Just in case you had any doubt -- Historians still despise George W. Bush

[unrepentant progress]

The History News Network conducted an informal poll on Thursday asking American historians from the nation’s top research universities and liberal arts colleges to grade the presidency of George W. Bush on an A-F scale, based on fourteen different metrics, ranging from foreign policy to the economy to transparency and accountability.

Sixty-four historians responded. Thirty-five -- over half -- rated his presidency an outright failure.

“Thank you, God, for this opportunity,” one professor, a faculty member at one of the service academies, wrote in a comment. “He was not qualified to be president and it showed for eight long years.”

President Bush received his lowest marks for his handling of the economy (his tax cuts were “absolutely irresponsible,” wrote one historian), foreign policy (“followed the neo-conservative utopian dream of enforcing democracy from above, which was a devastating failure for the United States”), and transparency (“the most opaque administration since [Richard] Nixon.”)

http://hnn.us/articles/historians-still-despise-george-w-bush

[pacalo]

1. Their comments were brutal!

A few:


"Pre-emptive war has no place in the American historical tradition. He justified it with false evidence and lied to the American people. He accepted the use of torture, thumbed his nose at international treaties like the Geneva Conventions, and relied on faulty interpretations of the U.S. Constitution to get his way. A president is supposed to protect and defend the Constitution, which he clearly did not do."

--associate professor at a private Southern research institution.


"Bush's tax cuts were absolutely irresponsible, did nothing to improved the condition of middle- or working-class Americans and only enriched an elite few. This coupled with the billions of dollars we spent on two wars was disastrous for the nation."

--associate professor at a public Midwestern research institution


"We did reinvent the national security state under his leadership but not in a good way; he allowed the looting of Tehran, declared premature victory and oversaw a civil war while ideological transforming a socialist state into an ultra free market laboratory. He never caught Bin Laden who walked from Afghanistan to Pakistan under his nose."

--professor at a small liberal arts college on the East Coast


"Bush was far more concerned with striking and maintaining a posture of leadership than demonstrating real leadership by summoning the nation to step up and solve its most important problems."

--professor at one of the service academies

[unrepentant progress]

5. I liked the one professor judging his communications ability

"Definitely better than Coolidge."

Ouch!

[pacalo]

7. I liked that, too.

Another one simply commented, "The least articulate president of the twentieth century."

[ljm2002]

12. "he allowed the looting of Tehran"...

...say what?

I believe he meant to say Baghdad. At least I hope that's what he meant to say.

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. The whole "history will be my judge" routine by Smirky is

nothing more than his fucked up psyche latching on to an idea that anesthetizes his underdeveloped brain from ever having to fully emotionally confront not only the evil he perpetrated, but that of generations of his family as well. This is GW's mental life raft and it probably allows him the ability to get up and fingerpaint everyday in his romper room.

[JitterbugPerfume]

3. Maybe they will "clean it up"

like they did St Ronnie Reagans .Time will tell.


Personally I think they are both disgusting.

[airplaneman]

10. the two worst presidents

worst: George W Bush
second worst: Ronald Reagan

[Raster]

13. absolutely agree!

[RainDog]

4. Yet media propaganda regurgitates on demand

Regurgitates right-wing spin to make this nation a shitty place with uninformed citizens who continually elect horrible, worthless and, yes, dangerous people to public office.

Tho, of course, we all know Bush didn't actually win the presidential race in 2000, he did learn from his dad and, as he told Mickey Hershowitz, made sure he had a war to win re-election, since sitting presidents in the middle of a war are rarely removed from office.

The aughts were a horrid decade, brought to the entire world by the Republican Party.

[pretzel4gore]

6. the Youngster was a genius

he was smarter then his old man, and he beat the 'Ninnies' (ie Gore/lieberman, Kerry/Palin) like they was Persian rugs, and he killed over a million ....nobodies, and and, and...
Face the fact: we are a corrupt and vicious culture, which murdered more innocents then A Hitler did and we ARE CONSTANTLY the bad guys (the Iranians still have miles of military junk parked in their deserts from the Shah's buying sprees which enriched mr pig; that was decades ago!) in almost every conflict! No wonder our kids kill themselves in record numbers after seeing military service. WE ARE THIEVES! And nothing else. At least Junyer rode the horsey (unlike Barrack, who just brushes its coat until it glows)
(otoh, maybe my dealer is spiking my jones? Iow, pay no att'n here...)

[DallasNE]

9. Comparing Bush To Hitler Is Insane

Bush is the worst President in my lifetime. That is bad enough. Comparing him to Hitler, however, is insane.

[rwsanders]

11. It has only been classed as such because everyone on the right throws it around so much so that

the comparison no longer has meaning.
But most impartial estimates I have read say that at least 1 million Iraqis have died since we went in. Millions more became refugees and fled to Syria. God only knows how many of them are caught up in that conflict now. Many of those families who fled ended up selling themselves or their daughters into prostitution to survive.
Then take what has happened to our country with the loss of civil rights and I want to ask...
How many lives destroyed does it take to be comparable?

[byeya]

8. Greenspan endorsed Bush's "absolutely irresponsible" tax cuts and shares some of

the blame because it can be said he gave a veneer of expertise to the wholesale giveaway to the rich and greedy.

[truebluegreen]

14. Greenspan has always been a fraud.

A fact that became painfully obvious, even to him, after the crash of 2008. Of course, he has forgotten about it since then and is back to his obviously-wrong self.

[DemoTex]

15. Bu$h = F

Cheney = F-

[ThoughtCriminal]

16. Not just the most corrupt in history

Possibly more corruption than all others combined.