What has Bush done that is good?

[Cn'Fused]

We all hear how bad Bush is, how he's screwed the environment, participated in illegal wars, how he's an idiot, etc.

But half of America supports him. Why? What has he done that is good? Can anybody out there tell me a few things that he has done that is good for the US or the world, things that aren't debatable (like whether going into Iraq was good or bad)? Watching this JibJab Flash movie it appears he gave tax breaks, but that's about it...

[Skynet]

Well you see, he...
umm...

And there was that time that he...
umm...

Yeah you're right, what has bush done that is so great?

[weeperofsouls]

i think its cause they support his twisted sense of morality.

either that or they are just as stupid as he is.

[Cn'Fused]

That's what I mean. He's got to have done something to make everyone think "Hey, he did alright. Good on him", but nothing seems to come to mind.

The problem is, in my opinion, that most of the things considered good by people are issues that are really split down the middle. The War on Iraq, the Patriot Act, that Education thing where schools can still get screwed over, the environmental thingy that really doesn't cut it compared to other countries efforts, the gay marriage ban that although popular is considered a bit excessive. You know, all that stuff obviously appeals to certain people, but I don't think people are hugely impressed by any of that.

What has he done that even the evil Socialist freaks who shout slogans at my Uni can't really mock or push off as pure crap? Anything?

[weeperofsouls]

i think its just a bounce from 911. thank gaw that nonsense is finally wearing off.

before 911, he was arguably the most unpopular president ever. if that tragedy hadnt happened, the enron scandal wouldve killed his political career.

[law56ker]

What did clinton due besides leave right when the economy was going bad and he let the 9'11 plannings happen.

[ragnarok2040]

I can think of nothing on which Bush (I refuse to use the title, President, any longer) has had a positive effect.

-We've got national debt for years to come (I'll be almost 40 by the time they're paid off if the guesstimates are anywhere near accurate).

-There's a war on a generic enemy, terrorists. I mean, there's no definate number of them, and they increase their numbers the more hated we are.

-There's a bill to enact the draft currently under consideration, this will force people to go to war, even if more than half of America now thinks this war was unreasonable.

-Bush is planning on a massive reorganization of our troops in the world, moving somewhere around 150,00, I believe. Won't pulling out our troops from other countries lead those countries to become breeding grounds for terrorists, and, if not, subject to attack without our protection.

-In a book, I forgot the title, but the author was on the Daily Show discussing the ties between Bush and the Saudis. He said that Bush and the leader of the oil production in Saudi Arabia planned a hike on oil prices and then Bush would use his ties to lower them right before the election. I think this is what currently is happening, with oil prices now at 46 usd a barrel, and it being 2-1/2 months before the election.

-It used to be un-American to criticize Bush, his administration, or his policies during post-9/11. I think this was an effect of the situation, but I also think Bush/his administration encouraged this by spreading those kind of slogans around.

-Oh yeah, his war on corporate corruption just plain stopped, he didn't change anything at all, from what I can tell, and hasn't set a finger to help the economy, or find a way to increase permanent jobs. All of the current increases were in retail/dining/etc., not in manufacturing where it's needed.

That's all I can really think of now, heh. Sorry for the rant, :S. Oh yeah, good things... he umm united the world agaisnt us?

law56ker, Clinton's intelligence people did give the information about the 9/11 plannings to Bush's intelligence people. Bush's administration dismissed the terrorist threat to be minor and ignored the signs, instead they planned on finding a way to get rid of Saddam in Iraq.

[Covar]

-We've got national debt for years to come (I'll be almost 40 by the time they're paid off if the guesstimates are anywhere near accurate).

we have had a national debt since george washington was president. if you want to know there has never been any real attempt to pay it off except by thomas jefferson.

Cn'Fused - i actually think he did a pretty good job with the no child left behind. it was also a non-partisan effort (ted kennedy helped right the bill which is why you don't hear kerry insulting it). the system needed reform and if this doesn't work we can always reform that. a bad effort is better than a lack of effort. another thing he did that i think is a good idea, (and from what i hear i'm in the minority) is his proposal for illegals. if you don't know it just says that the ones that are over here can get a temp workers visa as long as they have a job and an employer to vouch for them. once again even if this doesn't work we have to do something, and i don't think building a wall would go over well. there is also his ban on partial birth abortion. many people also like his decision to limit funding for stem cell research.

there's a few of the things that he's done that aren't so obvious. maybe now you can understand why many people like him. and if not, well i tried.

[law56ker]

I can think of nothing on which Bush (I refuse to use the title, President, any longer) has had a positive effect.

