# Year Ago Today Bush Re-Elected: Happy Now Assholes? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 2, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134 "2005-11-02T19:09:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/61 "2005-11-02T22:33:19Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > President Bush is not responsible for any bloated floating dead bodies, unless you’re saying that he caused the hurricanes. True, most of the dead soldiers in Iraq have not been thrown into large bodies of water. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/62 "2005-11-02T22:36:20Z")
(aside to **UncleBeer** , yea, I know, I smacked myself in the head after I posted that. Does that count?) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/63 "2005-11-02T22:37:35Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > So if I’m not in the same political party as you, I’m a fool, a monster, and vermin? You’re lucky - I got called an asshole, and I didn’t even get to pick. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/64 "2005-11-02T22:38:22Z")
Nope, I’m convinced by superior argument. I concede that Bush is not responsible for hurricanes. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/65 "2005-11-02T22:40:16Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You’re lucky - I got called an asshole, and I didn’t even get to pick. > … We like you better. Kinda cute. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/66 "2005-11-02T22:41:28Z")
When he’s not spewing shit, that is. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/67 "2005-11-02T22:46:18Z")
Is this a general question of happyness to all American’s or specifically to folks who voted for Bush…and who exactly is being painted with the ‘assholes’ brush here anyway? 😛 On the assumption that you are just asking in general, I’d have to say no…I’m not happy overall. The deficit in particular is upsetting and I’m pretty unhappy with the Iraq war as well. I’m starting to seriously hope that when we finally manage to extract our leg from the trap that there is still a foot attached. As for the Supreme court jab, thats simply partisan BS. Same with the Katrina jab, though it does have a bit more merrit. Of course, Bush fired the guy in question so… All that said, I don’t see it as the end of the world either. There are positive signs to go with the negative (the economy seems to be picking up pretty well for instance)…though obviously more negative than positive from my perspective or I’d be happy. I have to say that when the election was going on I didn’t figure I’d be happy this time a year from then in any case…reguardless of who won. IMO had Kerry won things would essentially be the same, with the possible exception that my taxes would have gone up or looked to be going up substantially to pay for all those shinny programs. Of course, seeing the composition of the Congress and Senate, maybe not…and perhaps I WOULD be happy now because Kerry would be firmly hog tied and not able to do much of anything. Probably not though… -XT ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/68 "2005-11-02T22:49:45Z")
> [@wring](#): > > (aside to **UncleBeer** , yea, I know, I smacked myself in the head after I posted that. Does that count?) Yep, sure does. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/69 "2005-11-02T22:51:27Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > When he’s not spewing shit, that is. Aw…that Spanish Inquisition allusion was pretty damned endearing! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/70 "2005-11-02T22:52:48Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Aw…that Spanish Inquisition allusion was pretty damned endearing! 🙂 True. Never expected that. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/71 "2005-11-02T23:03:29Z")
> [@wring](#): > > let me ask you this - If you knew that another country had snatched one of our citizens up, flown them to someplace, to hold them and torture them, never allowing anyone to even know you had them, with out charges, without representation, w/o any oversite at all - you would have no problem with that? If said US citizen was involved in terrorist attacks against civilians in marketplaces or against schoolchildren lining up for recess, then I’d say have at him. You honestly think the CIA/FBI/The Shop/WhatHaveYouAgency is rounding up random foreign nationals wholesale and shipping them off to these black sites with no foundation? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/72 "2005-11-02T23:05:39Z")
:smack: Damn misplaced modifier. “shipping them off _with no foundation_ to these black sites.” Of course, the black sites could be floating on the ocean, and I’d guess they’d have no foundation then, right? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/73 "2005-11-02T23:07:13Z")
Don’t know, that’s the problem. If they do something ghastly to an innocent person, think they’re going to tell us? ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/74 "2005-11-02T23:09:59Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > You honestly think the CIA/FBI/The Shop/WhatHaveYouAgency is rounding up random foreign nationals wholesale and shipping them off to these black sites with no foundation? [Yes,](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051027/wl_canada_nm/canada_syria_col_1) [you could say that.](http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050214fa_fact6) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/75 "2005-11-02T23:11:27Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > Also, Bob. Do you think FDR belongs in prison for the Japanese internment camps? I think concentration camps on the scale of hundreds of thousands is way more serious than anything Bush has done. Yet you don’t hear many liberals saying he belonged in prison. > > Sometimes in a war situation you have to do unsavory things, at least in the war on terror we’ve done unsavory things with some clear goal. The removal of 112,000 Japanese persons to concentration camps would be the equivalent of Bush having all the arabs in the United States arrested. I’m not necessarily saying FDR was a bad guy, or that Bush is totally correct in everything he’s done (of course I would argue he