Criticizing George W. Bush (1 Viewer)

[26 X World Champs]

Hi gang!

In response to the intolerance by Liberals post among others, I think it will be interesting to read all of your criticisms about our dear President. I ask that you begin with only 3 things that you think that Bush has done wrong. Of course, I'm guessing that this will lead to more and more revelations that his majesty has messed up. I'm also guessing that the truly brainwashed amongst us will criticize Bush for not hating Liberals enough, for not attacking Liberals enough, for not fighting liberal causes enough, but that is not the point of this thread.

This thread is to seriously debate the things that Bush has done that you believe he could have / should have done differently or better. This thread is not about what the Democrats could have / should have done differently or better so if possible I hope we will stay on topic?

My first three are:

1. The Iraq War! - Starting a war on false pretenses by lying to the entire world is about as wrong as one can get. The division that the war has brought to America and the HATE that Bush has caused about America and Americans has created a more dangerous living environment for all Americans. We are much less safe today than we were on January 19th, 2001.

2. The Environment - Bush is the WORST President in the history of our country concerning protecting our natural resources and our health.

3. The DEFICIT. The former definition of a Conservative Republican was someone who despised big government that spent money out of control and who strove for a balanced federal budget. This President has spent money like no man before him and has created a federal beauracracy unmatched in our history.

I eagerly await your honest critiques of George W. Bush....

 

[teacher]

1. Faith based initiative. No matter you feelings it just plain stupid to involve religion officially with government.
2.Just like the Democrats. Doing nothing about the oil co. monopolies.
3.Just like the Democrats. Eroding the middle class in this countries to the rich and the poor.

2 and 3 point to the power of money, incumbent campaign contributions, and cooperate greed. Neither party does a damn thing about either. So for all your bipartisan bickering, lock step marching and party rhetoric out there your brain washed asses are distracted to the real future problems of this country by most all political leaders who really only care about one thing. Money. Yet we argue so about the two degrees of idealogical separation in this nation. Shame. Where is my party? I vote Republican mainly for national security and taxes. More important to me than gay rights. (Not that there's anything wrong with that) You people that agree 90% or more with your chosen party scare the hell out of me. You probably get your news from once source also.

So you see champ your first reply to your thread has no "your majesty" in it.
Who's myopic?

 

[Schweddy]

Excellent topic.

Bush:
1. Slow to respond or if at all - He doesn't respond to criticim. Often I wonder if a quick jab at congress or publically denouncing some of the issues in the press would be more effective. Some see this as a sign of weekness, others see it as a sign of integrity. I am not sure, but it is getting old. Do/say something - please.
2. Immigration - We simply do not need more illegals in this country. Stop trying to pander a failed method of amnesty. If we allow this to continue - we will need to do it again in 20 years. see Reagan.
3. ? - can't think of another issue I have with him atm.

 

[Pacridge]

1. Iraq war, his handling of 9-11

2. The deficit/debt.

3. Continued shifting of the burden on the working class of the country.

 

[Connecticutter]

Okay, I disagree with some of the criticisms made so far, but I think I'll just give my three things before responding. These are not my top three, just three that come to mind.

1. Not doing enough controlling our spending. He has failed to veto even a single piece of legislation

2. Not doing enough to stop the FCC from overregulating the content of our entertainment media.

3. No Child Left Behind. Some children just need to be left in the dust. But honestly, its an unneccesary federal involvement in our educational system which I doubt will lead to any improvements. I like Bush's emphasis on school choice, but I don't see any progress being made on that issue.

Should be interesting to see what else people come up with.

 

[Lilith]

The Defecit (as stated above)
Illegal immigration (pretty much as stated above)
Social Security (and how he ties this in with immigration just ticks me off!)

 

[Tashah]

In somewhat chronological order...

1• The inexplicable Tora Bora fiasco.

2• No (It's a swish) Iraqi WMD.

3• Poor domestic energy/fiscal policies.

Special ladies bonus choice...

4• Neglecting to insist that Condy visit a contemporary hair-salon.

 

[26 X World Champs]

The Defecit (as stated above)
Illegal immigration (pretty much as stated above)
Social Security (and how he ties this in with immigration just ticks me off!)

My next three:

1. The entire Social Security Scam. Making a mountain out of a molehill. No denying that SS needs tweaking, but it's not a crisis as he so often claims. I wonder how much taxpayer money he has spent traveling around the USA campaigning for SS "reform"?

2. Trying to appoint John Bolton to the UN. The job is AMBASSADOR to the UN. Isn't it an oxymoron to try to appoint someone who has publicly come out against the UN as a viable organization? Not to mention his record in general which disqualifies him on merit.