-We've got national debt for years to come (I'll be almost 40 by the time they're paid off if the guesstimates are anywhere near accurate).

-There's a war on a generic enemy, terrorists. I mean, there's no definate number of them, and they increase their numbers the more hated we are.

-There's a bill to enact the draft currently under consideration, this will force people to go to war, even if more than half of America now thinks this war was unreasonable.

-Bush is planning on a massive reorganization of our troops in the world, moving somewhere around 150,00, I believe. Won't pulling out our troops from other countries lead those countries to become breeding grounds for terrorists, and, if not, subject to attack without our protection.

-In a book, I forgot the title, but the author was on the Daily Show discussing the ties between Bush and the Saudis. He said that Bush and the leader of the oil production in Saudi Arabia planned a hike on oil prices and then Bush would use his ties to lower them right before the election. I think this is what currently is happening, with oil prices now at 46 usd a barrel, and it being 2-1/2 months before the election.

-It used to be un-American to criticize Bush, his administration, or his policies during post-9/11. I think this was an effect of the situation, but I also think Bush/his administration encouraged this by spreading those kind of slogans around.

-Oh yeah, his war on corporate corruption just plain stopped, he didn't change anything at all, from what I can tell, and hasn't set a finger to help the economy, or find a way to increase permanent jobs. All of the current increases were in retail/dining/etc., not in manufacturing where it's needed.

That's all I can really think of now, heh. Sorry for the rant, :S. Oh yeah, good things... he umm united the world agaisnt us?

law56ker, Clinton's intelligence people did give the information about the 9/11 plannings to Bush's intelligence people. Bush's administration dismissed the terrorist threat to be minor and ignored the signs, instead they planned on finding a way to get rid of Saddam in Iraq.

Oh give me a break why whould clintion give bush info on a so called terriost network, if so they should have acted on it themselves PLEASE, all those attacks on us ebassies, the us cole and that was all breeding when clinton was president.

[Master Higgins]

Clinton was okay, he fukked over the military though and his cut backs and castrating of the intelligence community prolly had the effect of making it easier for the terrorists BUT history the first 6 months of any presidency is the time that people tyr to pull the most sh1t as the new presidential employees are still trying to learn their positions and get situated. As for Bush I think people "support" him not so much because they actually do, but more because they don't lmpw what Kerry wants to do. Me I am kind of inbetween the two, as I don't like the stuff Bush does but yet none of it really affects me and to be honest he isn't ruasing gas prices or anything, while Kerry on the other hand is somewhat ambiguous and seems to have a hankering to spend a sh1tload of money on social programs ala Clinton and prolly castrate the military a bit as well as raising the gas taxes, never of them are particularly compelling which is why I am thinking about voting for Bush, as at least his perogatives aren't a mystery to me whether I agree with him or not while Kerry's are just plain out unclear.

[ragnarok2040]

I can think of nothing on which Bush (I refuse to use the title, President, any longer) has had a positive effect.

-We've got national debt for years to come (I'll be almost 40 by the time they're paid off if the guesstimates are anywhere near accurate).

-There's a war on a generic enemy, terrorists. I mean, there's no definate number of them, and they increase their numbers the more hated we are.

-There's a bill to enact the draft currently under consideration, this will force people to go to war, even if more than half of America now thinks this war was unreasonable.

-Bush is planning on a massive reorganization of our troops in the world, moving somewhere around 150,00, I believe. Won't pulling out our troops from other countries lead those countries to become breeding grounds for terrorists, and, if not, subject to attack without our protection.

-In a book, I forgot the title, but the author was on the Daily Show discussing the ties between Bush and the Saudis. He said that Bush and the leader of the oil production in Saudi Arabia planned a hike on oil prices and then Bush would use his ties to lower them right before the election. I think this is what currently is happening, with oil prices now at 46 usd a barrel, and it being 2-1/2 months before the election.

-It used to be un-American to criticize Bush, his administration, or his policies during post-9/11. I think this was an effect of the situation, but I also think Bush/his administration encouraged this by spreading those kind of slogans around.

-Oh yeah, his war on corporate corruption just plain stopped, he didn't change anything at all, from what I can tell, and hasn't set a finger to help the economy, or find a way to increase permanent jobs. All of the current increases were in retail/dining/etc., not in manufacturing where it's needed.

That's all I can really think of now, heh. Sorry for the rant, :S. Oh yeah, good things... he umm united the world agaisnt us?

law56ker, Clinton's intelligence people did give the information about the 9/11 plannings to Bush's intelligence people. Bush's administration dismissed the terrorist threat to be minor and ignored the signs, instead they planned on finding a way to get rid of Saddam in Iraq.

