PRUDEN: Only 26 days left for Bush-bashing

The history books are being re-rewritten now --- for now and forever, whatever is bad is Bush's fault...

Thanks Mr. Pruden for yet another gem of an article. Ain't that just the truth, now? Bush bashing has become such a fine sport, from the college campus to the back-street grubby apartments where the bloggers spend all their time eating pizza (delivered) and high-fiving each other (sent digitally) that one wonders if these folks may need counseling to help decompress once the man leaves office. To counter the New York Times, heres the truth of what happened to our economy, as best as I can put it together, and from what little I know: 1. Democrats passed -yet another- minimum wage increase of which the final installment went into effect during the summer. Predictably, this caused many small businesses that employ minimum wage earners to cut back on overtime and staff. Possibly resulted in some higher prices. The democrats are guilty of passing legislation "without paying for it" which is their favorite attack on President Bush for his "No Child Left Behind Act." Arguably, education is much better in America, while the democrats have nothing to show for the minimum wage increase except that unemployment jumped over 6% after the final installment. As they said during the Great Depression... "Its a good job if you can get it." 2. Somebody, somewhere, was tinkering around with the oil market. The Saudi's say they didn't do it, "Big Oil" says they didn't do it. If they are telling us the truth, that only leaves the middlemen, the oil speculators. High gas prices, added to hurricane damage that put a dent in the supply chain (in some areas) was not _helpful_ to the economy, especially when people were busy trying to afford a house they couldn't afford to begin with. When people stop driving, they are not present at the store to spontaneously buy stuff they don't really need... and thats what the stores thrive on. So more and more people began falling behind on house payments.. which leads to.... (see post above)

(continued from my post below) 3. Carter (Democrat) built Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac somewhere in the mid to late 70's, and Bernie Frank and Christopher Dodd, along with Maxine Waters and a few others (all Democrats) pushed it with a socialist zeal during the Clinton administration, and then defended these programs from all regulation with an attitude that would have to be labeled as "vicious" during the Bush administration. Sadly for them we have CSPAN. They are all on tape for the historians to figure it out. Socialism always sounds great on paper, but in practice it leads to ruin. I wish Benjamin Franklin were alive to write one of those witty phrases for it, but there it is. "What goes up, must come down" and the big balloon the Democrats sent to the masses finally popped. The result is nothing short of ruin for many businesses. I hear some contractors in the housing business can't see business returning to normal until perhaps this time next year. 4. American Journalism, as we knew it, is largely dead. Liberal writers today certainly know how to write, and most of them much better than myself, but they have given up every shred of decency and integrity for the sake of pushing their own political party which makes them nothing less than sold-out partisans. Tax and spend Democrats would not be so likely to run amok, if they knew they stood a chance of actually being caught red-handed. With a partisan press to cover for them, they plunge forward even now. If they were worried about accountability, they wouldn't bailout the failed programs, they would shut them down.

The article about Bush was only in line with the previous eight years. One wonders if they have any brains left at the NYT's as it seems they sniff too much to be realistic. Add treason against the public in disclosing secret information to aid and abit an enemy that we are at war against. Who even reads what they say anymore?

Bush was and is a true loser. Just a opinion, like you and everyone else has.

Didn't Nixon once say after losing the governor's race for California, "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore."? The msm will figure out a way to continue the Bush bashing far into the future.

Dumbed down America, being numbed to the reality of politics and in the clouds over entitlements, cannot comprehend that their country is now at the doorstep of becoming a genuine third world country. The aching to be loved by other countries who hate our country as much as they love our country drives Americans to do what their hearts tell them is the right thing and the media with little exceptions promote decline in favor of raking in profit. Any semblance of a code of ethics in media, with few exceptions, has long disappeared. It is so amazing that in 21st century America, capitalist America the world leader and so-called superpower (a misnomer when use of the superpower cannot be because a president who uses it is a Hitler) in and of itself no longer exists. The clear lessons of failed socialist USSR have apparently only strengthened socialism in America as the real factor of economic strength, the American consumer, is made to cower as the latest indoctrination program by media leaves little to no hope that American capitalism will ever return to health.

