The upside of Bush’s presidency: We haven’t all been killed!
Over in the Washington Post, Norm Augustine trots out future wingnut talking points about how super-awesome Bush’s presidency has been:
If Nothing Else, We’ve Been Safe
What have been George Bush’s leadership strengths? That is a question that will perhaps best be answered with the perspective of history, considering that Lincoln, was at one time despised by half the country and questioned by many in the other half. There is also the dilemma of whether leaders must be fully successful to be judged good leaders (case in point: Robert E. Lee).
President Bush’s overall greatest achievement was that America has not suffered another 9/11 tragedy.
The fact we haven’t (yet!) all died gruesome, hideous deaths under Bush’s watch is considered an “achievement?” Are you serious? This is considered a standard for success?
Now, I don’t know if there’s some kind of document out there that lists bare minimum requirements for being president. But if there is one, I’ll bet that making sure the majority of your citizens don’t get senselessly slaughtered is at the very top of it. The fact that we’re even discussing whether or not we should be thankful that Bush hasn’t gotten us all killed demonstrates that he is the worstest, most crappiest president in the history of the United States. The only way a future president could get significantly worse, according to this “standard,” would be to detonate nuclear weapons in every major American city. And heck, who knows if we’re out of the woods yet in that regard — Bush still has a week and a half to go!
Well, I can admit that I most certainly am not dead. I must be some kind of left-wing wacko not to give Bush credit for that one, though.
I got laid off from a job and got divorced while Bush was President. I also got three other jobs and had sex with four women, so I guess Bush was successful with job growth and more successful with blowjobs, though I’m going to assume that the expienced blowjob growth is a holdover from the Clinton Administration because I’m a partisan liberal.
Maybe it’s worse than eveyone thinks.
Remember that Twilight Zone episode where the crew of a rocket ship to Venus experiences all sorts of wierd happenings?
Only at the end is it explained that they were all killed during a crash landing, but the ego of their captain just won’t allow them to realise that they’re all dead.
How do you know that didn’t happen to everyone in America, hmm?
It would explain a lot, wouldn’t it?
And I wish to thank Bush for my spelling of, almost, “experienced”,
“Lincoln, was at one time despised by half the country”
And we can conveniently forget that the half that despised him was in open, armed insurrection at the time.
It must be so terribly, terribly hard to be a wingnut. Every day–every fucking day–reality seeps in and steps on your ball with golf cleats. So every day you have to construct fantasy castles to hide in.
I paid slightly over $35,000 out of pocket for health care just in ’08, just for me, not the whole family. And people wonder why I voted for Obama? My insurance is already little more than a bloody coupon rather than coverage. Thanks for the help, W.!
Augustine:
Congratulations, Republicans. The bull just went to the polls and said “Buck you.”
“President Bush’s overall greatest achievement was that America has not suffered another 9/11 tragedy.”
Unbelievable – or it would be if the callous insanity was not itself part of the conservative movement philosophy already. I mean one 9/11 is actually quite bad in itself particuarly if your response to the original warnings in the summer of 2001 was to clear brush on a fake ranch.
But for crying out loud – NEW ORLEANS!
NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS! NEW ORLEANS!
And he didn’t eat my cat. Truly, he’s a bit like Jesus.
Yes this is the future for the Republicans. I just can’t see this as a bad thing it is really very nice of them to state something that is so very stupid.
Pointing out that 9/11 was under Bush’s watch that he was on his first vacation one of many that would break presidential vacation records! Katrina again his watch again vacation…………. WAIT WHAT HAPPENED?? I thought you said he was keeping us safe?? Those people camping out on rooftops and bridges don’t look so safe to me……..
Torture wow that’s fun huh? What? Republicans screaming that it is patriotic to advocate the torture of people! THAT BUSH WILL SAVE US ALL AGAIN NEVER MIND 9/11 OR KATRINA!!!! Wow was that a knee slapper wasn’t it!! Wiretaps you say without oversight and no accountability are a good thing and nothing to worry about, how very Republican of you……… I wonder how they will feel about wiretaps now that the left is the one listening?? LOL
Somebody else was president on 9/11.
A depressing thought: Obama is blamed for not invading Iran if another Oklahoma City happens on his watch.
The reason we haven’t been attacked is because of the magical anti-terrorism charm I’ve been wearing since 9/12/2001 and there’s no way they can prove it isn’t.
Major–good point. Thanks for keeping us safe, BTW.
As someone (Yglesias? John Cole?) pointed out, claiming that Bush was a great president because he had only one massive terrorist attack during his tenure is like claiming that Herbert Hoover was a great president because he had only one Great Depression.
I’m impressed with that thumbnail photo of Norm Augustine. It shouts out “Why, yes, I am an ignorant, overbearing prick. You got a problem with that?”
For the thousands of dead Americans (and tens of thousands of dead around the world), it wasn’t that successful…but for the survivors, he will be remembered as the greatest evah…
And he didn’t bore us with any claptrap like Lincoln did at Gettysburg.
He made us think. Usually, we’d think, WTF?
so if I go to the hospital for a physical and the doctor there accidentally amputates both my arms and legs, but I survive, does that make him a good doctor?
I think Augustine is on the right track here though:
President Bush holds strong convictions–strengths of such remarkable leaders as President’s Truman and Reagan. The key, of course, is to have the correct convictions.
I’m hoping to see some convictions as well.
