# Hate Bush? Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 31, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138 "2004-10-31T06:15:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/21 "2004-10-31T18:57:50Z")
Per my personal (and one of a handful of holdovers from my religious days) definition of hate, I do not hate the man, and it is for the best that I don’t, because wishing evil on that sort of high-ranking official is not the sort of thing you want to be caught doing. I think he has made poor choice after poor choice and pandered to the wrong individuals. I think the transparency of his administration is excruciatingly ugly, but more even than that I think he was vastly unprepared for what happened in his presidency, and he reacted extremely poorly to what was sprung upon him. His priorities were set in an irresponsible manner and his administration was, in my opinion, unable to weasel its way out of the situation it created into one where there was at least an appearance of having things under control and being dealt with in a logical, reasonable fashion. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/22 "2004-10-31T19:04:06Z")
> [@Johnny Bravo](#): > > I don’t hate him. I do hate what he’s done to this country and its world standing. Exactly. > [@](#): > > I imagine you’ll find the bulk of liberals feel the same way. Though I’m sure it’s nice to _think_ that the other side hates your guy. Exactly right again! It’s very easy for both sides, but the Republican side particularly to rationalize our distaste for the man’s politics and what we as “dissenters” feel he has done to our country in the last 4 years by using emotionally charged terms like “hate”. I don’t hate him. I don’t like him. I don’t like what he’s done to and for America since his election. I don’t like how he’s treated certain groups of American citizens and other peoples abroad. I don’t like the idea of him using the constitution as a weapon of hatred. I don’t give a fuck about Bush “the man”, only Bush “the leader”, and he’s not lived up to my standards of a leader. Sam ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/23 "2004-10-31T19:27:16Z")
I disagree with the majority of Bush’s policies, but I don’t hate him for them. I have contempt for Bush because of his sleezy politics and electioneering, but I don’t hate him for that. I’m afraid of Bush because of his clear disregard for my rights and freedoms, but I don’t hate him for that. I hate him for one reason: his attempt to amend the Constitution to disenfranchise gays. I hate Bush because he hates me. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/24 "2004-10-31T19:28:46Z")
I try to avoid saying I hate people. It’s just not very nice But I strongly \* dislike\* Bush. 1. He lies without compunction. When he’s not lying, he plays dumb. Both things infuriate me. 2. He doesn’t know what the word accountability means. 3. He epitomes hypocrisy. 4. He panders to bigots and religious fundamentalists. He wears his religion on his sleeve, talks about how much he prays and reads the Bible, and basically uses God as a political poker chip. 5. He preys on people’s fear of terrorism. 6. He exploits 9/11. 7. He is an idiot and doesn’t know he’s an idiot. 8. He does not know how to handle criticism. He does not tolerate dissent in his midst. 9. He has insulted the intelligence of the American people by pretending everything is in black and white. 10. He has an evil smirk. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/25 "2004-10-31T19:49:02Z")
I don’t have much to add to the above except to toss in the Valerie Plame affair; someone should have been marched out of the West Wing in leg irons over that one, and Bush and co. have made it clear that they’re not interested in finding out who leaked it. I wouldn’t say that I hate the man personally. On the contrary, I wish him a very pleasant retirement. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/26 "2004-10-31T20:01:10Z")
To me, “Hate” as a word and feeling should be reserved for those mothers who have lost children due to Bush’s unnecessary war, or other loved ones. I may _say_ occasionally that “I hate Bush” but it’s not meaningful because he hasn’t (yet) killed anyone I love, so I try to stop myself from using the word. I’ll get back to you if my nephew gets sent to Iraq and dies there. I prefer “loath” as in deep, scornful derision, as opposed to anything violent or harmful fo my own psyche. Violence is not part of my being, and I wouldn’t allow my own psyche to get bent out of shape. I loathe Bush for very single reason that everyone else has mentioned, plus the fact that his ardent supporters either don’t realize any or most of them (which makes them ignorant), don’t care about any or most of them (which makes them stupid), or actively support any or all of them (which makes them evil). And they’re the ones who’ll put him back in the WH for another 4 years if he wins on Tuesday. Right now, they’re the ones I loathe most. Come Wednesday, if Bush wins, I’ll continue loathing them, only more so. If Kerry wins, I’ll forgive the ignorant ones. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/27 "2004-10-31T20:01:44Z")
> [@Elysian](#): > > I hate him because his personal beliefs are more important than the beliefs of the rest of the country. > > I hate him because he calls justices “activists.” > > I hate him because he doesn’t like people questioning him, interrupting him, disagreeing with him, or not believing him. > > I hate him because he brings God into the national debate. > > I hate him because he’s in the pocket of big industry. > > I hate him because people who don’t know any better are stubbornly clinging to him. > > I hate him because he has divided this country. While I don’t hate him, these are the reasons that I strongly dislike him. I’ll also add a personal one - in the wake of a tragedy where the city I lived was ravaged, and I personally lost two friends out of the thousands of friends and loved ones that everyone else lost, he used it to get ahead, prey on fears and advance his political goals. I lost all respect for him after that (and I did have some respect for him after 9/11 - perhaps it was due to the constant daze that I walked around in), and I will never get it back. Ava ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/28 "2004-10-31T21:35:20Z")
