George W. Bush

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[[File:GeorgeWBush.jpg|thumb|165px|"Fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjmjqlOPd6A  George Bush's "Fool Me Once" Gaffe]. ''Youtube.''</ref>]]{{uspolitics}}

{{cquote|[[Al Qaeda|Our]] [[Taliban|enemies]] are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.|||President Bush accidentally describes his own [[Republican Party]], 2004.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRX8v_WjRGw  Bush makes verbal slip on homeland security]. ''Associated Press'' on [[Youtube]].</ref>}}

{{cquote|[[Russia]]n elections are rigged. Political opponents are imprisoned or otherwise eliminated from participating in the electoral process. The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of [[Vladimir Putin|one man]] to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of [[Iraq]] - I mean of [[Ukraine]]...|||George W. Bush accidentally makes the greatest Freudian slip of all time, 2022.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEg6Ht2pNH0 Bush gaffe: Former president calls Iraq invasion 'unjustified' in slip-up]. ''The Telegraph'' on Youtube. May 19, 2022.</ref> }}

'''George Walker Bush''' (a.k.a. '''Bush 43''', "'''W'''", "'''Dubya'''", "'''Bush II'''", or "'''Junior'''" to distinguish from his [[George H. W. Bush|father]]) {{lived|1946|}} is a war criminal<ref>[https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/amr510972011en.pdf Bringing George W. Bush to Justice: International Obligations of States to Which Former US President George W. Bush May Travel]. ''Amnesty International.'' November 2011.</ref><ref>[https://truthout.org/articles/for-20-years-team-bush-has-escaped-prosecution-for-war-crimes-in-iraq/ For 20 Years, Team Bush Has Escaped Prosecution for Their War Crimes in Iraq]. ''Truthout.'' March 20, 2023.</ref><ref>[https://jacobin.com/2023/03/george-w-bush-iraq-war-crimes-lies-accountability-reparations-violence In Case You Forgot: George W. Bush Is a Horrific War Criminal]. ''Jacobin.'' 03.20.2023.</ref> who held the office of the [[President of the United States|President]] of the [[United States]] from 2001 to 2009 despite being completely unworthy of it nor even properly elected as the supreme court handed him the election as opposed to, y'know, ACTUALLY WINNING THE DAMN THING. Basing his agenda on the oxymoronic concept of "compassionate [[conservatism]]",<ref>[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020430-5.html  President Promotes Compassionate Conservatism]. ''George W. Bush White House Archives.''</ref> Bush presided over eight years of failed policies such as [[No Child Left Behind]] (an underfunded initiative meant to improve schools by sanctioning them for failures),<ref>[https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/no-child-left-behind-an-overview/2015/04 No Child Left Behind: An Overview]. ''Education Week.'' April 10, 2015.</ref><ref>[https://www.vox.com/2015/7/27/9045491/no-child-left-behind-accountability The scariest lesson of No Child Left Behind]. ''Vox.'' Jul 27, 2015.</ref> a disastrous series of tax cuts for the wealthy that added trillions to the national debt and worsened income inequality,<ref>[https://www.cbpp.org/research/the-legacy-of-the-2001-and-2003-bush-tax-cuts The Legacy of the 2001 and 2003 “Bush” Tax Cuts]. ''Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.''  October 23, 2017.</ref> and an accelerated program of deregulation that allowed banks to sell millions of subprime mortgages and place bets on people going bankrupt.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7814704.stm Did Bush cause the financial crisis?] ''BBC News.'' 7 January 2009.</ref> Bush ignored warnings from economists that his policies would cause a subprime mortgage crisis and instigate the [[Great Recession]], instead maintaining that small government was worth it all and the free market would find a way.<ref>[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28001417/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/t/bush-administration-ignored-clear-warnings/ "Bush Administration Ignored Clear Warnings"], CNN via Associated Press (updated 1 December 2008, 5:43 PM ET).</ref> Bush also botched the federal response to [[Hurricane Katrina]],<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/08/decision-points-katrina-bush Decision Points: Katrina response was 'flawed', but I wasn't to blame – Bush]. ''The Guardian.'' 8 Nov 2010.</ref> launched a failed attempt to undermine [[Social Security]] through privatization,<ref>[https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/9/13781088/social-security-privatization-why-failed In 2005, Republicans controlled Washington. Their agenda failed. Here's why.] ''Vox.'' Jan 9, 2017.</ref> and divisively campaigned for a constitutional amendment banning [[same-sex marriage]] while refusing to support international efforts against violent [[homophobia]].<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ellen-degeneres-george-w-bush-s-cowboys-pal-around-reveals-ncna1064181 Ellen DeGeneres and George W. Bush's Cowboys meet-up reveals the cost of acceptance]. ''NBC News.'' Oct. 9, 2019.</ref> 

All the while, Bush tried to maintain the image that he cared, while his only goal was to enable his wealthy supporters in leeching as much as they could from the United States as it shambled its way into a slow collapse. In 2005, he said to a divorced mother of three, "You work three jobs? [[Rugged individualism|Uniquely American]], isn't it?" while taking a record-breaking number of vacations.<ref>[http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/remarks-by-president-bush-in-a-conversation-on-strengthening-social-security-53884007.html Remarks] made by Mary Mornin and George Bush on his "
Destroying
 Strengthening Social Security" Tour ("Get any sleep? LOL!")</ref><ref>Lauren Victoria Burke, [http://politic365.com/2012/05/08/obamas-vacations-of-any-president-bush-racked-up-the-most/ "Obama's Vacations? Of Any President, Bush Racked Up the Most"], ''Politic365''</ref>

His presidency was only saved from miserable obscurity by the [[9/11]] terrorist attacks, which gave him and his [[neoconservative]] toadies an excuse to plunge the United States into the [[Afghanistan War]] and the [[Iraq War]] on the pretense that this was all somehow part of a unified [[War on Terror]]. Instead, the invasion of Iraq had been justified entirely on lies,<ref>[https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/03/the-iraq-invasion-20-years-later-it-was-indeed-a-big-lie-that-launched-the-catastrophic-war/ The Iraq Invasion 20 Years Later: It Was Indeed a Big Lie that Launched the Catastrophic War]. ''Mother Jones.'' March 20, 2023.</ref> and the Afghanistan effort devolved into an aimless attempt at "nation building".<ref>[https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/09/why-afghan-nation-building-was-always-destined-fail  Why Afghan nation-building was always destined to fail]. ''Chatham House.'' 10 September 2021.</ref> Bush then signed off on various bills establishing a mass unwarranted surveillance apparatus<ref>[https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/the-privacy-lesson-of-9-11-mass-surveillance-is-not-the-way-forward  The Privacy Lesson of 9/11: Mass Surveillance is Not the Way Forward]. ''ACLU.''</ref> and established the [[TSA]] as a pointless waste of time and money.<ref>[https://www.tsa.gov/about/employee-stories/day-tsa-history-november-19-2001 This Day in TSA History: November 19, 2001]. Transportation Security Administration.</ref> By the time Bush left office, the United States was a demoralized nation trapped in multiple endless wars and mired in one of the worst financial meltdowns in modern history. 

A candidate of the party which detests growing the government or the national debt, Bush did better than any US president in history to do both. "It's funny," wrote Al Franken back when he was a comedian, "During the 2000 campaign, when Bush said he was against nation building, I didn't realize he meant only this nation."<ref name=Franken>''Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right'' by Al Franken (Dutton Books, 2003) ISBN 0-525-94764-7</ref>{{rp|381}} His father, [[George H. W. Bush]] did far more for his country despite serving half the time. What a failure. What a disappointment.

On the other hand, Bush was the first President to win the endorsement of [[YHWH|God]],<ref>Steven Waldman, [http://www.slate.com/articles/life/faithbased/2004/09/heaven_sent.html "Heaven Sent: Does God endorse George Bush?"], ''Slate.''</ref> and the first to be depicted in cinema wiping his ass.<ref>[http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/reels/films/list/0_45_5 Reviews of Oliver Stone's ''W.'']</ref> Bush is also famous for having the largest number of people worldwide ever in [[history]] to protest against him (~10–15 million);<ref>[http://world.time.com/2013/02/15/viewpoint-why-was-the-biggest-protest-in-world-history-ignored/ Viewpoint: Why Was the Biggest Protest in World History Ignored?] '''Time'''</ref> (not even [[Donald Trump|Trump]] beat that; he only got 4.2 million).<ref>[https://www.vox.com/2017/1/22/14350808/womens-marches-largest-demonstration-us-history-map The Women's Marches may have been the largest demonstration in US history] '''Vox'''</ref> Bush's miserable failure of a presidency left the [[Republican Party]] a hollow, purposeless shadow of itself, and the incompetent joke known as [[Donald Trump]] was able to assume control of with ease. A surge of [[Libertarianism]] occurred at around the same time.<ref>Michael Hirsh, [http://www.nationaljournal.com/s/69360/george-w-bush-he-gave-rise-tea-party "George W. Bush: He Gave Rise to the Tea Party"], ''National Journal''.</ref>

==The Boy King==
[[File:Gerald Ford greets George W. Bush.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Bush Sr. introduces his son to former president [[Gerald Ford]], 1984.]]
{{cquote|When you're the president’s son, in Washington people tend to respect that. I can reach my father at any time. Access is power.|||George W. Bush, 1992.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-23-et-turan23-story.html No holds barred]. ''LA Times.'' June 23, 2004.</ref>}}

Bush's lackluster resume speaks not just to ineptitude, but also [[Dunning-Kruger effect|hubris]]. He knew his resume, and yet he still thought himself capable of running the world's most powerful nation. An honest evaluation of his life leading up to the presidency is remarkably devoid of accomplishments for a future president.<ref>Richard A. Oppel, Jr. and Jim Yardley, [http://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/20/us/2000-campaign-texas-governor-bush-calls-himself-reformer-record-shows-label-may.html "THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE TEXAS GOVERNOR; Bush Calls Himself Reformer; the Record Shows the Label May Be a Stretch"], NYT 20 March 2000.</ref><ref>Mintz, John, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/04/21/george-w-bush-the-record-in-texas/3fcc6109-7332-45a6-9658-de52abc4c4ed/ "George W. Bush: The Record in Texas"], NYT 21 April 2000.</ref> There is a very consistent narrative of someone who was just given one [[Nepotism|free pass]] after another for far too long based on the strength of his daddy's name.<ref>Carney, James, [http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,127630,00.html "George W's Love-Hate Affair with Yale"], TIME 23 May 2001.</ref><ref name="Vietnam">George Lardner, Jr. and Lois Romano, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072899.htm "At Height of Vietnam, Bush Picks Guard"], WaPo July 28, 1999; Page A1.</ref><ref>George Lardner, Jr. and Lois Romano, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush073099.htm "Bush Name Helps Fuel Oil Dealings"], WaPo July 30, 1999; Page A1. Harkan energy was actual insider trading. He should have gone to prison. </ref><ref>Verhovek, Sam Howe, [http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/09/us/1994-elections-nation-bushes-texas-elects-george-w-while-florida-rejects-jeb.html "THE 1994 ELECTIONS: THE NATION THE BUSHES; Texas Elects George W. While Florida Rejects Jeb"], NYT 9 November 1994.</ref><ref>Berlow, Alan, [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/07/the-texas-clemency-memos/302755/ "The Texas Clemency Memos"], ''The Atlantic'' July/August 2003.</ref>