I’m impressed with the facility with which wingnuts have removed all responsibility for things that happened during Bush’s presidency from Bush’s manly shoulders.
September 11? Clinton’s fault.
Collapse of capitalism/nationalization of U.S. industry? Democrats’ fault.
Future trillion-dollar deficits because of current financial crisis? Already Obama’s fault.
I wonder: do they actually believe it all?
The anthrax attacks occurred after 9/11. Yeah, they only killed a handful and have never really been solved… just shelved after a convenient suicide following a payout to the subject of an inept investigation.
And no penguins were killed on the M1 today.
Yes, Bush’s greatest triumph is that we suffered only one devastating terrorist attack with thousands of deaths on his watch.
Heckuva job there, really.
Well, to his credit, after a while Bush started answering every question with, “Saddam Hussein!” “So, Mr. President, what will you be doing this Christmas?” “SADDAM HUSSEIN!”
That was my favorite period of his Presidency. Ahhh, the memories.
There is also the dilemma of whether leaders must be fully successful to be judged good leaders.
Should we consider a disastrous, bungling, vicious, corrupt nosepicker to be a good leader, or should we not?
It is a dilemma. I am vexed.
Precisely, and the shame that this signal event happened on their watch (despite warnings that Al-Q was planning to attack the country directly, which Bush ignored) put in motion all the insanity these clowns have perpetrated since: Iraq, Abu Gharib, Gitmo, innumerable constitutional violations, ad nausiam.
Does one really need to add that Bush’s unnecessary Iraq war has killed and maimed far more Americans than 9/11, not to mention all those furriners who don’t count?
Bush ’43, truly a Presidency to be proud on in the national security area.
I think people just aren’t counting everyone. There’s 9/11, Katrina, the Greenspan Body Count, women and their babies in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan, inspired scuicide bombers in Europe and Africa, soldiers we support in Somalia and so many other places,
Oh! I’m alive, so it’s all good. It’s hard to remember to think like a conservative.
Yes, Bush’s greatest triumph is that we suffered only one devastating terrorist attack with thousands of deaths on his watch.
The wingnuttosphere has apparently decided that their strongest pro-Bush talking point is one of Bush’s most spectacular failures. But since spectacular failures are all that he’s accomplished, I guess that’s all they have to work with.
I’m a little surprised that the conservative commentariat hasn’t already quietly consigned George W. to the memory hole.
Obama wanted to be president, full stop.
Whereas George W. Bush was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the White House where he served, reluctantly but brilliantly, with only his Texas-sized sense of altruism and near-Buddha-like compassion for all people as his guide.
According to some people, God was responsible for the attacks of 9/11, which is a perfectly rational hypothesis. Using the “ham sandwich” theory*, one could assume that George W. Bush, by keeping America safe from another equally spectacular attack in the last seven years, is more powerful than God. (excuse me, g-d).
That’s a fucking legacy, my friends.
*(I’m not a philosopher, so correct me if I misapplied the theory.)
PS Since when did Bush have the power to send hurricanes?
Around the time the same people that declared him “God’s president” said God drowned New Orleans for its sin.
It’s too early in the morning for feeding trolls.
It is quite astonishing to recognise the level of projection from our dear republican allies . Why it might make you think for Ju Jistsu they might be able to reach a reflection .
He he he , just kidding
I spent my entire life savings on a rock that would prevent me from getting mauled by tigers. Sure, I may be broke and living in a cardboard box, but on the bright side, I haven’t been mauled by a single tiger ever since I bought that rock. Best investment ever.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go dumpster-diving at the zoo again.
Haven’t you heard? The domestic policy initiative Bush is proudest of is his failed attempt to privatize social security.
I guess he’s right – just so long as you’re unsuccessful. As Josh Marshall pointed out during what he called the “Social Security Bamboozlement Tour” (“we need privitization! I mean, personalization, with private accounts! I mean, put it in personal accounts! Burma!”), the main problem with that plan was that the more people found out about it, the less they liked it.
Not that I’m a huge Pelosi fan, but I’m with her on this one: if I had a record like the president’s, I’d be pushing the one thing I’d been unsuccessful in totally fucking up too.
Eventually Bush’s genius WILL be recognized: he cleverly helped make everyone’s lives a lot shittier so terrorists wouldn’t have to.
More from the Post’s discussion of Bush and leadership.
That’s Andy Stern of the SEIU. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, given the power game he’s been playing recently and its broader implications about organizing (see his fight with Sal Roselli, for example), but it still does.
I like this response.
That’s Warren Bennis of USC. Not just a dystopia, but a vivid one!
I’m a little surprised that the conservative commentariat hasn’t already quietly consigned George W. to the memory hole.
That’s a good point, Snorghagen. It would seem that a more prudent course of action would be to claim that Bush was never actually a conservative. A few have made noises in that direction, but overall they just can’t seem to pull the trigger on that argument. I find that curious, since it’s no more or less stupid and fact-free than any of the others.
My conclusion is that it’s not a cynical act–they really do admire and respect George W., and can’t bring themselves to turn on him. He’s the daddy figure, after all.
“President Bush’s overall greatest achievement was that America has only not suffered another one 9/11 tragedy before going insane and being driven over the edge by his administration.”
I would also point out that cows did not go extinct.
“President Bush’s overall greatest achievement was that America has only suffered one 9/11 tragedy before going insane and being driven over the edge by his administration.”
Failed strike through effort deleted. Apologies.
