More scholars and others call Bush worst president ever; New book traces lifelong Bushies deceit

jackson

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Fri Mar-30-07 04:12 PM
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More scholars and others call Bush worst president ever; New book traces lifelong Bushies deceit

by Jackson Thoreau

In a relatively recent column in The Washington Post, Columbia University presidential scholar and historian Eric Foner called Bush the worst president in U.S. history. Foner even said Bush was worse than Nixon and comparable to James Polk, who led the U.S. into the unprovoked invasion of Mexico by lying about an "alleged Mexican incursion into the United States."

"Nixon considered himself above the law," Dr. Foner wrote. But "Bush has taken this disdain for law even further. He has sought to strip people accused of crimes of rights that date as far back as the Magna Carta in Anglo-American jurisprudence: trial by impartial jury, access to lawyers and knowledge of evidence against them. In dozens of statements when signing legislation, he has asserted the right to ignore the parts of laws with which he disagrees. His administration has adopted policies regarding the treatment of prisoners of war that have disgraced the nation and alienated virtually the entire world. Usually, during wartime, the Supreme Court has refrained from passing judgment on presidential actions related to national defense. The court�s unprecedented rebukes of Bush�s policies on detainees indicate how far the administration has strayed from the rule of law."

More recently, others have come out saying Bush is the worst president ever. Even someone as mainstream as developer Donald Trump recently said Bush was "probably" the worst president ever. Even mainstream Republican Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel recently said that Bush is "not accountable" and "you might see calls for his impeachment."

Nobel Prize-winning economist George Akerlof of the University of California recently said that this was the "worst government the United States has ever had in its more than 200 years of history. It has engaged in extraordinarily irresponsible policies, not only in foreign policy and economics, but also in social and environmental policy.... Future generations and even people in ten years are going to face massive public deficits and huge government debt."

Historians Sean Wilentz and Robert S. McElvaine have previously lent more evidence of presidential scholars� and others� concerns about Bush.

Unfortunately, we cannot impeach presidents for being irresponsible and raising deficits to give boatloads of money to his wealthy campaign contributors and supporting unwise actions. But we can impeach presidents for breaking the law. By this count, Bush deserves to be impeached. His "disdain for law" detailed by Foner and many others runs much longer than the superficial reasons on which the former Republican-controlled Congress impeached Bill Clinton.

Still more unfortunately, we aren�t likely to succeed in impeaching Bush through Congress, whose Democratic leaders have already said impeachment is off the table. We can try to push through petitions and join in impeachment efforts, such as Vote to Impeach and the Impeach Bush Coalition. Things could turn, though I�m not holding my breath. By doing so - even in a doomed effort - we raise more public awareness about Bush�s deceit.

But the way we can see the fruits of our efforts is by impeaching Bush in the court of public opinion and the history books. I�ve spent a good part of the last few years polishing book that is backed up by hundreds of footnotes mostly from mainstream sources that is my contribution to impeaching Bush in the court of public opinion.

Born to Cheat: How Bush, Cheney, Rove & Co. Broke the Rules - From the Sandlot to the White House shows how Bush & Co.�s cheating started when they were young and continued to their power grab of the White House and lust for an empire. I include a list of resources for people who want to do something about this administration to have somewhere to turn.

If you want more info on the book and how to read it, go to http://www.geocities.com/jacksonthor/cheat.html

PLEASE NOTE: I didn�t write this book to make a few more bucks � believe me, there are easier ways to make money than writing something like this. I wrote it because it was a story that had to be told, for history's sake. I wrote it because I could put it together and show how the deceit of these players started young and continued throughout their sorry lives. I wrote it as a warning, so that maybe we won�t let this happen again.

I wrote it for my kids and their kids, so they�d know that quite a few of us didn�t sit around while Bush & Co. was leading this country and the world into hell.