# Is it too soon to miss George W. Bush? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 18, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282 "2017-06-18T13:51:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/21 "2017-06-18T15:35:16Z")
Dubya was just mentally weak and lazy, and easily manipulable. The evil of his tenure came mainly from Cheney. The evil now comes from Trump himself, and his own weakness and laziness are therefore positive attributes. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/22 "2017-06-18T15:36:52Z")
trump makes “W” look like a candidate for Mt. Rushmore. I once said, of Rick Perry, that Texas only elected him to show the rest of the country that Bush wasn’t the dumbest guy they had. The entire country has become Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/23 "2017-06-18T15:52:05Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > As far what Trump’s (Bannon’s) actual ideas are, Trump is far worse than Bush. As far as actual shit effect on the world as a president, Trump isn’t and won’t be, because he won’t actually get any of his (Bannon’s) plans accomplished. There is just too much division of power. The GOP establishment fights the tea party for dominance, and the Dems are fighting them all. And with Trump going it alone and balancing the other sides with the grace of a drunk Brontosaur on ice, nothing as bad will probably happen. Here’s a bad scenario: I simply don’t have much faith in the left’s energy to continue the protests they’ve accomplished so far. If Trump leaves office, I think the left will declare victory and go home. Leaving a more insidious evil in the WH to push forward ‘more reasonable evil’ Trump is a clown. It’s easy to protest an immature clown. Pence will appear reasonable by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/24 "2017-06-18T16:59:50Z")
> [@Bruiser1036](#): > > You really believe he was worse than James Buchanan, who sat back and did nothing while his country was gearing up for _civil war_ with each other, and in fact took actions to exacerbate the South’s abrasiveness? You think he was worse than Herbert Hoover, who enacted ruinous tax increases on the American people that made the Great Depression three times as worse, and raised unemployment to a whopping 25 percent?! Well, in Bush’s defense as worst president, he both got us involved in a war (nothing like the Civil War, of course, but much more useless) and crashed the economy. If we hadn’t had things like unemployment insurance and an FDIC, we may well have had a recession that rivaled the Great Depression. So, he’s not quite as bad as Buchanan for war making and not quite as bad as Hoover for economy destroying, but doing both together? That’s some bad presidenting. Better than Trump, of course. I can’t stand that asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/25 "2017-06-18T17:02:14Z")
It’s not logically impossible that Trump is worse than W. _Someone_ has to be the worst President ever. In fact, even if it were mere randomness Trump would have around a 2% chance to be the worst President yet. If this is the case, then it is also logical to wish that W were still President, _even if_ he was the worst President up until this time (a proposition which I do not wholeheartedly agree with, although he might or might not make my Bottom 5 if I cared enough about such lists to write one.) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/26 "2017-06-18T17:05:29Z")
I’ll add that I do think that 45 is the most incompetent, least-qualified President ever. It remains to be seen if his venality and blundering will do as much damage to America as the various recreational wars and ethnic oppressions visited upon us by previous presidents. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/27 "2017-06-18T17:05:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Took Trump less than 100 days to bump W out of the #1 spot for worst president ever. Trump is the absolute best president we’ve had, better than any other… at bumping previous #1 worst presidents out of their spots! No one bumps previous #1 worst presidents out of their spots better than he does. Anyway, the nostalgia for Bush is entirely relative. None of these folks waxing nostalgic would prefer Bush over Hillary. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/28 "2017-06-18T17:28:02Z")
Forget Bush. The president I’m nostalgic for is William Henry Harrison. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/29 "2017-06-18T18:03:27Z")
> [@Bruiser1036](#): > > And Trump isn’t the worst president ever, he’ll definitely be a great president. This is a whoosh, right? Trump is an incompetent fuckstick who actively hates America. And the fact that he’s incompetent is his GOOD point. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/30 "2017-06-18T18:22:06Z")
Bush killed a million people…but this ‘worst president stuff’? If Bush is the worst president ever then what does that say for the Dems that he got reelected? The Dems couldn’t defeat the two worst Presidents ever. One of which is a reality show clown. May as well be the Green Party. Screw the Dems. Screw the Pubes and yes…popular election blah blah blah ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/31 "2017-06-18T18:26:48Z")
Trump hasn’t (yet) done anything to compare to the invasion of Iraq, so I’d say it is indeed too soon. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/32 "2017-06-18T18:27:52Z")
