Honestly, back in 2000, did you think we'd be this bad off?

[Taverner]

Attacked by terrorists while President sits
Anthrax! Anthrax!
Bill of Rights out the window
Ken Lay
War with Afghanistan
War with Iraq built on Bullshit
Iran and North Korea planning bad things
White House intentionally leaks CIA secrets
America Divided
New Orleans wiped off map while Prez plays guitar
Brownie does one hell of a job
Gays persecuted
Fundie Christians Promoted while they feign persecution
WWIII beginning in Lebanon/Israel

And we still have 2 more fucking years with this asshole...

[helderheid]

1. I'm afraid not. I was blissfully unaware of how evil the crime family

was.

[RedStateShame]

2. I was expecting at least falling frogs at this point.....

so, you know, I'm pretty upbeat.

[leftofthedial]

3. unfortunately yes

but the repukes have dashed what little faith I had in their collective patriotism and have allowed things to become as bad as they possibly can be

[havocmom]

4. Yep

Only I have seen it coming since January 1981. Got hints in 1972.

[Mir]

8. Yeah Nixon and Reagan

were both bad, but this fucker today - he's a whole other breed. I never thought things could be this bad.

[Tesha]

17. The Republicans made their stances clear in '80 and their playbook in '92.

The Republicans made their stances clear in '80 and their playbook in '92.

In '80, they made it clear that they did not give a damn about
major swaths of this country and its people.

In '92, they made it clear that they were perfectly willing to
bring down our democracy for the power it might gain them.

In '00, they got their pay-off for years of laying groundwork.

Tesha

[havocmom]

28. You are correct

And too many of the faces in this administration are familiar to those of us old enough to recall the Nixon days that continued under Ford/Cheney

[Tesha]

35. The Onion had it right right after the selection.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28784

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare
Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'

January 17, 2001 | Issue 37•01

WASHINGTON, DC–Mere days from assuming the presidency and
closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-
elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised
address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of
peace and prosperity is finally over."

President-elect Bush vows that "together, we can put
the triumphs of the recent past behind us."

"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we
have reached the end of the dark period in American
history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era,
eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic
expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained
peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that
behind us."

Bush swore to do "everything in power" to undo
the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office,
including selling off the national parks to developers,
going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical
weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that
drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.

During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring
an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation
under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage
in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next
four years.

"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody
at some point during my administration," said Bush, who
plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my
predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in
battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even
having a military?"

<more>

[walldude]

38. Hard to believe that was supposed to be satire....

more like prophecy...

[electron_blue]

5. I expected about half of that. Some of, like Katrina, frankly, shocked me

I at least expected Bush to pick up the easy photo-op bonus points and pretend to help. I figured he'd do that just to stay popular. Then it hit me - he doesn't care about popular, he doesn't *need* popularity, he and his cronies control the whole election process, they have total control.

So, you forgot the bit about diebold, stolen elections and all.

[Taverner]

10. Oh I could have added to this post all day

And I probably could have filled all of DU's servers with Bush's fuck ups....

But unlike Bush, I have to work for a living.

[napi21]

6. Absolutely NOT! I still foolishly believed a President has LIMITED

POWER, so how bad can he possibly be?

Signing statements, flatly ignoring the laws, and the justice department overlooking at all NevER occurred to me!

[Ravy]

24. I am with you. I never expected the increased powers. (n/t)

[stop the bleeding]

7. yep, and I expect it to get worse n/t

[Skittles]

9. oh yes, absolutely

I knew it way before most people, I knew when they were running the incompetent bastard for governor of my state they would be installing him into the White House. I must say, however, that the non-response to Katrina really, truly shocked me.

[TahitiNut]

11. YES. I predicted it in September 2000.

I posted my prediction on a Usenet forum. I predicted that we'd be in a shooting war in the Middle East, precipitated by some BIG event (probably arranged), involving Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan and spreading to Israel/Palestine and surrounding Arab/Muslim nations.

I don't know why anyone would need a crystal ball to foresee the obvious. I think it just requires a mind old enough and, by virtue of experiences, somewhat freed from 'wishful' thinking.

[Cosmocat]

26. Yep ...

I still remember election night, full visual memory, of when they called if for Gore, then flipped it to Bush ... I went to a bar to meet people, and said, we are in BIG trouble, and they just pretty much thought I was a nut ...

I did not know the specifics ... I did KNOW they were going to graft this country for every mother loving cent they could bleed out of it, and that we would have oil/middle east problems ... Katrina didn't surprise me, I knew they hated goverment/were incomptenet/could give a rats tail about people ...