Remember that the botched Katrina response wasn’t Bush’s fault, because Mayor Nagin had some school buses. I think that’s how that excuse goes.
A few have made noises in that direction, but overall they just can’t seem to pull the trigger on that argument. I find that curious, since it’s no more or less stupid and fact-free than any of the others.
I think it may be because the memory of hordes of dumbshit rednecks making death threats against liberals on Conservative Messiah GW Bush’s behalf is still pretty fresh.
We can see it’s you again, Truthie. And Bush may not have the power to send hurricanes, which no one here claimed (unless you belong to the Michigan Militia) but YOU were the one who was too dumb to realize that “Heckuva Job, Brownie” was a direct quote from George W. Bush speaking about the preparations for and response to Hurricane Katrina. A sane person would automatically understand the context of the criticism, that it’s a criticism of Bush’s response too, not being the cause of Katrina. You are not a sane person. And we can all spot that it’s you again. So stop being insane, and stop thinking of “Dicks”
I also wondered why the whole “Bush wasn’t really a conservative” meme didn’t take hold, and I concluded that it would be acknowledging what a colossal failure he was.
To admit eight years of Massive Fail just didn’t compute when the unwashed masses wanted to keep that Bad Daddy Love.
Remember that the botched Katrina response wasn’t Bush’s fault, because Mayor Nagin
had some school busesis black.That’s the actual wingnut logic in that one, J.D.
There’s a joke my father used to tell. We had a crazy dog who lived in our backyard, and he would say that her job was to keep the lions, tigers & bears out of the yard.
The fact that there were no lions,tigers or bears in our yard was proof that she was doing a great job.
It’s kind of a silly, dumb joke. But it sure sounds even stoooopider coming from these creeps on the right. I’m insulted beyond measure. Watching a disaster like Katrina unfold tells me all I need to know: The fact that there hasn’t been another terrorist act on our soil is mostly dumb luck.
Heck, why should Bin Laden strain a muscle when Bush is doing his job for him?
How many people have died waiting for health care?
How many people have died from all the food contamination?
How many people will be driven into poverty because the economy cratered, with the subsequent suffering?
Bin Laden could have skipped the whole thing, and BushCo would have done a lot of the damage, anyway.
It’s like they have a list of shitty things that could have happened, and they’ve crossed off all but one – which means Bush wasn’t so bad after all.
Lose a major American City? oops, cross that one off.
Economy tanks? oops, cross that off.
Two shitty wars, going badly? Cross, and cross.
We’re not all dead? _ let that one stand. Yay! Bush is great!
i dig the gop-hack framing technique of bracketing words like “strength” and “legacy” with lincoln’s name in every thumbnail examination of bushie’s tenure.
i may start doing something similar with the comments i leave here at sadlyno!. for example: i feel this comment by me, dex, may benefit the strong legacy of gavin and html mencken’s posts. but it’s worth noting that a strong writer like norman mailer was alternately hated and loved throughout his long and storied career. with that comparison in mind, it may take internet historians many years before coming to a firm conclution of the effects of dex’s comments and his legacy.
er, should be “conclusion”, there, that last sentence…
Here is how it will go down next week. First, the results from Virginia and North Carolina will come in, and they’ll be declared for McCain. You’ll be disappointed, but “no big deal, change can’t come overnight” will be your comment. Florida will go red, and a little nervousness will creep in. The usual suspects will fall into the usual categories. As the night drags on, Ohio, Colorado, and (much to your horror) Pennsylvania will be too close to call.
My advice at this point to you will be to go to bed. You will wake up to a McCain presidency and the Great Liberal Freakout will be on.
Bookmark this, liberals, as this is exactly how it is going to go down. You will be wonder how the hell I was able to call this.
President Bush’s overall greatest achievement was that America has not suffered another 9/11 tragedy.
If this is the measuring stick, wouldn’t they have to judge Clinton a success, too, as the Trade Center wasn’t attacked again during the Clinton administration after the ’93 bombing(plus, the perps actually got punished for that one)? Or maybe every other president is better because none of them had a 9/11 tragedy happen under their watch?
Clear agenda, eh?
I always thought the Bush administration agenda was “Wha? Whaddafuckthisfuckinggoddamnshit?! [waking up in alleyway] Where dafuck am I shitmuthafuckers. Gonna kick sumfuckingoddamnass. Blech…hualppp! [puking behind dumpster] Nobodyfuckinfucks with me goddamnshit. Ooff! [staggering into wall, falling unconscious]”
Well, yeah. They wanted to turn the 99% into debt-serfs without a prayer for a decent life.
Does the fact that I am not actually wearing burlap detract from how far they got towards that goal?
There’s some lovely filth over here, Dennis!
Gee, you’d think this was the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations™, or something.
I said it before & I’ll say it some more.
The real reason that Al-Quaeda hasn’t hit the homeland of America again since 2001 is sickeningly straightforward: Bush gave Osama bin Laden everything he wanted – from pulling US military bases out of Muslim holy lands in Saudi Arabia to open-ended pointless wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. Bush has also been remarkably adept at losing interest in bin Laden once his value as a cultural boogey-man started to dip – & all the more so once his own family’s friendliness with the bin Ladens became public knowledge – such is the passion & depth of his patriotic fervor.
