DU this poll: "Do you agree with Barack Obama that Bush is a 'good guy'?"

[11 Bravo]

FUCK NO! Sorry, Barack, but we'll have to part company on this one. (I am not, however, outraged.)

http://www.cnn.com

Scroll down, poll is on the right.

[BunnyBluetimes]

1. 54% Yes

:wtf:


No he's an evil FUCKER!!

[mod mom]

4. EVIL fucker is correct!

[goforit]

22. I'll second that!!

[peekaloo]

2. a good guy to kick when he's down.

done.

good grief let's not damage poor Junior's psyche on his way out. :cry:

[EmilyAnne]

61. A good guy...to poop on.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Good for nothing...

Looks like Wolf voted several times already.

[glowing]

5. I think Obama learned his lesson with the "likeable enough" comments.

I think the man is likeable enough, but many serial killers are likeable. Is he a "good guy", no. Good guys don't behave sadistically. But Obama couldn't say, "he's a likable enough person" without the idiots going nuts.

[JackRiddler]

32. Obama wasn't forced to say anything on this.

[roguevalley]

55. actually, 'good guy is about the lamest thing you can say if you wanna say

something else and you know you can't. this is almost a put down.

[madokie]

6. done

Do you agree with President-elect Barack Obama that President Bush is a "good guy"?
Yes 54%
No 46%

[machI]

8. We need some help here

YES = 54%
NO = 46%

Snap it up people, we need some more votes.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

7. Good for what?

That's damning with faint praise, I'd say - he's a "good guy."

You know what? I don't give a damn if my President is a "good guy." I want him to do his job, be smart, be thorough, be surrounded by the best of the best, to understand the problems, anticipate the solutions, and work his ass off to make this a great country. I want him to be the meanest fucker in the world, if that's what it takes, and I want him always, always to remember that he is OUR EMPLOYEE, and not the other way around.

I want him to conduct himself with the assurance and confidence that he will get the job done correctly. If he errs, I want him to own up to it as quickly as possible and set about correcting that misstep. If he prevails, I want him to capitalize on that victory and make it an even bigger one.

I want him to understand that those who condemn him are free to do so, and that their free speech must never be eroded or threatened. I want him to defend the weakest among us, even if they are people with whom I disagree. And, when all is said and done, I want him to be captive to the good reputation and well-being of every American in his jurisdiction.

Good guy? I don't give a fuck if he's a "good guy" or not. I never plan on "having a beer with him." I want him to be the President, with all that that implies, and I want him to be great.

Good guys finish last.

[spanone]

9. 54% yes? bullshit....tell that to the dead he's left behind him

[mnhtnbb]

10. Sadistic, sociopathic a$$holes do not fit my definition of a "good guy"

[man4allcats]

11. I do not agree with Obama's assessment.

Bush is a criminal sociopath who, along with most if not all of his administration, should be prosecuted and, if convicted (how could he and they not be?), sentenced to the maximum penalties allowed by law for crimes committed.

[roamer65]

12. No.

Bu$h is a piece of shit.

[tabbycat31]

13. my take

is that probably as a person he's a decent guy. He's probably someone you'd like to have a beer with or watch a baseball game with.

However I don't think he realizes the extent in which he fucked up this country and Iraq. I think that Cheney was pulling most of the strings and that he was more of Dick Cheney's puppet (I highly doubt that there would even be a close election had the ticket been reversed).

[Occam Bandage]

14. I think he's probably a good guy on a personal level.

He is, however, a lazy, incompetent guy without any sense of greater morality, who happily commissions sins and crimes, and who merrily ignores the massive damage that his policies have caused and continue to cause to America. So no, I wouldn't call him "a good guy."

[Retired AF Dem]

15. I agree not bad on a personal level

He would of been a one term president not capable of causing to much damage. We should blame assholes in another part of the world for planning 9-11 that gave him the opportunity for becoming a 2 term president. My apologies for all the tin hat wearers since Bush is not smart enough to come up with 9-11.

[Occam Bandage]

17. While I agree that 9/11 massively increased his damage output,

and that if it weren't for 9/11 he'd be a one-termer (and, furthermore, I think that HRC would have probably just won her re-election), I do think he still would have caused quite a bit of damage. After all, he began the preparations for a war in Iraq months before 9/11, and his deregulation/tax-cut packages would have been passed anyway.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

31. Fucking

Ted Bundy was nice on a "personal level" unless you were a 20 something, good looking girl with long dark hair parted in the middle.

Bush is a piece of total shit and not nice on any fucking level at all.

[Sebastian Doyle]

33. Seriously.

My grandfather actually worked with Ted Bundy for a short time in the early 1970's. Everybody in the office liked him, and thought he had a great future. Which he probably would have had, if not for the "serial killer" thing.

