The George W. Bush Appreciation Thread

[n0Mad]

First off I'd like to start with a disclaimer that I'm not a Bush fan. I disagree with a lot of decisions that he has made and would not vote for him if he were running again.

But every fault of America is blamed on him even though some things aren't his fault. Like this financial melt down that Clinton started, Bush tried to stop, but Congress kept ignoring and perpetuating. Yes, Bush can be an idiot at times but he's not 100% evil like the media makes him out to be. He has done some good in office. It's easy to hate the man and blame every wrong on him but it's hard to give him praise when praise is due.

So I challenge DGN to do some research and have each person come up with at least one different thing that Bush has done right. And I mean honest to goodness praise and not criticism masked as a compliment such as, "Well, he's not as bad as Hitler", "At least he didn't start a 'nucular' war with ourselves", and "I appreciate the way he ruined America and paved the way for change so Obama can take over".

Let's attempt to keep this thread positive and resist letting negativity creep in.

[n0Mad]

Okay, since it's my thread, I'll start. First I'd like to say that this thread was started because I stumbled across this article. I wish I had a date for it but could not find one.

Bush's America: 100 Percent Al-Qaida Free Since 2001

by Ann Coulter

In a conversation recently, I mentioned as an aside what a great president George Bush has been and my friend was surprised. I was surprised that he was surprised.

I generally don't write columns about the manifestly obvious, but, yes, the man responsible for keeping Americans safe from another terrorist attack on American soil for nearly seven years now will go down in history as one of America's greatest presidents.

Produce one person who believed, on Sept. 12, 2001, that there would not be another attack for seven years, and I'll consider downgrading Bush from "Great" to "Really Good."

Merely taking out Saddam Hussein and his winsome sons Uday and Qusay (Hussein family slogan: "We're the Rape Room People!") constitutes a greater humanitarian accomplishment than anything Bill Clinton ever did -- and I'm including remembering Monica's name on the sixth sexual encounter.

But unlike liberals, who are so anxious to send American troops to Rwanda or Darfur, Republicans oppose deploying U.S. troops for purely humanitarian purposes. We invaded Iraq to protect America.

It is unquestionable that Bush has made this country safe by keeping Islamic lunatics pinned down fighting our troops in Iraq. In the past few years, our brave troops have killed more than 20,000 al-Qaida and other Islamic militants in Iraq alone. That's 20,000 terrorists who will never board a plane headed for JFK -- or a landmark building, for that matter.

We are, in fact, fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them at, say, the corner of 72nd and Columbus in Manhattan -- the mere mention of which never fails to enrage liberals, which is why you should say it as often as possible.

The Iraq war has been a stunning success. The Iraqi army is "standing up" (as they say), fat Muqtada al-Sadr --the Dr. Phil of Islamofascist radicalism -- has waddled off in retreat to Iran, and Sadr City and Basra are no longer war zones. Our servicemen must be baffled by the constant nay-saying coming from their own country.

The Iraqis have a democracy -- a miracle on the order of flush toilets in that godforsaken region of the world. Despite its newness, Iraq's democracy appears to be no more dysfunctional than one that would condemn a man who has kept the nation safe for seven years while deifying a man who has accomplished absolutely nothing in his entire life except to give speeches about "change."

(Guess what Bill Clinton's campaign theme was in 1992? You are wrong if you guessed: "bringing dignity back to the White House." It was "change." In January 1992, James Carville told Steve Daley of The Chicago Tribune that it had gotten to the point that the press was complaining about Clinton's "constant talk of change.")

Monthly casualties in Iraq now come in slightly lower than a weekend with Anna Nicole Smith. According to a CNN report last week, for the entire month of May, there were only 19 troop deaths in Iraq. (Last year, five people on average were shot every day in Chicago.) With Iraqi deaths at an all-time low, Iraq is safer than Detroit -- although the Middle Eastern food is still better in Detroit.

Al-Qaida is virtually destroyed, surprising even the CIA. Two weeks ago, The Washington Post reported: "Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaida, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border."

