HO-LEEE CRAP. Did you really think the Bush era would be THIS bad??!!!

[mindfulNJ]

I knew back in 2000 when The Master of Disaster was installed that we were in for a ration of shit...but C'MON! This man is just may be responsible for the ACTUAL downfall of our country! It's absolutely awe-inspiring!!!


Barack is one brave man.

[LaurenG]

1. Yes actually I did. nt

[CountAllVotes]

8. so did I

I had my pension money in mutual funds on Wall Street. I was waiting for escrow to close on the house I was buying at the end of 2000.

As soon as I moved into said house, I got my pension money out of the stock market and its been sitting in CDs ever since.

I knew this would happen. The writing was on the wall after the election was decided by the Supreme Court.

I wonder if Sarah Phalin remembers this Supreme Court case?

:kick:

[Tikki]

17. We did our homework before the 2000 election and knew....

from past practice that Boosh would be swift handed with our money and make
multiple bad decisions...to the depth that he has flung Hard Working Americans into the
dung pile is astonishing, though.

We tried to tell so many people...they did not want to listen...


The Tikkis

[radfringe]

49. me too - before he was even (s)elected back in 2000

I said if he gets in then:

1. we would go to war with Iraq
2. stock market would crash
3. deep recession or depression

the only that hasn't happen ***yet*** is the prediction that canada was closing borders to prevent illegal aliens from crossing - illegal aliens being AMERICANS

[seemslikeadream]

2. Yes I actually did

[Two Americas]

34. hi slad

Yes, indeed, you were one of the few. It was lonely back then, wasn't it? You have been very courageous.

:hug:

[seemslikeadream]

37. Thank you so much Two Americas

Thank you for remembering, sometimes it is a difficult place to be but I was fortunate to have some very good friends here who I will never never forget for as long as I live.

[niceypoo]

109. Ive heard Thom Hartman predicting exactly what happened for about a year...

He believed they were attempting to hold it off until the next president took office. Your were so right Thom.

[ingac70]

3. Yes...

that's why I bawled my eyes out on election night '04.

[Liberal_in_LA]

93. awwwww....

:hug:

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Considering the mess he left in Texas, yes I did.

[ailsagirl]

25. Certainly in keeping with his past "performances"

[YOY]

5. Been saying it for 6+ years. Ever since Iraq started.

I knew the war wouldn't pay for itself and that our economy was slowly dying as it morphed into an unregulated "Service Economy."

Nobody believed me...save a few here and there.

Bitter victory it is.

[bdamomma]

6. yes, it started when he was born.

[DS1]

7. Yes. There was no reason to believe he'd do anything else but fuck this up, too.

[lostnotforgotten]

9. Yes - Predicted It Election Eve 2000

eom

[Geek_Girl]

10. No but in the back of my mind I knew it

nt

[Neshanic]

11. I had no doubt ever it would be this bad with more to come.

[southernleftylady]

12. Yes and I remember being called crazy and a tinfoil wearing loon nt

[opihimoimoi]

13. MOLLY IVANS SAID IT...she said this asshole would be a disaster

based on his performance as Gov of Texas...his 6 years there fucked everything all to hell...Ann Richards Surplus went south as he dropped taxes for his buddies after taking office...Texas was never the same...

Bush and his GOP has fucked America more than we realized...

[Solly Mack]

14. Yep..damn sure did

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. YES!

I actually described him as an American Robert Mugabe at the time he was installed.

[Swamp Rat]

16. Yes, and there is more to come.

:yoiks:

[jojo54]

26. That's what I'm afraid of.

He's crippled this country, but he still has a lot of time to totally destroy it.

Screw Nancy, IMPEACH!!!

[NuttyFluffers]

105. yup, right there with you.

it ain't over yet folks! ;)

[trusty elf]

115. Hey Swamp Rat!

Have you seen this poster? The movie opens in Paris tomorrow. I'm going to check it out. :hi:

[Jamastiene]

18. I never doubted for a second that he'd destroy the country...

and he has done just THAT. We should just call him King Sadim from now on, because everything he touches turns to shit. King Midas turned shit to gold. Bush has turned golden opportunity after golden opportunity to shit. He's King Sadim.