That they were ineffective at combatting that weird “Swift-Boat” campaign against Kerry, not able to believe that America would be dumb enough to fall for it? Re: Bush the Lesser, I still think this is the best thing The Onion ever published: > **[Bush Tumbles Wildly Down Washington Monument Staircase](https://www.theonion.com/bush-tumbles-wildly-down-washington-monument-staircase-1819570348)** > > WASHINGTON—President George W. Bush sustained 24 broken bones, massive internal hemorrhaging, and a severe concussion Monday after falling down the entire staircase of the 555-foot-tall Washington Monument. According to White House press secretary... ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/33 "2017-06-18T18:41:43Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > That they were ineffective at combatting that weird “Swift-Boat” campaign against Kerry, not able to believe that America would be dumb enough to fall for it? > > Re: Bush the Lesser, I still think this is the best thing The Onion ever published: > > [Bush Tumbles Wildly Down Washington Monument Staircase](http://www.theonion.com/article/bush-tumbles-wildly-down-washington-monument-stair-6450) Well, they ran the ultracharismatic Kerry to start with, And their last unelected Dems were the turnips Gore and Mondale. (Actually I like Al Gore.) But yes, remember the days when something like ‘swift-boat’ or just going WHOOOOOOoooooo was a scandal big enough to derail an election? You know, if we took out the Iraq invasion, I might actually LIKE Bush Jr. Dude had a grenade thrown at him, dodged two shoes and threw a strike from the mound at Yankee stadium. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/34 "2017-06-18T19:17:46Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Well, they ran the ultracharismatic Kerry to start with, And their last unelected Dems were the turnips Gore and Mondale. (Actually I like Al Gore.) > > But yes, remember the days when something like ‘swift-boat’ or just going WHOOOOOOoooooo was a scandal big enough to derail an election? And once the Republicans are out of power, they will deem such trivial nothings important again. Republican behaviour during the Trumpocalypse will be forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/35 "2017-06-18T20:15:02Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Libya also says ‘hi’ You mean that place where we ran air interference with broad international support, achieved our clearly defined goals with no casualties, and left? Despite the tragic and messy aftermath, that’s like the anti-Iraq. > [@](#): > > I don’t see it happening. Bush and Obama have pretty much got rid of the boogie-men haven’t they? I mean who is next down the pecking order? Seriously. Well, there’s the place we’ve been hitting with airstrikes to be worried about… And I don’t know why you think Iran is beyond the pale. It’s _incredibly stupid_, yes, but incredibly stupid has been kind of a continuous through-line of every single decision in this administration thus far, so it really wouldn’t surprise me. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Bush killed a million people…but this ‘worst president stuff’? If Bush is the worst president ever then what does that say for the Dems that he got reelected? That half of the electorate shouldn’t be trusted with motor vehicles, access to voting booths, or indeed anything sharper than safety scissors, because they have the collective IQ of a baked potato. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/36 "2017-06-18T20:31:48Z")
Bush’s great failing was that he was an easily-manipulated idiot. I really do think that he was a good man, but he allowed himself to be manipulated by those who were not. Is that what I want in a President? Of course not. But a good idiot is far preferable to an evil idiot. Now, someone like Kasich, I still probably wouldn’t vote for him in the general election, but I’d have felt a heck of a lot better about losing if it’d been him who won. If nothing else, he’d stand an excellent chance of bringing politics back to this country, which we dearly need. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/37 "2017-06-18T20:35:30Z")
The Epic Hindsight Laugh about the Bush Administration was the fact that Dick Cheney’s “Undisclosed Secure Location” (or whatever he called it) turned out to be a room in his basement. Yup, fucker hid throughout the Bush presidency for ‘security reasons’ and it turned out that he was hiding in his own basement. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/38 "2017-06-18T20:35:34Z")
Libya the cluster fuck which has become ISIS central and whose arms depot are providing weapons to terrorists from Africa, Europe, and Asia. Yes, that Libya. On topic, W was a mediocre President. He did a few good things but for the most part was a failure. Or as someone said of Mrs Clinton, he was bad within normal parameters. Trump? That guy might order a nuclear strike on Atlanta because CNN is HQ’ed there. Or send SEAL Team Six to the Rockefeller Center to kill the SNL cast. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/39 "2017-06-18T21:25:49Z")
The invasion of Iraq at least had a moral justification, even though it was based on bad facts. Everything Trump has done is without moral justification, and that does make it worse. Trump is a psychopath. A psychopath is worse than a kindly idiot. There’s a reason why Bush actually has friends who disagree with him. Trump does not–if he even has anything we would normally label friends. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282/40 "2017-06-19T01:27:40Z")
I think W was a trainwreck and I’d give him the keys any day if it meant Trump wasn’t driving that train. I find the major difference to be that W at least cared about his legacy and his overall public perception. Not from a wounded, psychologically unbalanced narcissist way, but in a “Shuck, I don’t want to be the worst” kind of way. Trump doesn’t care about legacy. REAL poll numbers don’t matter to him. He just wants applause and adulation, not genuine respect. W was a bumbling moron who embarrassed me on a daily basis, but at least he had manners and class. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-too-soon-to-miss-george-w-bush/789282.md?page=3)