Junior's early life pales in comparison to that of his father's. Bush Senior was one of America's youngest naval aviators during [[World War II]], and he flew 58 sorties from the USS ''San Jacinto'', a light aircraft carrier.<ref>[https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/president-george-h-w-bushs-time-aboard-the-uss-san-jacinto-cvl-30-during-world-war-ii.html George H.W. Bush Flew 58 Combat Missions As One of the US Navy’s Youngest Aviators]. ''War History Online.''</ref> Senior almost died after being shot down by [[Japan]], luckily being saved by a US submarine before Japanese patrols found him in the ocean.<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-george-h-w-bush-survived-his-brush-with-death-in-world-war-ii/ How George H.W. Bush survived a harrowing brush with death in World War II]. ''CBS News.''</ref> Junior, on the other hand, used his name to escape service in the [[Vietnam War]] by having himself placed in the National Guard instead (he then spent much of that posting AWOL).<ref>[https://theintercept.com/2015/10/27/george-w-bush-was-awol-but-whats-truth-got-to-do-with-it/  George W. Bush Was AWOL, But What’s “Truth” Got to Do With It?] ''The Intercept.'' October 27 2015.</ref> Senior then rode his GI Bill into the prestigious Yale University, earning good grades and captaining its baseball team.<ref>[https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/President-George-H-W-Bush-Class-of-1948-13436489.php President George H.W. Bush, Class of 1948, carried Yale with him wherever he went]. ''New Hampshire Register.'' Dec 1, 2018.</ref> Junior was admitted to Yale as a legacy student (again coasting on his daddy's name)<ref>[https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-george-w-bush-benefit_b_5814680 How George W. Bush Benefited From Affirmative Action]. ''Huffington Post.''</ref> and only received mediocre grades.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2005/06/07/4684384/bush-beats-kerry-by-a-point-at-yale Bush Beats Kerry by a Point, at Yale]. ''NPR.''</ref> During his time on the board of Harken Energy, a Texas [[oil]] company, Junior sold his shares of the company's stock right before it crashed, an illegal act of insider trading.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jul/04/usa.enron Bush on back foot over corporate past]. ''The Guardian.'' 4 Jul 2002.</ref> Bush only avoided prison because the Securities and Exchange Commission couldn't find enough evidence to nail him in court, and they needed an ironclad case since Senior was the president at the time.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jul-14-na-harken14-story.html Why Investigation of Bush’s Stock Sale ‘Just Didn’t Pan Out’]. ''The LA Times.''</ref> Once again, Junior had benefited from the name of his father. 

===Early political aspirations===
[[File:1994 Texas gubernatorial election results map by county.svg|thumb|right|275px|Bush's 1994 election victory: 53.5% to 45.9%.]]
Having rarely had to work for anything based on his own merit, Bush was unsurprisingly out of his depth in the political world. Bush tried to run for a seat in the [[House of Representatives]] in 1978, but he lost after his opponent (truthfully) presented him as an elitist who was out of touch with the needs of rural Texans.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120218152807/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991017/aponline114059_000.htm  Bush Wasn't Always a Front-Runner]. ''Washington Post.'' Oct. 17, 1999.</ref> After this defeat, Bush slunk off to Washington DC to help his father run for president; it was during this time he reinvented himself as a [[God]]-fearing politician of the [[Religious Right]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080522093226/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/choice2000/bush/wead.html "George W. Bush and the religious right in the 1988 campaign of George H.W. Bush"]. ''PBS.'' June 17, 2005.</ref> 

He decided to run for the governorship of Texas in 1994, facing the popular incumbent Ann Richards. Bush had absolutely no experience to run on, and the main example of his leadership ability at the time was the time he had rallied a team of investors to help him buy the Texas Rangers.<ref name="texgvel">[https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/how-george-w-bush-changed-texas/  Yes, George W. Bush Changed Texas. But Not the Way You Think.] ''Texas Monthly.'' October 2023.</ref> The gubernatorial debates further exposed him as an airhead who knew nothing about how the state's government worked, and he stated that the most important issue facing the state was "the post–Vietnam War syndrome that blames others for society’s ills".<ref name="texgvel"/> Bush's only real advantage was the assistance of his daddy's pet political strategist, [[Karl Rove]], who ran Bush's campaign for him.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2006/06/13/5481603/karl-rove-the-presidents-boy-genius Karl Rove, the President's 'Boy Genius']. ''NPR.'' June 13, 2006.</ref> 

During this campaign, Bush vowed that he would veto and subvert any effort to repeal Texas' ban on sodomy [[hypocrisy|(which only applied to same-sex sodomy, not opposite-sex sodomy)]], calling it, [[homophobia|"a symbolic gesture of traditional values."]]<ref>Zachary Roth. [https://www.cjr.org/politics/one_mans_flip_is_another_mans.php One Man’s Flip Is Another Man’s Flop]. ''Columbia Journalism Review.'' July 15, 2004.</ref>

Despite his numerous shortcomings, Bush handily won the election due to Texas' growing rightward shift, the hugely Republican-leaning national environment during the 1994 midterm elections,<ref>[https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-podcast/why-is-this-happening/looking-echoes-1994-midterms-2022-steve-kornacki-podcast-transcript-n1300471 Looking at echoes of the 1994 Midterms in 2022 with Steve Kornacki: podcast and transcript]. ''MSNBC.'' Nov. 2, 2022.</ref> Rove's control over his campaign strategy, and the fact that his daddy had been the president.

===Governor of Texas===
[[File:George H. W. Bush, Laura Bush, George W. Bush 1997.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Governor Bush shows his parents around the newly-constructed George Bush Presidential Library, 1997.]]

In most ways, Bush was an unexceptional governor, as he embarked on few legislative initiatives and mostly let the state run itself.<ref name="texgvel"/> One major legacy of his is [[capital punishment]]: during his 5 years in office, 152 people were executed in Texas — more than 30 per year.<ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/george-bush-executed-texans-at-faster-rate-than-rick-perry George Bush Executed Texans at Faster Rate than Rick Perry]. ''ABC News.'' September 22, 2011.</ref> This is the fastest rate of executions of any state in US history. Bush signed off on orders and legislation reducing the amount of time taken for death-row appeals and eliminating procedural safeguards meant to ensure the state didn't execute innocent people.<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bush-and-the-texas-death-machine-189483/ Bush and the Texas Death Machine]. ''Rolling Stone.'' August 3, 2000.</ref> Bush rarely commuted sentences, and most of those instances were in the early years of his term before his views apparently hardened.<ref>[https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2004-06-11/215418/ Unpardonable: The Bush record of 'compassion' began long before his sojourn in D.C.]. ''Austin Chronicle.'' June 11, 2004.</ref> 

Texas also suffered from other problem's during Bush's term. It had more children without healthcare (1.4 million) than any state save [[Arizona]], it was the fifth worst state for toxic chemicals released into the environment, and had by far the largest prison population of any state.<ref>[https://www.thetimes.com/article/bush-foes-jeer-at-the-bad-state-of-texas-hf25mrtvqdg Bush foes jeer at the bad state of Texas]. ''The Times.'' September 30 2000.</ref> With more than 25% of the Texas population uninsured, the state ranked near the top of the nation in terms of AIDS, diabetes, tuberculosis and teenage pregnancy.<ref>[https://californiahealthline.org/morning-breakout/texas-high-uninsured-rate-underscores-bushs-record/ TEXAS: High Uninsured Rate Underscores Bush’s Record]. ''California Healthline''. Apr 11 2000.</ref> A great start for the "compassionate conservatism" guy, eh?

While serious, these problems weren't impressive enough to catch headlines and be labeled "crises", so Bush handily won a landslide reelection in 1998.<ref>[https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1998&fips=48&f=0&off=5&elect=0 1998 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Texas].</ref> In 1999, Bush signed a bill deregulating Texas' power grid, but it contained a provision requiring 2,000 megawatts of [[renewable energy]] capacity by 2009.<ref>[https://www.technologyreview.com/2016/08/29/70295/george-w-bush-helped-make-texas-a-clean-energy-powerhouse/ George W. Bush Helped Make Texas a Clean-Energy Powerhouse]. ''MIT Technology Review.'' August 29, 2016.</ref> This paved the way for Texas' renewable energy boom, especially in wind power, one of Bush's relatively few major positive legacies as governor. On the other hand, Bush just couldn't help being silly even in his second term. He signed a legal proclamation that 10 June 2000 would be "Jesus Day".<ref>[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jesus-day/ Jesus Day: Was June 10 'Jesus Day' in Texas?] ''Snopes.''</ref>

==Election controversy==
{{main|2000 U.S. Presidential Election}}
[[File:Cartoon.png|165px|thumb|right|Cartoon mocking the partisan outcome of the decision.<ref>''Jews for Buchanan: did you hear the one about the theft of the American presidency?'' by John Nichols</ref>{{rp|198}}]]

{{cquote|I'm getting more of a 'Nam vibe. You know, unwinnable wars, inescapable downward spiral, chaos in the streets. That sort of thing.|||Psychic [[Stephen Colbert|Stephen T. Colbert]] on November 7, 2000<ref>[http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/x1g45x/2000-election-coverage Indecision 2000]</ref>}}

{{cquote|It was amazing I won. I was running against peace and prosperity and incumbency.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/16/world/president-europe-president-plain-talking-bush-using-his-charm-european-stage.html THE PRESIDENT IN EUROPE: THE PRESIDENT; Plain-Talking Bush Is Using His Charm On European Stage]</ref>}}

{{cquote|George W. Bush is not like Hitler. Hitler was elected.|||Patton Oswalt<ref name=nasty>''The nastiest things ever said about Republicans'' by Martin Higgins</ref>{{rp|32}}}}

Bush was initially elected in 2000, running against then-[[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Al Gore]]. Even his primary campaign was filthy, as [[John McCain]] can testify.<ref>Fallows, James, [https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/12/john-mccain-you-should-be-ashamed/67453/ "John McCain: 'You Should Be Ashamed'"], ''Atlantic'' 12.2.10.</ref> Bush's victories can be partly attributed to the GOP's willingness to [[Swiftboating|tarnish the service record of veterans.]] Ironically, he killed McCain's presidential hopes twice. (McCain represented a third term of Bush in 2008, and eight years beforehand he was a moderate choice who was disliked by the religious right Bush would become the spokesman for in the White House.)