[RedLetterRev]

120. In the military, we called that

the Ex-Lax Touch.

Shrubya has it, no doubt.

[leftofthedial]

19. I didn't think the cabal would be so successfully destructive in so many different areas

but I believed the economy would be this bad or worse.

[ailsagirl]

20. I knew it would be bad, though couldn't have imagined THIS bad

bastards

[carlyhippy]

21. either candidate is in for a real mess, look at what will be dumped into their lap

would you want to be president right now?

[NickB79]

22. I'm just pleased I haven't seen any mushroom clouds on the horizon yet

[InkAddict]

113. You only got the shape wrong - Have you forgotten Katrina's

spiraling destruction and the Repuke's NUKULAR response? The toxic half-life of their response in NOLA will last a long, long time. A "suitcase" nuke response, for sure - See what happens at fall-out shelters such as the Dome and after the "darn thing" actually explodes through an American city?

Apparently we weren't afraid enough to rid ourselves, one way or the other, of those whose response was so obviously negligent, racsist, and uncharitable, cause now we got the "bail-out."

Remember that other stalwart public servant, Birthday Boy himself, John McCain, grinning from ear-to-ear along side W*?

[Individualist]

23. Yes

That's why I took my savings out of mutual funds and put it in a CD when the little dictator was inaugurated.

[Bluenorthwest]

24. Yes.

Saw it coming.

[Zorra]

27. Actually, I thought it would be worse, but Chimpy didn't declare Martial Law.

Yet.

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. Yet. November 5th could be an interesting day.

:hide:

[Buns_of_Fire]

29. I must admit: No, I didn't.

I figured that Congress wouldn't let him get away with TOO much crap, and he'd be basically a "caretaker president," pulling his pud for four years until the next REAL President got elected.

And, until 9/11, I think that's pretty-much the way it was working out.

So much for MY powers of prognostication.:dunce:

[Beregond2]

30. Sure did.

[girl gone mad]

31. Yep.

And I took much comfort in 2004 in knowing that the shit would rain down on his head and not Kerry's.

[Arugula Latte]

32. No. This has surpassed the darkest recesses of my imagination, or something.

[WCGreen]

33. Wait, there's still time....

[MsLeopard]

35. Yes

I remember talking about his "reverse Midas touch" nearly eight years ago - right after his "appointment and installation" by the Supremes. He's ruined everything he ever touched - and it won't stop until he's safely in Paraguay....

[krispos42]

36. Well, this occured before I was politically aware...

But I figured a one-term loser with a buch of idiotic public statements and bumbling government policies. I figured anybody that wanted to win the way he did wasn't a good person or a good American.


The Onion nailed it, though.

[seemslikeadream]

38. Isn't that the most amazing thing ever written?

The Onion must be psychic

:hi:

[Patiod]

82. I had that on my bulletin board at work since January 2001

Every stinking thing in it came true.

Until this summer, everything but the major recession part - now EVERYTHING.

[TahitiNut]

39. Yes, and I've been very consistent in saying so on DU: "It'll get lots worse before it gets better."

... and I CONTINUE to say so to the Pollyanna cohort that persists in the mythology of "just one election." In 2006, I was unpopular for saying that Democratic gains in the House and Senate would NOT, per se, signal a turnaround unless and until we saw a REVERSAL of direction rather than merely slowing down our headlong rush into the shitter. The Gini Ratio continues to rise - as the vast gulf between the "top 1%" and the "bottom 80%" gets deeper and wider. The American prison population CONTINUES to increase on a per capita basis. The National Debt is increasing at leaps and bounds, accelerating at rates not seen in 60 years. As we watch the Republican Party shift ever further right, we ALSO see the Democratic Party shifting to the right. More people are homeless each year even as we see an explosion in vacant housing. High school dropout rates continue to rise which GUARANTEES a continuing decline in the "informed electorate." Health care costs continue to rise at rates far higher than the cost of living index. Unemployment is increasing at accelerating rates. Wages and salaries are dropping. Home heating oil prices will result in more deaths this coming winter than at any time in recent memory.

