George W Bush is not the "past" - he is the present.

[kentuck]

There is a lot of political discussion about whether or not the Democrats should "run against" George W Bush in the next election. The pundits in the media say that Democrats must run on the future - not the past. Frank Rich of the NY Times and David Broder of the Washington Post have both written about it today in their newspapers.

I'm surprised that so many in the media are surprised at the Republican radicalism. The media is complicit and responsible for permitting these radicals to expound on their false ideology and to promote their dangerous policies.

The least they can do is give a true accounting of why we are where we are today. Mr Obama inherited a mess from George Bush and the Republicans. Is that so hard to say? Republican voters and Tea Party operatives are amazingly uninformed. No one can tell the truth about our economy or any other problem we face without mentioning George W Bush. That is not "looking at the past" - that is looking at the present. That is looking at the truth.

[SmileyRose]

1. Well Republicans think GW is so weak that

his ability to lead this country stopped when Barack Obama announced his candidacy.

I don't know if that's true but I think this now means we ALL agree that GW was a pathetic fuckup......

[theoldman]

2. If I were running for a political office I would start by reminding people of the past.

I would then tell them about the future which should be the opposite of the past. The mistakes that Bush made will be with us for another 20 years. This is what makes him part of the present.

[TBF]

3. I don't think it will work.

The other side will simply say "well you beat him and what have you done?" They will point to the jobless recovery (which the wingnut media already has them covered on - they throw that term into every sentence they write), high unemployment rate, foreclosures, still at war, etc... And they will have a point.

[BeFree]

4. It's simple, really

The republicans are liars.

The republicans hate America and have done their best to destroy our country.

Yet still, today, they are in a position to do more damage. After the elections we will hopefully have severely limited the numbers of republicans who are in those positions, thereby allowing democrats the opportunity to finally be able to change the course that bush and the republicans have put us on.

[jaxx]

9. And that point will be?

That the Obama administration won't have gotten rid of 8 years of corruption in 2 years time? The things you list are the bush legacy that was left to the people and the new POTUS. He forgot to leave the magic wand.

[TBF]

10. Direction, not quantity -

I'd be more comfortable if we actually ended the wars (doesn't take decades to do that), and stopped with all the privatization efforts.

I wouldn't think a magic wand would be needed - I do have faith that President Obama is a very intelligent man and he's got majorities in the House and Senate. I'd like to see him use that to his advantage.

[KharmaTrain]

5. What Else Can They Run On??

Unfortunately the half-measures this administration and congress have made in trying to fix the deep problems millions are facing have done little to show confidence in their leadership thus they need to strongly remind voters who got us into these messes and stand in the way of any real change...the Rushpublicans.

The GOOP has plenty of its own problems that are being masked over by the corporate media in their never-ending hopes of creating controversy. They have a vested interest in close elections this fall...making billions from campaign ads and the newly unleashed third parties. The game is to beat the Democrats down, build up the GOOP so that they can control and mainpulate the storyline and possible outcome.

The media loves the radcials...they provide the best raw meat and these goons have learned how to play the media. Real issues are seldom covered as the spin and personalities always dominate. It's against this wind many Democrats swim. Demonizing boooosh has limited shelf-life...pointing out the craziness and failures of the GOOP is another story.

[Loudmxr]

6. Wait a minute. What about all those "Miss me yet?" signs?

Damn right I miss GWB.

I want everybody to remember how much of a mess he left our country in. Until the mess is cleaned up NEVER EVER FORGET!

[OHdem10]

7. It was REPUBLICANS and Conservative Economic Fundamentalism

that drove us into the ditch. The Democrats had better
use Republicans instead of Bush and go after them.

Whys are we so intent on letting the GOP slide. The Republicans
have distanced themselves from Bush because of our Spinelessness.
This is why they have gained ground. If we do not start
spelling out how the Conservative Policies sank us, we
deserve to lose.

Candy Crowley sums up the GOP attitude perfectly:
We will always have needy people. This is her response
to Granholm when discussing the Republicans and their
not voting for the aid to states bill. This was Medicaid
assistance. (Ignored aid to keep Teachers, Firefighters
and Police on duty). This was Medicaid---we will always
have needy people. Folks, this is the GOP stand. They
accept the fact that there are needy people--it is not
the Governments job to worry about them.

Medicaid is becoming Code for black poor people. In fact,
it has been that way for a while. I know there are may
\white people receiving assistance but if you make it
sound like we are only helping the blacks there is enough
latent racism to let the GOP slide by.

At least you now understand where the GOP are coming from.
They simply do not believe it is the Governments place to
help anyone even if they are purple.

[UTUSN]

8. K&R big #5 for: Best thread title/premise in a long time!1 n/t

[ixion]

11. Yep, he inherited it, but he's also maintained many of Bush Era policies

and he's certainly a friend to the F.I.R.E vertical more so than We, the People.

[unblock]

12. republicans ran against carter for YEARS after his one term.

shrub had twice as long and a far more cooperative congress and we're less than two years out for crying out loud!

[jotsy]

13. The political scene has never been more like a sham of a soap opera.

The Center for Public Integrity has a dandy little assessment as to the depth of the damage done by this disastrous and duplicitous rabid bunch of recklessly greedy war dogs.

<http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/broken_government/pages/by_the_numbers>

This administration's decision to not legally pursue the Bushco's is the biggest eye brow raiser for me.

I wrote and posted here my own thoughts on Bozo and brood back in March, when Jackpine Radical started a thread listing the many fronts we, as a public are left to struggle with and as the first 3 or 4 began with an 'e', it reminded me of a journal entry I had written, back in September of '06.

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7859817&mesg_id=7861222>

I for one, am having a difficult time being able to trust folks who are willing to carry such dirty water.

Thanks Mr. Tuck, I rec'd your thread.

[LawnKorn]

14. We need to run against Republican Policy

Let the TeaBaggers defend Bush. We need to go to the root cause of the problem and change the policy.

They can have the man; we want the office.