The general election vote was very close, with the election hanging on a very few votes in [[Florida]]; due to this, the election eventually had to be resolved in the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] in the debacle known as ''[[Bush v. Gore]]'', a decision made purely on ideological lines.<ref>[https://www.oyez.org/cases/2000/00-949 Bush v. Gore]</ref>

Even if one accepts the notion that Bush was the legitimate winner, this election was still filled with controversy. Bush was entering office as the first president since Benjamin Harrison to not win the popular vote back in 1888,<ref>[https://www.history.com/news/presidents-electoral-college-popular-vote 5 Presidents Who Lost the Popular Vote But Won the Election]</ref> and was the third closest election in United States history.<ref>[https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/11/the-five-closest-u-s-presidential-elections/ The Five Closest U.S. Presidential Elections]</ref> Bush was entering office after barely winning the election in question, with around a fifth of Americans not even viewing him as a legitimate President.<ref>[https://news.gallup.com/poll/2212/eight-ten-americans-accept-bush-legitimate-president.aspx Eight in Ten Americans to Accept Bush as "Legitimate" President]</ref> So much for being "a uniter, not a divider."<ref>[https://www.salon.com/1999/04/09/bush/ Prodigal son]</ref>

==''Annus horribilis''==
[[File:Deficits vs. Debt Increases - 2009.png|thumb|right|400px|US federal deficit and debt from 2001 to 2009.]]

{{cquote|When you were a candidate, I called you a corporation running for the Presidency masquerading as a human being. In time you turned a metaphor into a reality. As a corporation, you express no remorse, no shame, no compassion and a resistance to admit anything other than that you have done nothing wrong.|||[[Ralph Nader]]<ref>Belle, Nicole, [http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/ralph-nader-sends-open-letter-president "Ralph Nader Sends Open Letter To President Bush: 'The Country You Destroyed'"], Crooks and Liars (1/05/14 at 2:25 am).</ref>}}

There was a significant "wait and see" and "the parties are the same" sentiment, combined with a hefty "tax refund checks for everyone!" deal he'd arranged. Certainly, it was peanuts for working-class families. Americans had always sold themselves cheaply when it came to that.<ref>Prante, Gerald, [https://taxfoundation.org/did-2001-tax-rebate-checks-stimulate-consumption-economic-evidence/ "Did the 2001 Tax Rebate Checks Stimulate Consumption? The Economic Evidence"], Tax Foundation 1.21.08.</ref> In '04, Bush was re-elected based on some stupid phrase about horses. [[Hunter S. Thompson]] checked out after that. His friends low-key believe that this election result is what drove him to suicide.<ref>Hunter S. Thompson and Jann Wenner, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=rjtiAC2NCwwC&pg=PT482&lpg=PT482&dq=One+month+after+Bush%E2%80%99s+inauguration+for+a+second+term+%E2%80%93+Hunter+would+be+dead&source=bl&ots=RiaEtO_sXk&sig=rbc9-59SQI_ep6WgLNv35xoFSRY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib1e-Ust_YAhVJMd8KHdnCACkQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=One%20month%20after%20Bush%E2%80%99s%20inauguration%20for%20a%20second%20term%20%E2%80%93%20Hunter%20would%20be%20dead&f=false "His Last Bow"], ''Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone: The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson'', Simon and Schuster 25 October 2011.</ref>

The fundamental difference between Bush and just about any Republican president, except perhaps [[Calvin Coolidge|Coolidge]], was that Bush liked being President, but he really didn't like doing the job of being president. By that, we mean he wasn't steering the ship.<ref>Thomas, Helen, [http://www.seattlepi.com/local/opinion/article/No-wonder-Bush-doesn-t-connect-with-the-rest-of-1126930.php "No wonder Bush doesn't connect with the rest of the country"], Seattle Post-Intelligencer 14 October 2003.</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3384845.stm "O'Neill lashes 'blind man' Bush"], [[BBC]] (10 January, 2004, 05:55 GMT).</ref><ref>Woodward, Bob, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/14/AR2007091402451.html "Greenspan Is Critical Of Bush in Memoir"], WaPo 15 September 2007.</ref><ref>Bedard, Paul, [https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/06/10/michael-brown-fratboy-bush-didnt-get-katrina "Michael Brown: 'Fratboy' Bush 'Didn't Get' Katrina"], U.S. News (10 June 2011, 12:11 p.m.).</ref> Sure, he went to all the correspondents' dinners and reacted to everyone piling on him with a dopey smile.<ref>Sheryl Gay Goldberg and Jim Rutenberg, [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/23/us/politics/23bush.html "As G.O.P. Mopes, Bush Adds the Duties of Optimist in Chief"], NYT 23 October 2006.</ref><ref>Robert Parry, Sam Parry, and Nat Parry, [https://fair.org/extra/journalists-humbled-but-unrepentant/ "Journalists 'humbled' but unrepentant"], FAIR November 2007.</ref> But if you really look at the conversations reported to have occurred during the financial crisis, he was more or less oblivious to what was happening while Hank Paulson was left in the driver's seat.<ref>Andrews, Edmund J. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/business/17greenspan.html "A ‘Disappointed’ Greenspan Lashes Out at Bush’s Economic Policies"], 17 September 2007.</ref><ref>Jo Becker, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, and Stephen Labaton, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/21admin.html "White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire"], ''NYT'' 12.20.08.</ref> He actually showed some self-awareness by taking experienced people like Cheney and Rumsfeld and handing them unprecedented power, and yet ''that'' turned out to be the biggest mistake of his presidency. Like Rove himself in effect once said, [[Reality-based community|they're doers, not thinkers.]]<ref>Hagan, Joe, [http://nymag.com/news/politics/elections-2012/jeb-bush-2012-10/index4.html "Bush in the Wilderness - Jeb Bush's Complicated Legacy"], ''New York Magazine'' 10.22.12.</ref>
[[File:Bushtaxcuts.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Signing the Bush tax cuts.]]
*The economy struggled:<ref>Richard Kogan and Matt Fiedler, [http://www.cbpp.org/research/from-surplus-to-deficit "From Surplus to Deficit"], Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 12.13.06.</ref> while the Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered the "numbers" lost in the post-dot-com crash, the [[dollar]] dropped by a similar amount against the [[euro]] — meaning that in euros, the U.S. economy was stagnant for six years.<ref>Vikas Bajaj and Ian Austen, [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/business/worldbusiness/21dollar.html "Dollar Falls to New Low Against the Euro"], NYT 9.21.07.</ref> The U.S. as a whole experienced zero net job creation.<ref>Irwin, Neil, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/01/AR2010010101196.html "Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers"], WaPo 2 January 2010.</ref>
*He [[War on science|ignored science]] on every major issue, exerting political pressure to [[Release the data#Getting it right|hide facts]] about [[climate change]](a term his administration coined because the already popular phrase "global warming" was seen as too scary by the administration<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2003/mar/04/usnews.climatechange Memo exposes Bush's new green strategy]</ref>),<ref>Dickinson, Tim, [http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/six-years-of-deceit-20070628 "Six Years of Deceit"], ''Rolling Stone'' 6.28.07.</ref> or pushing [[abstinence]]-only [[sex education]].<ref>Stein, Rob, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032602457.html "Health bill restores $250 million in abstinence-education funds"], WaPo 3.27.10.</ref> This even hampered what may objectively be his [[Stopped clock|only]] positive legacy to the world, a spike in [[AIDS]] funding to [[Africa]].<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/washington/05aids.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin In Global Battle on AIDS, Bush Creates Legacy], ''The New York Times''</ref>
:When Bush got elected, he needed to throw [[anti-abortion]] advocates who supported him a bone. He didn't want to start a knockdown drag-out fight with Congress and the courts he couldn't win, so he issued an executive order freezing human embryonic stem cell research with government funds. The pro-choice side wasn't happy with it, but since it didn't stop women from getting abortions, they didn't fight it too hard. Also, the political points he scored off of the ban was worth more to him politically than the benefits of stem cell research.<ref>Jeremy Mainer and Judith Graham, [http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-07-19/news/0607190211_1_embryonic-stem-cells "Experts rip Rove stem cell remark"], ''Chicago Tribune'' 19 July 2006.</ref> The ban was lifted once Bush left office, but railing against stem cell research is still a cheap way to curry favor with anti-abortion supporters.
[[File:No Child Left Behind Act.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Signing "No Child Left Behind", which left many children behind.]]
*Two potentially useful contributions, "[[No Child Left Behind]]" and [[Illegal immigration#Attempts at immigration reform|immigration reform]], failed because of lack of funding and lack of support, respectively. 
:NCLB required schools to improve all student test scores by 2014. Let's face it, there is no way to accomplish this except by setting [[Pseudostatistics|incredibly low standards]]. Even the GAO noted in a 2009 report that multiple-choice tests have limited what goes on in schools.<ref>[http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-911 "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT: Enhancements in the Department of Education's Review Process Could Improve State Academic Assessments"], Government Accountability Office 9.24.09.</ref> Under so much pressure to "teach to the test", schools retooled their curriculum to maximize the amount of time spent on testing, which mostly profited the testing companies.<ref>David, Owen, [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/features/privatization/four/ "No Test Left Behind"], TPM.</ref> And who does this law blame for any problems? [[Scapegoat|Why, the teachers.]]<ref>Pear, Robert, [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/24/us/education-chief-calls-union-terrorist-then-recants.html "Education Chief Calls Union Terrorists, Then Recants"], NYT 2.25.05.</ref>
* The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act. From the Wikipedia page: "It prohibits the federal government from negotiating discounts with drug companies." In countries with universal health care, drug companies are not allowed to make a huge profit margin. This keeps the cost of health care down. However, in the US, we don't restrict how much money companies can make off you, so they fuck you up. This law's lead architect left the government right after this bill passed and took a job with the pharmaceutical lobby for $2m/year.<ref>Katherine Skiba and Angela Caputo, [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-hastert-income-met-0602-20150602-story.html "Dennis Hastert had multiple sources of income after leaving Congress"], ''Chicago Tribune'' 21 September 2017.</ref> And which small-government advocate was the champion of this? Dennis Hastert and George W. Bush.<ref>Silverstein, Stuart, [http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/drug-industry-pharmaceutical-lobbyists-medicare-part-d-prices/ "This Is Why Your Drug Prescriptions Cost So Damn Much"], ''Mother Jones'' (21 October 2016, 10:00am).</ref>
*At the time, there was a lot of talk of replacing Sandra Day O'Connor with a woman. Harriet Miers was the Bush administration's middle finger to that idea. The most important thing in a SCOTUS nominee is expertise on Constitutional Law; even the Republican Senate members that interviewed her agreed that she lacked this.<ref>Michael A. Fletcher and Charles Babington, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/27/AR2005102700547.html "Miers, Under Fire From Right, Withdrawn as Court Nominee"], WaPO 28 October 2005.</ref> There was no shortage of conservative judicial candidates. He could have just nominated [[Samuel Alito|Alito]] or Sutton or Kavanaugh or Pryor or whoever else. He nominated Miers because he thought he could get away with putting his family lawyer on the Supreme Court. 