Oh give me a break why whould clintion give bush info on a so called terriost network, if so they should have acted on it themselves PLEASE, all those attacks on us ebassies, the us cole and that was all breeding when clinton was president.

"The Clinton team may have dithered over plans to kidnap (or kill) Osama bin Laden in 1998 and '99, but they did manage to mobilize the government at every level to deal with al Qaeda's Millennium Plot. The Clinton administration gathered a small crisis group at the White House that made sure every agency worked to thwart al Qaeda's planned terrorist attack. The Bush team, in contrast, didn't get serious about bin Laden until those planes hit their targets."

From the review on the Book on Terror: The 9/11 Commision report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... Jul30.html

Also, Master Higgins, Kerry/Edwards' plans are clearly defined in their book, here. I suggest right-clicking and saving it as a file, instead of opening it up. I think the website has been compromised. It modifed Firefox when I ran Adobe Acrobat inside of it. The paragraphs before the stars are the explanations of the problems/issues, what Bush tried/not tried to do to fix them. The stars are their solution to those problems.

As for gas taxes, right now, we're paying the most we've ever paid for gas, both at home and for the car. Under Clinton, it didn't get this bad, and it even reached 80 cents a gallon in '98 for gas, and for a few years we even got to skip a month on the bill, because of added heating credit.

[spiroth10]

ok here we go -- what he's done good.

1. hes man enough to fight the pure evil deamons that are terrorist. they are only pure evil. they have no good in them.
2. he saved the Iraqi people. he saved their lives from being terrorised and tortured by saddam
3. he tried to mend the economy. and yes, he was HELPING it. it was clintons fault the economy went bad. the thing is, his changs took this long to take effect. also, 9/11 crippled the economy also. neither of these had ANYTHING to do with bush. he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. youd all be angry if kerry was president at that time. these two things are what brought our economy down. but its almost back now, it IS regenerating. thanks to bush.

there is probably more Im missing here. dont bother "correcting" me with incorrect information. this is ALL 100% true.Im adding a pro-bush banner to my signature if I can find one.

please, dont listen to the news. the news is lies, and the reporters are liers with very good faces that lead you to believe things. I know a lot of you are druggies. ive seen tons of drug threads here. if you dont listen there, why listen here? seriously. you controdict yourself. I once heard someone say

"you listen to what society tells you" but lo and behold, THEY DO TOO. lol. Im a non-druggie and Im proud of that. Im also independent in my beliefs, and listen to no one else unless they can provide me with proof that CANNOT BE DISPROVED IN ANY WAY AT ALL. only if it cannot be disproved is it a fact. this is something Im very proud of.

we need an unbiased news station, and believe me, if I had the $$$ Id start one. regardless of legalities, any reporter with an opinion would be fired instantly. sorry, but its the only way to provide accurate news. I wish I had that much $$$. then amybe oyu people wouldnt get sucked in so easily.

[Storminator16]

I stopped reading this thread until your post. I actually came here to bash Bush, but let's just break down everything you said. I have time.

I can think of nothing on which Bush (I refuse to use the title, President, any longer) has had a positive effect.

First of all, he's still the President. No matter if you call him that or not.

-We've got national debt for years to come (I'll be almost 40 by the time they're paid off if the guesstimates are anywhere near accurate).

Boom. The deficit was there before him, and it will be there after. He hasn't helped it much with this war, but I can't say any President has ever helped the deficit much since World War II. My history is hazy before then

-There's a war on a generic enemy, terrorists. I mean, there's no definate number of them, and they increase their numbers the more hated we are.

I actually agree with this point. This is technically not a war, but we are wasting so much resources (money & lives) on something that is technically not a war.

-There's a bill to enact the draft currently under consideration, this will force people to go to war, even if more than half of America now thinks this war was unreasonable.

Don't let MTV scare you. The draft will never happen in your lifetime (well, maybe if aliens attack the Earth, but I digress). There would be so much backlash that another American Revolution may break out. I'd personally go to Washington to fight then because no one should be forced into doing something like taking up arms. Did this Washingon kooks learn anyhing from Vietnam? And they say the younger generation has a short attention span....

-Bush is planning on a massive reorganization of our troops in the world, moving somewhere around 150,00, I believe. Won't pulling out our troops from other countries lead those countries to become breeding grounds for terrorists, and, if not, subject to attack without our protection.

I haven't seen exactly what's going on, but if he's planning to move some troops out of South Korea, Japan, and Germany (we probably need to remove all ot them from there) then I'm all for it. South Korea & Japan won't become breeding grounds for terrorists, and the Cold War is over...we need to get the hell out of Germany. If they want to move troops to the Phillipines, Serbia, and Qatar then I'm all for it. One thing I caution is pulling troops from the DMZ in Korea.