I never heard anybody but the most deluded Freepers saying that about Chimpy. And while I'm seriously disappointed in Obama's cabinet picks, I don't believe for a second that he actually believes Chimpy is a "good guy". If I thought he actually did, I'd have to give up any hope for this country at all. :evilfrown:

[11 Bravo]

19. I go back and forth on that.

I agree that at first glance, he appears to be the sort of amiable jackass you can find in any sports bar. But then I think about the havoc he has wrought and the lives he has destroyed, and the pendulum swings the other way. I suppose I should just be content in the knowledge that the sonuvabitch is out of here in about 48 hours.

[Occam Bandage]

21. I met him once, briefly, in 2003.

He had given a speech at my school about education reform. Some shit about training teachers better. I was part of a small group of students who met briefly (like five minutes) with him afterwards to talk about his education reform plans. Basically we were supposed to briefly say what we'd like to see from our teachers, he would promise to fight for us and congratulate us on being the future of America, and that would be it.

I considered going off message and saying something about Iraq. But it was strange, meeting him. I had made him out into a great demon of sorts in my mind, and had sparred with him a hundred times in my imagination beforehand. But seeing him disarmed me. He was the most normal-looking, normal-acting guy I'd ever seen. He smiled at me and shook my hand, and I acted not as the Brave Defender of Liberty I had planned on. I smiled and said it was an honor to meet him. At that moment, I even liked him. He seemed so...benign.

I didn't say anything else. The little meeting went according to plan. Pictures were taken. I don't think I was in any of the published ones. I've thought about that often, since. It was often difficult to reconcile the legacy and damage done by George W. Bush with the friendly, harmless-seeming guy who shook my hand and told us about raising the standards at "teacher schools." I really think that he simply does not, and cannot, believe that all the shit he's done has actually caused the damage that it did. I think that he is convinced that good and evil exist as actual things in the real world, and it's therefore moral to torture and kill evil men, for they are evil and threaten goodnesss. And I think that he's generally a simple, lazy man who doesn't care to challenge any of the whims that enter his head, or any of the justifications that people he trusts feed him.

Would I call him evil? Yes, I would. Few men are malevolent, and they tend to inflict their harm only on individuals. Evil, I think, is not the opposite of good, but is rather a complete apathy towards good. George W. Bush does not care to consider morality beyond "the bad guys gotta die because they're bad." He is apathetic, and thus rationalizes instead of scrutinizes his actions, and therefore causes great harm. That, I think, is what evil is.

[1776Forever]

38. He was a charming man, someone who was only ever nice to me" spoken by a maid of Hitler's

In this case I know that PE Obama is a politician, and politicians rationalize a lot, but in his tiny mind I think W thinks he really did have the "right stuff". Nothing could be further from the truth. Even Hitler had his defenders:

Zimbabwe: ‘Hitler was the perfect boss’; maybe Mugabe is too

http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/traps/2008/12/04/zimbabwe-%E2%80%9Chitler-was-the-perfect-boss%E2%80%9D-maybe-mugabe-is-too

Rosa Mitterer, a former maid in the employ of the mass murderer and Nazi Fuehrer Adolf Hitler (1931 to 1935) has finally decided to break her silence and share some of her wonderful memories with us. The fact that it has taken this 91-year-old woman a mere 63 years after World War II to reach this conclusion must not detract from her fascinating account of the other side of Adolf.

“He was a charming man, someone who was only ever nice to me, a great boss to work for. You can say what you like, but he was a good man to us.”

While some of you may be literally gob smacked by Frau Mitterers’ misty water-coloured memories of the way they were (I know, I know), I am not in the least bit surprised. Everybody has someone out there who believes that they have been misunderstood by the rest of the world, irrespective of how disgusting the individual’s conduct has been shown to be.

..........

Rationalization is not a good thing in this matter. We must tell it like it is and was. When the war crimes come up to the AG I would hope that rationalization does not come into the thinking when it comes to making Bush/Cheney and their thugs pay for what they have rendered. The verdict is still out on this one.

[nichomachus]

40. No -- he's a sociopath

He can pour on the charm, but even the charm is superficial and designed to get him what he wants. But certain things give him away.

One thing that has always bothered me was his giving nicknames to people. Now, many of us pick up nicknames along the way -- usually given to us by our family or friends for some reason. But, giving someone a name is a very intimate act -- our names are very important to us. For a person in a position of authority to routinely give new names to subordinates is an act of dominance and control. A lot of people see it as cute, but it's not. It's really a power thing.

A good example is religious orders where the new members give up their old name and take on a new name assigned by their superiors. It is a sign that they have surrendered to the control of the religious order. However, they do that willingly. In Bush's case, he imposed the new name on people without their consent.

This is more along the lines of the African-American slaves who had their names changed by their masters as a sign of the master's control over them and a denial of their personhood. That tells us a lot about how he saw himself and the people with whom he came in contact. He had no concern for their status as a person and was "putting them in their place."

[Maven]

16. I wonder how many DUers are voting YES because Barack said so.

:rofl:

[Occam Bandage]

18. I haven't seen any DUers agreeing with the statement.

[Maven]

42. Uh...YOU pretty much did upthread.

So, how did you vote?