It’s all in the public record, & it all proves what a gutless little tit Bush really is … he’s been delighted to be bin Laden’s boytoy on demand – as long as he can get HIS lolly & get off scot-free for his treachery – because he knows the celeb/pundit cadres of the major media who might otherwise pull a Nixon on him are every bit as thoroughly committed to whoredom as he is. It’s been a real romantic “you toss my salad, I’ll toss yours” affair between Bush & the news-networks.
As long as US foreign-policy remains in its current rut, its domestic turf will remain “safe” – from foreign terrorists. Never interrupt an enemy in mid-folly … they might have a sudden attack of common sense. When you hit a home-run over the fence & stroll into home-plate, you don’t have to turn around & try to steal first-base.
The real question is if there had indeed been ‘another 9/11’ since 9/11 would the standard by righties have been that there had not been a third under Bush Jr.?
And if there had been 3 x 9/11 attacks, would we remain proud that there had not been a fourth? And so on and so forth, such that no matter how many 9/11’s there were, since n + 1 could have occurred but didn’t it means that Bush Jr. KeptUsSafe?
I assume this is some sort of corollary to the “Mulligan Theory” of 9/11 and Bush Jr.
jim: I also think that one reason Al Qa’ida didn’t attempt ‘another 9/11’ was the result of two practicalities:
(1) They got really, really lucky in carrying out 9/11 the first time…
and maybe more importantly
(2) Would you, if you were bin Laden, follow up 9/11/2001 with something less impressive?
I mean, really, if I were bin Laden, I’d look back on 9/11/2001 and just say, ‘F***, there’s no way I’m improving on that sh*t; best back off while I’ve still got the title, ’cause ain’t no way I’m breaking that record.’
President Bush’s overall greatest achievement was that America has not suffered another 9/11 tragedy.
By this criteria, he’s still the worst president of all time. If “number of 9/11’s” is a major criteria, he still has one more than every other president in history.
I think El Cid is on to something. The wingnuts run around with their hair on fire, screaming “Ahhh! Scarey Mooslims want to kill us all!” when in fact, the Scarey Mooslims don’t really want to kill us all, they just want us to run around scared about it.
That and the satisfaction of watching us ruin our economy and erode our democracy is all they really want.
And can I just say that I am always tickled at the praise for Bush’s supposed virtue of “resolve” – meaning he’s so fucking stubborn he can’t admit it and change course when he’s wrong.
El Cid–that’s right; if terrorists came up with something less dramatic than 9/11, they’d look a bit weak. Their enormous success actually hurts them now. And they did get what they wanted–America is broke and has a very bad image in the world, and our soldiers are still dying eight years later.
When we’re so good at destroying ourselves, why should they sacrifice themselves to destroy us?
“President Bush’s overall greatest achievement was that America has not suffered another 9/11 tragedy…” said Norm Augustine from his hidden bunker in an undisclosed location somewhere on planet earth.
Norm, gonna make this as simple as possible.
August 6th, 2001 George Bush is informed Al Quaeda plans to use airplanes to attack America Kamikaze fashion.
Sept 11th, 2001 While in Florida, BEFORE he enters the school, George Bush is informed a JUMBO JET has crashed into the World Trade Center. George continues into the school anyway.
After he is informed that a SECOND JUMBO JET has crashed into the second tower, he continues to sit there staring blankly while Ari Fliescher flashes him a cue card with “SAY NOTHING”…
Norm, in what FUCKING universe is that considered a ‘success’?
Per El Cid:
W/in several days of 9/11/2001, I saw Oliver “Disgraced Ex-Marine Colonel” North say on FOX News that (paraphrased) he thought al-Qaida had pretty much shot its load w/ the attacks & wouldn’t be able to do anything like this again, or at least not for a long time.
And indeed, suicide bombers, mall attacks or the like would just look punk compared to 9/11, even if Bush hadn’t played completely into bin Laden’s hands.
And now Obama & others want to pour troops into Afghanistan. Sic transit The Soviet Union, & just maybe The United Snakes as well.
Now the real Bush Derangement Syndrome appears. Open denial of reality, confabulation (a universal wingnut symptom, now), hallucinations, false memories, paranoia — the diagnostic criteria are ready for the next edition of the DSM. Unfortunately, there is no known treatment.
So wait, the first 911 didn’t count? He got a do-over?
There are indeed ten days left in the Worst Presidency Ever&trade, and each remaining day is “Anything Can Happen Day” at the Washington branch of the Mickey Mouse Club.
Preview lied to me. It said it wouldn’t, but then it strapped something on & fucked me in the ass anyway.
Don’t believe anything it tells you.
Many times over the life of Bush’s presidency I wished I was dead.
hmmm…where’s that video of Bush recently saying that if he feels guilty about anything it was his lack of preparedness/inability to handle terrorist threats. And getting Iraq wrong.
Sure, if we measure Presidencies based on how many horrific terrorist attacks occur in your own country – Georgie manages a unique position at one of the extremes of the scale. But, here’s a new perspective on how fucking stupid the “no attacks (other than anthrax) on US soil since 9/11”:
Lib-tards and traitorous moonbats occasionally like to point out that this is a bad metric. That based on this measuring stick – Bill Clinton’s eight years of “no attacks on US soil” would have to be regarded as a stupendous success (nevermind the record budget surplus). But they forget to take into account the context. It’s easy to not be attacked by terrorists when the fraction of the world that actively hates your country is small – but King George reigned over the eight years of ISLAMO-TERRA-FASCISM-SHANIA-LAW-MUSLIMS-ARE-GOING-TO-GAY-MARRY-YOUR-DAUGHTERS. If you take that into account, it’s a great success that there have been no attacks since 9/11…
Except, how did this happen? How did the US go from “loud and boorish blokes who like pissy beer” to the target of mass protests, flag and effigy burnings, and all the other generalized hatred that the wingnuts call “Anti-Americanism”? I guess it just happened. Nothing to do with the asshole shitbag and his “Bring it on!” “With us or against us!” “drop a motherfucking shitload of bombs on your asses” dipolomacy.
