As much as I hate Bush, he didn't do most of the damage we attribute to him.

[TheWraith]

He was just the grinning, moronic frontman for the operation. Left to his own devices, he probably would have just bumbled along doing nothing, effectively on an 8 year vacation, like a decade of Gerald Ford.

Where the harm came from was people like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Yoo, Feith, all the neocons and free-marketers who were really running the show behind the scenes. Bush wasn't nearly bright or motivated enough to do one tenth of what was done to this country in unraveling the economic system, civil liberties, and the military.

[Mz Pip]

1. The buck stopped with Bush

He was president. If he let himself be used then it's still his fault. He was the friggin POTUS fercrissake. He could have dismissed, Yoo, Rumsfeld, Feith and even Cheney if he had the balls to do it.

We like to call him a puppet. But a puppet is really and inanimate object. Bush was a thinking, living, breathing human being who should have known better. It was his job to know better.

He doesn't get a pass from me because he was intellectually lazy.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. Well, like they say, Hitler loved his dogs, so he wasn't all bad. And Bush loves Barney.

[Sebastian Doyle]

11. Chimp really didn't even love Barney all that much

Fact is, he dropped the poor doggie on his head, on occasion :evilfrown:

[DCKit]

26. Pretty sure Barney had several stunt doubles...

or was replaced with a living, healthy dog three or five times.

You'd think a dog would learn to stay away from the drunk after the fifth or sixth trauma, but that's what we get for breeding out their better instincts.

[Tikki]

3. But, HE SAID...he was the 'Decider'....

History should remember that quote...it should not fade away...


Tikki

[PCIntern]

4. Let Buchanan and his ilk do 'revisionist history'

IMO, this is not the place.

with all due respect that is...he was The Decider...he said that...let his heirs live with that statement in perpetuity.

[John Q. Citizen]

5. Yep, another person who underestimates the bush'. Why, he was sooo dumb,

that it was just luck that he beat Richardson, Gore and Kerry.

Or maybe it was his awesome good looks?


I just plain never ever bought the bush is dumb argument.

I don't think he was a intellectual giant, just that he has slightly above average intelligence and that he's dyslexic, which leads to a lot of people to assuming he's dumb.

[Webster Green]

12. He didn't steal those elections all by himself.

All the hard work in rigging the elections was done for him by Rove, Blackwell, The US Supreme W. Court etc.

[John Q. Citizen]

18. I never said he did. I just said that it's my belief that bush

has a higher than average IQ (not a lot but a little) and that people confuse his dyslexia with being a moron.

I don't see the evidence to conclude that he's got below average intelligence.

His dad has weird verbal syntax also, and dyslexia runs in families. Dyslexics often are slow to learn to read.

However, dyslexics tend to have above average IQs.


I don't know of anyone anywhere who would attempt to steal a national election all by themselves. If there is someone who did, would you assume that they were showing how smart they are by attempting to do that?

I would assume that it would indicted low intelligence. It wouldn't be very feasible, do you think? I'm pretty sure any inteeligent person who attempted to steal a national election would want to have help.

[Old and In the Way]

15. I never thought he was dumb.

Although you'd be hard pressed to consider him intelligent after watching one of his typical press conferences.

But he was conceited, arrogant, and intellectually lazy. A perfect combination of personality traits to exploit by those with a real anti-American agenda. Very much like Ronald Reagan, IMHO.

[John Q. Citizen]

19. I agree with you.

[DJ13]

6. I think you're missing how Clinton's agenda laid the groundwork for Bush

[Hannah Bell]

7. baloney. he belongs to one of the most connected political families in the us. much more than a

frontman.

someone like reagan better fits the definition of "frontman" -- though a willing, knowing one.

[ZombieHorde]

8. No, Bush was the POTUS. He was responsible for his own behavior. nt

[Warren Stupidity]

9. Bullshit.

The Bush Family has been up front and in the center of the crapfest for at least the last 60 years. Junior was 'in on it' from the start, from that awful december election theft, to the LIHOP that was already in the pipeline while they were stealing the election, to the rest of the sorry eight years of malfeasance. He gets no pass.