3. The hypocrisy of his signing a bill into law as Texas governor that permits hospitals to pull the plug on terminal patients who cannot pay for service yet he spent God knows how much flying Air Force One back to DC to sign a useless, politically motivated bill that he claimed was necessary to "err on the side of life."

I've got more, no surprise, huh?

 

[ShamMol]

1.) The Starting of the Iraq war and the failure to fully fund the troops and adequately equip them.

2.) Focusing on pet projects that don't need fixing instead of on the bigger issue.

3.) I got cousel from my father (and not the father on earth). Aka, the interjecting of extreme faith into the white house thus permeating itself down into regions of government where it doesn't belong.

 

[26 X World Champs]

3.) I got cousel from my father (and not the father on earth). Aka, the interjecting of extreme faith into the white house thus permeating itself down into regions of government where it doesn't belong.

Good one! I agree! This is one of the most offensive parts of his presidency.

It will be interesting to see who he chooses for the Supremes. I'm hoping (praying :smile: ) that he avoids the far rapture right and selects someone who is conservative but fair rather than conservative and biased.

Time will tell....

 

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

1) deficit spending spree
(we need severe spending cuts)

2) handling of illegal immigration
(we need to secure our borders & stop the flow of illegeals into this country & enforce deportation)

3) not executing the war on terror/Iraq with complete & total devastation
(it's war; not a time to be nice & diplomatic)

...see even some of us conservatives have criticisms for our dear president...

 

[ShamMol]

26x: Well, I honestly could care less what the political views of the person he picked are as long as they are willing to look at the facts in each case and decide accordingly. But, of the people he is supposedly considering, there are only two who come close. I hope he puts up one of those two. But it is also important to realize that when someone comes to the court they need to be a consensous builder and anybody on the extreme side (liberal or conservative) will not work to acheive that.

 

[26 X World Champs]

26x: Well, I honestly could care less what the political views of the person he picked are as long as they are willing to look at the facts in each case and decide accordingly. But, of the people he is supposedly considering, there are only two who come close. I hope he puts up one of those two. But it is also important to realize that when someone comes to the court they need to be a consensous builder and anybody on the extreme side (liberal or conservative) will not work to acheive that.

I agree! Needless to say there's not much of a threat that Bush will pick a left leaning anyone, so I hope that he will somehow find someone who is not dogmatic and who will interpret the law on a case by case basis without predetermined prejudices.

C-Span's been rebroadcasting various interviews with Justice O'Connor and she shared her perspective on her decision making. In a nutshell she took each case one case at a time and relied on previous precedent plus her interpretation of the case. Her record is a testament to moderatism as she truly took both sides of the aisle depending on the case.

Of course the one I really regret is Bush V. Gore....she was the deciding vote, in effect she chose Bush to be our President. C'est la vie! I wonder what her personal views are re the Iraq war?

 

[ALiberalModerate]

My biggest problem with Bush is his environmental policy. The thing is, if he runs up the deficit, a future administration can reverse the trend. No matter how bad it gets in Iraq, I doubt it will be something we won’t prevail in eventually. If the economy tanks, it will always rebound at some point. If he tries to move the nation on social issues to the right, like a pendulum, it will always eventually swing back the other way.

However, if you allow logging in an old growth forest, it will take up to 1000 years before that forest gets completely back to its previous grandeur. If you develop wilderness, it’s never the same again. If you allow big contributing industries to skirt environmental regulations, they could pollute waterways for generations to come. Bush is literally selling out our National Treasures in his administrations efforts to roll back a century worth of progress in conservation.

His Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton, is a former mining and property rights lobbyist.

His head of the Forest Service is a former timber industry lobbyist.

These are not the kind of people we want in charge of protecting our national treasures.

 

[26 X World Champs]

Bush is literally selling out our National Treasures in his administrations efforts to roll back a century worth of progress in conservation.

His Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton, is a former mining and property rights lobbyist.

His head of the Forest Service is a former timber industry lobbyist.

These are not the kind of people we want in charge of protecting our national treasures.

Boy do I agree! An insidious trick this administration does is to simply NOT enforce the regulations that are law. They're all about money, and being an environmentalist in the USA is not a money maker (though it could be).

To me, the true character of Bush and his administration is the awful, horrible, wicked way they treat the environment. To make matters worse they spread false rumors trying to discredit science claiming that scientific claims are not definitive. One of the Republican's historic dirty tricks has always been to repeat lies over and over and over again and a certain percentage of the population will believe them, i.e. WMDs in Iraq even after Bush himself said there weren't any!

 

[Shye]

one thing I did not see on the list is trying to make every country a democracy. Not everyone wants to be a democracy. Next you will see him try and convert everyone to christianity.

 

[Lilith]

one thing I did not see on the list is trying to make every country a democracy. Not everyone wants to be a democracy. Next you will see him try and convert everyone to christianity.

he's not already doing that!

