Is Bush Really the Worst President ever?

[GeminiProgressive]

I am only 24 so I was not old enough to know much about Raegan or Nixon....but why is Bush held as a worse president than either of them? All three have committed grave crimes against OUR country and humanity abroad. It seems like there wasno real movement against Raegan and thankfully Nixon was removed. They all used illegal tactics to achieve their goals and they all were horrible for working class Americans and third world countries. Why is Bush considered any worse than those two?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. Yes. By contrast, Nixon was brilliant and a mensch. nt

[orpupilofnature57]

2. Bush makes Herbert Hoover look like Bill Clinton, the best manager in Your life time!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover

[madeline_con]

3. Uh, yeah.

Why? War crimes and shredding the Constuitution. And being really, really stoopid. And ugly.

[Mrs. Overall]

4. Yes, and his little dick

cheney is the worst vice-president, ever!

[Nostradammit]

5. The Bush administration is the culmination of those two

The festering pus that is Cheney and Rumsfeld came bubbling up to the surface during Georgie's time and he just sat there preening in the mirror and fulfilling his dictator fantasies.


This all started a long, long time ago but with Jr. the mask has been ripped off.

[Booster]

9. Oooooh, what No said. Best sentence I've read in a long time.

[malaise]

6. By a distance n/t

[rwheeler31]

7. He wants a kingdom or dictatorship.

The great American experiment would end.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Yes.

Nixon and Reagan made Bush possible, but he's far worse than either of them. I'm old; I watched the Watergate hearings with fascination, and when Nixon finally resigned I thought I'd never see a worse administration. Then Reagan and trickle-down economics and ketchup as a vegetable and Iran-Contra came along. Still, bad as that was, Bush has surpassed Reagan as well. Exponentially. He appointed spectacularly incompetent cronies and crooks to high office; even most of Nixon's and Reagan's staff were more or less competent (except for a few douches like Spiro Agnew). And he started a war pretty much because he felt like it. Nixon escalated Vietnam, and Reagan and his tools sold WMDs to Saddam Hussein. But Bush is responsible for more deaths than even those guys. And he has crapped on the Constitution in a way Nixon and Reagan could only dream of. Yes, Bush is worse. Much, much worse.

[Tikki]

32. I am also old; the answer is also YES.....

Tikki

[Rosemary2205]

10. I'd give the award to Calvin Coolidge.

I was taught the man was such a total wuss that he just basically sat around the let the robber barons fuck up the entire world economy without any understanding of what was happening - which set the stage for WW2 - 60 million dead people.

I get the feeling he'd make GW look like a Mensa member.

[GeminiProgressive]

12. thanks guys

just wanted opinions. I guess all I have is hindsight and I just see the two being just as evil as Bush but setting the groundwork for someone like him.

[book_worm]

48. Calvin? He was a do-nothing president, but at least he didn't send troops to another country

and slaughter their people and our soldiers. No, Bush II is truly terrible.

[Dinah Steeler]

11. Bush is definitely the worst of my lifetime...

26 years...
and I have to say he's going to go down as one of the worst ever. Or, should I say Cheney -- since Cheney is really running the country anyway. Dubya is just along for the ride.

[monktonman]

13. When you have the Russians telling you to chill out...

you know you've eff-ed up big time.

[asjr]

14. Never thought I would see

worse than Nixon, but these last 7 years have positively been worse.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

15. Here's the difference between Bush and Nixon.

Nixon "thought" he was doing the right thing (paranoid / delusional / etc).

Bush "knows" he's doing the wrong thing, and that knowledge only makes him more determined to continue doing it.

Nixon was flawed. I don't believe for a moment that he enjoyed being an asshole. I believe he was delusional. BIG difference.

Bush IS an asshole, he KNOWS it, works HARD at BEING an asshole, and he loves EVERY minute of it.

That about sums it up.



:patriot:

[tabasco]

29. I agree. Bush is a criminal who cares nothing for the Nation.

It is a condemnation of our society that such a corrupt regime has seized power.

I see what has happened the last six years and it makes me believe the adage, money (greed) is the root of all evil.

[mmonk]

16. By a long shot. Not even close. We are not currently under

a constitutrional democracy (or working one).

[Yael]

17. There is no comparison

The man lied us into a war so that his business buddies could profit while thousands and thousands were killed in the mix.

Our constitution is shredded.

There is no more checks-n-balances as this regime has declared themselves above such things.

I say this as someone who was stupid (uninformed) enough to vote for him in 2000. My apologies to this country. You have no idea how it feels.

[ninkasi]

18. I am 40 years older than you...

and also a Gemini Progressive. Yes, he is worst I've ever seen. Remember, although I wasn't able to vote, the first election I remember was between Ike and Stevenson. Bush is far and away the worst.