But we're giving the financial industry ONE TRILLION DOLLARS in taxpayer money.

[Blasphemer]

40. Yes, absolutely...

They didn't fight so hard in 2000 for nothing... and Cheney didn't nominate himself as VP for nothing. The writing was on the wall. I just hope it's not truly irreparable

[riverdeep]

41. No, not in 2000.

What people forget, he was shaping up to be a simply forgettable President. Moping along haphazardly, doing things of little consequence, like the China plane fiasco, or allowing more arsenic in the drinking water. He was actually something of a laughingstock. And then, boom, 9/11. Suddenly Inspector Clouseau was turned into a combination of Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. They saw (or made) their opportunity and took it for all it was worth.

But looking at his family, we all should have known. I've always known about Prescott Bush's ties to the Nazis, but I didn't know how deep they were. He was laundering their money in his banks before, during and after the war. W's grandfather helped to kill American GI's, and not only wasn't he tried for treason and shot, his progeny went on to become the most powerful members of the establishment; Presidents and Governors and Heads of the CIA. The latter is probably more powerful. Just like his grandfather, W's committed acts so barbarous it's beyond belief, and just like his grandfather, he'll get away scott free.

[Two Americas]

42. yes

There is no satisfaction in having been right, but there is some relief. As recently as two weeks ago I still felt like I was swimming against the current - kook, alarmist, ct, etc.

The plans and intentions of the people around Bush were always clearly in view, if people were willing to look.

In '98 and '99 I was on a mission, trying to warn Democrats about the threat. I became a pest to the staffs of dozens of politicians. I spent weeks talking to Gore staffers and workers, telling them that we were facing something dangerous and new with the crowd that was coalescing around Bush. I said they are making a fatal mistake by approaching this as though it were politics as usual. I still have the email exchange I had with one staffer. When they asked what it was I thought would happen, I said "think massive corruption, stolen elections, endless war over the oil fields, false flag attacks as excuses for starting wars including disasters here, destruction of the Constitution, wrecking of the economy that could lead to a depression..."

The response was "oh, we will get through this. It isn't that bad." There are still, today, people saying that here.

[Peacetrain]

43. Yep I knew it was going to be exactly this bad.

That turkey had bankrupted everything he touched.. I knew we were electing a right red dufus to the office. I was really beginning to worry about our country, because the voters seemed a little, hmmmm how can I put this kindly.. CLUELESS, the gene pool seemed to be getting a little thin, when it comes to the reasoning process.

[devilgrrl]

44. Yes I did.

eom

[pipi_k]

45. Yes I did think it would be this bad...in fact,

I'm surprised it's not much worse than it is.

I mean, I was imagining complete and total collapse of the US as we know it.

We're still functioning (barely) so my worst nightmare hasn't materialized.



yet


:scared:

[Chisox08]

46. I did

And I also told some of my friends to expect a war with either Iraq of China.

[Bonhomme Richard]

47. Christ! He's not done yet. n/t

[DevonRex]

48. I thought it would happen sooner. I'm surprised it took this long

for the economy to fall apart. If it had happened sooner, we might have been able to actually do something to make things better by now. As it is, it's the worst possible time. Obama will inherit the most fucked up economy I've ever seen. And that might be what the repukes wanted. Bankrupt the country so that nothing can be done to actually help people.

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. Yep,

We knew

[ksilvas]

51. Yes, I read "Fortunate Son" by the now dead/Killed J. H. Hatfield nt.

[harun]

52. Yes.

[SmokingJacket]

53. I will confess that I did not.

I mean, I thought "He'll start a war, or he'll wreck international relations, or he make global warming worse, or he'll get rid of the budget surplus and cause a recession or gas prices will double!"

