George W. Bush: The Good Things

You just can't leave it alone can you Jim.

How about all the great SNL skits that he has provided us.  Give him some love.

I'll bite:  Tax cuts, protection of 2nd ammendment rights.

No, I guess I can't. Good points. Jon Stewart wouldn't be where he is today without him.

 See, he's brought laughter to millions.

Cool.

So tax cuts were supposed to spur the economy, right? How's that working out? And don't you think tax cuts while government spending is higher than ever is just a little fiscally responsible? I mean, if my car broke and I had to fork over cash to by a new one, I don't think I'd celibrate with a new plasma screen, if you get me drift.

Second Ammendmant: OK...good for gun lovers and horders of assault weapons. How about the First Ammendmant? If he's going to be a constructionist, shouldn't he be consistent?

Weren't they pretty rare before he took office? So I think that's more of a status quo thing.

Well, government spending being higher than ever is fiscally irresponsible, but that's not going to stop whether or not we have tax cuts.

And good for people who wish to defend themselves.  Yes, I would like all politicians to defend each and every one of the 10 ammendments and all consitutional rights, but that is not currently happening at any of the 3 branches, so I'll take what good I can get.

I can't get into this all day, so I'll stand on my soap box and then leave.  I believe you've turned this into a personality issue as much as anything.  The government has degenerated into something that would be unrecognizable to the founders of this country.  Our rights are being attacked daily by both Republicans and Democrats.  Politicians, of any ilk, do not work for us, but rather for their own re-election.  I do not see much substantive difference between the Dems or GOP.  We would all be better served by limiting the powers of government.  It really doesn't matter who the hell is president... well, as long as it's not Hillary.

Jim, I hate to fall into your Clinton trap here but I just have to.

 Sorry, but no.  During the 1970's there were a total of 5 terrorist-linked attacks directly aimed at US citizens worldwide.  During the 1980's there were a total of 32.  The 1990's (He who cannot be mentioned administration!) that number jumped to 41.  I wasn't able to find numbers for this decade so far, but after 9/11, and excluding Iran and Afganistan, since they're obvious war zones, there have been very few attacks focused soley at US citizens.  If you'll notice where most of the attacks have been, they've been in Europe, on countries who were so anxious to "reason" with terrorist groups.

Very true.  Congress is what controls taxes and spending, and thus the economy of the country.  POTUS can present a budget and offer leadership but Congress is actually responsible for how the economy runs.  Wonder who controlled Congress during the so-called "Clinton" economy from 1994-2000?  Hmmmmm.

You asked for successes for what?  So you can slam them... insist they don't exist.  You'll always be able to find the downside of anything.  I can find the cons in plenty of Clinton's good deeds.  When it comes down to it, success is in the eye of the beholder.

Last I checked the economy wasn't exactly slumping... but you'll always be able to find an economist who says it's on the verge of collapse.

One foreign policy that wasn't mentioned was sticking up for Israel, after the prior administration basically sold them out for the last decade.

He signed a number of Bills that took the leash off of some of the law enforcement agencies in an effort to improve communication and lower impedence... but of course the blue states wouldn't really view that as a success.  But personally, if some FBI agent occasionally overhears my conversations if I mention the word terror while keeping another skyscraper from collapsing, then so be it.

Plenty of people like to slam the bankruptcy bill... with all the horrible things it did, like give top priority to mother's collecting child support amoungst the creditors, limiting homested exemptions, etc... but in remains to be seen if the poorest who are allegedly going to be lost in the system under this new law actually will.

Terrorist attacks on American soil... well there was that first WTC bombing... and I've attached a visual that names a slew of others not on American soil.  And of course I could point out that the foundation for the 9/11 attacks was laid well before Bush 43 was in power.  But then of course the opposition screams that it's his fault for not stopping an attack the likes of which the U.S. had never seen.

He passed improved immigration laws and did try to include ways for immigrant workers to arrange legal work... but congress shot that part down.  But again, if you don't like that kind of thing then there's plenty bad to be said about it.

No Child Left Behind... while buggy to start is at least a step in the right direction.

One of my favorites, the Anti-Spam bill and the Do-Not-Call registry...

But everything is Bush's fault and the majority that elected him must be idiots...

bts

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Appointing Ben Bernanke as the new Fed chairmain.

They should be the ones benefitting as that group pays the most taxes.  I have no problem with people taking finacial risks and making money from them.  It's called capitalism.  As for the middle class, that's me, and I'm doing just fine thank you.  No complaints.

Don't usually get involved in these political discussions, but did want to chime in on these two supposed accomplishments of Clinton. First, on the economy: Something that the uneducated don't realize is that public policy has a less than instantaneous effect on the economy. Clinton reaped the benefit of tax cuts and other economic reforms instituted by Reagan.  As previously stated here, the economy was on the decline when Clinton left office and it is more likely that Clinton's policies created the recession that W inherited.

Second, on the crime issue, the authors of Freakonomics make a strong case that the decline in crime is due more to legalization of abortion (20 years earlier) than any other public policy move.

Funny timing, my wife and I had this conversation last night.  We have it a lot, her being a democrat and me being a republican.  I have stated before that I am no defender of W, he is not who I would have liked to have seen in office.  So don't take this comment as a put down of Clinton just to say Bush is ok, he's not.

That being said, when I think about Clinton's presidency it reminds me of when Phil Jackson was the coach of the Bulls.  The economy was Clinton's Michael Jordan.  It made a lot of other things easier.  When the money is flying around like that, all kinds of spending programs and other things are easier (not easy, just easier) to approve to benefit lots of people.  This isn't a criticism of Clinton either, I'm just saying he benefitted from the timing. 

Comparing a post-scandal Clinton and W, I'm embarrassed by both.  Don't we as a country deserve better?  Here's to hoping McCain runs in '08, and that he's all he seems to be.