:The whole affair stank of Karl Rove's greasy BO.<ref>Allen, Mike, [http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1116600,00.html "Dobson: What Rove Said About Miers"], TIME 11 October 2005.</ref> Also, why isn't she in jail?<ref>Kane, Paul, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/14/AR2008021402415.html "West Wing Aides Cited for Contempt"], WaPo 15 February 2008.</ref> The nomination even got opposition from conservative media figures like Ann Coulter<ref>[https://anncoulter.com/2005/10/05/this-is-what-advice-and-consent-means/ This Is What ‘advice And Consent’ Means]</ref><ref>[https://anncoulter.com/2005/10/12/does-this-law-degree-make-my-resume-look-fat/ Does This Law Degree Make My Resume Look Fat?]</ref><ref>[https://anncoulter.com/2005/10/19/who-was-the-second-choice/ Who Was The Second Choice?]</ref> and Rush Limbaugh<ref>[https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2005/10/10/miers_nomination_triggered_conservative_pushback/ Miers Nomination Triggered Conservative Pushback]</ref> thought it was a horrible choice.
*Bush is also the creator of the [[White House]] Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, an office of the White House that focuses on tearing down the wall of [[separation of church and state]] through the use of so-called [[faith-based initiative]]s,<ref>Fletcher, Michael A., [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR2006091801121.html "Few Black Churches Get Funds"] WaPo 9.19.06.</ref> which include teaching school children that [[prayer]] will magically solve all of their problems, and spreading blatant [[propaganda]].<ref>Coan, Andrew B., [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/22/opinion/oe-coan22 "A license to preach"], ''L.A. Times'' 2.22.07.</ref> In many ways, the [[New Atheist]] resurgence in the United States can be seen as a backlash against his rhetoric and focus at the time.
* Both sides banned earmarks towards the end of Bush's/beginning of Obama's term.<ref>Pear, Robert, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/washington/10earmark.html?mcubz=3 "From Bush, Foe of Earmarks, Similar Items"], NYT 10 February 2008.</ref> Pork-barrel spending was pretty common in Congress since, unfortunately, it's often the only way to get bills to pass.<ref>Mercia, Dan, [http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/17/politics/earmarks-help-congress/index.html "Longing for pork: Could earmarks help Congress get things done?"], [[CNN]] (updated 17 October 2013, 4:57 PM ET.</ref><ref>Hudak, John, [https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2013/10/30/lessons-from-the-shutdown-pork-and-earmarks-help-break-gridlock/ "Lessons from the Shutdown: Pork and Earmarks Help Break Gridlock"], Brookings Institute 30 October 2013.</ref> It was really a fart in the wind from a federal budget standpoint. Moreover, states like Mississippi and Rhode Island would have even fewer infrastructure projects than they do. Perhaps most importantly, getting funding for local projects important to the community was a great way for incumbent Congressmen to show their worth.<ref>Kevin Bogardus and Manu Raju, [http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/3420-bush-earmarks-plan-roils-dems-fractures-gop "Bush earmarks plan roils Dems, fractures GOP"], ''The Hill'' (15 January 2008, 6:38 PM EST).</ref> Now they have no way of doing that except for pushing [[racism]], [[culture war]] crap, and mindless warmongering. 
*He looked for all the world like an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTQY1Aw9zcs arrogant moron.] Oddly enough, that hurts your image on the global stage.<ref>[http://www.pewglobal.org/2008/12/18/global-public-opinion-in-the-bush-years-2001-2008/ "Global Public Opinion in the Bush Years (2001-2008)"], Pew Research 12.18.08.</ref><ref>[http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/07/18/chapter-1-attitudes-toward-the-united-states/ "Attitudes toward the United States"], Pew Research 7.18.13.</ref> So now, instead of Americans being those "interesting but kinda large people who go to all the museums and talk loudly", we're "those obnoxious fuckholes who think they're better than everybody." How the hell did we steal that title from the [[France|French]]? (What’s great about that is that we accepted that role years ago, and really [[Donald Trump|lean into it now.]]) In the end, the U.S. lost its moral authority to—wait for it—''[[Germany]].''<ref>Whitlock, Craig, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011202034.html "Warm Welcome Awaits Germany's New Leader"], WaPo 1.13.06.</ref>
*Also, he made [[Anti-intellectualism|being stupid]] fashionable. Because hey, learning isn't that important, I mean look at our president, he can't pronounce "nuclear", but he does everything by instinct and faith.<ref>[http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/nbc-news/george-w-bush-hey-c-students-you-can-be-president-446627395744 George W. Bush: Hey C Students, You Can Be President]</ref> ([[Dan Quayle|Quayle]] was universally ridiculed for such gaffes.) Reagan made being selfish and greedy fashionable so that, a generation later, we had the resurgence of [[Ayn Rand]], the [[Enron]] scandal (courtesy of Bush's friend "Kenny Boy"),<ref>[http://www.economist.com/node/938154 "Bush and Enron's collapse"], 11 January 2002.</ref> the failure of the financial system, and the rise of the [[Tea Party]].

:A generation from now, it will be the rise of the [[Idiocracy]]. It started with the Bush administration's attack on education: Dumbing-down everything, [[School vouchers|firing teachers]], advocating [[intelligent design]], [[Texas Board of Education|rewriting textbooks]], and the like. Levels of discourse have plummeted everywhere, from Reddit to Congress. Reagan made Bush possible. Bush made Trump inevitable.
*All in all, his end-of-term approval ratings were so low they fell down to numbers reminiscent of [[Richard Nixon]] after [[Watergate]].{{efn|Due to his massive spike in approval ratings after 9/11, this also meant he was both the most popular and least popular President in United States history at different points of his presidency.<ref>[https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2008/12/18/bush-and-public-opinion/ Bush and Public Opinion]</ref>}}

===Housing crash===
[[File:Subprime mortgage originations, 1996-2008.GIF|thumb|right|300px|Subprime mortgage lending increased dramatically between 2003 and the start of the economic crisis.]]
{{main|Banking crisis}}
In fact, almost everything his administration touched turned to dust. The American Dream Downpayment Act 2003 was crafted as a laudable attempt to create 5.5 million new homeowners by 2010. In [[reality]], it encouraged private lenders to reduce their lending standards (like, for instance, not being too fussed about the documentation of income and assets), thus triggering the boom in so-called "subprime" mortgages in the first decade of the 21st century.<ref>[[Niall Ferguson|Ferguson, Niall]]. ''The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World'' (New York: Allan Lane, 2009), p.267.</ref> The result was tens of millions of dollars of debt for people who couldn't be expected to repay them. "Ownership Society" is a buzzphrase that deserves a place alongside "The Great Moderation" and "Iraqi Freedom" as the pinnacle of Bush-era delusion.<ref>Jo Becker, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, and Stephen Labatondec, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21iht-admin.4.18853088.html "Bush drive for home ownership fueled housing bubble"], NYT 21 December 2008.</ref>

This debt was taken to rating agencies, slapped "AAA" ratings on them, and sold on to [[business]]es, [[Social Security|pensioners]] and even [[Iceland|entire countries]], also thanks to financial reforms pushed through by [[Reagan]] and Bush I. This worked fine, so long as interest rates stayed low (so their debts didn't increase), everyone kept their jobs, and house prices kept rising. As everyone knows, none of these things happened. It was clear the Bush administration (with some allies in the Fed) were trying to keep the economy propped up until after the election, as though they knew they were going to lose and wanted to be able to pin it on the Democrats. Of course, it all blew up too soon.<ref>Bull, Alister, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/19/geithner-accused-interest-rate-cut_n_2508856.html "Timothy Geithner Accused Of Alerting Banks To 2007 Interest Rate Cut For 2nd Time"], HuffPo (19 January 2013, 11:59 pm ET).</ref><ref>Cassidy, John, [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/09/29/bailing-out "Bailing Out"], ''New Yorker'' 29 September 2008.</ref> Not that Obama was able to exploit it to any lasting effect.<ref>David Cho, Lori Montgomery, and Shailagh Murray, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/21/AR2008112102811.html "Obama Picks N.Y. Fed President Geithner as Treasury Secretary"], WaPo 22 November 2008.</ref>

The housing bust in the US (2006) contributed to [[Great Recession|a global recession]] (2008), which is an underlying cause of these phenomena: stagnant or declining standards of living, unrest and forced migration on [[European Union|Europe's borders]], unease at bailing out [[Greece]] and [[Spain]], the economic crisis in [[Ukraine]] and [[Crimea]], and economic anxiety in the U.S. giving us President Trump, who is acting belligerent towards [[Kim Jong-un|Rocket Man.]] It'll be fine, just lock up all the failing Austrian artists so the plot can't continue.