NOW ... The sheer bold faced magnitude of it ... NO ... I saw PRIOR to 9-11 what they were doing, somewhat silently if you were not paying attention ... But, 9-11 took it to a completely different level, to the 10th power ... For them, that gave them EVERY bit of "validation" to make it a bold faced power grab ...

[MoseyWalker]

12. I was thinking the idiot son

would just be ineffective and blunder through one term to then be thrown on the trashheap of history. Boy, was I ever wrong.

[La Coliniere]

13. Unfortunately, yes.

From the moment I heard the infamous Karla Fay Tucker tape where * mocks another person's pleas for mercy I knew we were in for the ride of our lives. A roller coaster ride in hell.

[Tesha]

14. Yes. :-( (NT)

[MallRat]

15. No. I thought we'd able to muddle through for 4 years.

Instead, we find ourselves in an era when we can least afford to have incompetent, arrogant, belligerent, short-sighted leadership.

Momentous, world-changing events have taken place over the past 6 years which endanger our standing in the world militarily, politically, and economically. Times like these call for greatness, and few would be up to the task... hell, I think Clinton would've had his hands full with everything that's happening.

But instead, we have George W. Bush: the single worst person we could possibly have had in office at this time in our history. It's the perfect storm: a terrible President when we can least afford to have one.

-MR

[unpossibles]

no. I knew it would suck

but i surely thought it would not get this bad, or that he'd ever get a second term.

[darkmaestro019]

16. YES YES YES.

I watched Them install that drooling imbecile, and watched the smirking rightwing faces behind him, and said "We are so fucked."

No one bet against me, sadly, so I'm not gonna be getting drunk with the profits from my psychic prediction. (eyeroll)

I knew exactly what They would do--bankrupt us, and drown us in Jesusness in payback, and explode a few zillion non-white people and bankrupt them too.

that's what They ALWAYS DO. And it's not hard to spot Them.

It's just hard to do anything to STOP Them.

[donsu]

18. Yes!

nt

[Generic Other]

19. I've had a few psychic flashes in my life

This was one. Happened after I saw Bush express his support for the death penalty during the 2000 debates. The strange glint in his eye... I don't want to speak of what the outcome of my prophetic dream was. I have been in the extreme anti-Bush crowd ever since.

[bananas]

34. Did you see this thread?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1664884&mesg_id=1664884

[davekriss]

20. YES

Well, a qualified yes, as I thought Gore would win the election. I predicted this disaster in general terms when the SCOTUS handed Bush the pResidency on December 12, 2000. Not that I'm prescient or anything, but what could one expect 2 years after a popular Democratic President was impeached for lying about an inconsequential sexual affair in the White House? What would one expect of the son of a President who overlorded the savings and loan scandal, with a brother who personally benefited from deregulation of the banking system and got off scot-free at Silverado? What would one expect of the son of a President who ran up what then was the record federal deficit (long beaten by his son)? What would one expect of the son of a President that killed several thousand innocent Panamanians to exact revenge on former CIA operative, Noriega? What would one expect of the son of a President who's amassador gave Hussein the green light to invade Kuwait, then despite conciliatory gestures invaded Iraq? What would one expect of a party when, last in control (Reagan-Bush years), amassed more debt than all other President's combined? What would one expect of GWB when he drove every business he's had a hand in into the ground, avoided Vietnam, purportedly went AWOL, purportedly engaged in insider trading at Harkin? What would one expect of GWB who signed more death warrants in Texas than all other governers combined? What would one expect of GWB who drove Texas to the bottom rungs when compared to other states in health care, the environment, occupational safety?

I mean, it was not hard to read the message in the tea leaves. It was clear before the December 12th coup that Bush would be an umitigated disaster as pResdident. He's more than lived up to my expectations.

[Johonny]

21. No

OK I knew I wouldn't like their policies. But I had no idea they would be so bad or indifferent to governing the country. I mean many people in this administration had been involved in state and federal politics for years. You’d think they at least could govern. It's mind blowing how incapable they are to address any real issue that comes up in a timely manner. It took how long to do something on Sept. 11? They’ve had how long to catch Bin Laden? It took them how long to figure out that the violence in Iraq post invasion was not just a handful of people? They did what during the first 3 days of Katrina? They did what action when it became clear the budget was not going to balance? They took what action to close the gap between those with health care and those without? They took what action to turn around the downward trend in real wages? They responded how to the Chinese knocking our plane from the sky and capturing sensitive intelligence data? Hey how have they treated sensitive data in general? This crisis points out for like the millionth time that this administration is incompetent to do that actual job of governing the country. I might dislike their policies but I am completely amazed they can’t manage to doing any aspect of their actual job to and even remotely satisfactory level.

