Someone asked me to explain why GWB is a thug

[Don Claybrook]

Apparently I referred to Bush as a "common thug" at work awhile back. I don't recall this, but it sounds just like something I would say, so I'm sure I did.

Anyway, today one of my co-workers asked me about this. He's one of those Ayn Rand-type libertarians, and that's really neat, except it doesn't work in the real world. So he told me that he understands that he and I have a difference of opinion on Bush's policies, but he wants to know why I think of Bush as a common thug. I told him that, for starters, his cavalier attitude about the deaths of 100,000 people qualified him as a thug, and that for the rest, I'd need some time to compose all of my thoughts.

I didn't post this in order to solicit answers for my co-worker (although I'm not beyond accepting free help). I posted it because after thinking about this for a few minutes, I realized the enormity of the task. There are so many bad, bad things he has done that the task seems daunting just to document. And I guess Rove works on that principal: throw so much crap over the wall that they cannot possibly catch all of it. And we end up with outrage fatigue.

I guess I'd better get writing about now. Thanks.

[Pacifist Patriot]

1. I freeze up when someone asks me what is wrong with Bush for

exactly that reason. Where do you start? His abominable treatment of McCain in the 2000 primaries in SC? But yes, I'd say directly bringing about the deaths of over 100,000 people under false pretenses would definitely make him a thug. Perhaps not a common one though. He's definitely in a different league. A far more dangerous one.

[gratuitous]

11. It's really tempting to turn it around

"Why do you think George W. Bush is NOT a thug?"

[Pacifist Patriot]

18. Oh I've turned it around alright.

When someone asked me why I thought Bush was such a failure as a president I asked him to tell me why he thought Bush was such a success. In retrospect I should have just walked away. If I heard more idiotic flag-waving drivel I would have puked.

[leftchick]

2. .....

"He's one of those Ayn Rand-type libertarians, and that's really neat, except it doesn't work in the real world. "

:spray:

[TwentyFive]

3. Thugs STEAL things, and enjoy watching people SUFFER. They LIE and BULLY

I think * is a thug in many ways.

He stole at least one election. He lied about WMD to start a war. He mocked the woman on death row....apparently enjoying the fact that she was going to die. Prison abuse scandal. And then, how about the "bring em' on" that was quoted from behind the SS and Armed Forces.

[crispini]

5. Yeah, that mocking of Carla Faye Tucker.

Very, VERY thuglike IMO. Very insightful into his character. And totally on the record.

[raccoon]

13. Another thing the dipstick "poodle Press"

doesn't talk about. I'm not saying they didn't cover it, but if it had been Clinton, or even Dan Quayle, they'd have gone on and on about it.

[kiki]

4. Here's a verbatim quote...

...from one of Bush's earlier victims, a man who got shafted by Bush's baseball stadium venture:

"Bush is the worst kind of corporate thug."

And if anyone should suggest that he must be French, a whining liberal or someone who otherwise has an unreasonable grudge against Chimpy, this is a Southern, middle-class, (formerly) Republican-voting American.

(I don't have a link, because I saw it on the idiot box.)

[warrens]

6. Snickering about Karla Faye Tucker just before she was executed

Even Tucker Carlson was grossly offended. That's where he got his nickname Smirk.

Their whole modus operendi is to try to beat the shit out of anyone who opposes them for any reason. When people stand up to them (as in China with the spy plane, Venezuela with the attempted coup and North Korea, who we were NEVER going to negotiate with) they back down, like the cowardly bullies they are.

[TwentyFive]

7. If he's an Ayn Rand devotee, you should hit him with the religion angle

The only thing Ayn Rand hated more than welfare, was religion.
I know a few Ayn Rand types that vote Democratic most of the time, simply over the freedom of (AND FROM) religion. On the abortion issue, Ayn Rand was strongly pro-choice and strongly euthanasia. She thought we owned our own bodies. If Ayn Rand was alive, she would say the current crop of republicans are worse than even the socialists.

Most Any Rand types want smaller government, but Bush is just the opposite. Clinton was actually closer to Ayn Rand's principles when it came to individuals owning their own destiny.

[Squeech]

9. Yeah, but

that's not the half of it.

Commander Bunnypants is the very model of a Rand bad guy: born to power, failed upward (bailed out by relatives and powerful friends), dodges responsibility for everything, never admits to a mistake. If you've read the Rand corpus, he's just like Jim Taggart, who becomes CEO of the railroad just because he's the son of the previous CEO, when it's obvious that his sister Dagny actually has the job skills. (Except that Taggart is occasionally articulate, where as we all know Smirky can't construct a sentence even if you spotted him the predicate.)

[DARE to HOPE]

8. There is also the matter of the pressure the WH is bringing to bear...

...on all the other Republicans. The highway money or the base closing, which do you want? Think about that before you vote on the filibuster.

More than that, all of the commercials Rove and company have run in Ohio against Voinovich, who is TRYING to vote his conscience.

Then again, there is the whole history of threat (Cheney's words to Daschle etc) against investigating 9-11.

Also--Negroponte, Bolton, Elliott Abrams, Otto Reich, Poindexter (!) good grief, just LOOK at the criminals Bush appoints in the highest places in the land.

He also lies like a pig, running on populist issues, then after the election pulling out Social Security for "reform" when he means destruction. He says he has an energy policy, but he gives all the money to the oil and coal companies. He LIED us into war. And as for Leave No Child Behind....


Also, I almost forgot, but look at how he treats other nations, and the treaties we used to have with them. Bully, bully, bully--he even bullied the Pope! And then there's the UN....

[chaska]

10. "You're either with us or against us"....

He bullied the opposition into silence on the war issue. Called into question our patriotism.

"Bring 'em on"....

[phoebe]

12. this is all you need..

"You don't get everything you want. A dictatorship would be a lot easier." Describing what it's like to be governor of Texas. (Governing Magazine 7/98)

"I told all four that there are going to be some times where we don't agree with each other, but that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator," Bush joked. (12/18/2000 CNN.com)

"A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it, " said. 7/27/ 2001 Associated Press
....Buzzflash.com chronology from Paul Begala's "Is Our Children Learning".

[Don Claybrook]

14. Thanks, everyone

Thanks for all of the good citations. I'll use some of them, to what avail I don't know, but I will use them.

[MsAnthropy]

15. He bankrupted the country to make his rich friends richer

He's a common thief, liar, and bully.

[firefox]

16. My response

So you have formed an opinion without knowing the facts supporting the opposite side. I understand your side and have my opinion and you have an opinion while only knowing one side. I don't have time to fill the hole that holds your ignorance. Get on the Internet and read.

[RaleighNCDUer]

17. good response! nt