So, to all those bed-wetting conservatives all a-quakin’ in their boots, when you tell us that we have to consider the tone of global politics when measuring Georgie’s ability to keep the US safe – OK, you’re right we should consider the current atmosphere. Georgie has not only watched over the biggest terror attacks the US has suffered, but he has done a mighty fine job of pushing more and more people to repeat those attacks.
You also forget that George Bush Jr. kept us safe the last 8 years from the United Nations – Russia – Black Helicopter invasion led by Hillary Clinton which would force us into a Wun-Wurld-Gubmit socialist internationalist Amero-using non-country forced to gay marry in vegan / pagan ceremonies as we surrendered to the Mexislamic menace.
It works like this:
If the USA had been attacked many more times, the Bush Administration would have said: “See? It’s a dangerous world and you really need to let us do whatever we want.”
No attacks: “See? Good thing you let us do whatever we wanted.”
In science, this is called a “non-falsifiable proposition.”
And it’s typically the sign of bullshit.
We have to remember that the social conservatives who voted Bush in wanted abortion to be illegal, a picture of Jeebus in every courtroom, and gays to be put in camps.
So they didn’t get what they were promised, either.
Funny how the only people who got what they wanted were these corporate types.
You know, W’s base.
If only we could have seen this coming!
Yeah, because McCain would’ve helped my health care? WTF?!?!
Safe from airplane-hijackers: Maybe
Safe from warrantless spying: No
Safe from arrest w/o cause or recourse to a lawyer: No
Safe from Hurricanes: No
Safe from Floods: No
Safe from humungous wildfires: No
Safe from wildfire smoke covering half the country: No
Safe from 1/3 of the country being drought stricken: NO
Safe from being eaten by bears in Nat’l parks because you can’t carry a pistol or rifle: Yes
Safe from random tazering of citizens by police: No
Safe from random shooting of citizens by police: No
Safe from a glut of illegal drugs from S America, Mexico, Afghanistan: No
Safe from Sudaphed: Yes
Safe from robbery by Corporations such as Enron: No
Safe from destruction of economy from Wall Street: No
Safe from merging of religion & government: No
Safe from Democrats winning in “red” states such as Alabama: Some times
Safe from bridges collapsing: No
Safe from giant Iquana attack: Maybe
Safe from global climate change: No
Link, please, as I believe this is not true.
Here.
The way these self-styled securitards fetishize the lack of plane-flying-into-skyscraper-by-box-cutter-wielding-psychopaths activity, you’d think it almost meant something. Maybe it just means that Fredo took them thar PDBs a bit more seriously afterward, maybe even read ’em once in a while without launching a smug remark to a hapless minion. There is a difference between doing a good job, and merely doing an adequate one. Junior has managed to evade even that distinction by failing to meet most sensible people’s idea of “adequate”.
No, we have not had another set of lunatics fly a plane into a building. That may have something to do with, you know, the whole element of surprise being permanently removed from the table, and the entire planet mobilized to crawl up everyone’s ass as they’re herded into what passes for an airline system in this country. Gee, what a fuckin’ genius Bush is.
Meantime, the rest of the world is tired of our shit, and Bush failed to find — or even look for — solutions on the energy front, while allowing a bunch of securitization grifters to rob us blind. Energy security is national security; financial security is national security. There is more to maintaining and preserving national security than purchasing illiterate goatherders from Afghan warlords, and dumping them in Cuba for half a decade to be broken and terrorized, without charge nor trial.
They keep using these words, “safe” and “secure”. I don’t think those words mean what these fucking ninnies think they mean. How safe are you really when you’re being forced to work till you drop, because your pension got lost in some Wall Street cocksucker’s spreadsheet scam, and you’re being forced to bail them out before yourself?
People are losing their jobs and homes and futures with no end in sight, and these smug little fuckers want to hang their hats on the “no more 9/11’s” achievement. Well, there was only one Pearl Harbor too, yet FDR managed to do other stuff. Funny how that works, when you have someone with opposable thumbs doing the job.
10 more days! I’m keeping an eye oh Hoover Dam, I can tell you!
Giant iguanas? No, not that. Fozzetti, that isn’t funny! One of those buggers almost took off my hand because I was mimicking Steve Irwin. His name was Varan, they told me.
Link please
They say they want facts yet they always ignore them.
I keep wondering why Bushies and GOoPers keep claiming that the US hasn’t been attacked as an accomplishment when they keep telling us that the central front for the war on terra is in Iraq.
-GSD
Wingnuts haven’t thanked Bush for the thousands of American and Iraqi civilian deaths he needlessly caused during his presidency. Add to that his lack of interest in pursuing bin Laden; made official in 2003 when he announced bin Laden was “no longer a concern.” Oh and thanks too for helping the bin Laden family fly back to Saudi Arabia before the intelligence service could interview them, when every other single human being on the face of the earth was prevented from flying anywhere.
