Indeed. Not encouraging.
Dictionary.com defines danger as “exposure or vulnerability to harm or risk.” Bush’s incompetence has made us more vulnerable to harm or risk than his predecessor Clinton. Therefore the danger to the country has increased.
You can split hairs all you want. “The Hurricane did it, not Bush!” But what are you accomplishing by defending this man? With ANY other job in existence you’d be fired for not doing your duties. You probably wouldn’t even be allowed the dignity of handing in a resignation. You’d simply be fired. What makes the Presidency so special in this regard?
That would involve you being worth the effort of Pitting.
And why should I bother to defend Bush? You’ve made it clear that nothing I consider a selling point (cutting taxes, ending Kyoto, opening ANWR, rolling back environmental reductions, implementation of the Patriot Act, initiating the Iraq War) is anything you see as more than further proof that Bush is a monster unfit for entrance into civilization.
The rest of us have been able to keep our comments on an adult level, John. FTR, the first US troops in Vietnam, the most reasonable definition of who “led us into it”, were sent by Eisenhower. Yes, I know you want to blame a Democrat, especially a Kennedy (sheesh, talk about projection!), but the facts are the facts. Deal with 'em.
If you’d trust people who haven’t had one single significant success that you can point to, despite several posts in which you’ve had the opportunity, in the most critical danger we’ve ever been in, that is further evidence of your regard for partisanship above facts.
So what *is * your threshold? Is there any point at which you can no longer find a way to rationalize having voted to hire an incompetent?
Certainly those are all good, but that has much more to do with him being a Republican than being a proper president.
Who did he cut taxes for? Oh the rich, that’s good for the country why? As the deficit shoots up, is it still good?
Why was ending Kyoto good? Oh, you like the unrelenting burning of fossil fuels?
Why is opening ANWR good?
Why is destroying the clean water act good?
What is your support for all these Monsterous things?
I think you just proved the anti-Bush argument better than anyone else in the thread.
And what a ridiculous request it was. What a Bush supporter would take as fitness would be exactly the opposite of you, a Bush basher…and vice versa. What would be the point in listing such things out here? So you can go back and forth with a ‘He’s UNFIT!’, ‘NO HE’s NOT!!’, ‘Yes he is!’, blah blah blah?
Its on the OP and those who support that position to list out why Bush is unfit…and to this point all I see is partisan bullshit on that score. Who Bush appoints or doesn’t appoint to FEMA is slimy politics…not how fit or unfit his is to run the country. Presidents have appointed their friends and cronies to such positions as long as there have been presidents…as you well know. What else you got that clearly shows Bush is UNFIT to run the country? Proven mental disorder? Some emotional problem that makes him unstable and unfit? A physical disorder that makes him unfit? Some proven criminal activity?
-XT
Oh, wait, here’s your list of “successes”:
cutting taxes - and putting us into debt, beyond even Reagan’s level, and on the verge of bankruptcy
ending Kyoto - and further damaging the only planet we can live on
opening ANWR - hasn’t happened, but who cares about facts?
rolling back environmental reductions - for no identifiable gain
implementation of the Patriot Act - at the cost of the civil liberties so many have died for over two and a half centuries
initiating the Iraq War - which we may never be forgiven for, and for which the historical comparisons to Vietnam so obviously escape you.
Nope, there is no threshold for you, is there?
So you can’t do it either, huh?
Did you read the newsweek article?
How do you know? You didn’t even try. I think that cutting taxes and initiating the Iraq war have definitely made us less safe. The rest are debatable, but don’t illustrate one being unfit for office (and cutting taxes is only a mark against his fitness for his having pushed for further cuts while the country is at war, and forcing us to have to make choices between enhancing public safety or cutting taxes).
But you have to do more than just assert this. You have to prove it. Remember all the predictions right after 9/11 that we’d most likely have another similar attack within a few years? Well it didn’t happen. Seems like most people expected more danger than actually showed up. Prove that Bush isn’t the reason that a 2nd attack hasn’t taken place. (Good luck proving this negative, too).
Uhm, because the bosses actually have to think you deserve firing? Since the people are his boss, if you can show me a poll where the majority of voters think Bush should be impeached and removed from office you might have a case. Oh, and don’t give me approval/disapproval ratings. Surely you’re not going to argue that all presidents with low approval ratings shold be removed from office… are you?
Think man. James Lee Witt won bipartisan praise and support for his work at FEMA, even from W. He had demonstrated success and experience in a similar position prior to his appointment. You must be aware of this. How is it that you can characterize his appointment as “slimy”?
The OP DID posit a criterion regarding fitness - Bush’s horrible management of a national emergency. Your suggestion that I cannot acknowledge reasonable evidence of fitness or success is just a dodge. Knock it off and rely on some proof. At least try to do so before condemning your opponents.
Tell that to the people in Bali, in Madrid, in London. :rolleyes:
Uhm, isn’t it getting to that point? If you believe polls at all, that is.
