It seems to me that if the American public elects a complete fuck up to office, and he completely fucks up, then we should be held accountable for electing said fuck up. A leopard can’t change his spots, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, etc.
Maybe that’s what bush meant.
Nitpick. The people who voted for him are held accountable.
/just wanted to make that clear
Counter Nitpick. I may not have voted for him, but when it comes time to clear up the mess, little good is done by pointing fingers at fellow citizens.
Also, the rest of the world is not very concerned with who voted for him or not; they’re more pissed off that America is apparently a bunch of moronic bullies.
Yes, I agree. The issue of accountability for mistakes made (intelligence, war planning etc) goes beyond Bush’s re-election. It is foolish to claim that because Bush was re-elected EVERY SINGLE ACTION he has ever taken in the four years has been vindicated. How is that a defensible position in a democracy? Even a substantial number of people who voted for him (and I’ve talked to a few myself) believe that there were some errors/mistakes made by the administration in selling and prosecuting the war. You will find some of these people on this board. Is their vote = Bush admin getting a carte blanche? No!
No one is asking Bush to resign but it is fair even for those who voted for him to expect him to look into the mistakes made. That’s what accountability means.
Sure it is. We need to point to the people that believed the lies and ate up the bullshit without asking questions. We need to point out that they need to educate themselves, and that we’re in this mess because of the them. Of course we need to find a nice way to do that so we don’t hurt their feelings.
A major reason that I’m annoyed at the people who voted for him.
On another note, I’m still upset over the outing of Valerie Plame (yes, that old pesky intelligence thing). If it is learned sometime during the next four years that Bush himself had anything to do with it, I do not expect his hiding behind the power of his office will get him out of trouble. I do not believe “I was reelected” would serve as a justifiable defense.
Eh, I’m sure they’ll come up with some spin that people will eat up like cupcakes.
Eh, I’m sure they’ll come up with some spin that people will eat up like cupcakes.
Accountability is for poor people.
I just thought I’d add this as a counter-argument to both Bush and Brutus.
Yes, yes, everyone agrees with Bush, that’s why he was elected. Oh, wait…
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/17/iraq.poll/index.html
Apparently they don’t.
And don’t you dare say that the opinions now don’t matter, because he was elected. “Ha ha, made you feel okay about me for a day, now everything is forgiven!” Bullshit.
Once again, this is the first issue that’s ever made me actually -mad- at the president before.
I agree with World Eater really. I certainly personally believe that there needs to be a helluva a lot of accountability for a war predicated on lies and/or other mistakes. People are dead, billions of dollars spent, international goodwill gone, the world more dangerous than before, U.S. military stretched so thin that there are murmerings of a draft all based on an exuberance for war, a bias in deciphering the intel and hubris beyond belief.
But the practical truth is that the election probably did nullify any amount of accountability we could expect. Simply put, who will hold the President, his administration or anyone else accountable? Who?
Congresscritters. True, a more craven band of whores can hardly be imagined, but nonetheless, it’s come to this. GeeDubya’s election is over, he is free to bask in his triumph. They are not, they start running for re-election five minutes after their opponent gives a concession speech. If supporting GeeDubya gets to be a political liability, they will display the behavior associated with rodents during a nautical crisis.
Even as we speak, GeeDubya’s Social Security “reform” shows signs of incipient train wreck. My two bits says he will find a way to push it to the back burner while declaring victory. The recent interview contains a droll sidebar, as the Prez tries to pretend he never even uttered the words “partial privitization”, as if such had never crossed his mind.
If it hobbles like a lame duck, quacks like a lame duck, it is a dead duck.
Nah, won’t happen.
Brutus is a glaring flaw in logic. Don’t feed him.
Don’t feed me?
And that makes the Baby James Madison weep.
Weep or move to Canada.
We really didn’t want to say anything, but you are starting to put on a little weight…
Freedom handles.
So I guess we’re done here, long story short.
If you voted for him, you’re accountable for his shenanigans.