Yeah, Owlbear, no mention of any Japanese in that warning. And no boxcutters. And Mohammed Atta wasn’t mentioned by name, with his phone number. So it was, as W said, just the CIA covering it’s ass.
Back to the brush-cutting…
“Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.”
I guess your perspective varies based on whether or not you imagine yourself as a dedicated professional who wished to make sure that every necessary lead was followed and every sensible counter-move was taken or if you imagine yourself as a sullen, lazy, calculating little sh*t looking for just one more way to excuse your complete negligence.
Name one f***ing preparation made by Bush Jr. in response to reading that groups were preparing for hijacking U.S. planes. One f***ing word, one order, one comment, one procedure, god damned ANYTHING. One. F***ing. Thing.
The conservatives of this country have only ever been concerned with how they can undermine and destroy this nation, whether they be Southern conservatives dedicated to literal treason and the denial of basic rights to our own citizens, or Reaganaughts dedicated to plundering our nation’s riches all for the benefit of a tiny slice of the most venal of super-rich.
Thanks to Bush, aliens from outer spaec haven’t invaded earth and consumed most human life on the planet.
Name one f***ing preparation made by Bush Jr. in response to reading that groups were preparing for hijacking U.S. planes. One f***ing word, one order, one comment, one procedure, god damned ANYTHING. One. F***ing. Thing.
John Ashcroft stopped flying commercial out of Dulles?
The only reason wingnuts love Bush is because he’s as dumb as they are. Much wealthier, but still, dumber than a box of rocks. He made them feel special.
how is having the name of the flight school a vague warning?
They were devoted to their ideas, had a clear agenda, and used all avenues to accomplish them.
This is completely true. The PNAC group’s agenda was to set up a permanent US foothold in the Middle East, probably starting with Iraq because Saddam Hussein was weak and would be easy pickings. But they figured they would need another Pearl Harbor-like incident to sell their agenda to the public. (Hm….and why didn’t the administration make any preparations after the August 6th briefing.)
Cheney had long wanted a chance to push the envelope of the unitary executive theory and fix Nixon’s critical mistake: getting caught. He wanted to enshrine in legal precedent that the President can do anything he wants as long he pretends it’s “to keep Americans safe”.
Bush and Karl Rove’s agenda was to reward their “loyal Bushies”, paint liberals and Democrats as pansies or traitors, and dumb down the political discourse to take advantage of the knee-jerk tribalism of their base.
And of course, they–and all their corporate sponsors–wanted to get rich quick without doing any real work.
Smashing success all around, I’d say.
Fized.
George H.W. Bush had an aircraft carrier named after him today. Since the USS Bush is the last of the Nimitz-class aircraft carries, what other boat will they name to honor George W. Bush?
haha. but we only had one 9/11! and only two recessions!
Would Obama be to blame for an Al Qa’ida terrorist attack on the U.S.?
Sure, if, like Bush Jr., he absolutely refused to do anything, anything, to indicate he gave a sh*t about the repeated warnings he was given.
I absolutely detest Bush Jr., but if there was even the tiniest sign that he and the idiots around him gave a damn when his counter-terrorism advisers were giving repeated warnings, rather than clipping off lines like “Okay, you’ve covered your ass,” then I could see it as just him not being able to stop an imminent Al Qa’ida attack.
If he were a bank director warned about lots of potential robbery activity in the area, it’s clearly possible that he could order preparations be made and yet still get robbed; but if a bank director was warned about imminent threats of robbery to exploit known security lapses in the bank, and he did NOTHING, then, yeah, you can blame the bank director.
George H.W. Bush had an aircraft carrier named after him today. Since the USS Bush is the last of the Nimitz-class aircraft carries, what other boat will they name to honor George W. Bush?
They could always rename the Titanic.
Sorry, but I am a 9/11 tin foil hat wearer and this photo says to me that it was no surprise, but now that he knows it’s underway he knows he has to buck up and deal with it.
Too many coincidences occurred including W. blowing off the intelligence officer saying, yeah get out of here, you’ve covered your ass.
Since the 1970’s no aircraft from the US had been hijacked but suddenly 4 on one day? People in robes living in caves pick the one day that VP Cheney has told NORAD to stand down because he was in the bowels of the White House playing war games? Security with bomb sniffing dogs pulled the weekend before from the World Trade Center saying they weren’t needed while workers were told the towers would not be available for them that weekend due to rewiring the cable and electric? Osama Bin Laden was our creation when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan we paid insurgents to rise up against them. He was a CIA funded terrorist as was Sadaam Hussien as long as he was valuable to us.
They choose a day, 9/11, that means emergency in the United States? They hit the Pentagon in a mostly empty section because it is undergoing renovations and the flight path would have needed a highly skilled pilot not the one they said piloted the plane after never learning to land it at the flight school. Collateral damage you know, try to keep it small….That’s how they think, but they never consider the impact on the families and friends of the people they killed. They were looking for they psychological impact of fear and anger on the country as a whole to pave the way for the raid on the treasury that followed for themselves and their cronies. PNAC (People for a NEW America Century) consisting of Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Richard Perle, Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and all the rest of the neocons stated they needed a “new Pearl Harbor” to get their plans in motion.
Dick Cheney should be hung for treason.
The fact we haven’t (yet!) all died gruesome, hideous deaths under Bush’s watch is considered an “achievement?” Are you serious? This is considered a standard for success?