So much for actually finding out if “the bosses think you deserve firing”. :rolleyes:
The president is now responsible for preventing attacks abroad? :rolleyes:
Uhm, no. And even if it is “getting to that point” (which it isn’t) that’s still different from acutally *being *at that point. But why wait, right? :rolleyes:
Yeah, we shouldn’t actually ask the exact question, because then you might not get the answer that you want. Better that we infer it indirectly so we can be sure of the outcome. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
The American People unfortunately have an unhealthy reverence for the office of Presidency making it nearly impossible for its occupants to be held accountable for their actions. Even Richard Nixon, an actual criminal, never served a single night in jail and still received a Presidential pension after he resigned. There is something seriously wrong a system that tolerates this much from its leaders.
Our system lacks a “vote of no confidence” so the only way to remove a grossly negligent chief executive would be to go to the extremes of making up “charges” that have no actual basis in law and removing him knowing that a decision to Convict by the Senate is nonreviewable by any court for its actual legality.
On another thread I engaged in a hypothetical situation where the President refused to lead after a catastrophe and chose to play Tetris all day instead. Well, that’s not too far from the truth. That is to say, Bush’s job perfomance in the several days following Katrina were pretty much indistinguishable from what his performance would be if all he did was play Tetris.
Impeachment seems to be out for now (unless Congress cares enough to investigate the Downing Street Memo and digs up the crimes Bush has likely committed), so what about a joint resolution by both houses of Congress asking him politely to resign?
Sure, the polls don’t currently show he should resign. A movement to unseat a President will probably never happen quickly. It’s people like me arguing on messageboards and blogs and writing letters to the editor that gets the ball rolling. I realize there’s a hopeless 25% of the population that would still support the President even if he strangled their own kids to death on national television while loudly confessing how much he likes to strangle kids to death, but we don’t need to win over everybody for the movement to suceed.
You’re the one who claimed there has been no second attack. Are you now claiming that AQ has taken no notice of our alliances, either?
So you won’t defend that claim, either. No surprise by now.
[qutoe]Yeah, we shouldn’t actually ask the exact question, because then you might not get the answer that you want. Better that we infer it indirectly so we can be sure of the outcome.
[/QUOTE]
Excluded middle. You refuse to consider any available evidence whatsoever, and *your * eyes are rolling?
You can do better than this. We’ve seen it many times.
He seems to think he is. From here
Emphasis added.
Why would I? For one thing, its not on me to prove he’s fit (something that is not prove-able) but for you and the others to prove in a meaningful, non-partisan way that is is unfit.
As for the rest, if I thought Bush was all that I’d have voted for him. Obviously I didn’t think he was fit to run the country when I did so. I just don’t see any real evidence that he IS unfit to run the country…at least, no more evidence than I had in 2004 when I voted for someone else.
Yes I did. I’ve also read numerous other sources on this. My conclusions are obviously different than your own. I don’t see anything even in the Newsweek article that clearly says he’s unfit though. Obviously YMMV.
I wasn’t making a one for one comparison Hentor. The fact that other presidents made good friend/crony selections (or even the odd selection for merit) in one position or another doesn’t mean that they are fit or unfit due to their choices. It doesn’t reflect on whether or not a president is either fit or unfit to continue to serve, except from a partisan position…IMHO. It just reflects on how our system works, and perhaps reflects on how wise and intelligent our leader of the moment is when he decides which friends or cronies to put where, what favors need to be answered. Want to call Bush stupid for his appointment? Fine by me. But it doesn’t make him unfit…not in any realistic way. It also isn’t going to fulfill the dream of Bush leaving office voluntarily in disgrace and humiliation.
I’m still unconvinced that it would be best for the country in any case…not when I think of all the negatives (downturn in the economy being the biggest one IMO, though what this would do to our foreign policy and whats going on in Iraq and Afghanistan comes in a close second). Bush may be doing a shitty job…but putting the US through another Nixioesque type situation today would be a lot worse.
SUre the OP did…and I said that from my perspective thats not a valid reason except for the clearly partisan. Surely you understand that the ‘horrible management of a national emergency’ meme breaks down along partisan lines as to who one feels is to blame. You’ve been in the threads and seen the polls after all, and seen the responses. So…thats not a good reason to hold up on high for why Bush is unfit. IMHO of course.
As for the rest, I didn’t suggest any such thing…what I suggested was that you attempt to insert some realism into why Bush is UNFIT for office thats non-partisan (and I even listed out some things that would be acceptable). Where you get your interperatations of what I’m saying is a mystery to me sometimes Hentor. Its like you are reading from a different script than what I’m writing, or maybe that you are attempting to channel what I REALLY mean or something.
-XT
The question of whether Bush is or is not a threat to the country has nothing to do with how we choose or should choose presidents.
I also remain unconvinced Bush was elected – in 2000 or in 2004.