I honestly didn't think he'd be capable of doing ALL of that!!

[Jack Rabbit]

54. No

I didn't really think he'd be any worse than Reagan, and we survived that.

Every new disaster just elicits more shock and awe from me. This is so even though I knew that greedy corporations long ago killed the goose that laid the golden eggs by shipping jobs overseas, destroying labor unions and shrinking the middle class.

When somebody as DU asks who should get credit for the fall of the Soviet Union, my answer is always the same: Leonid Brezhnev. Brezhnev, along with Louis XV (Après moi, le déluge) is also my stock answer for the historical leader of whom Bush most reminds me. But now it looks like the deluge won't even wait for Bush to leave office. The Soviet Union survived the incompetent Brezhnev by nine years after an 18 year reign of error. Bush has accomplished so much more in just eight years.

[mizzuzmojorizin]

55. Short answer to your question?

Um. Yeah. I. did.

[driver8]

56. I knew it would be bad, but I didn't think it would be THIS BAD!!

I also never thought he would be re-elected.

He has destroyed our country. I absolutely despise the whole fucking Bush family!

[agent46]

57. I'll never forget the day

I was driving on 101 into San Jose one afternoon. I heard the radio announcer say that junior had just raised some ridiculous amount of money in Texas and had put in his bid for the white house. At that moment I somehow just knew he'd be leveraged into power and then Amerika would take some very nasty hits while the new fascism sinks its roots into our lives. I had no idea though just how rapacious the "Vulcans" would turn out to be. After the 2000 election debacle and then the response to 9/11, the picture became crystal clear - at least to me.

I'm not one to think this administration has been a failure though. It seems to me, with the exception of failing to colonize the middle east for oil plunder, the pogrom against the constitution, the privatization of government, the emptying of government coffers and the installation of a militarized police/surveillance state has progressed nicely for all those who stand to gain.

If Obama manages to make it into the oval office this year, I'll be watching with interest to see if any of this will even be addressed or reversed. For a lot of reasons, I'm not going to hold my breath though.

[Dem2theMax]

58. Yes. I've been predicting the implosion of the United States for about six years.

And BOOM. Right on cue.

[Javaman]

59. yes. without a doubt. that fucking idiot* was my governor. nt

[shanti]

60. yes, sorry, but i did

[JFN1]

61. Never had any doubt

The first time I saw him speak I knew we were in serious trouble.

[deutsey]

62. I didn't know the specifics, of course, but I knew Bush would be a disaster

I remember telling people that it will take decades to undo what Bush was going to inflict on America.

I really take no satisfaction in being so right.

:evilfrown:

[ThoughtCriminal]

63. There was no reason to believe that the Country

would be an acception to his perfect record of screwing up everything he touches. What I did not predict is that more than a Wasilla-Load of morons would actually vote for this pathetic imbecile again in 2004.

At the time I think I predicted that for every month he was in office would take the country 2-3 months to recover. After 9-11, I thought 4-6 months recovery per Bush-month. After the Iraq invasion, it seemed more likely to be 6-8 months. Now I think the damage is far more epic - at least a generation - maybe two will pay the price for giving this drunken adolecent they keys to the nation.

[freestyle]

64. Yes. I just wished I were wrong.

Just beneath all the "compassionate conservative" bullshit was someone who messed up almost every business he was involved in, believed government was the problem, had a clear bias towards the extremely wealthy, was fascinated by death and destruction, and bored by everything else. The signs were all there.

[Runcible Spoon]

65. anybody who read up on PNAC knew.

going perfectly according to plan. :mad:

[lonestarnot]

66. Never a fucking doubt!

[marions ghost]

67. Election of 2000

said. it. all.