===Disaster response===
[[File:Hurricane Katrina President Bush with New Orleans Mayor.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Bush with the mayor of New Orleans.]]
{{main|Hurricane Katrina}}

{{cquote|I know that half the world right now thinks our leader is the Devil...and, most of us would agree. I don't have to make fun of the president - he does it by himself, okay? He does it by himself! Every time he comes on TV, I can't wait to hear what he has to say, espcially during press conferences, right? "Mr. President, question: it's been over a year. What is your plan for Katrina?" "We're gonna find her. That's right. And we're gonna bring Katrina to justice. We have every reason to believe Katrina is connected to Al-Qaeda. Qaeda, Katrina - they both start with a 'K'".|||[[wikipedia:Gabriel Iglesias|Gabriel Iglesias]] doing an accurate summary of the Dubya presidency during his 2007 special ''Hot and Fluffy''.}}

The Bush family's indifference to the plight of Louisiana is a shameful moment in American history.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/us/nationalspecial/barbara-bush-calls-evacuees-better-off.html "Barbara Bush Calls Evacuees Better Off"], NYT 9.7.05.</ref><ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bush-tour-a-photo-op-says-senator/2005/09/04/1125772395413.html "Bush tour a 'photo op': Louisiana senator"], SMH (4 September 2005, 11:35AM).</ref> Europeans were appalled at the casualness with which the government went about saving those clinging to life on top of buildings.<ref>Cornwell, Rupert, [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hurricane-katrina-the-storm-that-shamed-america-2057164.html "'Hurricane Katrina: The storm that shamed America"], ''Independent'' 8.19.10.</ref> It was the same agency that co-ordinated the 9/11 response. They laid the blame on FEMA to make people forget that he chose to go fundraise for other Republicans at private events after Katrina had already begun.<ref>https://www.cbsnews.com/news/reporters-notebook-george-w-bush-and-the-week-hurricane-katrina-hit/</ref>

The "Brownie" debacle was the point at which Bush realized the fence he'd built around himself was made of rotten wood. Michael Brown was a family friend, by all accounts, who had almost zero experience. It also seemed like he got no coaching on how to be in front of cameras or deal with the pressure of a large-scale disaster.<ref>Daren Fonda and Rita Healey, [http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1103003,00.html "How Reliable Is Brown's Resume?"], TIME 8 September 2005.</ref> GWB went on national TV to say "heckuva job, Brownie"—before throwing him to the wolves.<ref>Dickerson, John, [http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2005/09/dangling_man.html "Dangling Man: Michael Brown twists slowly in the wind"], Slate (8 September 2005, 7:16 PM_.</ref> A lot of the worst shit [[FEMA]] did took months and years to be felt, like massively delaying payments and sticking people who lost their homes in trailers made of carcinogens.<ref>Hsu, Spencer S., [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/19/AR2007071901039.html "FEMA Knew Of Toxic Gas In Trailers"], WaPo 20 July 2007.</ref> Oh, and that standoff at the bridge into Gretna when all those wet and starving refugees got turned away at gunpoint.<ref>Witt, Howard, [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-gretna_wittsep04-story.html "Katrina aftermath still roils Greta"], ''Chicago Tribune'' (4 September 2008, 6:21 AM)</ref>

Brown, who resigned in disgrace over his handling of the cleanup, later admitted that the White House only wanted to federalize Louisiana's response, where the governor was a Democrat, and not in Republican-led Mississippi to embarrass Louisiana officials. Brown added that the White House saw a chance to “rub [Kathleen Blanco’s] nose in it.”<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN23312933 "Louisiana governor seeks Katrina probe after comments"], Reuters (1/23/07 7:35pm EST). '''Blanco''': "They were trying to get at me, but they hurt our people. They were playing politics while our people were dying."</ref> Blanco declined to seek re-election and was replaced with [[Bobby Jindal|Bobby 
Singer
 Jindal]], who defeated then-Democrat contender Walter Boasso.<ref>Roth, Zachary, [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/jindal-admits-katrina-story-was-false "Jindal Admits Katrina Story Was False"], TPM (2/27/09, 4:39 PM EST).</ref><ref>[http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/08/gov_bobby_jindals_writing_on_e.html "Gov. Bobby Jindal's writing on 'exorcism' gets new attention"], ''Times-Picayune'' via Associated Press (3 August 2012, 7:30 PM).</ref>

Much like [[Fun:Michigan|Detroit/Flint]] and their "emergency management", the clearing of New Orleans and dismantling of its public education system should be understood as experimentation of new policies to deal with the crises of American society and may be applied closer to home in the not-so-far future.<ref>Ydtie, John, [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90005954 "No Title? No Easy Access to Post-Katrina Aid"], NPR (28 April 2008, 1:55 PM ET).</ref><ref>Filosa, Gwen, [http://www.nola.com/katrina/index.ssf/2010/09/post-hurricane_katrina_housing.html "Post-Hurricane Katrina housing costs put many on the edge"], ''Times-Picayune'' (14 September 2010, 9:00 AM ).</ref><ref>Brown, Emma, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2015/09/03/katrina-swept-away-new-orleans-school-system-ushering-in-new-era/ "Katrina swept away New Orleans’ school system, ushering in new era"], WaPo 3 September 2015.</ref><ref>Flavelle, Christopher, [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-23/trump-fema-chief-supports-cutting-coverage-for-flood-prone-homes "Trump FEMA Chief Supports Cutting Coverage for Flood-Prone Homes"], Bloomberg (23 August 2017, 1:00 AM PDT).</ref>

===War on Terror===
{{cquote|All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for their private corporations.|||[[Osama bin Laden]] in 2004<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/01/binladen.tape/ "Bin Laden: Goal is to bankrupt U.S."], CNN via Al-Jazeera (1 November 2004, 8:07 PM EST).</ref>}}
[[Image:chickenhawks.gif|thumb|While misspending his youth, he managed to avoid military service by hiding in the National Guard, which he skipped out on early.<ref name="Vietnam" />]]

{{cquote|[W]e will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms.|||Bush, one day after 9/11<ref>[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010912-4.html Remarks by the President In Photo Opportunity with the National Security Team]</ref>}}

{{cquote|I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091215054315/http://www.hud.gov:80/news/speeches/presremarks.cfm Remarks by the President on Homeownership]</ref>}}

When Bush became President, he read history books and biographies voraciously. His studies led him to believe that it was important to focus on history's judgment rather than on contemporary criticism.<ref>Harrington, Walt, [https://theamericanscholar.org/dubya-and-me/ "Dubya and Me"], American Scholar 25 August 2011.</ref><ref>Vendantam, Shankar, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/29/AR2007072900973.html "Bush and Counterfactual Confidence"], WaPo 30 July 2007.</ref> The specific example was how Lincoln took all sorts of extreme measures to safeguard the Homeland (like [[PATRIOT Act|suspending Habeus Corpus]]). The problem, of course, with this analogy is that Lincoln was facing the greatest threat America has ever faced to its existence, and [[Delusions of grandeur|Bush was facing Al-Qaeda.]]

====9/11====
His administration disregarded [[intelligence (government)|intelligence]] estimates, and instead manufactured its own intelligence to support [[political]] goals.<ref>Sniffen, Michael J. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/27/AR2007012700641_pf.html "Ex-Cheney Aide Details Media Tactics"], WaPo via Associated Press (27 January 2007, 10:05 PM).</ref><ref name="schmitt">Schmitt, Eric, [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/28/us/threats-responses-military-spending-pentagon-contradicts-general-iraq-occupation.html "THREATS AND RESPONSES: MILITARY SPENDING; Pentagon Contradicts General On Iraq Occupation Force's Size"], NYT 28 February 2003.</ref> [[CIA]] case officer Michael Scheuer, former head of the [[Osama Bin Laden|Bin Laden]] unit, had warned the Clinton administration about a need to take action. This was in 1999. It was hardly classified intelligence:<ref>Anderson, Jake, [http://theantimedia.org/ex-cia-chief-bush-and-cheney-knew-911-was-imminent-concealed-intelligence/ "Ex-CIA Chief: Bush and Cheney Knew 9/11 Was Imminent, Concealed Intelligence"], Antimedia 11.18.15.</ref> GWB received a briefing memo compiled by all the US intelligence agencies, which stated ''Bin Laden determined to strike in the US.''<ref>Hassan, Mehdi, [http://www.newstatesman.com/north-america/2011/09/bin-laden-cia-scheuer-qaeda "Bin Laden should have been dead long ago": Mehdi Hasan on the CIA hunt"], ''New Statesman'' 5.9.11.</ref><ref>Eichenwald, Kurt, [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/the-bush-white-house-was-deaf-to-9-11-warnings.html?_r=0 "The Deafness Before the Storm"], ''[[New York Times]]'' 9.10.12.</ref> The Bush team began referring to Richard Clarke, the anti-terrorism czar, as "chicken little" because he wouldn't shut up about an impending attack.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/08/05/time.history/ "They Had A Plan"], CNN (5 August 2002, 11:01 )</ref> They all had a good laugh.