[Echo In Light]

21. +1000

[Bitwit1234]

10. I think he was made to believe he was making the decisions

but I think cheney was really the one running things. And I do believe that bush was the puppet, but if he had really wanted to he could have stopped things. He just enjoyed the attention and adulation of the right wing radicals to make waves.

[joeybee12]

13. Evil is the absence of good...there was no good in Bush...yes, he was

that bad.

[Stargleamer]

14. I'd much prefer a decade of Ford. . .

than even 4 years of Bush

[NNN0LHI]

30. His first act was to give Nixon a pardon

And now in hindsight we see what a mistake that was. The Republicans should have had to watch their former president being prosecuted on national TV for the crimes he should have been charged with.

Ford was nothing more than the final actor of a multifaceted criminal conspiracy.

Ford was part of the cover-up and a crook just like Nixon.

Don

[Sebastian Doyle]

31. Actually that wasn't Ford's first act on behalf of the Bush Crime Family

Might have been the first as the unelected President, but he did far worse for his criminal employers before then, as part of the Warren Commission coverup, and (along with Arlen Specter) one of the proponents of the "Magic Bullet" fiction.

[Cresent City Kid]

16. He was FOR everything that went on, active role or not

His ineptitude made it worse. No pass from me either.

[Ardent15]

17. Bush was intelligent enough to know what was going on

The moronic "compassionate conservative" act was just that, an act.

Bush is a mean-spirited asshole, not a lovable moron.

[katandmoon]

20. If he didn't personally cause it (big IF), he ALLOWED it in his name. Same difference AFAIC.

[Rex]

22. George Walker Bush is completely responsible for all war crimes

and illegal activity done on HIS WATCH. Dick Cheney was PICKED, George was SELECTED...so no, George will have to take ALL the blame, Dick won't.

[ixion]

23. By his own (poor) words: "I'm the Decider"

which, even though I agree there were people pulling his strings, means he gets the blame.

However, I'm not opposed to blaming the puppet masters, as well.

[bvar22]

24. Bush just happened to be riding the...

...Deregulation/Free Markets Horse when it dropped dead after 30 years of bi-partisan abuse.

The frightening thing is that Obama & The "Centrist" Corporate Democrats are trying to resurrect the DEAD Free Trade/Free Markets Horse instead of fixing what killed it.

All Hail the Giant Invisible Hand!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

25. Even if I accept that premise

He still gave them a free hand and sanctioned their activities. He authorized the torture, lies, illegal war, voter fraud, improper management of FEMA and whatever else happened on his watch. He did nothing to stop it and knew precisely what they were up to. So the damage can still be attributed to him

And don't compare GWB to Gerald Ford. Ford may have been bumbling and inept in some areas -although that image of him is way over-emphasized IMO -but at his core he had a fundamental decency, integrity and commitment to ethics and good government that put him way ahead of many of the other occupants in the White House. He may not have accomplished much in terms of policy -keeping in mind that he also had to deal with a Congress that had one of the largest Democratic majorities in history and which was energized and willing to flex its muscles against the President in the aftermath of Watergate -but his main focus was on providing steady leadership and good government during a tumultuous time in America's history. Don't confuse a commitment to governing well -even in the absence of any major policy initiatives -with bumbling around and doing nothing. There's an important difference

[UTUSN]

27. All of those people did what he wanted and covered for him. What's with all the revisionism? n/t

[Paladin]

28. It Was His Watch, He Gets His Fair Share Of The Blame. (n/t)

[TomCADem]

29. Plus, For 6 out 8 Years, He Has A Compliant Congress!

Not only did Republicans control Congress, several conserva-Dems like Ben Nelson went along with his program.

[Individualist]

32. He was a willing tool, just as guilty as those who controlled him.