has him beat hands down for breadth and depth of criminality.

[DevonRex]

7. Bush, hands down. nt

[roguevalley]

8. Bush.

[Lucky 13]

9. BUSH... no contest in my mind...

[Lint Head]

10. Cheney and his puppet Bush.

:dem:

[SharonRB]

11. No contest

Bush by a mile.

Nixon at least had a brain and had the decency to resign.

[tularetom]

12. No doubt at all - Nixon knew he fucked up

Bush has no clue.

[ddeclue]

13. Bush...

Nixon at least had the decency to hire burglars to do his dirty unconstitutional illegal work - he didn't do it under the color of authority without any shame whatsoever.

Gosh I miss Nixon...

Doug D.

[SuperTrouper]

14. Bush is worse than James Buchanan. Bush is the worst President...ever.

[LynneSin]

15. REAGAN - end of discussion

I don't think we'd be in the mess we have today if it wasn't for that vile creep. He's the one that took serious cuts to social programs that worked - programs that helped people get out of poverty and make something of themsevles.

Yes we 'won' the cold war because we drained every feasible penny we could from social programs, spent our budget into serious debt in order to explode the budget for defense and outspend the hell out of USSR and every other country in this world.

And the ONLY reason George Bush JR. was picked to run was to help reinstall the Reagan cronies like Cheney & Rumsfeld. I highly doubt that Bush Sr. would have ever won an election on his own merits and the son would probably be drunk in a bar somewhere today if it wasn't for the fact they had to clean him up and make him electable so they could continue on with the Reagan 'legacy'

Nixon actually had a few good qualities when it came to some social issues but he was still a prick. There are absolutely no redeeming values about Reagan except one (which I didn't know until I watched the movie "Milk") - it seems Reagan was also against that horrible Prop #6 that would have fired teachers that were GLBT. That might have helped get support from the middle of the road. I guess Reagan is like a broken clock - he could be right once or twice in a lifetime.

[BOSSHOG]

20. Seconded

[DebbieCDC]

21. Good points

[ismnotwasm]

30. Gotta agree

The murky mythology the rightwing cloaked over his actual record is beyond bizarre. The worst hands down.

Between bush and Nixon? bush.

[PurityOfEssence]

32. No contest

Simultaneously cutting services and simply not enforcing ideologically inconvenient laws while raising the taxes on the poor and cutting them for the rich. A rising tide floats all yachts, but the national debt triples.

My entire adult life has been one of neo-feudalism, brought on by this asshole and continued by those who followed. Clinton broke the trend a bit, but he also HELPED the trend more than just a bit by dragging the only option way to the right.

Reagan was truly a dick.

To answer the thread starter, though, Bush II is much worse than Nixon.

[Captain Hilts]

16. Bush. Nixon actually left some good reforms behind and was progressive on healthcare. nt

[DebbieCDC]

17. Bush - hands down

And I hated Nixon's guts and still do to this day. The first election I was eligible to vote in was AGAINST Nixon in '72

[Bobbie Jo]

18. Bush. No Contest.

[niyad]

19. bush, for certain. whatever else his crimes (and they were many), nixon had a level of intelligence

and he re-established links with china (you cannot seriously ignore 1/6 f the world's population, no matter who is in charge)

and, he had the decency to resign, whether he ever acknowledged his crimes or not)

I never thought I would live to see a person in the white house who would make nixon look good in comparison. actually, I HOPED I would never see such a day. it is going to take us decades to repair the damage this clueless cokehead and his fellow henchmen have done to our country, the world, and our planet itself. may they, and their supporters and enablers, receive EVERYTHING they deserve. (( I have given up on seeing them receive justice in this world--I have to trust in the universe to balance the scales)

[camera obscura]

Nixon created the EPA, went to China, cut the military budget, worked with Dems, secured détente...

That's more than Bush ever did.

[awoke_in_2003]

40. Mostly good points...

but that trip to China was the death knell for american manufacturing.

[camera obscura]

43. Yeah, I'm not in favor of what came of it, but opening other countries to us is the opposite of

what Bush the alienator did.

[awoke_in_2003]

49. True...

and I don't think Nixon foresaw what would come of it.

[ShadesOfGrey]

22. No comparison.. BUSH!!!

The damage he's done to this nation is irreparable.

[azmouse]

23. It's a tie.

boosh reached back to Nixon's administration to gave us many of the fools who ruined this country today.

[Terry in Austin]

24. Bush

Compared to Bush, Nixon was a flaming liberal. Nixon was indeed smart, had a personality, a few principles and some clue about policy. Unfortunately, the principles he didn't have proved to be crucial, and the icky psychological flaws proved to be fatal.

Both men are a testament to American opportunity: yes, even a buffoon can attain the highest office in the land.

[wryter2000]

25. I'm old enough to remember Nixon and Watergate

No contest. Nixon doesn't even approach Bush for evil. True, more people died in Vietnam than have in Iraq and Afghanistan (so far). That's the only criterion that goes in Nixon's favor for the awfulness prize. Nixon didn't create that war out of nothing like Bush did with Iraq.

As far as crimes against the Constitution and our form of government, Bush makes Nixon look like a 3-year-old holding his breath. And Nixon would never have let an American city be destroyed by a natural disaster and do nothing. Nixon wouldn't have had people still displaced over 3 years later. Nixon didn't destroy the whole effing economy and drive us into a depression.