This is Bush we’re talking about here, remember? Yes, the fact that we’re not all dead is – for him – a smashing success. If you set the fucking bar any lower, the son-of-a-bitch would have to limbo his way out of the White House a week from Tuesday.
I paid slightly over $35,000 out of pocket for health care just in ‘08, just for me, not the whole family.
Jesus murphy! That’s more than some folks earn in a year!
I hate to point this out, but down here in Oz you can get health insurance, comprehensive health insurance, for about $20 – $30 a week. That’s $1,000 – $1,500 per year. And that covers hospital, dental, optical, chiropractic, and other bits and pieces.
So the next time some wingnut starts bleating about how the US has the best health care in the world, mention that to ’em. Might shut ’em up.
Well, if anything shuts up a wingnut…
We might have a new saying… you know the one that goes, “A liberal is a conservative who’s been arrested.”
I nominate, “A progressive is a wingnut who needs healthcare.”
Dick Cheney should be hung for treason.
Well, I’m not a tinfoil hat wearer, but I’d agree with this anyway.
My theory is not that they engineered it – because, Jeebus, look how incompetent they are. How could they have pulled it off? But I think what happened is that they probably blew off some warning and spent all of 9/11 going, “Oh, shit. How are we going to pretend it’s not our fuck-up?”
But I think what happened is that they probably blew off some warning and spent all of 9/11 going, “Oh, shit. How are we going to pretend it’s not our fuck-up?”
One blow-off is here.
moistenedbink said,
January 11, 2009 at 3:01 (kill)
Sorry, but I am a 9/11 tin foil hat wearer
Your inability to get facts in order is reflected in your misspelling of “bint”.
This is nonsense, and HISTORY will say so. Sadly No dudes, get a clue. 9/11 happened on Bush II’s watch!!
Is not Bush the great leader with infinite wisdom and foresight who told that poor gummint gumshoe who tried to brief him on the threat of an Al Qaeda attack “OK, you’ve covered your ass, now you can go back to Washington” (note, that may be a close paraphrase, but that was Bush’s attitude).
HISTORY will judge that Bush and Cheney’s incompetence were at least partly responsible for the most deadly foreign attacks on US soil in US history. That is, unless future History is inhabited by loons and fools.
They kept us safe!? No way. They are complete Fail.
So, these fools think that History will judge them better than we do. No way. History is just getting started on these murderous nincompoops (for one eg, Hamas and Gaza and Mideast mess).
9/11 happened on Bush II’s watch!!
Sorry, meant to type:
Bush and Cheney’s incompetence were at least partly responsible for one of the most deadly foreign attacks on US soil in US history.
There was also Pearl Harbor, and War of 1812, and FDR looks better than these clowns. (though in this one particular, Madison does not look so good, as I think History has judged. Bush II will look much worse)
My theory is not that they engineered it – because, Jeebus, look how incompetent they are. How could they have pulled it off?
That’s one good argument against. Another is that if the attacks were their idea, they would never have chosen those targets – they’d have gone for stuff that was less disruptive to the Military-Industrial Complex and which had bigger symbolic value. Like the Statue of Liberty, say.
this photo says to me that it was no surprise, but now that he knows it’s underway he knows he has to buck up and deal with it.
To me, that look is “Holy crap! We figured they’d hijack an airplane, maybe pull off a bombing like Oklahoma City. Oh shit oh shit oh shit!”
That’s the look of a teenager threw a party while his parents were out of town, and he’s just been told they tossed the DVP TV through a plate glass window. His only thought is “I hope mom doesn’t find out.”
That looks says to me that he doesn’tknow jack shit, but that his handlers have told him something’s going on and they’re waiting to hear back from Dick what they’re supposed to do, so just keep quiet.
Yes, but on Carter’s watch, punk became popular. So he is history’s greatest monster.
I nominate, “A progressive is a wingnut who needs healthcare.”
Not true in Kathy Shaidle’s case. But then she lives in Canada and, for some reason *cough public health care cough*, refuses to move to the US.
Liberals, al Qaeda metastatized during the Clinton years. Bush had to deal with the mess Clinton left, and the result has been zero mega-terror attacks on the US since 9/11.
“No war for Monica!” ring a bell?
Goddam, his font got serifs. Also, it got one comment to a response refuting your weak ass trolling.
It’s the big lie. It’s all they know. Take the most ridiculous failure and trumpet it as success. I assume if Republicans ran someone for dog catcher they’d try to point out how the packs of rabid dogs now roaming the community is somehow a testament to what a great job he’s done. After all, after that first case of rabies wiped out your family, you didn’t get a second dose did you? In that case, success!
Liberals, al Qaeda metastatized during the Clinton years. Bush had to deal with the mess Clinton Newt Gingrich and Ken Starr left, and the result has been zero mega-terror attacks on the US since 9/11.
Fixed.
Yes, I don’t know my HTML. Lowers head in shame.
That’s easy for you to say!
Clinton also provided Bush with America’s first ever systematic national anti-terrorism strategy – a strategy that, if followed, might very well have neutralized the in-country agents’ prep-work for 9/11 … which Bush presumably used to paper-train Barney with.
Bush totally rocks the house at keeping America safe – as long as you ignore that little boo-boo with all the thousands of dead bodies & major landmarks in flames, I mean.