has less to do with the treatment of captured persons on the battlefield than FDR did with citizens in his own country) but I think sweeping statements like “Bush should be in prison.” Go entirely too far. > > Some of our agents may have committed crimes, but sometimes you have to break a few eggs to bake a cake, and I think most realists will accept that as a fact. Bush belongs in prison because the changes he did to the system and his purposely cherry picking gave us another war: [http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050214fa\_fact6](http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050214fa_fact6) > [@](#): > > To Cloonan’s dismay, the C.I.A. reportedly rendered Libi to Egypt. He was seen boarding a plane in Afghanistan, restrained by handcuffs and ankle cuffs, his mouth covered by duct tape. Cloonan, who retired from the F.B.I. in 2002, said, “At least we got information in ways that wouldn’t shock the conscience of the court. And no one will have to seek revenge for what I did.” He added, “We need to show the world that we can lead, and not just by military might.” > > After Libi was taken to Egypt, the F.B.I. lost track of him. Yet he evidently played a crucial background role in Secretary of State Colin Powell’s momentous address to the United Nations Security Council in February, 2003, which argued the case for a preëmptive war against Iraq. In his speech, Powell did not refer to Libi by name, but he announced to the world that “a senior terrorist operative” who “was responsible for one of Al Qaeda’s training camps in Afghanistan” had told U.S. authorities that Saddam Hussein had offered to train two Al Qaeda operatives in the use of “chemical or biological weapons.” > > Last summer, Newsweek reported that Libi, who was eventually transferred from Egypt to Guantánamo Bay, was the source of the incendiary charge cited by Powell, and that he had recanted. By then, the first anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq had passed and the 9/11 Commission had declared that there was no known evidence of a working relationship between Saddam and Al Qaeda. Dan Coleman was disgusted when he heard about Libi’s false confession. “It was ridiculous for interrogators to think Libi would have known anything about Iraq,” he said. “I could have told them that. He ran a training camp. He wouldn’t have had anything to do with Iraq. Administration officials were always pushing us to come up with links, but there weren’t any. The reason they got bad information is that they beat it out of him. You never get good information from someone that way.” When “realists” like you ignore that torture was used to get evidence that got us into an unnecessary war, and I see very little effort to change, you bet that right now the case for war with Syria and Iran may be compromised by the same inhumane system. And yes: Bush should be in prission. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/76 "2005-11-02T23:13:06Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > If said US citizen was involved in terrorist attacks against civilians in marketplaces or against schoolchildren lining up for recess, then I’d say have at him. > > You honestly think the CIA/FBI/The Shop/WhatHaveYouAgency is rounding up random foreign nationals wholesale and shipping them off to these black sites with no foundation? see the thing about secret prisons and all is that you cannot at all say who they have or what they may have done. 'cause you know, it’s secret and all. How the fuck do you **know** that the folks locked up this way were at that point, terrorists? Especially when we **know** that a bunch of the folks at Gitmo and Abu Garib were released 'cause ya know, they weren’t actually bad guys. tell ya what - give me a blank check and I’ll fill it out, cash it and spend it only on good stuff for our country. You can trust me, right? ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/77 "2005-11-02T23:17:05Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Nope, I’m convinced by superior argument. I concede that Bush is not responsible for hurricanes. Good for you, pal. On this one issue, at least you’re marginally smarter than these people, your leftist commrades: > **["For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind"](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/for-they-that-sow-the-win_b_6396)** > > As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi's Gulf Coast, it's worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bush's iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2. > **[German Minister: Bush Responsible for Katrina](https://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/2005/08/german_minister.html)** > > You won't believe this: In an article in Frankfurter Rundschau, a leading left-wing daily, Germany's environmental minister Jürgen Trittin holds U.S. president George Bush responsible for hurricane Katrina. Yes, that's right. The hurricane Katrina... [http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=3830037](http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=3830037) ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/78 "2005-11-02T23:17:54Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > … Same with the Katrina jab, though it does have a bit more merrit. Of course, Bush fired the guy in question so… I thought that he was still getting paid for “consulting”. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/79 "2005-11-02T23:18:39Z")
No, my sweet **wring** , I don’t trust you with my blank check. But considering we don’t fire all CIA employees and hire new ones every time there’s a change in the adminstration, how do you know that they weren’t there since the time of Clinton? Would you be upset at hearing about black sites if Kerry had won last year, or would you be defending it as a necessary evil? ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134/80 "2005-11-02T23:22:20Z")
I suppose it has entirely to do with the orders those CIA agents received from the commander in chief. Do you blame a gun for the person it shoots, or the person firing it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/year-ago-today-bush-re-elected-happy-now-assholes/329134.md?page=5)