# Do you believe that George Bush had the country's best interest at heart? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608 "2010-02-04T00:15:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/1 "2010-02-04T00:15:19Z")
Inspired by [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12073622&postcount=5) and [this article](http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/02...y6167520.shtml). So how about it? Do you think President George Bush was doing what he thought was best for his country, or was he motivated by something else? Was he motivated by strictly personal gain? Was he motivated by his religion, meaning what he did was to further his religion? Was he motivated by a desire to further the power of the skull and bones society? Maybe he wanted to promote Haliburton and Blackwater? What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/2 "2010-02-04T00:24:06Z")
I do believe he tried to do what he thought was right. The fact that my own ideas about what’s right tend not to follow along the same lines as George Bush’s don’t mean I think he was actively trying to harm the country. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/3 "2010-02-04T00:33:08Z")
George W. Bush was clearly a patsy who was being manipulated by his VP & staff all throughout his administration. He probably convinced himself that he always put the needs of the country first, but in reality, he was motivated primarily by religion, and engaged us in two Middle Eastern wars for the specific purpose of bringing about Armageddon and, by extension, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Remember, this is a man who, six months after 9/11, went on TV and said, "I don’t know where Osama bin Laden is…_and I don’t care!"_ Of course, for that, I blame the American people for electing him a second time, utterly ignoring his callous, blatant disregard for our safety & security. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/4 "2010-02-04T00:38:42Z")
I voted for the second one" He loved his country, but he was motivated by something else (personal gain, religion, etc…)" because I never could figure out what his motivation was, if he even had one. He always seemed disinterested in the job and clueless about the world both at home and abroad. I felt that he never had an honest opinion about anything. Anything he said was a talking point or just plain ole gibberish. Maybe his motivation was to prove himself by becoming president and he never considered that he would actually have to _be_ president. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Kapowzler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Super\_Kapowzler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Kapowzler)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/5 "2010-02-04T00:43:12Z")
Very tricky subject. I know for a FACT that I could have done a better job. I would think 99% of the members of this board would agree they themselves could have done a better job. GW is the DUFUS at the party whom everyone says “Who’s the dufus?” ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/6 "2010-02-04T00:51:34Z")
He loved his country and had no other _conscious_ motivations. But I figure he had enormous daddy issues. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/7 "2010-02-04T00:57:16Z")
I think he thought he was donig the right thing. I also think he was too stubborn to admit his personal thoughts were in error and went ahead and did what he wanted. Most of us do this on some level, it’s just that when you’re president, it effects everyone ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/8 "2010-02-04T01:02:16Z")
I chose the last option. There really needed to ba a **Skald** -style ‘none of the above’ choice though. As for the former President? I’m not sure whether Bush the Younger was trying to do his best for the country, or whether he was just out to get a cushy job for himself and his cronies, or even whether he was just a figurehead. But I have the strong impression that he was in over his head, and no matter what he was trying to do, it was rendered less effective because he couldn’t handle the job. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/9 "2010-02-04T01:02:39Z")
I voted for the second choice. I always felt that his first concern was for those of his social and economic class. The brush clearing, good ole country boy act was unconvincing (for me at least). I also felt the Iraq invasion was partially brought on by his desire to avenge/outdo his father regarding Saddam, much more than any stated desire to keep US citizens safe. It just took a little prodding from the (elite) neocons with thier own agenda. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/10 "2010-02-04T01:03:03Z")
The religion thing is the complication in voting. To him (IMO) promoting his faith and his country were the same thing. He thought that promoting his religion and moving toward a Cristian Nation was the best thing for the country. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/11 "2010-02-04T01:06:52Z")
I believe that he did what he thought was right. Unfortunately, he really wasn’t very bright or well-educated, so what he thought was right turned out to be a disaster. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/12 "2010-02-04T01:21:27Z")
I do think that he did what he thought was best for the country. When it all comes down to it, after all the extremely excessive politics, trading, and confusion, when you get into that Oval Office, I think that every President has felt that he honestly had to do what he thought was best, even if he felt that compromises had to be made and roundabout steps taken. I also think that he was dreadfully, dreadfully wrong, and i disagree mightily with the philosophies of those advising him. But that doesn’t affect my feeling that he acted in what he believed were the proper fashion for the welfare of the nation. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/13 "2010-02-04T01:23:01Z")
I voted #2, but I really think it was a mixture of #1 and #2. It seemed he had an axe to grind with Iraq of a more personal nature. It also seemed that many times he refused to budge from refutable and refuted position out of pride? hubris? I don’t know. He may well have thought he was doing right for his country and that was the only thing that mattered. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/14 "2010-02-04T01:39:16Z")
I think he did what was best for his nation-at heart he’s a good and well-meaning man. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/15 "2010-02-04T01:44:55Z")
I disagree with the premise of this poll in reference to the linked post. I, in particular, was looking for people on this board who thought that W _wanted the terrorists to win_. This poll captures a different sentiment, so cannot be used to rebut my assertion that there are very few posters here with that viewpoint. I _very_ much doubt that 25% of posters here, even the most liberal half of posters, think that W **wanted the terrorists to win**. Which makes this message board inherently more reasonable and logical than the 25% of republicans who think the same thing of Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/16 "2010-02-04T01:47:33Z")
He had very different ideas about what was right, and may have been manipulated by others… but I voted for the first option. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/17 "2010-02-04T01:52:56Z")
I’m a registered Republican, but I despised Bush for the extraordinarily bad quality of his decision making. Without Iraq he might have been a middling President, but Iraq was a reality he created out of virtually whole cloth to squander hundreds of thousands of lives, destabilize the region, and create a mess so profound it boggles the imagination. The part that makes me despise him is that he bent every branch to breaking to achieve his end of invading Iraq. I could blame the paranoid Veep, the stumbling, arrogantly naive neo-cons, or certain advisors who were hell bent on destabilizing the region to protect Israel at all costs, but in the end Bush was “the decider” and the path of insanity he chose to follow will haunt the US for decades. If you spend the majority of your Presidency shitting over everything the US stands for only to say at the end “I thought it was in the best interests of the country” is pretty weak sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/18 "2010-02-04T02:11:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*He was motivated by something other than his country, and he never gave the US a second thought. \*\* I don’t believe that Bush and most of the rest of the Republican leadership care about the country at all. They are motivated by greed, or ideology, or religion, or are in favor of one small faction of the country; and they will happily see the country ruined to get their way. And they are actively hostile towards the regions of the country that don’t support them; I recall Cheney gloating over the “energy crisis” that Bush’s buddies in Enron manufactured for California. They simply don’t care about the country as a whole. As for “wanting the terrorists to win”; no, but I expect he’d have liked a few more spectacular successes on their part. That would have let him wave the bloody shirt for more support, and I don’t think the dead Americans would have troubled Bush in the slightest. Unless they were rich friends of his. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/19 "2010-02-04T02:14:29Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I figure he had enormous daddy issues. I think this comes closest so far. And the only metric he had was whether he could invade Iraq “better” than daddy did. Everything else was just small potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608/20 "2010-02-04T02:15:26Z")
Bush was a believer. he was a neo con who believed endless war would leave us on top some day. he believed the market is self regulating and should be left alone. he believed deficits do not matter. He thinks the wealthy should not have to pay much taxes. Corporations should pay none. He was wrong, but he believed it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-that-george-bush-had-the-countrys-best-interest-at-heart/527608.md?page=2)