Rolling Stone Mag: "WORST PRES IN HISTORY" Article Now Avail-Read It Here

[kpete]

The Worst President in History?
One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.
..........
Calamitous presidents, faced with enormous difficulties -- Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Hoover and now Bush -- have divided the nation, governed erratically and left the nation worse off. In each case, different factors contributed to the failure: disastrous domestic policies, foreign-policy blunders and military setbacks, executive misconduct, crises of credibility and public trust. Bush, however, is one of the rarities in presidential history: He has not only stumbled badly in every one of these key areas, he has also displayed a weakness common among the greatest presidential failures -- an unswerving adherence to a simplistic ideology that abjures deviation from dogma as heresy, thus preventing any pragmatic adjustment to changing realities. Repeatedly, Bush has undone himself, a failing revealed in each major area of presidential performance.
............

Read the whole thing - ITS GREAT!!!
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9961300/the_worst_president_in_history?rnd=1145468541266&has-player=true&version=6.0.8.1024

[anarch]

1. Bush is the best president

since Bill Clinton. :rofl:

[Jack Rabbit]

18. Bush is the best president ever to hold an MBA

Hey, that's a true statement, too.

[Jack Rabbit]

19. Wrong Place

Deleted

[ronnykmarshall]

56. Bush is a great president .....

FOR ME TO POOP ON!

[kurth]

2. Great piece. Thanks!

"History may ultimately hold Bush in the greatest contempt for expanding the powers of the presidency beyond the limits laid down by the U.S. Constitution."

[The Backlash Cometh]

38. Every time we let the executive branch accumulate too much power

something goes apeshit.

[EVDebs]

3. Now, if they'd only update the Oct 1977 "The CIA and The Media" article

by Carl Bernstein, they'd go a long way into providing the evidence for impeachment (abuse of CIA) that was one of the Nixon 'Articles of Impeachment'.

BTW, Carl's Vanity Fair article makes an excellent One, Two, Punch. Thanks for the post, kpete !

A 'Christian' president caught in a credibility crisis ? A president who couldn't tell the truth if his administration depended upon it ? The fact that these questions have to be asked...says it all.

A final question is begged: 'What political capital does he have left ?'

[kpete]

5. This has been a GOOD week

for our side - they are crumbling - this and the Bernstein article are WHOPPERS!

[smtpgirl]

29. I wonder where Bob Woodward is on this?

Coward

[lfairban]

49. Great read

We have never had a presidency in which the single unifying thread that flows through its major decision-making was incompetence—stitched together with hubris and mendacity on a Nixonian scale.

[lakercub]

52. How depressing is this?

I was actually thinking to myself the other day that if I had to choose a president between Nixon, Reagan, and Bush, I would actually have to choose Nixon. What a horrifying thought. Everyone thought Nixon was awful, and he most certainly was, but who would have believed that two more that were substantially worse were coming right down the pike. Hopefully history looks at the Republican Party, pretty much since Harding, and realizes that it has been nothing but corrupt and dishonest.

[LeftNYC]

4. Best Pearl Jam album in 10 years!

NICE!!!

[BOSSHOG]

7. Does that headline refer to

Pearl Jam's best album in ten years or their latest being the best album in ten years (amongst all?)

[LeftNYC]

9. Good question. I didnt read it. I think it would mean THERE best

not THE best. I dont trust RS when it comes to music unfortunately. I do like Pearl Jam.

[Midlodemocrat]

6. I love this paragraph.

Bush's alarmingly aberrant take on the Constitution is ironic. One need go back in the record less than a decade to find prominent Republicans railing against far more minor presidential legal infractions as precursors to all-out totalitarianism. "I will have no part in the creation of a constitutional double-standard to benefit the president," Sen. Bill Frist declared of Bill Clinton's efforts to conceal an illicit sexual liaison. "No man is above the law, and no man is below the law -- that's the principle that we all hold very dear in this country," Rep. Tom DeLay asserted. "The rule of law protects you and it protects me from the midnight fire on our roof or the 3 a.m. knock on our door," warned Rep. Henry Hyde, one of Clinton's chief accusers. In the face of Bush's more definitive dismissal of federal law, the silence from these quarters is deafening.

[307 MMS]

43. Double standard

"the silence from these quarters is deafening". Yes, it is. How come these people keep getting elected!!!? Are their constituents that stupid, or new?! If he stays through the rest of his term, the entire country will be like Texas, after he was through trashing that state as governor.