Ditto on all the reasons outlined above for my primary emotions regarding Bush: Disgust and contempt. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/29 "2004-10-31T21:39:40Z")
> [@ShockingAlberto](#): > > Everything said above **plus** the fact that me and my entire family were put on the “cavity search” list thanks to his airline reforms because I participated in a Livejournal _thing._ The airline watchlist people read LJ? Seriously? If you don’t mind elaborating, was this _thing_ an “advocating killing of the president and violent revolution” _thing_, or just an ordinary anti-Bush _thing_? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/30 "2004-10-31T21:45:55Z")
I dislike Bush because he’s surrounded himself with his father’s cronies, who in turn, have used the White House to continually feather the Bush family’s nest, both politically and (probably) financially. I also dislike Bush because he’s too willing to pander to the right on the issue of stem-cell research, while depriving millions of desperately ill Americans of a potential tool to help them recover. He claims to respect life, yet is happy to let these people suffer. I dislike Bush because of his willingness to send hundreds of thousands of American servicemembers off to a war whose justification was (and is) predicated on a lie. This goes hand-in-hand with paragraph #1, BTW. Finally, I dislike Bush because of his disrespect for our basic civil liberties. The USA-PATRIOT act has done nothing to strengthen America; if anything, it’s instilled a culture of fear and suspicion. I don’t like being afraid. And, for these and many of the reasons already given, I am casting my vote for John Kerry on Tuesday. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/31 "2004-10-31T21:53:58Z")
Yes, I hate him. I tend to hate people who order people to go kill other people for reasons which are specious (at best) or downright lies at worst. Bush cuts taxes for the rich? Disagree, but I don’t hate him for it; it’s his view. Bush supports reducing civil liberties in the name of Homeland Security? _Strongly_ disagree, and this alone is enough to make him lose my vote, but I don’t hate him for it; it’s his view. Bush is anti-gay marriage, anti-stem cell research, anti-everything else that violates a fundamentalist Christian standpoint? Very strongly disagree, and he loses my respect as a person for trying to make his own views into law, but I don’t hate him for it; it’s his view. Killing people for no reason? Eeeeeyup, that’ll about do it. Put a couple notches onto the ol’ hate-o-meter, that one will. Seems to me there was another guy, can’t recall the name but he was on the news a lot about three years back, that I hated for about the same reason. Attacked a country whose people had done nothing to deserve it, killed a few thousand, and tried to apply a self-righteous twist to the whole affair to make it seem like the other side was “the bad guys”. 'Course the difference was that the country that guy attacked actually did, by their own admission, possess WMD…but that still didn’t make it right. Anybody else remember this guy? You’d be amazed how many more people agreed with me about hating him than Bush. Difference of about 50% of the nation, I think. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/32 "2004-10-31T22:11:32Z")
> [@you with the face](#): > > ``` > - He came out against Affirmative Action despite the fact that he benefited from AA for rich, white males at least three times. 1) Yale, 2) Harvard law, and 3) Air National Guard. > > ``` Not Harvard _Law_, Harvard Business School. It’s much easier to get in to. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/33 "2004-10-31T22:19:52Z")
I don’t generally hate people, but I echo what’s already been expressed here about his policies, his short-sightedness, and his apparent belief that his work is ordained from above. ---
**Author:** ![ShockingAlberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@ShockingAlberto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShockingAlberto)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/34 "2004-10-31T22:29:37Z")
> [@Already in Use](#): > > The airline watchlist people read LJ? Seriously? If you don’t mind elaborating, was this _thing_ an “advocating killing of the president and violent revolution” _thing_, or just an ordinary anti-Bush _thing_? To be fair to Bush (words I never thought I’d type out), someone there made a joke about killing Bush. The problem was, I commented on the same page as the comment that made that joke, despite my comment being on recommending a movie or something like that. So all of us were put on the watchlist because, well, we all use our real names on LJ. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/35 "2004-10-31T22:41:36Z")
Oh yeah, and his mouth is bigger than his brain (and, it would seem, his dick). > [@](#): > > [Bush promises to rid Cuba of ‘tyrant’ Castro](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1506&ncid=696&e=3&u=/afp/20041031/ts_alt_afp/us_vote_bush) > > MIAMI (AFP) - US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) vowed to “keep the pressure on” and **rid Cuba of Fidel Castro** (news - web sites), an appeal to the hard-line Cuban-Americans Bush counted on to win Florida and the White House. > > “I strongly believe the people of Cuba should be free from the tyrant,” Bush told a boisterous crowd of supporters here two days before the election, winning the rally’s loudest cheers and chants of “Viva Bush” – long live Bush. > … After Iraq, this should seriously worry people. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/36 "2004-10-31T22:43:07Z")
