Treatment of Bush has been a disgrace

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by DGTess

"For now, we have a new president-elect. In the spirit of reaching across the aisle, we owe it to the Democrats to show their president the exact same kind of respect and loyalty that they have shown our recent Republican president." --Ann Coulter

People didn't start off showing disrespect and disloyalty to Bush. He received a lot of support particularly after 9/11 and received votes from nonRepubs. He was fighting an uphill battle in some regards and Americans from both sides of the aisle were initially going along for the ride.

But Coulter knows that already.

I feel sorry for Bush and think he's probably a cool guy. Some of this is of his own doing, though.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

People didn't start off showing disrespect and disloyalty to Bush. He received a lot of support particularly after 9/11 and received votes from nonRepubs. He was fighting an uphill battle in some regards and Americans from both sides of the aisle were initially going along for the ride.

But Coulter knows that already.

I feel sorry for Bush and think he's probably a cool guy. Some of this is of his own doing, though.

He had a pretty high approval rating right after 9/11. I'm not sure exactly when his approval rating started to dive, but it seemed pretty steady over a period of time.

If the Democrats had been able to field a viable candidate in 2004, who knows. But, they chose Kerry, who has been living off of Kennedy's good work in Massachusetts since he took office. I think it could have been interesting if there had been a half-way decent candidate for the Dems in that election.

I will be very interested to see how history judges Bush. He's not going to leap into the top 10 Presidents or anything like that, but history tends to obscure the mistakes of many Presidents (FDR's court-packing plan, for example).

[Zephyrus]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I feel sorry for Bush and think he's probably a cool guy. Some of this is of his own doing, though.

I agree here and some of it is his own doing, but we also have to look at the whole picture, not just Bush. It's not just the president who makes all of the decisions. People keep making bad accusations of his decision to go to Iraq, but his staff had a large part in the decision to go there.

[moe.ron]

Originally Posted by Zephyrus

I agree here and some of it is his own doing, but we also have to look at the whole picture, not just Bush. It's not just the president who makes all of the decisions. People keep making bad accusations of his decision to go to Iraq, but his staff had a large part in the decision to go there.

The buck have to stopped somewhere. He is the President and he has to take full responsibility for his actions. It's great to say that his staff did this and that, ultimately, his staff did not make the decision to go into Iraq. It was him and congress. Those who voted for him and Bush bear the main responsibility.

[Zephyrus]

Originally Posted by moe.ron

The buck have to stopped somewhere. He is the President and he has to take full responsibility for his actions. It's great to say that his staff did this and that, ultimately, his staff did not make the decision to go into Iraq. It was him and congress. Those who voted for him and Bush bear the main responsibility.

I agree, but it was his staff that made the mistake with the WMD drama. They said there were WMDs and there weren't any.

I don't know if you saw the movie "W", but something like this was in the movie. It was a good movie. The same guy who directed Nixon did this one too. Oliver Stone I think.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by Zephyrus

I agree, but it was his staff that made the mistake with the WMD drama. They said there were WMDs and there weren't any.

I don't know if you saw the movie "W", but something like this was in the movie. It was a good movie. The same guy who directed Nixon did this one too. Oliver Stone I think.

I left that movie feeling bad for Bush. Honestly, while I don't agree with Bush, and don't like the direction the country has gone in during his presidency, you can't say that I've ever been disrespectful of him. Unless you count going to a Bush rally in 2004 (just to see the sitting President in person, I'm such a geek!) and leaving halfway through (because the people sitting around me were annoying the crap outta me).

ETA: I do feel like Bush is pushed around by Cheney, Wolfowitz, et al, but that's because I dislike Cheney and Wolfowitz.

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I feel sorry for Bush and think he's probably a cool guy. Some of this is of his own doing, though.

Ditto. I think he is probably a perfectly lovely person. I just didn't (and don't) like the way he leads. It takes a certain person to be President in the state we're in and I just don't think he has it. Maybe if everything was easy peasy he might have been an okay leader. But he just...didn't make the wisest or most sensible decisions...to say the very VERY least. And you can't really afford that when all eyes are on you. Unfair but it comes with the territory.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

Ditto. I think he is probably a perfectly lovely person. I just didn't (and don't) like the way he leads. It takes a certain person to be President in the state we're in and I just don't think he has it. Maybe if everything was easy peasy he might have been an okay leader. But he just...didn't make the wisest or most sensible decisions...to say the very VERY least. And you can't really afford that when all eyes are on you. Unfair but it comes with the territory.

I don't think W wanted to be President any more than John F Kennedy did. If JFK had lasted for 2 terms, God knows how he'd be remembered by history now. IMO they were both pushed into it. I believe W came out at some point and said his lifelong goal was to be baseball commissioner, not POTUS.

Helicopter Parents: Not A New Thing.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I don't think W wanted to be President any more than John F Kennedy did. If JFK had lasted for 2 terms, God knows how he'd be remembered by history now. IMO they were both pushed into it. I believe W came out at some point and said his lifelong goal was to be baseball commissioner, not POTUS.

Helicopter Parents: Not A New Thing.

Maybe we should have a Joe Kennedy thread.

ETA: can you imagine a Joe Kennedy recruitment thread, kind of like the one from Chuch Norris?

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

Maybe we should have a Joe Kennedy thread.

ETA: can you imagine a Joe Kennedy recruitment thread, kind of like the one from Chuch Norris?

LOL - especially with his ookabillion children!

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I don't think W wanted to be President any more than John F Kennedy did. If JFK had lasted for 2 terms, God knows how he'd be remembered by history now. IMO they were both pushed into it. I believe W came out at some point and said his lifelong goal was to be baseball commissioner, not POTUS.

Helicopter Parents: Not A New Thing.

Haha...people don't want to hear my opinion on JFK...

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by puglover

In my opinion, a lot of people are influenced by what the Media feeds them which is not always the honest truth and as a result peoples perceptions become clouded.
So I believe that President Bush's approval rating is mostly a direct result of the media ability to change perceptions instead of his true leadership ability.

Absolutely - it's called "the power of the Press" for a reason!

Originally Posted by KSigkid

8 years in office will do a lot - it's crazy to look at the before and after pictures of Presidents.

Granted, his family seemed not to age well but this is what FOUR years of the Presidency did to Jimmy Carter:

1976:


and 1981:

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I think Bush's presidency will be much better regarded by history than it is today.

I agree - but it's going to take some years. Unfortunately.