[triguy46]

54. To quote Big Daddy ...

"MENDACITY!!"

[Vinca]

8. I was going to go out and buy this issue of Rolling Stone

so I could savor the moment, but I can't get past that "Confessions of Nick Lachey" article. Who cares about these people????

[LeftNYC]

10. RS has really turned into People magazine, except there political

articles which are generally good. Just read it online.

[LuckyLib]

28. My sentiments exactly. RS has sunk to new lows when they're

writing about that vast swath of no-talent hollywood.

[da_chimperor]

11. Here's a zinger (on Bush fiscal irresponsibility):

"The monster deficits, caused by increased federal spending combined with the reduction of revenue resulting from the tax cuts, have also placed Bush's administration in a historic class of its own with respect to government borrowing. According to the Treasury Department, the forty-two presidents who held office between 1789 and 2000 borrowed a combined total of $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions. But between 2001 and 2005 alone, the Bush White House borrowed $1.05 trillion, more than all of the previous presidencies combined."

[lakercub]

53. I'd like to see that borrowing number with Reagan as well

Between Reagan and Bush, their borrowing has to be 75-90 percent of the country's total historical borrowing. Unfathomable.

[MikeNearMcChord]

12. I wonder if that article

on The Casulty Of War is located right after the Bush article? I bet that my former brethern and :patriot: sisteren(just joking) at (Not So)Free Republic are probably in coniptions over Rolling Stone, and are probably threatning to Boycott RS, (like they would read it)

[annabanana]

36. Welcome to DU Mike

You're right of course. A copy of RS would NEVER have been part of the decor over there.
:hi:

[Monk06]

55. If you think that cover will PO FReepers, check this out >>>>>

[pinniped]

13. To hell with that.

They are publishing the idiot's formula for success.:scared:

Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again

I won't rally around shit.

It has become obvious * and the gang don't care WTF happens or how low they can go. They may be labeled the worst of all time, but they have been raping and pillaging this country for years. NO ONE has ever milked Merkans this good before. They have all made millions in profits, stole billions in cash supposedly destined for Iraqi reconstruction, and their war buddies have scored multibillion dollar contracts.

Filling up their offshore accounts is the only thing they cared about and they have succeeded.

Many Merkand are still too stupid to realize they've been had.

[petgoat]

16. Given the great boost that 9/11 brought to W's political capital,

wiping out potential demerits in the fact that the NORC report showed that Gore got
more votes in Florida, and Rummy's revelation on 9/10/01 that the Pentagon could not
account for $2.3 trillion in transactions, hiking W's approvals from 55% to 90%....

Given that, he must be sorely tempted to stage a 9/11 II. Don't let him get away with it.

[da_chimperor]

14. K & R, this is front-page material n/t

[Dudley_DUright]

15. My favorite paragraph

Karl Rove has sometimes likened Bush to the imposing, no-nonsense President Andrew Jackson. Yet Jackson took measures to prevent those he called "the rich and powerful" from bending "the acts of government to their selfish purposes." Jackson also gained eternal renown by saving New Orleans from British invasion against terrible odds. Generations of Americans sang of Jackson's famous victory. In 1959, Johnny Horton's version of "The Battle of New Orleans" won the Grammy for best country & western performance. If anyone sings about George W. Bush and New Orleans, it will be a blues number.

I will get to work on that Bush/New Orleans blues song right away.

[kpete]

17. Cafferty & CNN

Showed the Rolling Stone Mag cover and discussed this article and the Vanity Fair article - YES!!!!!!!!!!!

[katty]

20. Luv that cover-it's a keeper

[Jack Rabbit]

21. Thank you for posting

It is a very good read.

[Chomp]

22. Colossal Historical Disgrace

Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace
Colossal Historical Disgrace

[retread]

23. I'm afraid that his next 2.5 years will remove the question mark from

the headline.

[Swamp Rat]

24. HAHAHA!!! Great RS cover! n/t

:D

[gatorboy]

25. From the first paragaph:

"Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after whch the might rally around the White House once again..."

Jesus, don't give him any ideas! :scared:

[zippy890]

26. excellent historical perspective

well written, recommended
:dem:

[Bucky]

27. By "it's great" I suppose you mean "collosally depressing"

Much as I like to see Bush screw up, I never ever want to see America or the American president screw up, lie, start optional wars under false pretenses, undermine the Bill of Rights, undermine the separation of powers, ruin our nation's credit overseas, saddle future generations with mountains of debt, divide us politically by using reckless demonizing rhetoric and encouraging even worse among his supporters, erode the separation of church and state, and otherwise make a mockery of the rule of law and our most precious American traditions. It's disgusting what he has done to America. I can't think about it without boiling over.