This nightmare hijacking by the Neocons began with Dumya's installation/inhoguration and rapidly snowballed downhill. With the stolen election of 2004 the diabolical plan of the BFEE was obvious. But so many Americans were willing to ignore all the signs. Nobody wants to be that cynical. And people don't want to struggle too hard against what they perceive is "inevitable." Resisters to tyranny are few and far between. At this point We The People have been knocked down, stripped of our basic rights, raped and robbed. Our children have been robbed. And everybody's like, Duh what happened?

That the country is down the tubes now should come as NO surprise.

I don't know what to say to people who say "I haven't decided who to vote for." (Like it's some kind of CHOICE !?!) I want to say, 'well ostrich, why don't you do the only thing that makes sense--vote for Obama and push for sweeping reforms in every area of government. Why don't you open your eyes and really begin to see.'

Once you begin to see it, you can fight it.

[tilsammans]

68. I had no doubt it would be bad, but . . .

. . . no idea it would be horrific (thousands dead, economy in tatters, etc. etc. etc.)

[avaistheone1]

69. Bush exceeded my worse expectations.

[JackRiddler]

70. Yes. I was expecting worse, but they have plenty of time left.

[depakid]

71. I only expected 4 years

Had I considered 8, then yep. Figure it's about par for the course.

[katty]

72. Yes, and we still have more days to go....

[screembloodymurder]

73. No way.

No one could have foreseen a disaster of this magnitude. 911, the Patriot Act, Katrina, Ike, FISA, torture, war, economic disaster and the coming earthquake in CA. The devil you say.

[Edweird]

74. I thought "One priviledged white guy or the other. How bad could it be?" Now I know EXACTLY how bad.

I was pulling for Gore, but wasn't scared of bush... I hope one day he gets tried and convicted for ALL his crimes.

[Bippity Boo]

75. I did, and that's why I was so angry at Naderites who said "no difference" between Bush and Gore

Somehow I don't think they were on the money.

[Waiting For Everyman]

76. Yes.

I'm only surprised that it didn't melt down in January, after he was gone.

[MadMaddie]

77. Yes, because all we had to do was look at TX for his roadmap!

Tx experienced many if not all of the things we are seeing today!

[Bryn]

78. Yes I did. Now I cannot stand to look at American Flag anymore because of him.

[Initech]

79. Yup, who knew that the US of A would be brought down from within?

Of course, Bush will probably get away with his crimes, while Poppy Bush - who is responsible for most of W's crimes - will answer to Satan before his case is even brought to trial.

[lumberjack_jeff]

80. I thought "he'll ruin our country" was slightly hyperbolic at the time.

Not any more.

[GinaMaria]

81. given that he bankrupted every business

he was in but walked away richer, I suspected he'd rob us blind. I didn't expect it to this extent. did you ever see Goodfellas? Where they take over the restaurant, run the guy into bankruptcy. sell a bottle of booze for half what it cost them to buy it? Feels like that. We're left holding the bill while he made off with the money. He's a criminal.

[tom_paine]

83. Not at first, but I caught on QUICK. I can still remember being given a ration

by Will Pitt for my "wild cospiracy theories", virtaully every one of which was reevaled eventually to be a reality.

From almost the very day of 12/12/2000, I was screaming in DU and in the Real World, to beware. That NOBODY does what the Bushies have done and HASN'T been an evil tyarnt.

Of course, back then, instead of 66.7% of DU calling me crazy, it was 90%.

Yeah, crazy like a fox, considering that time and time and time again my "wacky conspiracy theories" turned out to be 100% true.

One concrete example among many, whichis surely archived at DU: From almost the very day of 12/12/2001 I basically predicted the Fired US Attorney's Scanbdal and the Bushification of thenetire executive branch.

When I first spoke of it, way back when, Will Pitt and many other dismissed it as tinfoil and bordering on lunacy.

I patiently replied Totalitarianism, of which Imperial Amerika is now one, are uniformly predictable in keeping with the closed and rigged nature of totalitarian governance as in Amerika, with the governance practiced by free nations. All Totalitarianisms, no matter what new disguise they happen to waer for the victims of the moment, all follow the same imperatives.