-In a book, I forgot the title, but the author was on the Daily Show discussing the ties between Bush and the Saudis. He said that Bush and the leader of the oil production in Saudi Arabia planned a hike on oil prices and then Bush would use his ties to lower them right before the election. I think this is what currently is happening, with oil prices now at 46 usd a barrel, and it being 2-1/2 months before the election.

-It used to be un-American to criticize Bush, his administration, or his policies during post-9/11.

I've always had this one question burning in my brain: where did anyone get this from? I'm still searching for that answer. Did the left make this up? It was un-American to criticize the war, and very un-American to criticize the President's decisions when we just entered battle against Saddham. I guess some of you will never understand that when you do or say certain things at certain times against the government you are putting the troops on the ground in a very dangerous situation. Fueling the enemy is very un-American. Criticizing Bush before the war and now is no big deal, but back in March of 2003 everyone should have just hoped for the best.

-Oh yeah, his war on corporate corruption just plain stopped, he didn't change anything at all, from what I can tell, and hasn't set a finger to help the economy, or find a way to increase permanent jobs. All of the current increases were in retail/dining/etc., not in manufacturing where it's needed.

Business is even more corrupt. I honestly haven't seen too much of a difference. People have money will always want more money. Thank you, FDA and all you punk insurance companies.

That's all I can really think of now, heh. Sorry for the rant, :S. Oh yeah, good things... he umm united the world agaisnt us?

Let's set the record straight: they always hated us. 'Course, while all the slayings are going on in Africa still they concentrate on what we are doing instead of what they can do to stop the slayings in Burgundi. Watch the news, folks.

law56ker, Clinton's intelligence people did give the information about the 9/11 plannings to Bush's intelligence people. Bush's administration dismissed the terrorist threat to be minor and ignored the signs, instead they planned on finding a way to get rid of Saddam in Iraq.

When you put it this way, Clinton's administration dismissed the signs too. After all, the CIA still should have been re-structured a long time ago.

Also, don't blame what a group of fanatical people did that day to what Bush administration should have done. People are people, and if hate infests itself like that then there isn't anything anyone could do. Scary, indeed.

[burnerO]

We all hear how bad Bush is, how he's screwed the environment, participated in illegal wars, how he's an idiot, etc.

But half of America supports him. Why? What has he done that is good? Can anybody out there tell me a few things that he has done that is good for the US or the world, things that aren't debatable (like whether going into Iraq was good or bad)? Watching this JibJab Flash movie it appears he gave tax breaks, but that's about it...

What did clinton due besides leave right when the economy was going bad and he let the 9'11 plannings happen.

Apparently the strongest defense conservatives have is the diversion of attention to other topics. As a fanboy, this was actually your opportunity to speak of how great Bush was... but you blew it.

Feel free to correct me if I'm missing the part where he asked about Clinton.

[ragnarok2040]

Nah, Clinton assigned a special task force to specifically deal with Al Qaeda/terrorism/Osama that worked with other special agencies thereby uniting the intelligence reports.

And the person you're rolling your eyes at, whether or not she appears on the Daily Show or not, still has a respectable reputation in the political field and she did do her research, otherwise her book wouldn't be sold as non-fiction...

As for the restructuring of the troops, I think that's actually a good thing, lol. Take troops out of where they're not needed and put them where they are. Unfortunately, according to this article, he's planning on moving the majority from bases inside the US.

http://www.profindpages.com/news/2004/08/15/MN288.htm

[Storminator16]

This is from the article:

The moving of troops, the most comprehensive in years, should be seen more as a sign of desperation by Bush and not some plan to "reshape" the military for the new century! This continuing concentration of military in the Middle East is leaving the US more at risk at home from a major attack. America should remember that there are many other potential dangers in the world other than Iraq and Al-Qaeda and if it leaves its defences bare, it may get to find out who the "others" are!

This guy doesn't have a clue. The only potential threats out there is North Korea and Iran. Boom, we are already in South Korea. Boom, we are already in the Middle East.

I wish some of our journalists will start noticing the slayings on the African continent instead of nit-picking everything that is done. The re-structuring of troops is a non-issue because Joe Blow will never understand no matter how many times you explain it to him (this guy does a poor job doing it because I'm 100% positive there is more to this re-structuring; i.e., making certain units more "light-weight" and such) so why go on about something in an article with a agenda.

Genocide is being conducted on the African continent, but does anyone care? Nope, let's dump on the American government some more as the rest of the world turns a blind eye too. Too much.