[11 Bravo]

43. Did you even read OB's posts?

In post #14 he said, "So no, I wouldn't call him a good guy." In post #21 he said, in describing Bush, "That, I think, is what evil is." I don't see a whole lot of ambiguity in either statement.

[Maven]

45. "I think he's probably a good guy on a personal level"*

*Who did some bad things.

I think he speaks well enough for himself.

He also edited out some of his post and added the part about not thinking he was a good guy, essentially contradicting his own subject heading in post #14.

[Ernesto]

20. every despicable asshole is a

"good guy" to somebody..................

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. Good for nothing hideous little bastard, yes he is.

[norepubsin08]

24. Cocksucking, worthless, mother-fucking

scum of the earth is more like it----Obama needs to quit being a nice guy and go for the throat...all republicans should be marginalized and the word conservative should take on derisive tones, like they did with liberals in the early 80's. We should publicly question a conservative's patriotism and hopefully turn them into second class citizen's.

[11 Bravo]

51. Ease up, Slick. You say cocksucking like it's a bad thing, and my wife reads DU.

[BlooInBloo]

25. haaha! Barack Obama doesn't even agree with Barack Obama on that.

[Skittles]

26. I have to say, this statement by Obama makes me sick

because he is either stupid or lying

[G_j]

27. well we know he is not stupid by a long shot,

and that's what bothers me too...

[11 Bravo]

28. Before the lynch mob forms, I will say that I agree with you completely.

[greguganus]

29. Obama's now the member of an elite club. They protect each other. n/t

[QueenOfCalifornia]

30. Good guy?

Good guy?

I can't stop hearing that echo in my head....

Obama thinks that the guy who has destroyed tis country and lied through his teeth while doing so is a "good guy?"

I am going to go make a bloody mary right the fuck now.

[slipslidingaway]

34. Yes 54% 92716 No 46% 78255 Total Votes: 170971 n/t

[lonestarnot]

35. Snort

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edd8ItSpRMs

[DFW]

36. Only if G.U.Y. stand for this:

Greedy Uneducated Yokel

Otherwise, we'll have to agree to disagree.

[UTUSN]

37. Done but can't see the results. CNN is always SO slow on my dial-up!1 n/t

[1776Forever]

39. As of around 2:30 PM here are the results:

Do you agree with President-elect Barack Obama that President Bush is a "good guy"?

Yes 54% 96033
No 46% 81108

Total Votes: 177141

......

Hard to believe for me. Maybe some Repubs are blasting it. Odd though I just noticed at 9:30 am this morning it was 54% too. Hmmmm????

[NJmaverick]

41. I agree that is was the classy and dignified thing for him to do

I know that Obama is bringing back these two long abscent traits.

[readmoreoften]

44. Did the Obama campaign mail you the check yet?

Or do you work for free out of mom's basement?

[ObamaRules]

46. Good point, I agree N/T

[ObamaRules]

47. Good point, I agree N/T

[11 Bravo]

58. Yeah, but do you agree?

Just kidding. Welcome to DU.

:toast:

[ObamaRules]

60. Thank you! N/T

[Solly Mack]

48. Sure. Good guys always implement a torture policy don't they?

Good guys always lie to get a war. Good guys always ignore hurricane survivors. ( and the hurricane even coming, for that matter) Good guys always bankrupt a country. Good guys always kidnap people off the street and fly them to secret prisons to be tortured. Good guys always erode rights, abuse their authority, spy on people, and use the power of office to attack a country (countries) in more ways than we really know.

Don't they?

Don't they?

If that's loving America, I sure don't want to see what passes for hate...

[pnorman]

49. Still 54%-46% (185,934 votes)

I voted YES, not because I really felt so, but because I have faith in Obama making the best "chess move" in that situation.

But I CRINGE at the thought of being righteously impaled, by the moral superiority of some of you bravos! I also felt the same way about Warren as well as that meet with those neo-cons. So let's have your best shot!

pnorman

[acmavm]

50. NO, and I resent Obama's attempts to rehabilitate his 'legacy'.

[timtom]

52. How many voted "Yes"

just because Obama said it?

[alfredo]

53. No No No!

[Phillycat]

54. He's still the same brutally stupid, narcissistic, arrogant, mean, small-minded bigoted shithead

he's always been.

[ProfessorGAC]

62. Absolutely Correct!

He is still every bit the silverspoon failure he's always been. And, this morning on WJ, Arianna said she has been told that even Cheney doesn't respect this buffoon. (Not that i like agreeing with Cheney.)

Obama is just playing the "president as diplomat" role.
GAC

[ProgressIn2008]

56. I'm not outraged because I wouldn't expect Obama to say otherwise. Why would he? nt

[LaPera]

57. Just another in a long line of Dems kissing republican ass-so afraid of the republican media machine

[southerncrone]

59. K&R Come on, DU, get on this!

We know there's NOTHING GOOD about him!
:kick:

[marshall]

63. So are you saying Obama is a fool or a liar?

Is it just stupidity or inexperience?
I still don't understand the compulsion to second guess and lambaste every move Obama makes, and he's not even in office yet.