RESOLVED: George Bush should be regarded as America's best President

1. At the outset, I am not insinuating that Bush has any supernatural powers whatsoever. What I did say was that Bush and his administration were in possession of information regarding Al Qaeda's plans and failed to act upon it. The only question Bush asked was whether taking out Bin Laden would alleviate the risks. I am also saying that the very intelligence structure in the administration was flawed and the terrorists exploited that. This was based on the official 9/11 report. Since it was Bush's administration, it was also his failure. I have offered to reference the above contention. However since my opponent has not taken me up on it, it is taken that he accepts that my statement was in fact based on those sources. Note also that the only relevance of 9/11 in this debate is that this was one of the two spikes in Bush's horrible (un)popularity ratings (my first post). 2. I am not arguing anything about international "privacy". What I said was that Iraq was not Bush's concern, that he had no standing to make demands of Iraq, no legal or moral right to attack it. My opponent now claims that America's safety is more important than the sovereignty of other nations. I would like to see some support for that proposition. Secondly, I fail to see how the Iraq situation had anything at all to do with America's safety. Iraq is in the Middle East. The USA is in North America. These are two quite distinct regions. My opponent is suggesting that if Iraq was in fact developing some sort of WMD (which turns out to be untrue), that would compromise America's safety. 3. "If we open doors, then why can they cose theirs?" I do not know (and I do not need to know) how often and on what basis the USA allows international WMD inspections on its soil. I DO know that the USA is in possession of enough nuclear weapons to destroy the entire world several times over. Does the USA really have any ground for ensuring (off its own bat) that other nations do not develop MWD? 4. It is true that WMD inspectors had a hard time in Iraq. However, they themselves have asked Bush to hold off until they have completed all their attempts. There is evidence that Bush had planned the Iraq attack some time before the WMD inspection problems even arose. In any event, Bush brushed the inspectors aside and attacked Iraq without UN approval. He could have waited for UN approval or at least for WMD inspectors to give up in their attempts. He did not wait. Is that because if he had waited there would be a threat to the security of the USA? Clear and present danger? I think not. 5."Our troops still being stationed there is only an action of courtesy to help insure that Democracy is instilled." I contend that there is no "courtesy" in imposing "democracy" on another nation. If my opponent's argument is upheld, this would give any country the right to attack any other country and implement a regime change. It would justify Iran in attacking Israel, Russia in attacking Poland. Why? Because they do not agree with their regimes. Once again, as far as I am concerned, the Iraq situation is ONLY RELEVANT in this debate to the extent that it gave rise to the second spike in Bush's ratings. As far as my opponent is concerned, however, the attack on Iraq is an example of Bush's excellence. The evidence is in. Let the audience decide. 6. A poll is invalid in a debate only insofar as using the facts surveyed in the poll. In other words I can't use the results of a debate to say "90% Americans think Bush is doing a bad job therefore he is.". However, I can say "90% of Americans are uhappy with Bush, therefore as a president he's failing to satisfy his own people. In a democracy, a popularily elected president who has such low ratings is arguably not exercising his elected powers in accordance with the will of the people. Therefore he's not doing his job correctly." I can say that. And I do. 7. "That is why everyone thinks Bush is not liked, but the Pro Bush advocates for his perfection don't vote because we believe that polls are a waste of time and that our vote is not needed." If pro-Bush advocates do not "vote" (take part in polls) then I wonder how my opponent knows how many of them there are. True, he never said that he knows. However, it is implicit in his argument that there are many more than can be gleaned from the polls. I would like some evidence, please. 8. I will not comment on the issue of America being the "greatest nation". It has been agreed that this is not relevant. 9. "Please look above, or just simply compare and contrast the current state of other countries to America." I do not see any evidence in my opponent's argument to show that America's status against that of other countries has improved since Bush became presidnet. NOR that the well-being of Americans has improved ("unimaginable prosperity"). Quite to the contrary (see my first post). 10. "I already stated why polls are invalid. If you would like me to go into far more detail please say so." Yes, I would like my opponent to go into far more detail on this issue. ********THE CRUX****** My opponent is seeking to prove that Bush is America's best president. The onus is on him as it is his resolution. To prove this he must not only disprove my contentions (if they're relevant) or show that Bush is "doing his job" or that "America is doing great" (he failed in all these in my submission) but in fact prove that Bush is a BETTER president than EACH of the FOLLOWING: George Washington, 1789-1797 John Adams, 1797-1801 Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809 James Madison, 1809-1817 James Monroe, 1817-1825 John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829 Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837 Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841 William Henry Harrison, 1841 John Tyler, 1841-1845 James Knox Polk, 1845-1849 Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850 Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853 Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857 James Buchanan, 1857-1861 Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865 Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869 Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-1877 Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-1881 James Abram Garfield, 1881 Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-1885 Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893 Grover Cleveland, 1893-1897 William McKinley, 1897-1901 Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909 William Howard Taft, 1909-1913 Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921 Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-1923 Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929 Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945 Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953 Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961 John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963 Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969 Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974 Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977 James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981 Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989 George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993 William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001 I was going to leave this until my last post, as I have no obligation to explain ty my opponent the meaning of the word "best". However, in the interests of fairness I decided to mention this in the current round. I look forward to my opponent's response.