Where Bush Ranks
Recently a bunch of historians got together and published a list of Presidential blunders. James Buchanan's failure to avert the Civil War tops the list. Ronald Reagan comes in at number nine for trading and selling arms to Iran for U.S. hostages, and then illegally funneling that money to the Contras in Nicaragua to encourage a Civil War there. Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky are number 10. Historical hindsight allows this kind of ranking fun. I suppose current events seem too raw, too not-yet-understood for scholars to apply 20/20 vision to rate George W. Bush.
If historians won't weigh in, perhaps we should turn to the media. John Stewert, host of the Daily Show, says the American Press is like a bunch of kids playing soccer. Every once in a while the ball pops out and there they go, running after it! Too bad the storm around the ball is often supplanted by a new rush for the "latest" news the trillion dollar corporations deem a more interesting story (this week the Bush administration's handeling of Hurricane Katrina is being supplanted by a killer nurse).
Simply stated, George W. Bush is one of the worst Presidents we have ever had. My first blog ever, 10 Reasons Not To Vote For Bush, chronicals his first administration in terms of the damage (Bush enriched himself and friends while seriously undermining middle and low -income Americans, the environment, and all of the good will America once had while making the U.S. a pariah in the world).
The damage is also accompanied by an enormous record of real scandal, deception, and crime. Here are six solid impeachable grounds in chronological order. My message: Historians, feel free to rank Bush now. Press, I wish you had an attention span longer that your average soccer-playing five year-old.
The Six Most Egregious Crimes:
1. Enron Cover-up: Bush refuses to step in at the request of former Governor, Grey Davis, during the energy crises in California. Records will show that Enron was lying about energy supplies and manipulating energy prices to create a false panic to gouge customers. Enron was the largest contributor to the Bush campaign. Records are produced showing contact between Enron and Dick Cheney's office during Enron's illegal activity. Story disappears after 9/11.
2. Lying about Iraq: British intelligence tells the Bush administration that a report linking Iraq to uranium purchases in Africa is a lie, in fact, this "idea" was made-up by British intelligence. Bush announces this discovered link anyway during the State of the Union. Other patterns of pre-war intelligence exaggerations and falsehoods pile up after no weapons of mass destruction are ever found.
3. Treason: Yes, that is what it is called when a U.S. official with classified information knowingly reveals the name of an undercover spy working for the U.S. government. Scooter Libby may be taking the fall, but how can the Vice President's Chief of Staff be the only one to take blame for leaking Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife's name to the press? In case you have not heard, the name was leaked for revenge. It was Wilson who told the press that Bush had lied about Iraq and a uranium connection.
4. Torture: The United States sanctions torture in the military and through the hiring of private military contractors. The photos from Abu Ghraib are shocking. The fact that the Bush administration continues to refuse to release all of the now two year-old photos is par for the course. New photos just being released under the Freedom of Information Act (meaning small press operations had to sue to get them) show piles of naked prisoner carcasses without reference to how they died. The United Nations just released a report telliing the U.S. that it should close Guantanamo Bay for verified reports of inhumane treatment and torture of poltical prisoners.
5. Spying: The domestic spying program is discovered by the New York Times while Bush is running for re-election. Bush pleaded the Times not to release the story, arguing that it would compromise efforts to stop an eminent threat to national security. The Times finally revealed last month that Bush has been eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without any accountablity, due process, or judicial scrutiny (more than one year after the fact of the discovery). Bush refuses to stop or to tell the public who he has been listening to all this time or what threat he felt he needed to thwart while running for re-election.
6. Lying About Katrina: Yesterday, a video taken days before the Hurricane, was released. This video actually shows Bush getting briefed about "grave concerns" that levees would not hold back flood waters in New Orleans. Among other pre-Hurricane warnings (now in transcipt form) was also a specific concern about evacuees at the Superdome. Five days after this video conference, Bush announced on national television that no one knew of any threat to the levees.
If historians won't weigh in, perhaps we should turn to the media. John Stewert, host of the Daily Show, says the American Press is like a bunch of kids playing soccer. Every once in a while the ball pops out and there they go, running after it! Too bad the storm around the ball is often supplanted by a new rush for the "latest" news the trillion dollar corporations deem a more interesting story (this week the Bush administration's handeling of Hurricane Katrina is being supplanted by a killer nurse).
Simply stated, George W. Bush is one of the worst Presidents we have ever had. My first blog ever, 10 Reasons Not To Vote For Bush, chronicals his first administration in terms of the damage (Bush enriched himself and friends while seriously undermining middle and low -income Americans, the environment, and all of the good will America once had while making the U.S. a pariah in the world).
The damage is also accompanied by an enormous record of real scandal, deception, and crime. Here are six solid impeachable grounds in chronological order. My message: Historians, feel free to rank Bush now. Press, I wish you had an attention span longer that your average soccer-playing five year-old.
The Six Most Egregious Crimes:
1. Enron Cover-up: Bush refuses to step in at the request of former Governor, Grey Davis, during the energy crises in California. Records will show that Enron was lying about energy supplies and manipulating energy prices to create a false panic to gouge customers. Enron was the largest contributor to the Bush campaign. Records are produced showing contact between Enron and Dick Cheney's office during Enron's illegal activity. Story disappears after 9/11.
2. Lying about Iraq: British intelligence tells the Bush administration that a report linking Iraq to uranium purchases in Africa is a lie, in fact, this "idea" was made-up by British intelligence. Bush announces this discovered link anyway during the State of the Union. Other patterns of pre-war intelligence exaggerations and falsehoods pile up after no weapons of mass destruction are ever found.
3. Treason: Yes, that is what it is called when a U.S. official with classified information knowingly reveals the name of an undercover spy working for the U.S. government. Scooter Libby may be taking the fall, but how can the Vice President's Chief of Staff be the only one to take blame for leaking Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife's name to the press? In case you have not heard, the name was leaked for revenge. It was Wilson who told the press that Bush had lied about Iraq and a uranium connection.
4. Torture: The United States sanctions torture in the military and through the hiring of private military contractors. The photos from Abu Ghraib are shocking. The fact that the Bush administration continues to refuse to release all of the now two year-old photos is par for the course. New photos just being released under the Freedom of Information Act (meaning small press operations had to sue to get them) show piles of naked prisoner carcasses without reference to how they died. The United Nations just released a report telliing the U.S. that it should close Guantanamo Bay for verified reports of inhumane treatment and torture of poltical prisoners.
5. Spying: The domestic spying program is discovered by the New York Times while Bush is running for re-election. Bush pleaded the Times not to release the story, arguing that it would compromise efforts to stop an eminent threat to national security. The Times finally revealed last month that Bush has been eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without any accountablity, due process, or judicial scrutiny (more than one year after the fact of the discovery). Bush refuses to stop or to tell the public who he has been listening to all this time or what threat he felt he needed to thwart while running for re-election.
6. Lying About Katrina: Yesterday, a video taken days before the Hurricane, was released. This video actually shows Bush getting briefed about "grave concerns" that levees would not hold back flood waters in New Orleans. Among other pre-Hurricane warnings (now in transcipt form) was also a specific concern about evacuees at the Superdome. Five days after this video conference, Bush announced on national television that no one knew of any threat to the levees.
posted by Not Why, Why Not? @ 8:18 PM
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