A month before, Bush had been given what has been called he Phoenix Memo, which warned of "the possibility of a coordinated effort by Osama bin Laden to send students to the United States to attend civil aviation universities and colleges."<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2002/US/05/21/phoenix.memo/index.html Senators question 'Phoenix memo' author]</ref>

To give everybody an idea of how obvious it was to others that a terrorist attack was going to happen and that Osama was going to be behind it, former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham "identified twelve instances when the 9/11 plot could have been potentially discovered and foiled" in his book ''Intelligence Matters''.<ref>''The Truth (With Jokes)'' by Al Franken</ref>{{rp|40}}

In any event, we were off to war. Bin Laden was reportedly stunned by the initial US incursion into Afghanistan. Before long, the American military had managed to kill or capture some two-thirds of the al-Qaida leadership, and Bin Laden was reportedly seriously wounded. The US could have ended it right then and there, but instead...they stopped. The focus of the military and CIA turned to Iraq, and Afghanistan was quietly forgotten. That gave al-Qaida time to disappear into Pakistan (where they were essentially invulnerable), where they regrouped and spread out like a franchise.<ref>Coera, Gordon, [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-14190032 "Bin Laden's Tora Bora escape, just months after 9/11"], BBC 21 July 2011.</ref><ref>Gall, Carlotta, [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/magazine/what-pakistan-knew-about-bin-laden.html "What Pakistan Knew About Bin Laden"], NYT 19 March 2014.</ref><ref>Reynolds, Mara, [http://articles.latimes.com/2004/oct/14/nation/na-osama14 "Bush 'Not Concerned' About Bin Laden in '02"], ''L.A. Times'' 14 October 2004.</ref><ref>Craig, Tim, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/an-offshoot-of-al-qaeda-is-regrouping-in-pakistan/2016/06/03/4d0995bc-2752-11e6-8329-6104954928d2_story.html "An offshoot of al-Qaeda is regrouping in Pakistan"], WaPO 3 June 2016.</ref>

As for us, we're still waiting for the boats, planes, public transportation, taxis, jitneys, mules, goats, and all the other conveyances that the GWB repeatedly warned us that Al-Qaeda and the Taliban would use to reach us if we didn't eradicate them...in Iraq?<ref>Milbank, Dana, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50679-2004Jun17.html "Bush Defends Assertions of Iraq-Al Qaeda Relationship"] ''[[WaPo]]'' 6.18.04.</ref>

It must be noted that Bush was famously slow to investigate the attack, not signing legislation that created the commission until November 27, 2002<ref>[https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-commission-report#section_2 9/11 Commission Report]</ref> and Bush had only agreed to do such a thing after "intense pressure from families of Sept. 11 victims."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/15/us/threats-responses-inquiry-white-house-gives-way-sept-11-commission-congress-set.html THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE INQUIRY; White House Gives Way On a Sept. 11 Commission; Congress Is Set to Create It]</ref> Bush also infamously attempted to make Henry Kissinger the head of said investigation, although he was forced to resign less than a month later.<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/13/kissinger.resigns/ Kissinger resigns as head of 9/11 commission]</ref> Bush later chose Philip Zelikow as Executive Director, who some on the commission went so far to call a "mole" due to his close ties with the Bush White House.<ref>[https://www.newsweek.com/untold-story-911-probe-93453 Untold Story of the 9/11 Probe]</ref> Both of the co-chairs later said it felt like they were "set up to fail" by the administration.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070108233707/http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/911hamilton.html 9/11: TRUTH, LIES AND CONSPIRACY]</ref> It was also found that the White House had classified twenty-eight pages of the 9/11 Commission's Report, specifically relating to the ties with Saudi Arabi those behind 9/11 had.<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/28-pages-of-congressional-report-on-saudi-ties-to-911-to-be-released-soon/ 28 pages of Congressional report on Saudi ties to 9/11 to be released soon]</ref>

====Iraq====
[[File:USMarineTankinBaghdad.jpg|thumb|right|300px|US military patrol in Baghdad, 2003.]]
{{main|Iraq War}}

{{cquote|Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East… The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled… This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.|||George W. Bush to the former President of France, Jacques Chirac, in 2003.<ref>Newell, Jim, [https://wonkette.com/410345/george-w-bush-asked-jacques-chirac-to-invade-iraq-with-him-because-of-biblical-alien-space-monsters "George W. Bush Asked Jacques Chirac To Invade Iraq With Him Because Of Biblical Alien Space Monsters"], Wonkette (8/6/09 at 2:57pm).</ref>}}

{{cquote|One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq with the war on terror.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhR04RkBFhs Bush is having a hard time connecting iraq to 9/11 and Al-Qu]</ref>}}

{{cquote|George W. Bush did some things you could never get away with at your job. When Bush started his job, there was a budget surplus. Now there's like a $70 trillion deficit. Now just imagine you worked at the Gap. You're closing out your register and it's $70 trillion short. The average person would get in trouble for that. Then he started a war? You're $70 trillion being on your register, and you start a war with Banana Republic because they're selling better tank tops than you. So now you've got employees bleeding all over the khakis. Then you finally take over Banana Republic, and you find out they never made tank tops in the first place.|||Chris Rock<ref name=nasty/>{{rp|65}}}}

Bush's first Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill, admitted that 10 days after taking office, Bush was looking for ways to topple Saddam.<ref>[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml "Bush Sought 'Way' To Invade Iraq?"], ''60 Minutes''1.09.04.</ref> A family friend, Mickey Herskowitz, told Russ Baker that they were planning on invading as far back in 1999, before he was even elected.<ref>[http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1028-01.htm "Two Years Before 9/11, Candidate Bush was Already Talking Privately About Attacking Iraq, According to His Former Ghost Writer"], Common Dreams 10.28.04.</ref> There was the Manning Memo,{{efn|Named after David Manning, the chief foreign policy adviser for Prime Minister Tony Blair.}} which showed that Bush planned to invade Iraq in March 2003, overriding the U.N. inspectors, and more shockingly, that he proposed sending a U-2 over Iraq to get shot down and provoke a war.<ref>Dickinson, Tim, [http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/memo-bush-determined-to-attack-iraq-20060327 "Memo: Bush Determined to Attack Iraq"], ''Rolling Stone'' 26 March 2007.</ref>

[[John Bolton]] set up a rogue operation within the State Department when he was undersecretary.<ref>Hersh, Seymour M., [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/10/27/the-stovepipe "The Stovepipe"], ''New Yorker'' October 27, 2003 issue.</ref> The planners were feeding manipulated intel to the press,<ref>Corn, David, [https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/jeb-bush-adviser-paul-wolfowitz/ "The Jeb Bush Advisor Who Should scare You"], ''Mother Jones'' (13 May 2015, 10:05 AM).</ref> citing that press in interviews/press conferences ''and'' trying to sneak in as much cherry-picked raw intelligence (sent over from Bolton's crew)<ref>Corn, David, [https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/chaffetz-john-hannah-ben-rhodes-iraq-war-intelligence/ "GOPers Probing Iran Deal Turn to Cheney Aide Who Was Involved With Bogus Iraq Intel"], ''Mother Jones'' (16 May 2016, 10:47 AM).</ref> into [[NSA]] meetings with Bush to confuse him into ceding decision-making to them on security issues. Cheney would leak the intel to NYT (via {{wpl|Judith Miller}}) and then use her reporting to drum up public support to further pressure Bush admin into war.

[[File:Freedom-Fries-Menu.jpg|thumb|left|200px|"[[Freedom fries]]".]]

In his book, Rumsfeld tries to make it look like he wasn't in on this, but five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq, even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks.<ref>Baker, Russ, [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1028-01.htm "Two Years Before 9/11, Candidate Bush was Already Talking Privately About Attacking Iraq, According to His Former Ghost Writer"], Common Dreams 10.28.04.</ref> Rumsfeld was a member of "The Crazies",<ref>Heilbrun, Jacob, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/01/ST2008020102523.html "What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been"], WaPo 2.3.08; Page BW08.</ref> a term Bush Sr. coined for Rumsfeld, Cheney, and other advisers who recommended he take over all of Iraq after the liberation of Kuwait. 
Additionally Rumsfeld added Bible verses to his memos pitching the invasions to Bush, because he knew Bush would be more receptive to them.<ref>Draper, Robert, [https://www.gq.com/story/donald-rumsfeld-administration-peers-detractors "And He Shall Be Judged"], ''GQ'' 31 May 2009.</ref> Rumsfeld was also a signatory (along with Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Libby) to the {{wpl|Project_for_the_New_American_Century#Statement_of_Principles|statement of principles}} of [[Project for the New American Century]], a [[William Kristol|Billy Kristol]] "think tank" which advocated for the military overthrow of Saddam before Bush became President. This group opined that transforming America's defenses would require a "new Pearl Harbor" to justify those increased expenditures to the public. That was in 2000. Note also that all three of these men were gone by the 2nd term when Poppy came to the rescue and sent his man Robert Gates to try and salvage the fiasco.<ref>Shane, Scott, [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/washington/09gates.html "Robert Gates, a Cautious Player From a Past Bush Team"], NYT 11.9.06.</ref>

[[File:US Navy 040613-N-0401E-003 Engineman 2nd Class Robert Looney and Engineman 2nd Class Joe Pearson stand watch on the North end of Al Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT).jpg|thumb|right|325px|US Navy personnel guard the Al Basrah Oil Terminal. Priorities!]]
[[File:Powell UN Iraq presentation, alleged Mobile Production Facilities.jpg|165px|thumb|left|Alleged Iraqi mobile weapons laboratories]]

Those of us old enough to remember the invasion know that the Bush administration was desperately clutching at any straw they could find to confirm the existence of WMDs. Every few days, they'd raid some high school or veterinarian's office and proudly display the test tubes and Erlenmeyer flasks they found as proof they'd busted a bio-warfare lab, only to withdraw the claim a few days later.<ref>Warrick, Joby, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/11/AR2006041101888_pf.html "Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried Case for War"], WaPo 4.12.06.</ref> You even had the Secretary of State going in front of the UN with artist's impressions of what a {{wpl|Mobile weapons laboratory|mobile germ warfare factory}} would look like (should they ever bump into one) backed up by dissidents with barely-concealed agendas of their own who hadn't lived in Iraq for over a decade.<ref name="curveball">Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd, [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/15/defector-admits-wmd-lies-iraq-war "Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war"], ''The Guardian'' (2/15/11 07:58 EST).</ref> Granted, they did find some useless warheads that the US government gave Saddam in the eighties.<ref>Mikkelson, David, [http://www.snopes.com/Politics/war/yellowcake.asp "Have Your Yellowcake"], [[Snopes]].</ref>

Anybody would have seen right through Bush's clumsy justifications. It honestly wasn't difficult. Indeed, the French and Germans did; both got vilified by America for their efforts.<ref>Firestone, David, [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/13/us/threats-responses-feuding-allies-3-countries-us-criticism-brings-anger-congress.html "THREATS AND RESPONSES: FEUDING ALLIES; 3 Countries' U.S. Criticism Brings Anger In Congress"], NYT 2.13.03. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ws_APXilE With enemies, you know where you stand. But with neutrals, who knows?]</ref> The Congressional cafeteria renamed French fries to "freedom fries" because a sitting congressman couldn't even handle seeing the name of a country which was mildly critical of the war.<ref>Loughlin, Sean, [http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/sprj.irq.fries/ "House cafeterias change names for 'french' fries and 'french' toast - Move reflects anger over France's stance on Iraq"], CNN (12 March 2003, 10:52 AM EST).</ref> Ollie North (yes, [[Iran-Contra|that one]]) suggested on [[Fox News]] that France helped provide Hussein with chemical and biological agents and that the French consulate was "destroying records" of their involvement.<ref>Stanley, Alessandra, [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/us/threats-responses-tv-watch-after-lengthy-buildup-anticlimactic-strike.html "THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE TV WATCH; After a Lengthy Buildup, An Anticlimactic Strike"], NYT 20 March 2003.</ref>{{efn|Something he would know all too much about given he infamously destroyed evidence during the Iran-Contra scandal.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/irancontra/contra3.htm Hostile Witnesses]</ref>}} In 2004, Republicans were still saying, ridiculously, that "John Kerry looks French" as part of the serious campaign commentary.<ref>Cohen, Roger, [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/03/news/globalist-the-republicans-barbjohn-kerry-looks-french.html "The Republicans' barb: John Kerry 'looks French'"], NYT 4.3.04.</ref> Al Gore did briefly raise objections in 2004,<ref>Seelye, Katherine Q. [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/09/us/2004-campaign-former-vice-president-gore-says-bush-betrayed-us-using-9-11-reason.html?_r=0 "Gore Says Bush Betrayed the U.S. by Using 9/11 as a Reason for War in Iraq"], NYT 2.9.04.</ref> but was quickly drowned in the popular public opinion which was still high on cordite.