[CottonBear]

22. no. I could not have imagined what was in store for the US. n/t

[GCP]

23. Even SNL predicted it

Anyone remember that prescient sketch about life after the "election" of Bush vs Gore vs Nader.
President Gore is giving a long boring TV speech about the lock box etc
Nader has snowballs in hell and pigs flying around his head
And Bush (Ferrell) is sitting in the Oval Office, through the window you can see the Capital Dome with a huge hole in it and the Capital on fire, half the country has seceded and he's sneaking drinks from a binoculars case.
I once had it on video and I've looked for it on youtube but so far haven't succeeded in finding it.
It's truly hilarious but frightening in its prescience - and it's a pity they lost their balls after 911.

[slor]

25. I knew it would be bad...

when I saw how easily they stole the election, and all to plant such an obvious nitwit in charge of the country. I may not have known the specifics, but I did feel a sense of forboding, and knew that anything could happen.

[Warpy]

27. Most of it, yes

I'd seen Stupid in action next door in Texas. I knew he'd cut taxes for the richest, keep wages stagnant (where he couldn't push em down), decrease all social services to the point people started to die (he likes that), start at least one major war, and generally degrade life in this country for most of its people beyond all recognition.

He is an evil man who can't help but do evil.

I also knew he'd float above it all, completely incurious and unconcerned, surrounded by flatterers whose only function is to tell him what a great job he's doing and how well off we all are.

[Xenotime]

29. Can't we just impeach...

I mean it was in the press, congress and everywhere...then it lost steam...why?

[titoresque]

30. Yes eom

[Cleita]

31. I knew it would be bad but not this bad.

My stomach sank when Al Gore conceded because all I could think of was he would take us back to the Reagan/BushI years. I never imagined it could be this BAAAD!

[Roxy66]

32. Yes, I had a "Dooms Day" feeling as soon as it was called for him

My household collectively felt a terrible future ahead of us.

[KoKo]

43. I knew it about Bush but didn't think Congress and Dems would roll over...

Told friends that "Hounds of Hell were Unleashed" when
Bush was selected...they looked at me like I was crazy because they believed Gore dragged out the 2000 Election and that Bush had won. After 9/11 I said: "Bush was responsible for this." I lost some good friends over that one.

I think my disappointment was with Congress. I thought they would stop him when Jeffords switched and Dems had a Majority long enough to stop some of his worst appointments. When Dems rolled over, I knew we were doomed. When we lost the Mid-terms I was in a total funk. When Kerry/Edwards went down I thought I should leave America and was in a depression for a month.

Here I am...with fewer friends still fighting. They are tearing America apart so fast and destroying the Constitution so easily, I wonder what, if anything will be left of America and the World with two more years of them.

[fordnut]

33. Yes I did

That Idiot did exactly I said would happen we would be in a war and gas prices would go through the roof,altough I didn`t think gas would go this high!

[Andrea]

36. I didn't imagine this

I knew it would be very, very bad. I knew he would be the worst president ever. But not in my wildest imagination did I foresee the shredding of the constitution (while Congress stands by and wrings it's hands), nor the purely evil callousness of the (lack of) response to Katrina.

[Tracer]

37. No. I honestly didn't.

"How much damage can one guy do?" was the gist of my thinking back then.

Oh, how little did I know.

[warrens]

39. Apart from the Iraq War, yeah...

I saw the way he governed in Texas, even with almost no real power. If I had thought through his delight in executing people, I probably could have predicted a nasty, brutal, pointless war too, but I was more focused on what he would do economically.

[Cerridwen]

40. Some of us started noticing about 1981

when ol' "Saint Ronnie" took office.

See my signature line for some of the frustration many of us felt at trying to get out the word.

[laruemtt]

41. 2000 seems like a really bad lifetime ago. n/t

[Solly Mack]

42. Well, yeah

Honestly, he's a Bush...that's really all anyone needed to know to know just how bad it would be

and, no, that's not simplistic or unfair. The Bush family doesn't exactly have a history of doing good for America...of being honest and having integrity.

And if just being a Bush wasn't enough...there was Texas and how badly he was screwing up Texas

then came Selection 2000 , which really should have clued in the clueless

With proper leadership, many of the events, such as Katrina, would have been handled differently.... the aftermath of 9-11 would have been handled differently...(if it had happened at all and I'm not entirely convinced it would have)

So much of what has happened is solely because Bush is a Bush and all that entails(attached at the hip to oil and big business, cronyism, thuggery, war-profiteering, and elitism)