Some remember how long after Reagan left office that Democrats blamed him for all things wrong. It showed how incredibly effective he had been in office. Certainly Bush will get blamed for all ills, much longer than 26 days. Democrats will try to inoculate Obama from any criticism by blaming all things wrong on Bush, for at least four years.

Bush did not give Africa billions of aid dollars, the taxpayer did. And to tell you the truth I voted for the man to run this country along with the Congress and not the world. As a taxpayer I am not in a good mood about how any Party spends my money. When will they start cutting government bulk? We do not need this much government at the national level. It is not according to the Constitution it's responsibility. You can not take the 14th Amendment and use it to rewrite the Constitution without destroying the rest of it. Judges that use it to enact all sorts of powers to Washington are doing just that. The further government gets away from the community, the further it responds to the needs of the community.

Bush has never been the "real thing".

Anything that the New York Times puts out these days needs to be verified against other sources. They've plumbed the depths of hack journalism. As for George Bush, I think that there are presidents that have done worse and others that have done better. Positives: 1. He kept the nation safe from terrorist attacks since 9/11. Under his predecessor, these were a regular occurrence that was never dealt or take seriously. Bush put a stop to that. 2. He moved SCOTUS closer to strict interpretation of the Constitution, at least checking the trend of judicial tyranny. 3. He arrested the increasing stream of regulations constricting the growth of businesses. 4. He's kept the federal government out of the abortion business. 5. He's protected the Second Amendment rights of Americans. Negatives: 1. He exploded the federal deficit by stubbornly holding onto tax cuts even when it became clear that the Iraq War was going to become a protracted affair, leaving future administrations and generations saddled with a crushing debt. 2. Regardless of how many feel about the Iraq War, the fact is that he led the nation into that war based in inaccurate intelligence, and, fiscally, that's proven to be a very costly event. 3. His hamhanded diplomacy with respect to NATO and Kosovo has alienated Russia, and turned a neutral player in world affairs into an adversary. 4. Although blame for the real estate meltdown can be reasonably assigned to liberal Democrats and RINOs, despite warnings from his Treasury Secretary, Mr. Snow, the President never seemed to grasp the latent dangers in the financial services sector, and never used the bully pulpit of the Presidency to do something about it until it was too late. That's going to be very costly for now and future generations of Americans.

wesley Pruden wrote: The point of the epic was clearly to portray George W. as the new Herbert Hoover, so that when recession becomes Depression (with the capital-D) not a single rabbit will be safe anywhere and everyone will remember who did it and - voila! - the Republicans will be shut out of the White House and control of the Congress for a generation, and maybe more. ******************************************** The Republican party is an avowed enemy of government not just "big government" but government period. When we elect people who have professed such hatred, should we expect them to govern? President Bush and the republican party were not good stewards of government,they failed to protect the nation from wallstreet greed, they weakened structures that protected the individual from government. Any party that has failed so miserably does not deserve another chance for three generations. I propose renaming the Reagan building in Washington, The Hoover Reagan Bush building to encapsulate all the republican failures.

Good Article. Out here in mid-america, the New York Times, Newsweek, and Time magazine are viewed as being worthless for news content, due to lack of integrity in their writing. Fortunately we have more reliable & accurate sources of news available today, almost anywhere one wishes to look. I predict the future of these publications is dim. Good riddance.

Mr. Sanford, (comment 1) With all due respect, you do not speak for mid America (nor do I). Not saying the publications you referred to have not had some issues with objectivity, but to suggest they are worthless of news content is flat out absurd. I suppose you find Fox "Fair and Balanced". My guess is you are one that frequently looks reality squarly in the face and claims...liberal bias. You know what the best defense is against being "Bashed"...Competence!

Maybe Bush should go be a President in Africa. He's not popular in America for a reason. And since 20 percent is less than the number of people who consider themselves conservatives, have you ever stopped to wonder why his popularity is in the 20s? It is amazing to me how anyone who considers himself to be a conservative can possibly defend George Bush. The money wasted was staggering before the bailouts -- including two wars. Now there are the bailouts that no one knows where the money went. And then to top it off there is spending on a bailout of Detroit that Congress never appropriated the money for. Talk about trashing the Constitution. Republicans don't deserve conservative votes at least while Rove, Gerson, and any of the Bushes are still influential. They have helped trash the GOP brand.