Even Ronald Reagan can't claim the same level of corruption, crime, and incompetence as Bush.

No contest.

[truebrit71]

26. Bush. By a country mile. We got rid of Nixon...

...

[AndyA]

27. Bush is much worse than Nixon.

And we don't know all there is to know about Bush yet.

Nixon might still have a few secrets, but we probably know most of what there is to know.

[Jackpine Radical]

28. Vietnam belonged as much to LBJ as to Crafty Richard.

Nixon was evil, but he actually tried to run the country. Instituting wage/price controls as a response to "stagflation," for one thing

[scheming daemons]

29. Clearly... reading DU nowadays.... it is Obama

[whistler162]

61. +1 sadly

[Arugula Latte]

31. Bush. By an exponential factor.

[Harry Monroe]

33. Jesus, do you even have to ask that question??

[alwysdrunk]

34. Bush - It's the LIES!

Who lied more? I say it has to be Bush if for nothing more than Iraq.

[rvablue]

35. My vote goes for Bush. n/t

[last_texas_dem]

36. Have to go with Bush

Nixon was at least intelligent, seemed to be the one largely calling the shots within his own administration, moderate to liberal on several issues, and actually won both of his elections legitimately.

[TheKentuckian]

37. Bush is many times worse than Nixon but

If not for Reagan, Bush could not have stomped on the accelerator because Reagan built the damn vehicle.

Reagan=The Devil
the shrub=The Anti-Christ

[sallyseven]

39. I am old enough to remember them all starting with FDR.

I was just a kid but my family was devastated when he died. Nixon did not have the Senate and the House by the balls like Bush did. There was some semblance of honor. These Republicans and Bush have no such thing as truth and honor. I just want to spend some time in Obama's country and look forward to his presidency.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

38. No contest

BUSH.

He makes Watergate look like a Girl Scout outing.

Nixon did not start the Viet Nam conflict.

(edit to fix typo)

[bigwillq]

41. Bush 43

:mad:

[AlinPA]

42. Bush. Easily. Plus Nixon was not stupid.

[pnwmom]

44. Bush, Bush, Bush.

A thousand times, Bush.

[easttexaslefty]

45. bush n/t

[indie_voter]

46. George W. Bush n/t

[rasputin1952]

47. bush...by miles...

Never before has there been such an incompetent buffoon as bush. Nixon had his faults, but bush IS a fault. Everything bush has attempted has resulted in failure...Nixon had some accomplishments.

[Still Sensible]

48. Bush, not even close

[Genevieve]

50. Bush, of course.

[road2000]

51. Agree w/those posts on Nixon's deeds.

Moreover, he was actually elected -- twice.

[Boomerang Diddle]

52. Bush. Nixon was a saint compared to Bush.

[DesertRat]

53. Bush. n/t

[pipi_k]

54. I never have, and never will

acknowledge Bush as being our lawfully elected "President", so maybe I shouldn't even give my opinion on it, but....

Whatever role Tricky Dick had in the Vietnam conflict, at least he didn't start it


I have a button, given to me by a friend, that says it all...


"I never thought I'd miss Nixon"


I think what makes Nixon less odious to me is the feeling that he actually suffered lots of guilt or uncertainty inside...whereas Bush is just a clueless little organ grinder's monkey on a string. No conscience...no guilt...no nothing. Empty as a pisshole in a snowbank.

[JayMusgrove]

55. I have to agree 100%

1) Bush was never elected
2) I miss the days of Nixon
3) Bush is incapable of guilt, a real psychopath, who should never have been given anything but live without parole.

[damonm]

56. Bush by LIGHT-YEARS.

Nixon, for all his character flaws, at least had SOME positive accomplishments.

-Ended our major involvement in Vietnam, and got the POWs home
-Started EPA
-Made the opening to China

among others.

Bush has NOT ONE accomplishment to his name that has had any effect in making this a better country. He has in all respects made it worse.

IMHO, it's not even a contest.

[JuniperLea]

57. Bush and the guy with his hand up Bush's ass... eom

[marlakay]

58. I was around for Nixon and I say Bush!

At least congress had the balls to impeach or start impeachment on Nixon.

[WinkyDink]

59. BUSH, FGS!! And the elected Democrats are worse, too (hence, no impeachment hearings).

[RichardRay]

60. Nixon

Obviously neither of them are better than terrible, but Bush is at best venal in comparison to Nixon. Torture in some prisons? How about tossing prisoners out of helicopters, dropping napalm on villages out of spite or assassinating opposition political leaders? An illegal invasion with a few thousand soldiers in front of god and everybody? How about four illegal invasions, with 10 times as many troops, covertly. Four thousand dead Americans? How about 50,000? Take any estimate of the number of Iraqis killed and stack it up any estimate of the number of Vietnamese and Cambodians. Bush's execrable impact on US relations with the rest of the world, or our own population? It's been 40 years and we're still trying to recover from the impact of the Nixon presidency.

Any real balancing will probably take another 50 years to start to become clear, but for now I still come down on Nixon harder than Bush.

[BreweryYardRat]

62. Bush.

Nixon at least established the Endangered Species act, and he had enough ethics/sense of shame to resign.

[OwnedByFerrets]

63. delete

[baldguy]

64. Bush