Can someone tell me one thing Bush has done that has benefitted the majority of American citizens? And please don’t say his deficit-increasing tax cuts.
That depends, are you going to listen seriously?
He beat AL Gore in the election of 2000. That certainly benefitted the majority of Americans.
Depends on what?
I’m looking for something he has done while in office. Besides the popular vote says you’re wrong.
What does the popular vote have to do with selecting the President?
And why not bring up the tax cut? It benefits a majority of Americans.
Popular vote is irrelevant in the particular constitutional system the United States has established to elect the chief executive.
It can certainly be argued that improving the morale of the military is a good thing.
Also arguable is that it’s a good thing that there’s a new executive department which includes both the BCIS and USCG, among others.
Well, there hasn’t been a major terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9/11. That’s a good thing.
The tax cuts are definitely a good thing.
The Taliban are no more. al-Qaida has no ‘safe haven’ to train and plan from. That’s a very good thing for the American people.
Iraq is free. That’s a VERY good thing.
Syria, Iran, Libya, and other countries are cooperating with the U.S. in new and important ways. That’s a good thing.
The chance for peace in the Middle East is higher now than it’s been for a decade. Just this morning, the Israeli Cabinet approved the Bush ‘road map’ towards peace. I’ve noticed that when Democratic presidents get involved in the Palestinian/Arab conflict, they get lauded and have Nobel prizes thrown at them. When Republicans do it, they’re meddlers or up to something sinister.
NASA is being reformed (and before Columbia). Funds are being diverted away from wasteful pork programs and towards new propulsion technologies and other projects which are much smarter. NASA is getting a big boost in funding. All of this is at the direct behest of George Bush. That’s a good thing.
The ABM treaty is gone, and the U.S. is working towards missile defense. And far from causing a major rift between the U.S. and Russia, or sparking a new arms race, the world is in fact getting on board. Now Russia, Japan, Canada, Britain, Australia, South Korea, and a number of other countries are expressing an interest in working with the U.S. on a missile defense program. That is a very good thing.
And, let’s remember - George Bush has only been in office for a couple of years. He’s only half way through his first term.
Bush has accomplished more in his first two years than any president in my memory. Including Reagan or Clinton.
The tax cuts are a good thing? So huge deficits benefit most Americans? States are cutting back on all kinds of services and that is good?
The last I read the Taliban are regrouping. Al Queda has been credited with the latest bombings in SA in which Americans were targeted. The Bush administration says that new attacks are a matter of when not if. Bin Laden is quite possibly still in charge.
Iraq is free? Free to follow American policy perhaps.
So… Bush was in office at the time a horrific terror attack took place, but he should be commended because it hasn’t happened a second time?
Not to say I think it’s Bush’s fault 9/11 happened. Nor do I think it’s because of him that we haven’t seen another similar attack. I find it difficult to justify assigning blame/responsibility to him either way.
In the short term, for certain individual Americans. Someone’s going to have to pay for all of this someday.
I’d also take issue with most of the rest of it, but I’m not sure I can. After all, Fox News wouldn’t report it if it wasn’t true.
Please cite where he claimed the popular vote had anything to do with selecting the president.
BTW, my response was to the quote “That certainly benefitted the majority of Americans.” Assuming that one is assumed to vote for the candidate that one believes will provide the most benefit, what was the purpose of JM’s comment?
Somehow, I don’t get the sense you’re prepared to listen seriously, and that any positive statement about the Bush administration will be similarly dismissed.
So, what’s the Debate, here?
In other words, unless I agree with everything you have to say, I can’t be serious?
Is this a debate or a lecture?
If you’re determined to disagree with everything the respondants have to say, then I’d guess that you’re not serious.
I don’t think it’s a debate or a lecture. Actually, it strikes me as a form of masturbation in which you invite others to challenge you just so you can get the self-gratification of shooting them down (not that I’m admitting your counter-arguments have any merit, by the way).
CBEscapee - He likes to party? Gives hope to people in their 20s and early 30s who haven’t figured out what they want to do with their lives?
Seriously, if you are looking for a new perspective on Bush, I suggest that you figure out which three Bush ideas you like the least, and then do a great deal of serious research on those things to find out exactly what the facts are. This may not change your opinion, and you mind find cases (tax plan) where knowing the facts only makes the issues more difficult to understand, but at least you’ll have a more complex view of the current preseident.
I’m not sure you can find that one good thing you seek, but I suspect that you would learn that at least one of your opinions about Bush is based on a skewed view of the facts.
My comment was in line with the sense of the OP. Yet one more Bush bashing thread. If it’s a question that can be answered, there is a GQ forum for that. If it’s a debate, well, I think we have enough of these going already. But, hey, that’s not my call. Go ahead and post away if it makes your feel better.
OK, I’ll step up. My credentials as to my regard for…him…are pretty clear.
I think the publicity and attention created by his mention of hydrogen power is a Good Thing. I further think that the attention he focused on the misery and horror that AIDS has brought to Africa is equally well-intentioned, however feeble the actual effort may prove to be.
There. That’s two. Now you’ll have to excuse me, I have to go make the Yawn that Splashes.
al Qaeda, if they are smart, would wait for the US and Israel to destabilize themselves. Thank goodness they aren’t.