It's almost as if there's been some sort of "surge" going on, as strange as that sounds.

Just this week, The New York Times reported that al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in Southeast Asia have all but disappeared, starved of money and support. The U.S. and Australia have been working closely with the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, sending them counterterrorism equipment and personnel.

But no one notices when 9/11 doesn't happen. Indeed, if we had somehow stopped the 9/11 attack, we'd all be watching Mohammed Atta being interviewed on MSNBC, explaining his lawsuit against the Bush administration. Maureen Dowd would be writing columns describing Khalid Sheik Mohammed as a "wannabe" terrorist being treated like Genghis Khan by an excitable Bush administration.

We begin to forget what it was like to turn on the TV, see a tornado, a car chase or another Pamela Anderson marriage and think: Good -- another day without a terrorist attack.

But liberals have only blind hatred for Bush -- and for those brute American interrogators who do not supply extra helpings of béarnaise sauce to the little darlings at Guantanamo with sufficient alacrity.

The sheer repetition of lies about Bush is wearing people down. There is not a liberal in this country worthy of kissing Bush's rear end, but the weakest members of the herd run from Bush. Compared to the lickspittles denying and attacking him, Bush is a moral giant -- if that's not damning with faint praise. John McCain should be so lucky as to be running for Bush's third term. Then he might have a chance.

Now for the one thing I praise Bush on, environmentalism. It's one thing to talk the talk and win awards with a movie which may or may not be accurate, but it's another thing to walk the walk. Taken from Snopes and confirmed true, Bush's private home near Crawford, Texas is:

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

[Msterbeau]

I refuse.

[Goth Brooks]

The ends don't justify the means.

Her opinion would have been just as valid if we had killed all those terrorists in Afghanistan, where we had a justifiable reason for invasion.

[Rev.Reverence]

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

...I think that ANYONE with the $ to do that, that does not, is 1)stupid, & 2) an irresponsible human being.

...so while it is a "good" thing, So, it is not so much of a big deal as if he stood up & said that everybody in the "upper-crust" should do the same.

...but if you are from the school of thought that oil is a drug...then it is a REALLY GOOD thing...(because a real pusher don't do his own shit.)

[Enishi]

Several years ago I used to think Bush was the next Hitler (I spent entirely to much time reading radical-left websites like www.counterpunch.org back then).

Nowadays I still think he's a poor president, and that the Patriot Act and Iraq War were horrible ideas. However, I don't think he's nearly as bad and I used to, and some stuff that people have tried to pin on him, like the Katrina Disaster or the financial meltdown, was really moreso created by decades of bad policies, and wasn't solely his fault. I think he may genuinely believe he's doing the right thing (though every demagogue uses this rationalization). IMO, our whole system of government is broken, Bush is just a small part of it.

[Rev.Reverence]

Several years ago I used to think Bush was the next Hitler (I spent entirely to much time reading radical-left websites like www.counterpunch.org back then).

Nowadays I still think he's a poor president, and that the Patriot Act and Iraq War were horrible ideas. However, I don't think he's nearly as bad and I used to, and some stuff that people have tried to pin on him, like the Katrina Disaster or the financial meltdown, was really moreso created by decades of bad policies, and wasn't solely his fault. I think he may genuinely believe he's doing the right thing (though every demagogue uses this rationalization). IMO, our whole system of government is broken, Bush is just a small part of it.

+1 except reading magazines & Discordian Parer Pamphlets & such...

[phee]

He made music better....

Its true the music is always so much more pissed off and full of rage when there is a Bush in the whitehouse....

[Shade Everdark]

Pretty much anything Ann Coulter writes or says is worthy only of derision and scorn. She's nothing more than a loudmouth Republican shill, bigoted and uncouth.

As for the topic at hand, the one and only thing I can call to mind that Bush did right was to allow students to claim interest paid on their student loans indefinitely, instead of simply for five years after graduation. Too bad he gutted student loan programs shortly afterward.

