call for impeachment

[Uncle Timmy]

Love him or hate him, it is IMPOSSIBLE to tell what Bush's legacy will be. It's probably going to be 50-100 years before anyone knows. For example, most of us would probably agree that Abe Lincoln was a great president. But at the time, we was so ABSOLUTELY HATED by half of all Americans that the country literally fell apart, and one half declared war on the other half (and he was still hated for 100 years by much of the population)...

POPULARITY IS NOT A MEASURE OF SUCCESS in this arena.

IF there's still hate and terror and fear in the Middle East (and elsewhere) in 100 years, then the world probably won't look too favorably on 'ol G.W.

BUT, if there's peace and a growing democracy in the Middle East in 100 years, then it's quite possible that they'll trace the roots of it back to this beginning. It's a bloody and messy and unpopular start, but it's a start. But then again, so was the Civil War.

I strongly disagree.

It is possible to begin to formulate a historical assessment of Bush's presidency; since clearly there is a long and short term component to measuring success.

And, his short term failures have been grand.

There is a growing emphasis amoung Bush supporters to 'talk up the long term' -hoping that history will view this Presidency more favorably based on some unrealistic future - I don't see this as very helpful. The quicker we accept and understand the failings of the Bush Admin. , the quicker we will put the country back on track.

Even if democracy 'breaks out' in the middle east in 50 years, and that this will somehow rescue Bush from the list of bad Presidents is a flawed thinking.

It would be like re-writting the history of fascism based on pre-WWII Europe. Europe has experienced a period of peace and prosperity during the previous 50 years following WWII -does this warrant a 'favorable' long term view of Hitler? No.

History will not view the Bush Presidency favorably.

 

[BambooBay]

No, but Churchill came out looking pretty good, despite the fact that he was very unpopular at times during WWII.... I'm not a huge Bush fan. I feel let down by him in a lot of ways. But I'm also highly skeptical of anyone who claims to hold a crystal ball with such a crisp view of the future.... Remember, a huge percentage of the population (in the U.S. and the World) HATED Reagan in the 80s. A lot of people still do. But he's definitely now on that list of "Great Presidents." I was in far Eastern Europe recently, and was thanked by more than one old guy (and even hugged by one overly friendly fella) for what the U.S. did back under his administration (even though it was unpopular here at the time). "Reagan saved us all," he told me... Again though, only time (and your crystal ball!) will tell....

"Churchill's greatest achievement was his refusal to capitulate when defeat seemed imminent, and he remained a strong opponent of any negotiations with Germany throughout the war. Few others in the Cabinet had this degree of resolve. By adopting a policy of no surrender, Churchill kept democracy alive in the UK and created the basis for the later Allied counter-attacks of 1942-45, with Britain serving as a platform for the supply of Soviet Russia and the liberation of Western Europe."

 

[goofer]

And don't forget about my favorite president...Harry S Truman. His approval ratings were less than Bush's and yet today he is revered as near great. HST was recently on the cover of Newsweek, all the current candidates wish to emulate him. The big difference with Bush is ......HE IS TRULY A STUPID MAN. He relishes in the fact he doesn't read the newspapers. What a pathetic dolt.

 

[raven]

i find it interesting congress is capable of anything these days except giving themselves a raise. politicians on both side of the aisle are fairly self-serving and ignoring most crises in america. instead of using their power to fix problems, immigration, health care, education, housing, energy crisis, they're using their considerable power to pass the buck and place blame. so much for checks and balances. i'm not saying we have a perfect executive branch, but i'm not sure where the legislative branch is setting any standards. guess we can see where their priorities lie.

 

[BambooBay]

lol....yeah, Brainiac he ain't.... But I'm always slightly amused to hear just how "bad" we?ve all got it... It's on the news every hour of every day, and it's relentless (how terrible things are, how we're losing the war, how the world is melting, etc.). But the facts seem to suggest that we have it pretty dern good...

For example, despite an "epidemic of obesity," life expectancy in the U.S. is now at an all-time high of 77.9 years, and our number of annual deaths recently experienced the biggest decline since 1938. Our U.S. crime rate is at its lowest point since we began recording those statistics, and our unemployment is currently at a very low 4.5% (Florida's at 3.4%!). Meanwhile, the Dow is at its all-time high (13,649 as I write this), and a gallon of gas still costs less than a gallon of bottled water, a gallon of milk, or even a cup of java @ Starbucks.

Because of the sacrifices made by so many brave men and women in our military (and their families), there hasn't been a single successful terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 (that was nearly 6 years ago!). True, we've lost 3,600 brave soldiers over 4 years. And we should all be asking some very hard questions about that. BUT, to put that number into some perspective, we lost over 37,000 soldiers in the Battle of Normandy alone!!! 58,226 U.S. soldiers died in Vietnam! We're not losing the war; we're losing the battle of public perception. Like so many people, I knew on 9-12-2001 that this was going to be a very loooooong process (measured in decades; not days or months). It's just unfortunate that so many people have forgotten (or just stopped caring).

One thing is for sure: Regardless of WMDs (or lack thereof), the world is rid of a dictator that everyone universally agrees tortured and/or killed thousands--if not hundreds of thousands--of innocent people; many of whom were only guilty of being female, homosexual, or of a different race or religion.... I obviously can't speak for our soldiers, but all of them I've ever spoken with about Iraq are extremely proud of their role in taking out Saddam and giving those poor people a chance to lead better lives. I couldn't be prouder of them, and I couldn't be prouder to be an American. True, we're not always popular, but there's not a single nation ON THE PLANET that does more to help other people than we do. (For example, Bono recently noted that our "aid to Africa has nearly tripled under George Bush.")

All I'm trying to point out is that we truly all have it "GRAYT"! We may have a dolt for a leader, but that will change in 1.5 years. That's the beauty of our system. Stop worrying about what's going wrong, and focus on how well great are going! You'll find that you go through life a lot happier....

 

[goofer]

I Agree That We All Have It Grayt, Since Most Of The People On This Board Can Maneuver And Game The System To Work For Us. But The Sad Thing Is How Corrupt The Whole System Is. The Average American Is Not On A Level Playing Field With The Really Rich And Powerful In This Country. With All Of Our Imperfections Though I Have To Agree With Winston Churchill Who Said That Democracy Is The Worst Form Of Gov't, Except For All The Rest.