[ticapnews]

19. Of those three, Bush is the worst.

At least with Reagan and Nixon, we had a Democratic Congress to keep them in check. We had investigations that got to the bottom of things (Watergate, Iran-Contra). We had Republicans in Congress who at least had some sense of honor and patriotism (the real kind, not the type the neocons hype today) and would stand up to the president.

Because he has had no check on his power, Bush has been able to bring us as close as we have ever come to a Fascist state. Nixon never dreamed of going this far, nor did the Gipper. Bush and his cronies have raided the treasury to an extent even Reagan couldn't have envisioned, and has used the police state to such an extreme that Nixon (even with his team of burglars and a lengthy Enemies List) would be jealous.

As for being the all-time worst, he isn't there (yet). James Buchanan did nothing to prevent the Confederate States from seceding; in fact his ineptitude and duplicity contributed to the Civil War. As bad as Bush has been, his actions haven't led to the dissolution of the Union.

But as Jack Palance would say: Day ain't over yet.

[EFerrari]

20. Bush makes Reagan look like Big Bird and Raygun

got people dead on four continents.

He makes Nixon look like a nun.

Yes, he IS the worst president ever.

[B Calm]

21. I'm no fan of Nixon or Raygun, but at least they didn't have a 9/11 event

on their watch. They didn't lie us into a war with an innocent country.

[VP505]

38. Nor did they

have the same level of contempt that Bu$h seems to have for everyone but the wealthiest 2%. He seems to take pleasure in knowing that he is adding insult to injury to the most vulnerable in our society, the elderly and the poor.

[terrya]

22. Yes.

Even worse than Reagan. Even, after Watergate and the horrible crap Nixon said on the White House tapes, even worse than Nixon. I'm 51 and remember both Nixon and Reagan. And Bush is far, far worse than both.

[pinto]

23. Bush has undermined the federal bureaucracy more so than

either Reagan or Nixon came close to doing. Nixon actually didn't want to, signed some decent legislation in his day, and was a standard thug. He knew enough to leave office.

Reagan was a showman, probably a likable guy, yet a front man for a more experienced coterie than Mr. Bush. He was called the 'teflon' president because for most of his tenure he was adept in front of the camera - a former actor - and was able to sidestep direct criticism. His legacy is focused on foreign policy, but he was instrumental in dismantling American unions, the established safety net for the mentally ill of our country and the use of deficit funding for defense appropriations.

Bushco came in on the later tails of Reagan-ism, i.e. touted by many of that era as well as hold overs from his dad's administration, and the Gingrich Republican 'revolution' in the Congress, with an avowed agenda to establish a lasting Republican majority in the nation, come hell or high water. (Irony intended.)

An extremist wing of the Republican party gained the upper hand at that time. Not only in foreign affairs, as was primary in the Reagan years, but in domestic policy. Rove and a cadre of political neophyte true believers became the movers and shakers throughout the administration.

Wedge politics were the effective cover for a background dismantling of basic federal standards. While folks were arguing over poor Terri Schiavo and her family, for example, Bushco moved ahead with their primary goal - gutting or politicizing federal standards in departments from Justice to the National Forest Service.

Concurrently, right-wing speak became the standard - relaxing environmental standards were touted as a 'Clean Skies' initiative, for one. Etc, etc. And an old school militant wing, led by Dick Cheney moved to war in the Middle East.

[GoldenOldie]

36. I'm in my 70's and remember FDR's " Fireside Chats."

My very first campaign and vote went to IKE because we, even as small children were involved in the WWII war effort and knew who General Eisenhower was.

It saddens me to have lived through so many family hardships and losses to protect our Nation, only to see it being destroyed from WITHIN by these very same traitors that have taken THE OATH, upon "their family bibles," to defend it. Never in my lifetime, would I have ever imagined that our civilian Military defense would be replaced by a hired Mercenary militia such as BlackWater. Never in my lifetime, would I have ever dreamt that our Justice system would be corrupted so dangerously that our US Constitution is deemed nothing but a dirty, old, piece of paper. Never in my lifetime, and a working lifetime working beside, WWII Veterans, VietNam era Military/Veterans, have imagined that our Active Duty and Veterans of the Iraq/Afghan war been so abused and mistreated by their own Commander in Chief, their Military Commanders and most of all by WE THE PEOPLE. While well paid Mercenaries receive the very best of equipment and training along with pay and benefits and our Volunteer real military are left to fend for themselves, relying on only their families to purchase needed protective equipment, etc., no better than the wives, girlfriends following the camps of Poncho Villa to cook and take care of their loved ones.