Bush himself has said there were no WMDs and that Iraq was a mistake, why is [[Fox News|Fox]] still trying to insist otherwise?<ref>Goldenberg, Suzanne, [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/02/george-bush-iraq-interview "Iraq war my biggest regret, Bush admits"], ''[[The Guardian]]'' (12/1/08 19.01 EST).</ref> Because it's the only way to maintain the narrative that the Democrats are big spenders. By pretending the huge deficit created by that war during a period of massive tax cuts was [[Sunk cost|worth it.]]<ref>Cassino, Dan, [http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2015/false/ "Ignorance, Partisanship Drive False Beliefs about Obama, Iraq."]</ref>

====Torture====
[[File:Rumsfeld-4 hours a day.png|thumb|right|300px|Comment from Rumsfeld: "I stand for 8–10 hours a day. Why is standing [by prisoners] limited to four hours?"]]
{{cquote|The United States is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture, and we are leading this fight by example.<ref>[https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-the-united-nations-international-day-support-victims-torture Statement on the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture]</ref>}}
In blatant violation of both the [[United States Constitution|U.S. Constitution]] and the [[War crimes|Geneva Conventions]], Bush authorized [[torture]]—or as they like to call it, systematic sleep deprivation and [[waterboarding|controlled drowning]], "[[Conservative correctness|enhanced interrogation]]." The more optimistic take is that the torture program was accompanied by a massive campaign of disinformation,<ref>Peralta, Eyder, [https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/12/16/369876047/torture-report-a-closer-look-at-when-and-what-president-bush-knew "'Torture Report': A Closer Look At When And What President Bush Knew"], NPR (16 December 2014, 1:58 PM ET).</ref> propaganda (with the complicity of pop culture),<ref>Angster, Daniel, [https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2014/12/12/union-leader-suggests-those-who-released-cia-to/201859 "Union Leader Suggests Those Who Released CIA Torture Report Are "Wusses," Cites Jack Bauer From 24"], ''Media Matters'' (12 December 2014, 12:41 PM EST).</ref> and information suppression.<ref>Dugan, Andrew, [http://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/180008/retrospective-look-americans-view-torture.aspx "A Retrospective Look at How Americans View Torture"], Gallup 10 December 2014.</ref> If the people writ large were as ghoulish as the political elite, they never would have {{wpl|2005 CIA interrogation videotapes destruction|destroyed the tapes.}}

Since the release of his book, [[Amnesty International]] has been calling for his arrest every time he's left or attempted to leave the country,<ref>Mak Tim, [http://www.politico.com/story/2011/10/amnesty-international-arrest-bush-065810 "Amnesty International: Arrest Bush"], Politico (Updated 10/13/11 08:27 AM EDT).</ref> asserting it holds sufficient [[evidence]] that he had [[criminal]] knowledge of US torture. This caused him to cancel a trip to Geneva, [[Switzerland]] in February 2011; they repeated their demands on his trips to [[Canada]] in October 2011 and [[Ethiopia]], [[Tanzania]], and [[Zambia]] in December 2011, but those countries were not so lucky. 

Perhaps in an ideal world, someone would drag him and his buddies to The Hague before he pops his clogs. Sorry, mate, we already thought of that and passed the {{wpl|American Service-Members' Protection Act|"Hague Invasion Act"}} (introduced by [[Jesse Helms]]), which effectively allows the invasion of the Netherlands to ensure “the release of any U.S. or Allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court".<ref>Marquant, Robert, [https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2009/0213/p05s01-woeu.html "Dutch still wincing at Bush-era 'Invasion of The Hague Act'"], ''Christian Science Monitor'' 13 February 2009.</ref> Both [[Ron Paul]] and Paul Ryan voted against this, which is a bit of a surprise.

And since the US has not ratified the Rome Statute, it is almost certain they will not consider any case against him. The ICC ''has'' considered cases against signatories that have not ratified the Statute in the past (e.g. [[Sudan]]); however, they were all guilty of ethnic [[genocide]]. We'll probably get some {{wpl|Truth and reconciliation commission|truth commission}} decades after the fact.

Interestingly, the lack of evidence or ''prima facie'' existence of a case to be answered for has not been cited as a reason against prosecution, leaving open a window if the US ever changes its mind on "only looking forwards, not backwards." In [[Malaysia]], Bush and [[Tony Blair]] have been convicted ''in absentia'' partially based on this book; however, the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (which found the conviction) is not recognized by any official body as a legitimate court.<ref>Ridley, Yvonne, [https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/05/12/bush-convicted-of-war-crimes-in-absentia/ "Bush Convicted of War Crimes in Absentia"], ''Foreign Policy Journal'' 5.12.12.</ref>

The sheer length some had to go in order to defend Bush against accusations of torture led Bob Altemeyer to write:

{{quotebox|If some day George W. Bush is indicted for authorizing torture, you can bet your bottom dollar the high RWAs will howl to the heavens in protest. It won’t matter how extensive the torture was, how cruel and sickening it was, how many years it went on, how many prisoners died, how devious Bush was in trying to evade America’s laws and traditional stand against torture, or how many treaties the U.S. broke. Such an indictment would grind right up against the core of authoritarian followers, and they won’t have it. Maybe they’ll even say, “The president was busy running the war. He didn’t really know. It was all done by Rumsfeld and others.”<ref>''The Authoritarians'' by Bob Altemeyer</ref>{{rp|20}}}}

====Sock and Awe====
{{cquote|I don't think that you can take one guy throwing his shoe as representative of the people of Iraq.|||Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary<ref>[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/12/20081216-2.html Press Briefing by Press Secretary Dana Perino, James S. Brady Press Briefing Room] (16 December 2008, 10:26 A.M. EST</ref> (This quote aged well.)<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-election-shoe-thrower/iraqi-journalist-who-threw-shoes-at-bush-stands-for-parliament-idUSKBN1IC1AQ "Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at Bush stands for parliament"], Reuters (1 May 2018, 6:46 AM).</ref><ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/29/iraq.shoe.monument/ "Monument to Bush shoe-throwing shines at Iraqi orphanage"], CNN.</ref>}}
[[File:Bushduck.PNG|thumb|right|200px|The sole of Iraq.]]
During a surprise visit to [[Iraq]] in 2008, an angry Iraqi [[journalist]], Muntadhar al-Zaidi, hurled his size 10 shoes at him during a news conference, shouting, "This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you [[dog]]!" Bush ducked twice (like it was '68 and those shoes were the draft for Vietnam), but it inspired {{wpl|List of shoe throwing incidents|similar attacks.}} 

Right after he did this, Maliki's men caught and tortured him with steel pipes and electric cables.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/09/15/iraq.shoe.thrower/index.html "Bush 'shoe thrower' claims he was tortured in prison"], ''NY Daily News'' (15 September 2009, 8:40 p.m. EDT).</ref> He was paroled after 1 year, and the shoes were destroyed, never to be hurled again.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081220053232/http://www.presstv.ir:80/detail.aspx?id=78852&sectionid=351020201 "Zaidi shoes destroyed after Bush attack "], PressTV (12/18/08 at 6:24 PM GMT).</ref> The shoes were destroyed by US and Iraqi security forces. That's right, it took a coalition to defeat the shoes.{{onion}} Probably one of our finest victories in the war.

===The Bush Administration also:===
[[File:Wars and Bush Tax Cuts Will Account For Half of Public Debt (5791270736).jpg|thumb|right|450px|Origin of US public debt in 2019.]]
{{cquote|We fuck the world. We fuck the children. We fuck the world, the forest and the sea so let us doing. 
There are people dying, and we don't care about. 
We try to make a better world for me and me.|||Les guignols de l'Info - Song about the USA<ref>[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2vcxjy Les Guignols De L'Info We fuck the world] (c. 2015) ''Daily Mtion''.</ref>}}