I don’t know if I hate him or not. I don’t know him personally, and I try to reserve hate for direct personal interactions. I do hate what he’s done to my country, for the many very good reasons above. On a personal reaction level, his delivery of the State of the Nation two years ago, pre-Iraq invasion, which featured him alternating between deeply concerned sincerity (when he was delivering a line) and smirking happy chimp face (when he was basking in the obligatory thunderous applause) made me want to punch him in the face. I’m sure that I wouldn’t – I’m not really a violent guy – but I can no longer listen to him talk or watch him speak, as it turns my stomach. I can recall yelling at the television “Do you not realize people are watching, you stupid fuck? Do you think they won’t notice that your sincerity is an act?” Judging from the number of staunch defenders he still has, apparently not enough people were watching. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/37 "2004-10-31T22:48:36Z")
I don’t hate the guy. I don’t want to kill him or anything. I’m just disgusted by him; he’s repulsive. I know there have been lots of leaders like him before, but I’ve never really seen one in action. I think the word you’re looking for, besides hate is _fear_. He is the leader of the greatest military power the world has ever know, and he thinks _God wanted him to lead_. I think the results of this this belief rather speak for themselves. He has said on record that his “faith” gives him the resolve to stay the course with his heinously-conceived and waged “War on Terror”, and if that shouldn’t put a chill in the blood of any rational being with a brain in its skull, I don’t know what should. It’s NOT hate. It’s a range of emotions from distrust to abject terror, depending on the day and what’s coming out of his mouth. The man is not just unfit; he’s mortally dangerous, to many American lives possibly, but most certainly innocent lives in the Muslim world. Bush, so far as I can tell, is the hater, and his bigoted Christian fundamentalism has led him to attempt to encode hate into our national Constitution, as well as project that hate in so careless and reckless a way that it has led directly to the loss of tens-of-thousands, perhaps hundreds-of-thousands of innocent lives. But despite my extremely strong negative assessment of Bush as a leader and as a man, I wouldn’t characterize my revulsion as hatred. I’ve no desire to see him unjustly punished, nor do I wish him to suffer physical harm of any kind. If I hated him, I’d wish for his assassination. I certainly don’t want that. I want him to be defeated in the election, prosecuted if sufficient evidence of his deception can be unearthed, and for him to eventually vanish like the nightmare he is. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/38 "2004-10-31T22:51:28Z")
> [@MrFantsyPants](#): > > Is 100,000 dead innocents a good enough reason? > > Given the right intent and planning, I may have supported a military campaign to get rid of Saddam, but the way this one has been executed has been criminally negligent at best, and I do believe this is because the message trickling down from the top is that innocent iraqis don’t matter. Heck, they didn’t even make the least effort to track iraqi casualties. And since when is destroying the remains of a burnt out vehicle more important than not killing the 20 innocent people surrounding it? 100,000 dead figure is bollocks. if it were that figure, there would have to be on average right after the invasion, 6000 dead every month. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/39 "2004-10-31T23:05:09Z")
I don’t hate Mr. Bush… although I am seriously vexed at some of his policies. -The proposed Constitutional Ammendment? Stupid. Divisive. Homophobic. The basest sort of pandering to the far religious right. Disgusting and unforgivably unfair to gays/lesbians. -The war in Iraq? VERY poorly managed (even if I was all for it in the beginning, it turns out to have been based on false premises [perhaps not Bush’s fault entirely]). I just don’t think that under his leadership the outcome will be anything other than an even greater catastrophe than we see now. I still believe that Iraq _can possibly_ be better off in 10 years, but only if we manage it better… Bush can’t do that, IMO. -The constant mouthing off about “homeland security” while virtually ignoring border security. Assinine and counter-productive. -Blocking stem cell research. Ignorance at its best. -many others… But what vexes me the most, as a person who has been a Republican ever since I came to my senses in my 20s, is that the day after tomorrow, much as I disagree with Democratic ideals and policies on the whole, I will go and cast my vote for John Kerry in the hopes that he can do a better job. At worst, he will be an improvement. I honestly wonder if I’ll feel dirty walking home from the voting booth. I’ve never voted for a Democrat before; what’s it like? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138/40 "2004-11-01T00:26:11Z")
> [@Ryan\_Liam](#): > > 100,000 dead figure is bollocks. if it were that figure, there would have to be on average right after the invasion, 6000 dead every month. It’s a difficult figure to calculate, especially when the military isn’t interested in keeping track, but it is the [most recent estimate](http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1230764.htm). > [@](#): > > Their study published in the British Lancet Medical Journal, has found that at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a result of the war, the majority of them women and children killed in air strikes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-bush-why/272138.md?page=3)