This is the worst and it won't get any better until WE THE PEOPLE wake up and realize, that this is not how it is supposed to be and that your fathers, great grandfathers, great-great grandfathers and yes mothers and sisters, Aunts and Uncles, died and fought to hold on to the very freedoms that these Traitors are taking away.

[Catchawave]

24. In my lifetime, I don't think there was anyone more evil than Nixon...

...then along came George.

[Paladin]

28. I'm With You

I never thought I'd favor Nixon over another president, but for all his obvious faults, Tricky Dick was ten times as smart and maybe half as conservative as Dim Son. No contest.....

[left is right]

25. There are so many reasons to declare * the worst

However, I have a sinking feeling that unless we impeach his sorry ass, the next Repuke president may make * look merely bad. They seem to get worse with every incarnation. We get the government that we deserve and we are becoming a very ugly nation.

[Cirque du So-What]

26. Even going back in history to Franklin Pierce or Andrew Johnson

doesn't find a worse president than Chimpolini. Those guys didn't pack a nuclear football enabling the end of the world as we know it.

[thecrow]

27. Yes. He vetoed health insurance for my grandson.

....and all the stuff he's done or tried before that, well, I have no respect for the man. He's polluting the pResident's office and I'll be glad when he's gone.
Don't even get me started on Cheney.

[Vanje]

30. So says Helen Thomas...

...and I believe her.
She should know. She has been toe to toe with US Presidents her whole life. And Helen Thomas's life stretches back a while.

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Tom Tomorrow sums it up very clearly:

(I was going to post something like "How can anyone even ask?" Then I saw -- 24 yo -- youth excuses many errors.)

[Golden Raisin]

33. Truman was President when I was born.

Bush Jr. is BY FAR the worst I have experienced and I have lived through some bad times (McCarthy era, Vietnam, Watergate, Lynchings in the South, Allende, Iran-Contra, etc.) Under this thuggish, proto-fascist regime the Constitution has been dishonored and dismantled. Two presidential elections were stolen/manipulated, one aided and abetted by the interference of the Supreme Court. Unlike during Watergate there no longer is a Congress willing to either oppose or even stand up for and demand checks and balances. Mainstream media have become semi-official propaganda arms of the regime. The national economy/treasury has been bankrupted and destroyed while the top 1% of the wealthiest corporations and individuals are making all-time, obscene profits. Pre-emptive wars and torture are apparently just fine and dandy with Congress and too many of the people.

[Extend a Hand]

34. Historical Rankings of US presidents

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_United_States_Presidents

Presidents by average scholar rank
# ↓ President ↓ Years in Office ↓ Political party ↓ Average ranking ↓
1 Abraham Lincoln 1861–1865 Republican 1.58
2 Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933–1945 Democrat 2
3 George Washington 1789–1797 Unaffiliated (Pro-Administration) 2.83
4 Thomas Jefferson 1801–1809 Democratic-Republican 4.42
5 Theodore Roosevelt 1901–1909 Republican 4.83
6 Woodrow Wilson 1913–1921 Democrat 6.58
7 Harry S. Truman 1945–1953 Democrat 7.18
8 Andrew Jackson 1829–1837 Democrat 9
9 Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953–1961 Republican 10.73
10 James K. Polk 1845–1849 Democrat 11.08
11 John Adams 1797–1801 Federalist 12.17
12 John F. Kennedy 1961–1963 Democrat 12.5
13 James Madison 1809–1817 Democratic-Republican 12.67
14 Lyndon B. Johnson 1963–1969 Democrat 13.6
15 Ronald Reagan 1981–1989 Republican 13.88
16 James Monroe 1817–1825 Democratic-Republican 14.08
17 Grover Cleveland 1885–1889 and 1893-1897 Democrat 15
18 William McKinley 1897–1901 Republican 16.33
19 John Quincy Adams 1825–1829 Democratic-Republican 16.9
20 William Howard Taft 1909–1913 Republican 19.67
21 Bill Clinton 1993–2001 Democrat 20.67
22 George W. Bush 2001– Republican 21
23 Martin Van Buren 1837–1841 Democrat 21.58
24 Rutherford B. Hayes 1877–1881 Republican 22
25 George H. W. Bush 1989–1993 Republican 22.14
26 Chester A. Arthur 1881–1885 Republican 25.5
27 Herbert Hoover 1929–1933 Republican 26.17
28 (tie) Jimmy Carter 1977–1981 Democrat 26.3
28 (tie) Gerald Ford 1974–1977 Republican 26.3
30 Benjamin Harrison 1889–1893 Republican 27.33
31 Calvin Coolidge 1923–1929 Republican 28.42
32 Richard Nixon 1969–1974 Republican 29.2
33 James A. Garfield 1881 Republican 29.57
34 Zachary Taylor 1849–1850 Whig 29.58
35 John Tyler 1841–1845 Whig/none 31.75
36 Millard Fillmore 1850–1853 Whig 32.41
37 Ulysses S. Grant 1869–1877 Republican 33.42
38 William Henry Harrison 1841 Whig 33.57
39 Andrew Johnson 1865–1869 Democrat/none 34.67
40 Franklin Pierce 1853–1857 Democrat 34.92
41 James Buchanan 1857–1861 Democrat 36.58
42 Warren G. Harding 1921–1923 Republican 37.33

