Worst legacy of Bush's presidency?

[suede1]

Poll question: Worst legacy of Bush's presidency?

Seriously, for years people have discussed what was the worst thing Bush did long term. I say the attack on the environment, but a case could be made for everything he touched.

[yourout]

1. HAVA

[suede1]

4. I had forgotten about that.

[pleah]

2. ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Other.

[rampart]

36. all of the above

[baldguy]

38. +1

[suede1]

3. I said environment because it's so hard to take land back to its original state, but all of these

things are a close second.

[BlooInBloo]

5. Torture. Easy.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. so many of the choices are related to the Iraq war

[suede1]

8. I separated torture and spying because they were doing that before Iraq.

But wow, you could add more than a dozen (or hundreds) of crimes to the war. Including Plame's outing.

[OhioChick]

7. How about "all of the above"...plus. n/t

[IDemo]

9. As horrible as all of these are, Iraq tops them all

Over one million dead, 4 million Iraqis displaced from their homes (internally or externally), over 4 thousand dead American soldiers, and many thousands more with grievous physical and emotional wounds.
This was a crime fed on lies, with the entire crime family escaping unscathed and much, much richer.

[omega minimo]

10. the resulting public that trivializes life or death issues so stupidly

:hi:

[suede1]

12. Good one! And everyone deals with those people.

[omega minimo]

19. and some of them are those people

[suede1]

40. And how about the pompous?

They suck on either side.

But, I'm sure you've never discussed these things.

[suede1]

44. And nothing is being trivialized by discussing things. I took this seriously.

But, there always has to be someone that looks for reasons to judge and, well, be an ass.

[sakabatou]

11. How about nearly everything if not everything he and his cohorts did?

[suede1]

13. I forgot to add dividing the country!!!

[Muttocracy]

14. going with constitution - I would have said loss of separation of powers

and checks and balances because that helped wreck the environment, get us into Iraq, etc. :(

[Believing Is Art]

15. Why I chose torture

Environment - Bush undid a lot of progress, but our environmental problems were not started by him and are not totally the fault of the United States. He did a lot of harm, but he and his administration do not own this problem.

Attack on Constitution in general - Too vague to be his Watergate/Vietnam/Lewinski/whatever.

Attack on Iraq - Misguided wars are not unique to Bush. They're not okay, of course, but he's not as special in this category as he is in modern day torture.

Spying - Egregious, yes, but it doesn't have the inhumane element of torture. Also, how personal is it really to the average American? We know we could have been spied on. Many probably were and never knew it. I'm not saying the lack of any real effect on most people's lives makes it okay, just putting it in perspective with his other crimes. It would be the worst legacy of many a president, but not this guy.

Attack on working people/the economy - This was going on long before Bush. Additionally, it thus far has not reached the level of the Great Depression. If it gets worse than that, well, I'll change my opinion.

Damage to our image - This kind of wraps everything up in a nutshell then exports it.


Authorizing and committing torture in this day and age, by this country, that takes the cake.


Edit: typo

[suede1]

17. Very good!

[LynnTheDem]

16. The dead,

[Mnemosyne]

28. And the walking dead. :( n/t

[Believing Is Art]

18. Another one I might add would be Bush v. Gore

Sometimes I try to think about what history students will be forced to memorize about the Bush admin in a decade or so.

Concentrated down to the bare essentials:
Bush v. Gore
9/11 and the Afghanistan War
Gitmo and Torture
Domestic Spying
Bush Doctrine and the Iraq War
2004 Election and Defeat of Kerry
Katrina and (lack of) FEMA Response
The Economic Collapse of 2008
The Hope Revolution (possible name in future of Obama election)

There probably will also be some required reading about the DOJ and Gonzales.

[margotb822]

20. Other: Compromising our Elections

And, it could be argued that there would be no legacy if 2000 had been a legitimate election.

[provis99]

21. add the New Orleans disaster as a category

The Dumbfuck-in-Chief desecrated and shat upon the people in my favorite American city.

[Mz Pip]

22. The toxic polarization

of our political discourse.

Nothing else seems to be able to get done when the GOP calls Democrats everything from terrorist sympathizers, to Nazis, to radical communists.

In an environment that is fueled more by hate than a real desire to solve problems not much will get done.

[kas125]

23. I chose the attacks against the Constitution itself, because

that includes many of the other choices like attacking Iraq, torture, spying, etc.

[Kip Humphrey]

24. The brainwashed rabble let losoe... Teabaggers, Rapturists, Cheney, etc.

[RagAss]

25. NOLA ... !

[corruptmewithpower]

26. What really pissed be off about Bush was the outasight spending!

President Obama is making Bush look like a miserly penny pincher, but at least I can have high hopes that I was wrong about overspending by government being a bad thing and that I am still wrong, I hope.

[NavyDavy]

27. whatever.....

[20score]

33. WTF!!! Are you kidding? How can anyone not know that it matters what you spend money on and how?

You don't use a credit card to pay your mortgage when you have a job and can pay. But you might have to when you're in between jobs and need to save your house.

Wow! I don't believe I just read what you wrote.

[corruptmewithpower]

34. I voted for President Obama. I have to believe his economic

program is a lot better than it looks to me. I have a lot riding on my decision, our whole future for example.

[opihimoimoi]

29. Set Back America 10 years.....he almost blew it all to Hell with his friggen decisions

He don't read, think, analyze, hunt, fish, fix, use tools, dance, sing, or Lead.....he is a loser

Utter Failure

[Initech]

31. 10 years? More like 100.

[lonestarnot]

30. His attack on the United States, its people, and everything it stands for in the name of

hubris and greed.

[Initech]

32. Every single fuckin' thing that happened in the last 8 years.

[Skip Intro]

39. Fucking nightmare. Hey, stop bitching traitor, terror altert level Orange!!!!

No time for criticism or dissent - shut up and go get your plastic sheeting and duct tape!

:sarcasm:

[LostInAnomie]

35. We probably haven't seen the worst part of Bush's legacy.

The worst thing about George Bush isn't necessarily what he's done, but what he's set a precedent for doing. Ultimately, Bush was a fool and a novice in politics, but he set a precedent for doing some VERY destructive things in terms of what the government can do. If a very astute politician were to be in place the next time a 9/11-esque disaster occurs the precedent is now set for them to turn the US into a totalitarian state.

[TexasObserver]

37. The relentless and treasonous attack on the Constitution is his worst legacy.

[old mark]

41. Attack on the Constitution, but I am sure there are still a lot of

little surprises we haven't yet found.

mark

[slackmaster]

42. Our ongoing failure to adopt and embrace the Metric System

Will Obama finally bring an end to it?

[DailyGrind51]

43. Inviting Dick Cheney on the ticket in the first place!

[Johnny2X2X]

45. Fake Terror threats

How about when they started releasing fake terror threats for Political purposes, specifically during the 2004 Election cycle. It was so transparent at that time. I know this turned many Republicans against them as this was such an offense to anyone that loves America and wants it to be safe.

[Johnny2X2X]

46. Fake Terror threats

How about when they started releasing fake terror threats for Political purposes, specifically during the 2004 Election cycle. It was so transparent at that time. I know this turned many Republicans against them as this was such an offense to anyone that loves America and wants it to be safe.