[Imagevision]

30. Worst Prez? like this is really breaking news??!!!

[AuntiBush]

31. The Worst President in History?

They gotta' ask?

[The Wizard]

32. The worst since Caligula

He could be a bumbling dolt and cheap huckster. Oh, never mind........

[BrklynLiberal]

44. That is the comparison that comes to my mind.

[stevedeshazer]

33. A good read

:kick:

[Poiuyt]

34. This is a must read article!

It outlines one failure after another. Nice summary of what Bush is all about.

[Control-Z]

35. Is there question?

I wasn't here at the DU in the beginning but I imagine most of you, like I, had as much "knowledge" during the 2004 campaign, if not before. When ever have American people wept openly over the outcome of an election? Never, in my lifetime. After being left dumb founded in 2000 we had become very wise to the character (or lack of) of our chimp in charge and we were operating with the gut wrenching knowledge of what was already happening and what was yet to come. At least, I was.

How many times I was called paranoid and dramatic and how many times I walked away, shaking my head, sincerely hoping that I was – knowing that being wrong would be far better than being right. I walked forward with my eyes wide open always looking for that glimmer of hope, always trying to put what was happening into the context of normal human behavior but always knowing, in my gut, that it was futile.

Trying to reconcile the behaviors of W is like trying to peel an orange when you've got an apple in your hands. It doesn't feel right - it just doesn't peel right. Maybe my first hand knowledge of dealing with a sociopath/narcissist made me keen to what was behind that smug face the first time I saw it. There was no doubt in my mind that there stood the likes of a school yard bully - a liar and a cheat who was willing to do anything to get his way and who reveled in his use, abuse and disposal of human beings. Any good parent who saw the same behavior in their child would have stopped him in his tracks but for some reason too many Americans thought it okay behavior for the leader of our country.

I am profoundly sad to know I was right and deeply worried that so many American's were so easily duped. What a celebration for the American people - hurray! - We know we got screwed! It is not good enough to know we got screwed. The American people need to know how and why we got screwed and to know and understand that relying on conventional wisdom from and having faith in this piss poor excuse of a man was a bust from the get go. He has no conscience. He has no compassion. He has no good will for man or mankind. He is a man without humanity and it is with great distaste that I even use the word man in reference to this pig.

[NoSunWithoutShadow]

40. Very well written dancingAlone

And I totally agree with you. I knew I was right about him from the very beginning and like you I wish I could have been wrong.

Welcome.:hi:

[Control-Z]

50. Thanks!

I'm so glad to have found my way here.

[B Calm]

37. This article points out the stupidity of the people who voted for him!

I got news for RS, it's not just Bush, but the whole damn republican party!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

39. Yesterday, CNN or MSNBC (can't remember which) mentioned this article on

its scroll!!!!

[swwallace81]

41. In 2004 I would have voted for a trained seal

instead of GWB, but I have changed my mind and progressed to the point where it could have been an un-trained seal and done a better job.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

42. lol! I like the idea of a seal trained or un-trained! That would have been

a much better choice! I was simply ABB myself! And swwallace81, welcome to DU!!!!

[Norquist Nemesis]

46. Matthews had the editor of RS on last night

Matthews started in from the start on the author trying to smear him as a partisan hack (oh, the sheer irony of that one!). Then he gave him very little time, and pretty much sat around yucking it up with Nora O'Donnel and Fineman over the McClellan resignation.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

47. In my accumulated list of traitors to our Democracy, Matthew is high

on the list.

[BrklynLiberal]

45. Kicked and recommended

[worldgonekrazy]

48. 9/11 sure was the best thing that could have happened to Bush

From the article:

On September 10th, 2001, he held among the lowest ratings of any modern president for that point in a first term. (Only Gerald Ford, his popularity reeling after his pardon of Nixon, had comparable numbers.)

Without 9/11 Bush would have been seen as a one-term miserable failure of a President who achieved nothing. Instead he will be seen as a two-term miserable failure of a President who, unfortunately for the citizenry, achieved far too much.

[organik]

51. Unfortunately, FRAUD is not mentioned in the article.

I think one thing that would make one a bad president is not being elected president, which Bush wasn't. Not the first time, not the second. He is a FRAUD!

[mnhtnbb]

57. Bushie boy gets my vote for worst POTUS EVER!