[Jeeba Jabba]

Don Rumsfeld and much of the Bush Administration are against a military draft.

This is also evident in Rummy's support of possibly withdrawing Army troops from Germany and back to the U.S. He believes in smaller numbers adapting to a foreign landscape, getting in and out quickly; hence he doesn't support large permanent bases (especially Germany.. the Warsaw pact went byebye long ago). This is why Rummy and Tommy Franks differed on military strategy in the invasion of Iraq.

[OneThirty8]

I can think of nothing on which Bush (I refuse to use the title, President, any longer) has had a positive effect.

-We've got national debt for years to come (I'll be almost 40 by the time they're paid off if the guesstimates are anywhere near accurate).

-There's a war on a generic enemy, terrorists. I mean, there's no definate number of them, and they increase their numbers the more hated we are.

-There's a bill to enact the draft currently under consideration, this will force people to go to war, even if more than half of America now thinks this war was unreasonable.

-Bush is planning on a massive reorganization of our troops in the world, moving somewhere around 150,00, I believe. Won't pulling out our troops from other countries lead those countries to become breeding grounds for terrorists, and, if not, subject to attack without our protection.

-In a book, I forgot the title, but the author was on the Daily Show discussing the ties between Bush and the Saudis. He said that Bush and the leader of the oil production in Saudi Arabia planned a hike on oil prices and then Bush would use his ties to lower them right before the election. I think this is what currently is happening, with oil prices now at 46 usd a barrel, and it being 2-1/2 months before the election.

-It used to be un-American to criticize Bush, his administration, or his policies during post-9/11. I think this was an effect of the situation, but I also think Bush/his administration encouraged this by spreading those kind of slogans around.

-Oh yeah, his war on corporate corruption just plain stopped, he didn't change anything at all, from what I can tell, and hasn't set a finger to help the economy, or find a way to increase permanent jobs. All of the current increases were in retail/dining/etc., not in manufacturing where it's needed.

That's all I can really think of now, heh. Sorry for the rant, :S. Oh yeah, good things... he umm united the world agaisnt us?

law56ker, Clinton's intelligence people did give the information about the 9/11 plannings to Bush's intelligence people. Bush's administration dismissed the terrorist threat to be minor and ignored the signs, instead they planned on finding a way to get rid of Saddam in Iraq.

Oh give me a break why whould clintion give bush info on a so called terriost network, if so they should have acted on it themselves PLEASE, all those attacks on us ebassies, the us cole and that was all breeding when clinton was president.

Hmmm... perhaps Clinton knew stuff was brewing that was would have a catastrophic effect on the U.S., but since his term was over before there was a chance to act on the intelligence he had, he gave it to the new Administration and hoped that Bush would have the common sense to watch out for the attack.

And, as far as Clinton's acting against terrorism, I remember hearing about the Embassy bombings about the same time that I heard Clinton ordered cruise missile strikes against Bin Laden's interests in a couple of countries immediately thereafter. Bush didn't really go after Bin Laden for 2 months after 9/11, and he knew where he was hiding. And, since when is Al Quaeda a 'so-called' terrorist network? I call them a bona-fide terrorist network. They're obviously good at what they do, even if what they do is anything but good.

[farrell2k]

Bush did a great job in Iraq and a good job in Afghanistan. We know so much more about Alqaeda, have weakened them quite a bit, and now have much better cooperation and intelligence capabilities in the middle east.

I have always wondered: Clinton has said (many times) that Bush did the right thing by going into Iraq. Based on these statements, it is likely that if clinton was given the same info as Bush, he would have attacked Iraq as well. Would those of you who disagree with the Iraq war feel differently if it were being conducted by a President whom you consider to be "better"?

[SuperMegatron]

Bush did a great job in Iraq and a good job in Afghanistan. We know so much more about Alqaeda, have weakened them quite a bit, and now have much better cooperation and intelligence capabilities in the middle east.

I have always wondered: Clinton has said (many times) that Bush did the right thing by going into Iraq. Based on these statements, it is likely that if clinton was given the same info as Bush, he would have attacked Iraq as well. Would those of you who disagree with the Iraq war feel differently if it were being conducted by a President whom you consider to be "better"?

I think the main problem with the war was the exit plan I think most americans thought we would go there kick the ass off the Iraqis and capture Sadam then come home when they didnt happen we got upset. The resistance in Iraq has no chance of winning so they are taking a page out of the Vietnam book and they are playing politics kill enough Americans and get it on tape and the public opinion will end the war.Bush's big mistake was allowing the press into Iraq remove the press and you remove the power of the resistance.