One of those imperatives is the insatiable need to rig and control ALL outcome. It was a short logical leap to realize that the Bushies would b practicing Bushification in much the same way and with the same basic goals as the Nazis practiced Nazification, albeit much less violently (lucky us).

Thus, I expect all executive agencies to come under totalitarian Bushie unchecked and unoopposable control by "kinder and gentler methods", butthe result will be one of Nazification/Bushification.

I said that 5 YEARS before the Demoratic Victory in 2006 allowed the investigations to start which at least revealed extent of Bushification/Nazification. They exposed even if they didn't DO anything about, and I suppose we should be grateful for even that tiny bit.

I NEVER ONCE wavered in that belief, due to the monotonous predictability of tyrants and the weak-minded fools who follow them. When the extent of Nazification/Bushification was finally revealed in 2007, it merely was EXACTLY what I had been describing all alongthat 65-90% of DUers had ridiculed me for somany times.

So, in many ways, I was among the very VERY first to truly understand the magnitude of the danger we faced, and while I understoodthe danger, I would be lying if I said I guessed the pure fuck-upery they were going to unleash. I didn't realize HOW BAD it would be, but I knew what they were and the larger issue of what they represented.

Of course, once I realized alltheir "misakes" were intentional policy that only look like mistakes to ordinary people because we have ALWAYS had problems spotting tyrants, even like, as with Bush and Hitler, they are so transparently evil you'd think EVERYONE would realize immediately.
But Hitler's and Bush's "purpsoeful policy" MUST be interpreted as "mistakes" by the poplaceat large,because most people will turn away rather than acknowledge that kind of evil, let alone the double whammy that acknowledging the evil means acknowledging they have coddled and served it so well.

Most people would rather die than admit such. To be more accurate, most people would kill (or stand by while Bushies/Nazis killed) rather han acknowledge such. The worse they have been bamboozled and the longerthey have ben bamboozled, the more reluctant they are to acknowledge it, no matter how much evidence is throw in their faces. That is human nature and it is almost immutable and with very few exceptions, if any. (I am NOT one of those exceptions, and I don't think I am better than anyone else).

[RedLetterRev]

121. Tom, I knew it wasn't a conspiracy "theory"

in November of 2000. I was in Florida at the time, after having lived in Texas before that (a couple of times) and had seen the rapaciousness of the Railroad Commission. In Texas, the Railroad Commission (for some odd reason known only to Texans) used to regulate the oil industry. Over time, it was the oil industry owning the Railroad Commission, then the entire of Texas government outright.

Knowing where and what Jeb had come from, I had a sinking feeling and good idea where we were all going. But I digress. Back to Florida in 2000.

Before the first call for recount came down, there were trucks at heavily-Democratic precincts picking and destroying uncounted ballots. There were miles of video tape being shot by the West Palm Beach (CBS) TV station and the Miami (then WB) station. I was walking my dogs at 7am that Wednesday morning and saw trucks in front of my precinct as well. I wasn't the only eyewitness.

Katherine Harris cited an obscure bit of Florida election law that required all uncounted ballots to be immediately destroyed. Some precincts had simply "been forgotten".

My ass.

Now, if she had all damned day Tuesday to get trucks lined up to pick up ballots and get the to the tally centers by midnight and couldn't, why is it that she was able get a load of people's asses out of bed at 4am to roll truck by 6am to make sure ballots were destroyed at or before dawn before they could be counted or entered as evidence?

You know the answer as well as I do.

:tinfoilhat: not.

The theft of Florida in 2000 was elegantly coordinated and protected under the thinnest color of law -- citing the one sentence that allowed them to destroy the damning evidence of collusion, engineering, and theft. I've asked the DNC and several other entities with the power and resources to get hold of those video tapes. To date, none has resurfaced.

But I know damned well what I saw and hundreds of thousands of other south Floridians saw.

