# Fred Barnes on "Bush's Achievements" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 14, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278 "2009-01-14T17:16:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/1 "2009-01-14T17:16:16Z")
[Here,](http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/986rockt.asp) at the [_Weekly Standard._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Standard) Barnes names 10 things: 1. “He stood athwart mounting global warming hysteria and yelled, ‘Stop!’ . . . Thanks in part to Bush, the supposed consensus of scientists on global warming has now collapsed.” 2. “Second, enhanced interrogation of terrorists.” 3. “Bush’s third achievement was the rebuilding of presidential authority, badly degraded in the era of Vietnam, Watergate, and Bill Clinton.” (See [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=455418) Of course, all that rebuilt authority passes into Obama’s hands, now. 😉 ) 4. “Achievement number four was Bush’s unswerving support for Israel.” (See [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501591)) 5. “His fifth success was No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the education reform bill cosponsored by America’s most prominent liberal Democratic senator Edward Kennedy.” 6. “Sixth, Bush declared in his second inaugural address in 2005 that American foreign policy (at least his) would henceforth focus on promoting democracy around the world.” 7. “The seventh achievement is the Medicare prescription drug benefit, enacted in 2003.” 8. “Then there were John Roberts and Sam Alito.” 9. " He strengthened relations with east Asian democracies (Japan, South Korea, Australia) without causing a rift with China." 10. “Finally, a no-brainer: the surge.” Thank you, [Mr. Barnes,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Barnes_(journalist)) for reminding us all once again that [neocons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservative) are presumptively wrong until proven right in any specific instance. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/2 "2009-01-14T17:17:56Z")
He forgot Poland. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/3 "2009-01-14T17:21:00Z")
Athwart? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/4 "2009-01-14T17:32:51Z")
I had an athwart one time. But the doctor lanthed it. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/5 "2009-01-14T17:48:31Z")
For those who don’t get the “stood athwart . . . yelled, ‘Stop!’” reference, it’s what William F. Buckley wrote when he launched the _National Review_ in 1955: > [@](#): > > Let’s Face it: Unlike Vienna, it seems altogether possible that did National Review not exist, no one would have invented it. The launching of a conservative weekly journal of opinion in a country widely assumed to be a bastion of conservatism at first glance looks like a work of supererogation, rather like publishing a royalist weekly within the walls of Buckingham Palace. It is not that of course; if National Review is superfluous, it is so for very different reasons: It stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no other is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it. (quotation grabbed from Wikipedia) It’s nice to see conservatives still carrying on that tradition of nauseating priggishness. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/6 "2009-01-14T17:49:56Z")
I knew Bill Buckley. I served with Bill Buckley. Mr. Barnes, you are no Bill Buckley. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/7 "2009-01-14T17:51:04Z")
#2 is interesting. I wonder what percent of the public are proud of torturing suspects? You can give torture a pretty name, and deny that you do it, but it’s still torture. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/8 "2009-01-14T17:53:02Z")
Reading over that list, and the article the list came from, I’m still having a hard time figuring out whether the author is being serious or not. Written by a Conservative, it could be taken at face value… but if it had been written by a Liberal, it could easily be viewed as satire. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/9 "2009-01-14T17:54:26Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I knew Bill Buckley. I served with Bill Buckley. Mr. Barnes, you are no Bill Buckley. I would be interested in hearing about this. I did a little reading on him after he died. He lived a remarkably interesting life. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/10 "2009-01-14T18:01:56Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 1. “Achievement number four was Bush’s unswerving support for Israel.” (See [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501591)) > > 2. “Sixth, Bush declared in his second inaugural address in 2005 that American foreign policy (at least his) would henceforth focus on promoting democracy around the world.” > > 3. “Then there were John Roberts and Sam Alito.” > > 4. " He strengthened relations with east Asian democracies (Japan, South Korea, Australia) without causing a rift with China." I don’t understand how the first three are even accomplishments. 4 is something that every American politician has to do, 6 is just saying something, and 8 is simply his Constitutional duty. And how is Australia an east Asian democracy? ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/11 "2009-01-14T18:12:07Z")
#3 is a positive achievement only to Nixonite power-worshipers. If there’s one thing we’ve got to do in America in the next few years, it’s scuttle the “Imperial Presidency”, castrate the Vice Presidency, and turn around the dangerous, unconstitutional, and undemocratic growth of executive power. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/12 "2009-01-14T18:15:00Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > 6 is just saying something . . . Well, according to Barnes: > [@](#): > > The new policy gave Bush credibility in pressing for democracy in the former Soviet republics and Middle East and in zinging various dictators and kleptocrats. Results of which have been a mixed bag, of course – most of the states in question remain dictatorships and/or kleptocracies, and yet well off compared to Iraq. > [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > . . . and 8 is simply his Constitutional duty. Yes, but again: > [@](#): > > In putting them on the Supreme Court and naming Roberts chief justice, Bush achieved what had eluded Richard Nixon, Reagan, and his own father. Roberts and Alito made the Court indisputably more conservative. And the good news is Roberts, 53, and Alito, 58, should be justices for decades to come. Too too twoo. ☹ > [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > And how is Australia an east Asian democracy? In regional terms, I suppose. But what I found most interesting is this: > [@](#): > > On top of that, he forged strong ties with India. An important factor was their common enemy, Islamic jihadists. After 9/11, Bush made the most of this, and Indian leaders were receptive. His state dinner for Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2006 was a lovefest. Great – except that Pakistan and India are always at loggerheads and we need **Pakistan** as an ally right now . . . so . . . ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/13 "2009-01-14T18:16:51Z")
And what planet is Barnes living on, that he thinks the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change has “collapsed”? 😕 (Expecting **brazil84** in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . .) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/14 "2009-01-14T18:29:10Z")
Fostering good relations with \*Australia \*is a Top 10 achievement? Over 8 years? This \*has \*to be satire. Are you \*sure \*there’s not an Onion masthead on it? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/15 "2009-01-14T18:36:08Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > I would be interested in hearing about this. I did a little reading on him after he died. He lived a remarkably interesting life. Whoa. It was just a political reference — when Bentsen debated Quayle. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/O-7gpgXNWYI/hqdefault.jpg "Lloyd Bentsen puts down Dan Quayle") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7gpgXNWYI) ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/16 "2009-01-14T18:40:11Z")
The first two made me a little sick, but the fifth one is flat out hilarious. Is there actually anyone who views NCLB as a success? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/17 "2009-01-14T18:40:34Z")
Okay, I can’t tell. Is that list supposed to be satire or real? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/18 "2009-01-14T18:48:39Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Okay, I can’t tell. Is that list supposed to be satire or real? Consider the [source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Barnes_(journalist)) and [venue.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weekly_Standard) ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/19 "2009-01-14T18:50:30Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Whoa. It was just a political reference — when Bentsen debated Quayle. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7gpgXNWYI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7gpgXNWYI) The “you are no Jack Kennedy” bit I got. But for whatever reason, I took you seriously when you said you knew Buckley instead of placing the quote. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278/20 "2009-01-14T19:07:26Z")
It’s perhaps unremarkable that the smirky Mr. Barnes failed to include Bush’s actual best achievement: his attention to Africa, particularly countries with AIDS epidemics. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-barnes-on-bushs-achievements/481278.md?page=2)