 

[Tashah]

Two things that must be better addressed are airport-security and immigration.

Recently, a group of security experts from Israel and El Al came to Chicago (at the behest of the federal government) to examine airport security measures. They also addressed a counterterrorism forum at the Chicago Police Department attended by 150 local police depts and numerous federal agencies. I served as a translator at this forum.

Their airport security criticisms were extensive. Paramount among these was the FAA decision that forbids profiling, a passenger/terrorist computer-security-system which is nothing but window dressing, and the propensity of the US govt. to rely on weapon-sniffing technology to thwart air-terrorism rather than the more critical human judgements of trained individuals.

Immigration controls are a nightmare and the borders remain porous. Over and beyond the illegal Mexican influx, it is still relatively easy for *anyone* to cross the US Mexico/Canada borders. Official documentation such as state ID cards and a valid drivers license are simple to obtain.

Despite all the warm and fuzzy rhetoric from the Bush administration's Dept. of Homeland Security... serious issues remain in situ and unaddressed.

 

[teacher]

Two things that must be better addressed are airport-security and immigration.

Despite all the warm and fuzzy rhetoric from the Bush administration's Dept. of Homeland Security... serious issues remain in situ and unaddressed.

Yea true, but we got this pesky little thing in this country called political correctness that keeps both sides from using any damn sense. I mean why anger the middle eastern guy with a check when searching a white grandmother will more likely reveal a box cutter. I just don't get it.

If I lived in another country of purple skinned people and a bunch of white men flew planes into buildings I would expect to be singled out for quite some time by those purple people. Matter of fact if they searched a purple grandmother instead of me I would think them a bunch of dumb asses. But that would be logical. Go figure.

 

[WiseRufus]

1) First (Obviously) the Iraq War. Here's where I just don't get it. All the people out there that support this endeavor must love being lied to by their government. That's the only thing I can think of for their support of the reasoning behind going to war. They just love being lied to and manipulated. Therefore, history will show them as being the biggest dupes of all time. Bush-"They got WMD's!" "Links between Iraq and Al Queda!" "They have the means and will to use the WMD's that we KNOW they have!" "Here are the pictures of the bio-lab trucks!" "We must attack them pre-emptively because they definitely have WMD's!"
Then the story changed once we were in there and found out, in fact, that there were no WMD's. Bush-"Oh...well...um...the intelligence was faulty." Sure it was. I'm curious, what exactly did the intelligence reports say and what EXACTLY were the recommendations to the president BASED ON THESE INTELLIGENCE REPORTS provided by intelligence officials. So yeah, people who support this war obviously like being lied to. What's interesting is right before 9/11 the Bush administration sang a completely different tune about Saddam and his regime. "He has been marginalized and has no weapons making capability." Hmmm...something huh?

2) The borders and immigration. This issue has been brought up already and I don't have much to add except, Go MINUTEMEN! The Bush Administration should take this project over spread it to all our borders.

3) This was also mentioned. The interjection of his religion into the office. It's slowly filtering outward. Our representatives shouldn't be making policy decisions based on their faith. When you do that, logic and common sense go out the window. If you start waiting for a divinely inspired result to happen, REAL options and REAL results might pass you by.

 

[debate_junkie]

Teach.. I agree on the faith based initiatives (and I only capped the name because it begins the sentence)!

No Child Left Behind, not only because it is a huge intrusion into public education that should be handled at the state level, it is an unfunded mandate, and where to the districts get the money to fund it? You got it, the taxpayers, raising school AND property taxes to do so.

And thirdly, this may seem trivial to some, but after the news broke about the faulty intelligence, the pictures Mr Bush displayed on the screen at that one dinner, where he was joking.. "No WMD'S here"... "Nope, none here either". I thought that was in VERY poor taste.

 

[Billo_Really]

Why do we have to come up with (3) mistakes when King George couldn't come up with any, when asked the very same question?

 

[teacher]

Teach.. I agree on the faith based initiatives (and I only capped the name because it begins the sentence)!

If you note I never cap my name even if it begins a sentence. I don't want to appear pretentious. Insensitive,yes. Self aggrandizing, please. Politically incorrect, absolutely. Pez....mmmm...sweet, tasty Pez...loving, goes without saying.France hating, in a second. But pretentious, nah, I don't want people to dislike me after all......

 

[Billo_Really]

Hey, do you know where I can get a Nicole Simpson Pez dispensor.

 

[teacher]

Hey, do you know where I can get a Nicole Simpson Pez dispensor.

Check my new signature. It rocks so hard. I think the parts of her you want on a Pez....mmmm...sweet, tasty Pez.....are just below the parts they do put on a dispenser.