I call that Wednesday "The Day America Died" and I wept bitterly. I wept bitterly again in 2004 because I knew the nightmare would only get worse. Every single prediction I made in November 2000 has come true, except for one so horrible I won't give voice, lest I give it power. I'm not particularly superstitious; suffice it to say that I believe that the neocons would stop at little-to-nothing to cling to absolute power.

[tjwash]

84. Yes. It's actually a little less fucked up then I thought it would be.

But still fucked up none the less

[voteearlyvoteoften]

85. Knew He Had One More Major F*ck Up In Him

Bill Maher predicted this in the spring. Unfortunately for our country the financial meltdown may be the worst of all.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

86. Obama IS one brave man - I'd hate to be stuck with Bush's mess on my hands

I'm glad someone is willing to tackle this incredible task.

[struggle4progress]

87. Uh ... yeah. Doh!

[glitch]

88. Yes. And they aren't done yet. nt

[Beam Me Up]

89. Yes, I absolutely did. This is what happens when you let fascists -- and

eight years ago one was thought "nutty" to use that word -- take control of your government. And believe me, I don't think the worst is over -- nor will it be even if by some miracle Obama is allowed to set foot in the White House. They haven't done what they have done just to pick up and leave because we don't like them and their policies. NO! This is a long range agenda and they've just about pulled it off without hardly a whimper.

[DeeDeeNY]

90. The downfall of our country in more ways than one

If you can get a copy of "Crimes Against Nature" by Bobby Kennedy Jr., which was actually published in 2004, that book really highlights just how much destruction of our environment has been accomplished by Bush and his cronies.

[Strelnikov_]

91. Three months yet to go . . . icing would be a conflict with Iran

Hold on to your jockstraps . . . this is gonna be a rough landing.

[LiberalHeart]

92. I didn't expect America to be so utterly re-defined.

[Two Americas]

94. thank you to everyone

So many old friends on this thread.

I want to thank everyone here for speaking the truth through these terrible times in the face of horrendous abuse and ridicule and opposition. Thank you all for your self-sacrifice and commitment and your dedication to what is good and true and right. You have made an incalculable contribution that will never be forgotten.

[bread_and_roses]

95. Not in '00 - I felt dread, given what I knew of the Evil Empire Family and Friends...but

I cannot say that in '00 I imagined the totality of destruction he has wroght - just for an example, I had known of our connivance with and assistance of murdering, torturous dictators for many, many years - but in 2000 I would not have predicted that visible public examples of State-run (not "just" State sanctioned) torture would emerge and result in such a feeble response from both the electorate and Congress. Just one example of "beyond my imagination in '00" - I could come up with many others.

I felt dread, as I said, but I did not in '00 imagine the total success of the Junta in the destruction of the Consititution, of all Civil Liberties, and much else...

But I can say that on 9/11 I said to my husband "this is what they've been waiting and hoping for" ("they" being the Junta, of course) - and predicted in rough form virtually every thing that has come to pass since (except Katrina, of course - my imagination still failed me on the degree to which they could act upon and get away with open and openly deliberate ethnic clensing in an American city (instead of "merely" the on-going destruction of inner city minority and poor populations that has been going on for at least 30 years disguised by "tough on crime," "urban renewal," etc.).

So, no, in '00, although fearful and despondent, my imagination failed me.

[live love laugh]

96. I knew he was bad but I could not have imagined this total devastation. nt

[AlCzervik]

97. yes, we were warned by Molly ivins and also beleive it or not Paul Begala who wrote

a very good and scary book about Bush, right here--

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Children-Learning-Against-George/dp/B000H2M6KS/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223347768&sr=1-5

[WhiteTara]

98. yes. I'm sorry I was right

Barack is a brave man.

[tavalon]

99. Nope, I was one of those naive "how bad can that idiot fuck it up really?"

Clearly, for once in my life, I was stupider than Dubya and that's a mighty low bar.

