From the invaluable Steve Benen (again) + a DU Challenge

[Kber]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_05/029259.php

RICE'S LIMITED VIEW OF HISTORY.... I'm going to hope she just misspoke and didn't actually mean this.

It didn't take long after the momentous announcement of Osama bin Laden's death for conservatives to start taking credit and claiming vindication for the Bush administration's counterterrorism policies. This morning on Fox & Friends, former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined the chorus of conservatives heaping praise onto her former boss, suggesting that Bush's bullhorn speech at Ground Zero was "probably the most important moment maybe in American history."


Really, she said that. It's on video.

snip

I'd like to think this goes without saying, but in case anyone's inclined to think Rice's assessment has merit, Bush badly handled the conflict in Afghanistan; Bush's handling of the war in Iraq was a fiasco for the ages; the Bush administration's track record on counter-terrorism was genuinely awful; and Bush downplayed the significance of bin Laden for most of his two terms.

And I can think of several hundred moments that were more important in American history than Bush's speech at Ground Zero.

kber's comments - here's the "challenge" part. Steve thinks he can think of "several hundred" moments that were more important. If "several" is at least "3", then I think we need collectively come up with 300 more important moments.

I'll start (with the obvious):
1. The declaration of independence
2. The instigation and suppression of Shay's Rebellion
3. The development and ratification of the US constitution
4. The adoption of the Bill or Rights
5. The foundation of the US Capitol in Washington D.C.
6. The official ending of the US slave trade
7. The battle of Yorktown
8. The 1812 War with Britain
9. The writing of the national anthem
10. George Washington's refusal to run for a third presidential term of office

...

and I'm putting in a place-holder for:
300. The birth, in 1961, in Hawaii, of Barack Hussein Obama

[FrenchieCat]

1. I'm already tired of the Bush administration. They had their 8 fucked up years.....

why would they think we want to hear from them now....
after someone else has done the job they promise they'd do?

[lillypaddle]

2. Talk about arrogance

These people are shameless (shameful).

[GeorgeGist]

3. Condoleeza maybe right ...

for all the wrong reasons.

[Overseas]

4. War criminals should not be invited to speak on air about national security.

They greatly weakened our national security with their lies and torture and should not be accorded such respect.

Even if we can't prosecute them because they are too powerful, we can still shun them and we should.