# Who gets/got more hatred: Bush or Obama: **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 18, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635 "2013-01-18T17:45:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/41 "2013-01-18T21:52:50Z")
Articles of impeachment are the “same sort of extreme political posturing” as calling for secession or armed insurrection? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/42 "2013-01-18T22:09:03Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Every slur that was used against Bush have also been used against Obama. But the reverse is not true. > > Can you point to prominent Democrats who came close to calling for their [state to secede](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/gov-rick-perry-texas-coul_n_187490.html) or for [armed insurrection](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/16/sharron-angle-floated-2nd_n_614003.html) should Bush win? Skimming through your articles I note the predominant use of weasel words such as ‘could’ and liberal (_cough_) use of euphemisms, buzzwords and political rhetoric which doesn’t actually call for either armed insurrection OR secession, but is merely shoveling horsehit to the faithful, which they are lapping up eagerly. I don’t see how this demonstrates that the right hates Obama more than the left hated Bush. It’s still early days in Obama’s second term though, so I suppose a case can be made that perhaps things will heat up more. ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/43 "2013-01-18T22:23:38Z")
Bush had a 90% approval rating after 9/11. I can’t imagine ANY scenario where Obama’s approval rating would come anywhere close to that. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/44 "2013-01-18T22:35:56Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Articles of impeachment are the “same sort of extreme political posturing” as calling for secession or armed insurrection? In this particular case, yes. > [@linked article](#): > > “There’s a lot of different scenarios,” Perry said. “We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.” That’s not a call for secession, that’s grandstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/45 "2013-01-18T22:44:16Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Articles of impeachment are the “same sort of extreme political posturing” as calling for secession or armed insurrection? > [@Human\_Action](#): > > In this particular case, yes. Well, one is enumerated in the Constitution; the other two are not. I agree, though, the Perry didn’t overtly call for secession, as much as he implied it. “Yeah, it’s a nice country we have here. Sure would be a shame if Texas had to leave it.” ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/46 "2013-01-18T22:46:20Z")
How about going on the level of death threats the FBI routinely fields/fielded for each president? I think that would add some clarity to the discussion. I googled “death threats per president” (no mention of Obama) I suggest anyone do the same and draw their own conclusions. ---
**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 18, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/47 "2013-01-18T22:58:29Z")
I think Bush got more hatred. I think Obama gets more unjustified hatred. I think in Bush’s case, at least half of the hatred directed against him was over things he actually did. In Obama’s case, I think most of the hatred against him is over things people imagine he’s done or might do. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/48 "2013-01-18T23:17:25Z")
Another data point would be comparing the number and quality of Obama-hating books to those bashing Bush. This link discusses almost 100 Obama hating books, many of them really bad: [The Obama Haters Book Club](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/26/the-obama-haters-book-club-the-canon-swells.html) This link finds only about 10 Bush bashing books (and compares Bush bashing to Clinton hating): [Bush-Bashing Books](http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-215_162-586159.html) ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/49 "2013-01-18T23:20:26Z")
Bush by far – and rationally so. Though I think Obama gets off way too easy many a time with his “crowd.” “Change we can believe in.” Still waiting – he’s been a lot more like Bush light with a brain. Which of course, IS an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/50 "2013-01-18T23:24:33Z")
> [@Pashnish\_Ewing](#): > > Bush had a 90% approval rating after 9/11. I can’t imagine ANY scenario where Obama’s approval rating would come anywhere close to that. That is because of 9-11, similarly I don’t see Obama ever reaching the low approval rating in the 30s as Bush did. In addition if you count the rest of the world, Bush is FAR more hated than Obama ever was and will be and ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/51 "2013-01-19T00:08:31Z")
Just a funny data point, but in the Right Wing Paranoia thread, a poster just used (in all seriousness) a link to a cite on The Smirking Chimp. 😛 It’s hilarious how casual stuff like this is used and still circulating about. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/52 "2013-01-19T00:22:23Z")
Again I think we may be talking past each other depending on definitions. Did more people hate Bush than hate Obama? Probably. Is the intensity of hatred directed at Bush as great as the intensity directed at Obama? Not even close. Basically on the left we had 100 people with bic lighters, while on the right we have 50 guys with lighters and ten guys with a flame throwers. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/53 "2013-01-19T00:58:27Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Articles of impeachment are the “same sort of extreme political posturing” as calling for secession or armed insurrection? In Obama’s case, they certainly are every bit as silly. In Bush’s case . . . almost, but not quite. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/54 "2013-01-19T01:03:53Z")
> [@XT](#): > > It’s still early days in Obama’s second term though, so I suppose a case can be made that perhaps things will heat up more. Well, we really haven’t heard much out of the Tea Party lately, have we? They appear to have peaked. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/55 "2013-01-19T01:09:32Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > How about going on the level of death threats the FBI routinely fields/fielded for each president? > > I think that would add some clarity to the discussion. > > I googled “death threats per president” (no mention of Obama) > > I suggest anyone do the same and draw their own conclusions. Well, I know the Secret Service already has thwarted several plots to assassinate Obama, and I never heard of them having to thwart one on Bush . . . not even by a jihadist . . . [googles as instructed] [I see.](http://www.causes.com/causes/350394-join-the-fight-to-stop-dishonoring-the-president/actions/1708445) > [@](#): > > President Barack Obama is the target of more than 30 potential death threats a day and is being protected by an increasingly over-stretched Secret Service. He is the most threatened President in history. > > Since the President took office in 2008, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400% cent. Some threats to the President have been publicized, including the well known alleged plot by white supremacists in Tennessee to rob a gun store, shoot 88 black people, decapitate another 14 and then assassinate the first black president in American history. > > Most however, are kept under wraps because the Secret Service fears that revealing details of them would only increase the number of copycat attempts. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/56 "2013-01-19T01:30:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Well, I know the Secret Service already has thwarted several plots to assassinate Obama, and I never heard of them having to thwart one on Bush . . . not even by a jihadist . . . > > [googles as instructed] > > [I see.](http://www.causes.com/causes/350394-join-the-fight-to-stop-dishonoring-the-president/actions/1708445) Ahem… [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_United\_States\_presidential\_assassination\_attempts\_and\_plots#George\_W.\_Bush](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots#George_W._Bush) > [@](#): > > February 7, 2001: While President George W. Bush was in the White House, Robert Pickett standing outside the fence, shot several times toward the building. The U.S. Park Police said, according to CNN correspondent Eileen O’Connor, that they confiscated a sophisticated handgun and, had the shooter not been at an obstructed angle view, he could have reached targets in the White House. Following a stand-off of about ten minutes, a Secret Service officer shot Pickett, wounding him. Pickett was then immediately taken to a hospital for surgery. Pickett was found to have emotional problems and employment grievances. Pickett had previously written letters to the President about these grievances. A court in July 2001 sentenced Pickett to three years imprisonment in connection with the incident. > September 11, 2001: On the morning of the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush was at the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, Florida.[37] He woke up around 6:00 AM and prepared for his morning jog.[38][39] Men of apparent Middle Eastern descent arrived at the Colony Beach Resort and claimed they had a “poolside” interview with the President. Lacking an appointment, they were turned away.[40] TIME magazine suggested they were there for an assassination attempt modeled on one used against the Northern Alliance military leader Ahmed Massoud two days earlier.[41] Witnesses have recalled seeing 9/11 hijacker ringleader Mohamed Atta in the Longboat Key Holiday Inn a short distance from where Bush was staying as recently as September 7, the day Bush’s Sarasota appearance was publicly announced.[42][43] > About three hours after the possible assassination attempt, Bush was making a scheduled appearance at a nearby elementary school when the main 9/11 attacks began. > May 10, 2005: While President George W. Bush was giving a speech in the Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia, Vladimir Arutyunian threw a live Soviet-made RGD-5 hand grenade toward the podium. The grenade was live and had its pin pulled, but did not explode because a red tartan handkerchief was wrapped tightly around it and delayed the firing pin.[44] After escaping that day, Arutyunian was arrested in July 2005, during which he killed an Interior Ministry agent. Convicted in January 2006, he was given a life sentence.[45][46] ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/57 "2013-01-19T02:49:12Z")
When Bush was president there was an effort to stop the Bush/Hitler comparisons. I know moveon was deleting ads put up by people making that comparison. At the same time comparing Obama to Stalin or Hitler is not nearly as controversial on the right. So there is that. Then again the 9/11 inside job thing or Bush canceling the 2004 election were fairly strong ideas. Obama gets more hatred from what I see. I think liberals hated Bush because of his policies (unnecessary war, plutocratic economic policies), conservatives hate Obama because of who he is. They hated him before he even had policies. And like it or not, the 2000 and 2004 elections were very controversial. Partisan secretaries of state in swing states affected the outcomes of the elections via various means (disenrolling voters, poorly managed voting efforts, etc). The 2008 and 2012 elections were far more clean and were never based on winning one state. Yet conservatives seem very open to the idea that both Obama’s elections were stolen. I don’t get the comparison, there is no comparison of 2008/2012 with 2000/2004. Also democrats didn’t call for an armed resistance or seccession. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/58 "2013-01-19T02:56:37Z")
I’m still waiting for Chimpy McBushHitlerBurton to suspend the 2004 elections and declare himself Dictator for Life with Cheney’s hand firmly up his ass pulling the strings. I always loved how the left couldn’t decide if Bush was a nearly brain-dead frat boy or a super-genius bent on world domination… Pick one. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/59 "2013-01-19T03:01:38Z")
Remember how on Jan 20, 2001, the Democratic members of Congress met in a hotel room to discuss how they were not going to cooperate with Bush on any issue? Remember how Harry Reid said his number one legislative goal was to make Bush a one term president? Remember how Bush was heckled on the House floor during his State of the Union address? Remember all the fuss about how Bush wasn’t a real American and how he should produce his long-form birth certificate? Me neither. I didn’t hate Bush at first. He earned it by lying to start a war and by his tax cuts that we couldn’t afford then and can’t afford now. Then when the stories came out about how he mocked a condemned woman begging for mercy, how he had his Texas driver license number changed to hide his drunk driving record, how he did coke at Camp David while his dad was president, it goes on and on. I despise the man for what he did, even though I thought his dad was a decent president. Contrast that to how the Reich wing attacked Obama from the time he started running for president. He’s a foreigner, he’s a Muslim, he pals around with terrorists, he’s a communist, he has this Anti-American pastor, etc. Obama was reviled for who he was, before he had a chance to do a single thing. His signature achievement was attacked by another pack of vicious lies: it’s socialism, a takeover of one fifth of the economy, death panels, etc. There is simply no comparison. Obama is hated by orders of magnitude more than Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635/60 "2013-01-19T03:43:15Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Remember how Bush was heckled on the House floor during his State of the Union address? I’m not sure I’d call it heckling, but he did get fake applause once. (He was trying to bemoan the fact that his Social Security proposals weren’t adopted. The fact that they weren’t adopted got a standing ovation.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-got-more-hatred-bush-or-obama/647635.md?page=4)