[OakCliffDem]

100. Kick

[Philosoraptor]

101. yes

[tismyself]

102. I figured he'd hurry it up.

This mess has really been a long time coming.

The back bone of the economy started cracking in 1996 that I know of.

[Vinca]

103. Shrub has exceeded all expectations. He must be happy with himself.

Bigger war than Poppy and now he's outdone him on the financial disaster front, too.

[earth mom]

104. I wasn't paying attention in 2000. But once I figured out the score, I've known * won't be happy

until he has totally destroyed the U.S. and of course The Constitution.

There are three months left and I expect much worse things to come and I'm not talking about the Great Depression 2. :scared:

[Krashkopf]

106. Sadly, I predicted it.

Here is a quote from an e-mail I sent out to my GOPer friends in 2000 -

"Bush has fucked up every single job he has ever had. As an "oil man" he couldn't find oil in Texas . . . as a baseball owner he traded SAMMY SOSA! Then, he walked away from it all, leaving a huge mess for someone else to clean up. Do you REALLY want to give him the chance to do that on a nationwide/worldwide scale?!"

[ecstatic]

107. That's why I don't get people who still worship Nader

he screwed us all.

[shadowknows69]

108. Yeah, I said on my radio show in the run up to the election

That if Bush got elected we'd be involved in a major war by the end of his first term. Frankly I'm surprised we're not in full blown WWIII yet, but he still has 3 months.

[PassingFair]

110. I didn't foresee the shame of Democrat collaborators in the House and Senate.

And the TOTAL control that the pukes had for
maintaining lockstep.

I saw the war.
I saw the 29-like crash.

I did not foresee the wreckage of our housing prices.

I thought they would be able to foist it off
on the next administration.

[Burma Jones]

111. I thought this was going to happen because of Reagan

I was right.......These problems go back more than 8 years.

[tomg]

112. I knew Bush would completely

screw up this country and the Middle East, but as much as I detested him ( although, I have to admit I dislike McCain even more), I didn't think Bush had the chops to completely screw up the world economy. I mean that is some really serious shit.

on edit: There is still time for him to start World War III.

[Tracer]

114. No. I really didn't.

My thought at the time was somthing along the lines of "how much damage can one guy do?"

Now, unfortunately, I know.

[TuxedoKat]

116. YES! After living through the Reagan and Bush I years

I was not optimistic after W got "elected". Everything about him screamed incompetence and incomprehension of the big picture. I am surprised at how he brought us to the brink of disaster though, but in his defense, what we are suffering now is a compilation of events that started with Reagan and continued with Bush I, and apparently Clinton may have some culpability as well.

If Barack wins I would like to see some ongoing organized effort for Americans that support him help the country get back on track.

[FedUpWithIt All]

117. Sadly, yes. It has been a LONG nearly 8 years. n/t

[area51]

118. Yeah, some people did.

I'm not the only one who said back in '01 that GW Hoover's policies had put us into the 2nd Great Depression. Jobs started flying out of this country at an unprecedented rate, and job availability is the surest measure of an economy's health. The economy's now gotten so bad that even "Joe Sixpack"'s noticed.

[trusty elf]

119. I expected the worst.

Most of my friends had a terrible feeling that shrub was going to be catastrophic.

[Recursion]

122. I had assumed Poppy would rein him in nt

[ProfessorGAC]

123. I Knew

I knew it would be Reaganism on steriods, and i published a paper in 1994 that went into great mathematical detail as to why the Reagan economy was a sham and resulted, DIRECTLY, in the recession that hit during "41".

And, i knew the crowd around Silverspoon were blinded acolytes to that whole failed philsophy.

So, yeah; i knew.
The Professor

[wryter2000]

124. Nope

I couldn't imagine that anyone would be worse than that bozo, Raygun. (BTW, folks, I lived under Raygun in CA, pre-Alzheimers, and he was always out of touch with reality.) You couldn't write fiction about a character as bad as **. No one would believe it.