[SaGa]

the first bush was huge on pushing the new world order. i can hate bush senior for that. and possible the "w" as he seems to have stakes into the NU

the "w" did the war path. if he didnt do that, you know what, everyone probly whouldnt of thought he was wasnt so shitty. second people dont trust there president, they will end up blaming him for EVERYTHING wrong. even when evidence holds hes innocent and had nothing to do with it.

[phee]

Pretty much anything Ann Coulter writes or says is worthy only of derision and scorn. She's nothing more than a loudmouth Republican shill, bigoted and uncouth.

As for the topic at hand, the one and only thing I can call to mind that Bush did right was to allow students to claim interest paid on their student loans, instead of simply for five years after graduation. Too bad he gutted student loan programs shortly afterward.

+1

[Goth Brooks]

But oh LORDY would I just love to hate-fuck her.

[Msterbeau]

Wait! Hold the presses!! I have it!!!!

I appreciate that he'll be out of office in a couple months.

[n0Mad]

So far only one person has succeeded at my request. Everyone else has done what I said not to do. *sigh* I knew this was going to be too much of a challenge for you guys.

[Msterbeau]

So far only one person has succeeded at my request. Everyone else has done what I said not to do. *sigh* I knew this was going to be too much of a challenge for you guys.

Sorry, some things can't be done. Like herding cats...

[n0Mad]

Sorry, some things can't be done. Like herding cats...

EDS can do that.

[Msterbeau]

EDS can do that.

I heard they can't differentiate their ass from a hole in the wall.

[Rev.Reverence]

So far only one person has succeeded at my request. Everyone else has done what I said not to do. *sigh* I knew this was going to be too much of a challenge for you guys.

...b-b-b-But I tryed...really hard...I even thought about it.

[phee]

I am being serious... the music is better when a bush is in office

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

OK

He setup funding for Stem Cell Research. Before he came to office the Federal funding for stem cell research was exactly $0. It's now over $28million with no cap on future spending.

He doubled the funding to the National Institute of Health. Which allowed them to shift their money around... and they now spend around $190million a year on Adult Stem cell research (every working treatment we have has come from this line of study)

He established the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in June 2006, the largest fully protected marine conservation area in the world.

Because of his reforms, the waiting time for approval for Vets applying for VA benefits has gone from 230 days on average when he took office to about 145 days.

He doubled US aid to poor African nations in his first term in office and has added more ever year he has been in office.

He spearheaded the fight to get the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative passed, which gave 100% debt relief to the world's 100 poorest countries.

President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, $15Billion to fight Aids in Africa.

President's Malaria Initiative, $1.2Billion to fight Malaria.

and there is much more that he is done that can be firmly put on the Good side of the list.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Sir Bob goes to bat for Bush

Sir Bob Geldof, the former rock star turned advocate for global poverty relief, followed President Bush in the program at Tuesday's White House Summit on International Development. And it was easy to see why. While most celebs and artists take glee in knocking the president, the man behind Live Aid had only plaudits for our short-timer of a commander-in-chief.

In fact, said the shaggy-haired and tie-less musician, "It's why I'm here." Geldof praised the Bush administration for its increased commitment to aid for Africa, "a story that's not been told." And he pleaded with the crowd to "tell that story. ... You can't leave it up to a couple of Paddy pop stars to tell it" (the other being Bono).

"It's no small legacy," he added, and Bush has "set the bar quite high" for Barack Obama or John McCain.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

He's set the bar extremely low for all his successors. Imagine what a (total fuckup x 1,000,000) you'd have to be to be considered the worst president ever after this.

[Rev.Reverence]

I am being serious... the music is better when a bush is in office

...that is a good point...& the late 90's were nothing to scoff at musically speaking...

[phee]

The Bush's and other Evil leaders keep bands like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, and Snog doing music

[Oh_My_Goth]

His stupidity has made me laugh my ass off on several occasions.... .

& who doesn't like a good laugh.....