[B Calm]

40. Lyndon B. Johnson ahead of Raygun, I love it..

[PFunk]

35. No. As bad as Bush is he's only the 2nd worst.

that would be the guy (who's name escapes me but I think he came before Lincoln) that set up the situation which sparked the civil war. Now, from what I've read so far about him that guy was a real A-hole

[young_at_heart]

37. IMHO Bush isn't the "real" president---Cheney is

After watching Frontline recently I am sure Cheney has been running everything----since the beginning. It was called "Cheney's Law" and I wish all of America could view this program.

[Bitwit1234]

39. Nixon did have a very good foreign policy.

If he hadn't have been so paranoid of the Democrats he would have gotten along.

[Neshanic]

41. Yes. Trust us old people on this one. This election maybe

the most important in our history. For us, and the world.

[doc03]

42. He may be the (worst), yet while having the lowest approval

rating in history he seems to have been pretty effective in having his way on every issue. Even after the Democrats got a majority in Congress he has still beat them like a red headed step son on every front. Why is it when the Republicans have a majority they beat the hell out of us then we get control no one has the balls to take them on. It seems like all we get done is apologizing to the bastards, why doesn't anyone have the guts to tell it like it is and bring these assholes up for impeachment?

[LibDemAlways]

43. Yes. He doesn't even have any competition. Aside from

all of the truly horrific things he's done - starting with lying the country into an unwinnable, illegal war in Iraq, shredding the Constitution, enriching his buddies on the public's dime, abandoning an American city (New Orleans) in a time of natural disaster and human crisis and many, many other impeachable offenses, - he has no respect for the office. He stole it twice.

And he's a sociopath who yukked it up while New Orleans was under water and who ended the day of 9/11 sharing a laugh with his equally deranged spouse. Yes, by far, the worst.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

44. James Buchanan is his only possible competition.

[backscatter712]

47. He's the only President I can think of that could be worse than Bush.

Abraham Lincoln was the great President who led this country through the Civil War. The country was a complete mess, yet Lincoln found a way to win the war and start putting things back together.

His predecessor, James Buchanan, was the one to make that mess. He completely blew off the slavery issue, divided his own party (the Democrats, who back then were pro-slavery and conservative, while the Republicans were the liberals) to the point where half of the Democrats in Congress walked out. He sat on his ass while the Southern states started seceding.

Bush is incompetent, psychopathic and an atrocious President, but he hasn't left the country on the eve of civil war (yet...)

[rucky]

45. Evah!

hands-down.

[JDPriestly]

46. He and the Republican Party

are betraying the trust of the Founding Fathers. The greatest fear of our founders was that we would end up forsaking democracy and embracing monarchy or some form of tyranny similar to the monarchy they overthrew. Bush is trying to establish a unitary executive which gives nearly monarchical powers to the president.

Bush has invoked the threat of terror to justify abolishing the freedoms that the Constitution grants to us. His conduct is beyond criminal. He is a traitor to the Constitution.

If you don't believe me, read the Federalist Papers. The Founding Fathers dreamed of a Congress composed of representatives of the various regions of the country who would argue for the interests of their areas. The Founding Fathers would detest and condemn the conformity and single-voicedness of the Republicans in Congress. The Founding Fathers intended that the legislature would be the most powerful branch of government. They would be horrified to learn that Bush and Cheney are trying to make the executive more powerful than the legislature.

Bush is also the worst president ever because he lied and manipulated the press to get us involved in a pointless war for now reason whatsoever. He has wasted American tax money, enriched his friends and donors at the expense of taxpayers. He has failed to protect the environment. His failures and outright crimes are too numerous to list here. You don't want to read a post that long.

[lutefisk]

49. I wish I hadn't bad-mouthed Nixon. And Spiro Agnew..what a guy.

Bush-Cheney behave as if they are intentionally TRYING to destroy our Nation. Strangest thing I have ever witnessed. Absolutely no checks and balances. They are completely out of control.

[book_worm]

50. Most presidents I can think of at least one positive thing they have done--Bush II--nothing