Allow me to say something positive about George W. Bush.

[TheWraith]

During his presidency, he lived up to the drunken rich fratboy archetype his entire life seemed to be based on.

What that means is, Bush didn't really care about that much during his presidency. He had a philosophy that he'd been sold on, but he was not an activist for it. Being an activist took too much work and thought. Instead he surrounded himself with people who would do the work for him. His advisors and appointees were alway the biggest trouble--Bush himself was too lazy. And as strange as it sounds, I truly believe that that saved us a great deal more difficulty than we would have otherwise had.

So it is in this context that I say: people like Sarah Palin and Rick Perry are much, much worse than Bush. They're true believers, not accustomed to sitting back and letting others make the decisions, and not at all likely to weigh the consequences of their decisions. They believe that they are anointed by God. If that, to them, means invading Iran, or using battlefield nuclear weapons, or starting a true crusade against the Muslim world, they will not balk at that as Bush might have done.

[CBHagman]

1. I'll say something else nice about George W. Bush.

He looks moderate next to the current Republican House. The GOP had control of all three branches of government but didn't try to redefine rape or set out to defund public broadcasting.

If nothing else, the 112th Congress has proven there's something worse than the G.W. Bush administration.

[TheWraith]

3. That is also very, very true.

The Republicans have been moving right for almost two decades, but lately it's accelerated to an astounding degree.

[Danmel]

2. He did 2 good things in 8 years

The do not call registry & funding for AIDS. That is ir
t though . The rest of it was a nightmare.

[petronius]

17. He also established some large marine sanctuaries in the Pacific

That and PEPFAR are my go-to mentions when I absolutely have to say something positive about Bush... :)

[TBF]

27. Yes the family loves animals - the Bush family donated

a large dog park west of Houston ("Millie Bush Bark Park") - several acres with lakes. It is gorgeous. I always say it's the best thing the Bush family ever did for this country.

[mwb970]

25. He never acted or spoke like a racist....

...although he didn't object when his supporters did. His immigration plan made sense. Now all republicans seem to me to be racists, and also to have completely lost their minds (and souls) on this and every other issue.

[TheWraith]

4. If you're going to unrec this, please explain why.

I've noticed that it's been unrecced at least a couple times already.

[virgogal]

7. Oh for heaven's sake,it's unrecced because something

positive was being said about Bush.

The immaturity of some DUers astounds me.

[Scuba]

22. You're not spending enough time on other blogs. Some make DU look like a convention...

...of scientist diplomats.

[emilyg]

5. rec.

[Skink]

6. Bushes handlers did a good job.

especially directing the biggest bailout in history.

[blue neen]

8. IMHO, he did not live "up" to the drunken rich fratboy image.

He lived "down" to it.

That is not positive.

[TheWraith]

18. Compared to the alternative, him being a true believe, the drunken fratboy was good for us.

And for the country. So I rank it as a positive.

[blue neen]

28. Alternative or no alternative, "DRUNK" is not a positive.

We are now living with the results of Bush's illness.

Drunken, stupid, addictive behavior is not something to yearn for in our nation's leaders.

Just because the Bush Empire-bought Supreme Court handed George W. Bush the Presidency of the United States does not mean his behavior is/was exemplary, acceptable, or good for this country in any way.

The sociopaths, manipulators, and enablers who ensured that he got into office are as sick as he is.

[SpiralHawk]

9. k

&

r

[MannyGoldstein]

10. Bush was also respectful of his base

He didn't tell them to fuck a duck, then run off to hump the leg of the opposition.

[ProSense]

13. .

[MannyGoldstein]

16. At least there was hope that he'd be followed by a President

who'd promulgate Democratic values. I do miss that.

[madinmaryland]

11. Are there pictures of his weiner floating around teh internets??

[Rex]

12. He thought God talked to him...he was insane and a war criminal.

I doubt those two can compare to GWBs 8 years.

[lunatica]

14. He still did more damage in 8 years than we thought was possible.

Dubya didn't have to be an activist. He had Rove and Cheney and the Supreme Court to fuck us up.

[Dawson Leery]

15. Bush is worse than Harding and Coolidge.

While Harding and Coolidge destroyed this country's economy, they did not screw up foreign policy to the point of being hostile with allies.

[TheWraith]

20. Certainly true. But others who want the job now would eclipse him.

And make us nostalgic for the "good old days."

[Warrior Dash]

26. If Obama starts another war, he will top Bush by one.

Libya
Yemen
Syria...?

[Zorra]

19. Are you shitting me?!? How could we have any more trouble than Bush caused us?

Make no mistake, Bush is a true believer. He did a perfect job of fucking the world up, exactly like daddy wanted him to.

No passes. He did as much damage as he possibly could in 8 years.

He set the stage for wacko extremists like Palin and Perry.

[Frank Cannon]

21. Exactly. Somebody needs to read "The Shock Doctrine".

He was put into office illegally to wreak as much havoc as he possibly could, and he succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams... or nightmares.

So no, no passes.

If I can think of anything good to say about the guy, it's that he seems to be relatively quiet since he left office, and I don't have to have his ugly, smirking mug in my face every night.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madokie]

24. So True you said

Due to his drunkenness he was pretty benign, he himself but not his cabinet but his cabinet didn't have the bully pulpit that he had so in that case yes bush the lesser was less of an evil sunsabitch as those you named would be. Throw in the rest of the reptillicons, cept'n for Ron Paul and I'll buy that too. The reason I excepted Paul is I feel he wouldn't go flying off the handle like the rest of them surely would, he'd stay grounded. I'm not a Ron Paul supporter in any way shape or form though :hi:

Edit for typo

[Urban Prairie]

29. Bush the lesser was the PNAC's marionette.

They merely permitted him to believe that he was the "decider". Bush was merely good only at delegating most of his executive responsibilities, IMO, and was likely in his jammies by no later than 9 pm most nights. Look at how much and how quickly President Obama has become gray-haired, which took Junior ~3/4 of his two terms to do likewise.

[JackRiddler]

30. Nonsense. They got away with as much as they thought was possible. If...

the fourth plane had hit the Capitol, he would have presided over a martial law regime.