If Bush is to blame for allowing 9/11 to happen after getting a vague warning in August
Try twenty to thirty VERY non-vague warnings from circa June on – & quite possibly MUCH sooner – from intel agencies around the fucking world. Add another very non-vague CLUSTER of warnings from FBI, CIA, NSA, DIA & Interpol.
“Now watch this swing.”
If Bush is to blame for allowing 9/11 to happen after getting a vague warning in August –
Hey, trolls, now pay careful attention to the TITLE of the 6 August 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing. It was, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike In the U.S.” Now, what did bin Laden do in the next month? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
BTW, the PDB is usually just handed to the President by his staff. However, the CIA thought this WARNING of BIN LADEN’s INTENT TO STRIKE INSIDE THE U.S. was sufficiently urgent they needed to READ IT TO THE PRESIDENT. So, they went to the disused pig farm, whose owner wrongly called it a ‘ranch’, and ensured he heard it. He issued a dismissive response, then did NOTHING to hinder BIN LADEN’s DETERMINATION TO STRIKE INSIDE THE U.S.
Now, we liberals understand how you wingnut trolls are really nothing more than text-bots crammed with stupid lies from a fat drug addict on the radio, not actual reasoning human beings, but J.H. Christ, you’ve lived with total failure so long it looks acceptable to you.
Ease up on the tension, tensor. Do you not know that belief trumps reason?
I suppose I should feel safer but – sadly, no the nearly 500% increase in terorist deaths in the US during the ‘Bush years’ gnaws at me.
We judge the effectiveness of our leaders by their responses to situations, and our Presidents by their responses to crisis. No one, whether a detractor or defender, has been able to cite any response by George Bush to the highest-profile warning of the impending 9/11 attacks, the August 6, 2001 PDB delivered in person by a CIA officer at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, other than to comment that the officer had “covered [his] ass.” No one has been able to find any evidence that indicated that the President took any action whatsoever–not even calling for additional intelligence to be presented to him, or assigning a White House official to investigate the matter in more depth and report back to him.
Later, when this failure to act was questioned by the public, numerous Bush administration officials countered that the warning was too vague to be actionable. This vagueness could have been remedied by requesting that additional intelligence be made available; no one, from the day the existence of the PDB was made public knowledge until now, has been able to find any indication that the President took any action at all.
Similarly, after Katrina devastated New Orleans and left thousands stranded, the Bush administration took no direct, substantive, immediate action to rescue those who were trapped in the ruined city–not even moving to redirect governmental resources when the inadequacy of the response of federal disaster remediation officials became apparent. Again, similarly, the Bush administration claimed that it was impossible to anticipate the breach of the levees that kept the city from catastrophic flooding; later, a video of a briefing given to the President before the storm’s landfall indicated that he was warned that the levees were in danger of collapsing well before they did. Again, no evidence has been presented to indicate that the President took any action as a result of receiving this warning–despite the example that he might have drawn from his lack of response to the August 6, 2001 PDB.
To say that the President is unreasonably expected to be able to turn aside a hijacked airliner or a hurricane is disingenuous. The expectation is not that the President have powers to turn aside organized homicidal mania or natural disaster; rather, the expectation is that a public official will, as an inescapable mandate of service, anticipate potential problems and respond to crisis using the resources and authority we entrust to our most powerful representatives.
I find the constant comparison of Jr to real presidents like Lincoln or Truman to be especially gauling, both of those presidents had numerous successes that they could point to as their legacy not to mention they both won the wars they were involved in. What success does Jr have? None that I am aware of, his entire legacy looks like this;
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/8922/legacyog2.jpg
So he’s crowing about not being attacked since Sep 2001, that might be due to the fact that bin Ladens goal was to move the US in a certain direction policy wise and Jr did everything bin Laden wanted him to do. Of course he also will harp about the terror plots that he’s foiled, even though none of the plots stood a chance in hell of ever succeeding, and as others have pointed out, New Orleans.
I’m currently in Iraq and will be for another couple of months until the end of my 15 month deployment so I wont be in country when President Obama brings honor and dignity back to the White House (I would love to be able to throw some shoes at Jr as he slithers out of town). I’m wondering if I would be allowed to take Jrs pic when we replace it with the new President, and turn it into a dart board…for shoes maybe. Either that or I’d just like to take it out to our burn barrel and laugh as I burn his picture.
After the aborted London bombings, we all witnessed the attempts by the administration to hand Bush all the credit, while in reality our involvement was pretty much tangential. Knowing that, do you really think if Bush had stopped any potential terrorist plots, even miniscule ones, that it wouldn’t have been trumpeted endlessly?
This was the most self-aggrandizing administration in memory, yet we’re to believe that Bush went about the thankless task of protecting the nation without expecting gratitude, based on his behavior in other situations? Absurd.
“…we’re to believe that Bush went about the thankless task of protecting the nation without expecting gratitude?”
Why, yes, of course we’re supposed to believe that. Along with five other impossible things, before breakfast.
>President Bush’s overall greatest achievement was that America has not suffered another 9/11 tragedy.
Right. Unlike that fuckwit idiot retard who was president when we suffered the first 9/11 tragedy. What was his name again?
Nobody cares what you think, Troofus.
I would love to give W credit for keeping us save since 9/11, but I started counting from 9/10. Oh, so close, but no cigar.
Bush kept us safe until 9/10 and from 9/12 on. And that other day was the fault of some democrat, somewhere, some time. Maybe one who wasn’t even born yet.