*Responded to a recession by passing [[tax cut]]s,{{shock}}<ref>Thoma, Mark, [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/did-the-bush-tax-cuts-lead-to-economic-growth/ "Did the Bush Tax Cuts Lead to Economic Growth?"], CBS (30m November 2010, 2:43 PM).</ref> along with a bailout for banks.<ref>Glass, Andrew, [http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/bush-signs-tarp-legislation-oct-3-2008-097742 "Bush signs bank bailout"], Politico 3 October 2008.</ref>
*Inherited the biggest projected surplus in American history<ref>[https://www.cbo.gov/publication/12958?index=2727&type=0&sequence=1 The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2002-2011 ], Congressional Budget Office 1 January 2000.</ref> and turned it into the biggest deficit ever, doubling US debt.<ref>Owen, Sue, [http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2012/jul/19/paul-sadler/paul-sadler-says-national-debt-doubled-under-georg/ "Paul Sadler says national debt doubled under George W. Bush"], PolitiFact (19 July 2012, 5:36 p.m.).</ref>{{efn|Making this even more absurd is the fact that he declared early on in his presidency "My plan reduces the national debt, and fast. So fast, in fact, that economists worry that we're going to run out of debt to retire."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121005074619/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/02/24/national/main274334.shtml Bush: Surplus Justifies Tax Cut]</ref>}} Bush occasionally joked that he had "hit the trifecta" of a recession, an emergency, and a war, all of which stopped him from balancing the budget.<ref>[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/omb/pubpress/daniels_conference_board_speech10-16-01.html REMARKS BY OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET DIRECTOR MITCHELL E. DANIELS, JR. AT CONFERENCE BOARD ANNUAL MEETING]</ref> However, the fact that he made no attempt to adjust his economic policies accordingly made it clear he had no interest in keeping the debt under control one way or another. As Stephen Colbert famously put it "The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday — no matter what happened Tuesday."<ref>[https://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/05/08/StephenColbertPresidentBush/ Stephen Colbert’s Remarks to President Bush]</ref>
*Borrowed a trillion dollars from [[Chinese-owned US debt|China]],<ref>Thompson, Mark, [http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1868367,00.html "The $1 Trillion Bill for Bush's War on Terror"], ''TIME'' 26 December 2008. Merry Christmas.</ref><ref>Stiglitz, Joseph E., [http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/12/bush200712 "The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush"], ''Vanity Fair'' (7 November 2007, 12:00 am).</ref> more than all the previous presidents combined.
*Spent a billion dollars on a [[Security theater|"virtual fence"]], which does not work.<ref>Preston, Julia, [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/us/politics/15fence.html "Homeland Security Cancels ‘Virtual Fence’ After $1 Billion Is Spent"], NYT 6.14.11.</ref>
*Wiped out half of black wealth in America.<ref>[http://nlihc.org/article/report-shows-african-americans-lost-half-their-wealth-due-housing-crisis-and-unemployment "Report Shows African Americans Lost Half Their Wealth Due to Housing Crisis and Unemployment"], National Low Incoming Housing Coalition 30 August 2013.</ref>
*Misplaced $12 billion that was air-delivered to Iraq on shrinkwrapped pallets of $100 bills. ''"Many of the funds appear to have been lost to corruption and waste.... Some of the funds could have enriched both criminals and insurgents...."''<ref>Ackerman, Spencer, [https://www.wired.com/2013/03/iraq-waste/ "Over $8B of the Money You Spent Rebuilding Iraq Was Wasted Outright"], ''Wired'' 8 March 2013.</ref><ref>Pallister, David, [https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1 "How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish"], ''Guardian''.7 Febuary 2007.</ref>
*Killed the Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gases.<ref>Sanger, David E., [http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/12/world/bush-will-continue-to-oppose-kyoto-pact-on-global-warming.html "Bush Will Continue to Oppose Kyoto Pact on Global Warming"], NYT 21 June 2001.</ref>
*{{wpl|Energy Policy Act of 2005|Exempted}} oil and gas companies from the Clean Water Act.<ref>Lustgarten, Abrahm, [https://www.propublica.org/article/former-bush-epa-official-says-fracking-exemption-went-too-far "Former Bush EPA Official Says Fracking Exemption Went Too Far; Congress Should Revisit"], ProPublica (9 March 2011, 12:21 p.m. EST).</ref>
*Shut down the anti-trust case against Microsoft.<ref>Brinkley, Joel, [http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/07/business/us-vs-microsoft-the-lobbying-a-huge-4-year-crusade-gets-credit-for-a-coup.html "U.S. VS. MICROSOFT: THE LOBBYING; A Huge 4-Year Crusade Gets Credit for a Coup"], WaPo 9.7.01.</ref>
* Withheld information that the 9/11 site contained life-threatening amounts of carcinogenic substances in the air.<ref>Klatell, James M., [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/08/earlyshow/main1985804.shtml "Insider: EPA Lied About WTC Air"], CBS News 10 September 2009.</ref> Years later, not only responders but also people who just happened to live nearby are diagnosed with cancer due to asbestos exposure.<ref>Klatell, James M., [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/10/epa-head-wrong-911-air-safe-new-york-christine-todd-whitman "Insider: EPA Lied About WTC Air"], CBS News (10 September 2016, 6:30 AM EDT).</ref> The death count of 9/11 is still rising, and we can't blame the Arabs for it anymore.
*Personally paraded [[Terri Schiavo case|Terri Schiavo]] around to show his anti-abortion bona fides,<ref>Richard A. Serrano and John-Thor Dahlburg , [http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mar/21/nation/na-schiavo21 "Bush Approves Schiavo Review in U.S. Court"], ''L.A. Times'' 21 March 2005.</ref> even attempting to override the judicial branch.<ref>Carl Huse and David D. Kirkpatrick, [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/21/politics/congress-passes-and-bush-signs-legislation-on-schiavo-case.html "Congress Passes and Bush Signs Legislation on Schiavo Case"], NYT 3.21.05.</ref>
*Made [[homosexual|gays]] the replacement scapegoat after he left the [[Southern Strategy]] behind.<ref>Burger, Timothy M., [http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/inside-george-w-bushs-closet-108016_Page2.html#.WOhMpdQrLUI "Inside George W. Bush’s Closet"], Politico July/August 2014.</ref> Karl Rove used [[gay marriage]] as a [[wedge issue]] in 2004 by encouraging states with Republican legislatures to hold referenda on it to coincide with the election and increase voter turnout.<ref>Alan Cooperman and Thomas B. Edsall, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32793-2004Nov7.html "Evangelicals Say They Led Charge For the GOP"], NYT November 8, 2004; Page A01.</ref><ref>Armbinder, Marc, [http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/08/bush-campaign-chief-and-former-rnc-chair-ken-mehlman-im-gay/62065 "Bush Campaign Chief and Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: I'm Gay"], ''Atlantic'' 25 August 2010.</ref> Bush went so far as trying to amend the Constitution in order to ban same-sex marriage,<ref>[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040224-2.html President Calls for Constitutional Amendment Protecting Marriage]</ref> a total flip-flop of his views in 2000, when he claimed he was fine with states legalizing gay marriage is they so choose.<ref>[https://www.americanprogress.org/article/president-bush-flip-flopper-in-chief/ President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief]</ref>
*Deliberately hid the facts of {{wpl|Pat Tillman|Pat Tillman's}} death to score re-election. Not only was Tillman killed by friendly fire, but he was also likely murdered by some dipshit grunt from the flyovers whom he had just criticized.<ref>Mendoza, Martha, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/26/AR2007072602025.html "AP: New Details on Tillman's Death"], WaPo via Associated Press (27 July 2007, 1:48 AM).</ref> Tillman was also a leftist who despised the war and his family was shocked at the idea of being used as a martyr or a hero figure for it.<ref>Redford, Patrick, [https://deadspin.com/stop-using-pat-tillman-1818689197 "Stop Using Pat Tillman"], ''Deadspin'' (25 September 2017, 2:33pm).</ref>
*Won more votes in Ohio than there were registered voters in those counties. For more, see John Conyers' report on election fraud, which everyone forgot about.<ref>Hertzgaard, Mark, [http://www.motherjones.com/media/2005/11/recounting-ohio/ "Recounting Ohio"], ''Mother Jones'' November 2005 issue.</ref> Ballot boxes in the back of a pickup truck.
*Used the [[NYT]] and a ton of other publications to push Iraq war [[propaganda]].<ref>Foer, Franklin, [http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/9226/ "The Source of the Trouble"], ''NY Mag''.</ref><ref>Don Van Natta, Jr., Adam Liptak, and Clifford J. Levy, [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/us/the-miller-case-a-notebook-a-cause-a-jail-cell-and-a-deal.html "The Miller Case: A Notebook, a Cause, a Jail Cell and a Deal"], NYT 16 October 2005.</ref><ref>MacAskill, Ewen, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/28/georgebush.usa "Former Bush press secretary claims Iraq war fuelled by propaganda"], ''Guardian'' (28 May 2008, 1:51 EDT).</ref><ref>[https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/transcript1.html ''Bill Moyers Journal'' transcript from 27 April 2007, "Buying the War"]</ref> Just in case you think you changed, rather than [[NPR]], when you listen to it now, and it's shit.<ref>Labaton, Stephen, [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/business/media/a-battle-over-programming-at-national-public-radio.html "A Battle Over Programming at National Public Radio"], NYT 16 May 2005.</ref> 
* Called the NYT executive editor into the Oval Office and told him he'd personally have the blood of Americans on his hands to squash a damning story about NSA illegal wiretapping.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newswar/interviews/keller.html The New York Times NSA Wiretapping Story: Interview with Bill Keller], ''Frontline''.</ref>
*Intentionally [[Valerie Plame Affair|outed]] an undercover [[CIA]] operative because her husband the White House was lying about a plan from Iraq to buy uranium from Niger.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/plame/Plame_KeyPlayers.html "Key Players in the CIA Leak Investigation"], WaPo (6/3/07 at 11:53 a.m.).</ref>
*Lied about the government of Iraq attempting to get uranium from Niger.<ref>[https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/20/18274228/ari-fleischer-iraq-lies-george-w-bush-wmds George W. Bush really did lie about WMDs, and his aides are still lying for him]</ref>
*Brought an [[Iran|Iranian]] spy into his administration as an advisor (Ahmed Chalabi).<ref name="curveball" />
*Added James Guckert a.k.a. {{wpl|Jeff Gannon|"Jeff Gannon"}} to the White House visitor's list. 
*Praised [[Silvio Berlusconi|Berlusconi]] as a model of honesty and stability.<ref>[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11608524/ns/world_news-europe/t/berlusconi-major-war-ally-visits-washington/ "Berlusconi, major war ally, visits Washington"], NBC via Associated Press (updated 28 February 2006, 3:49 PM ET).</ref>
[[File:President George W. Bush and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.jpg|thumb|right|275px|This Vlad guy seems like he'll be a great friend to the United States!]]
*Saw into the eyes of [[Vladimir Putin|Putin]] to find a great man.<ref>Loven, Jennifer, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/30/AR2007063000315.html?tid=a_inl "Putin Comes to Maine Sunday to See Bush"], WaPo via Associated Press (6/30/07 at 5:53 PM).</ref> (Didn't he also urge Bush to invade Iraq?)<ref>Pincus, Walter, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53096-2004Jun18.html"Russia Warned U.S. About Iraq, Putin Says"], WaPo 19 June 2004, Page A11.</ref>
* Played a role in creating [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan|Erdoğan]].<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2007/11/05/16003950/bush-pledges-support-for-turkeys-erdogan "Bush Pledges Support for Turkey's Erdogan"],NPR and Associated Press 5 November 2005.</ref><ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-turkey-bush-idUSN0849649820080108/ "Bush says Turkey entry to EU would aid peace"], Reuters 8 January 2008.</ref> In the eyes of the US/EU, Erdo was 'soft' Islam. And in the aftermath of 9/11, that was what they wanted to promote. They gave them every type of help.
*Imprisoned a guy for reading a satirical article about how to build a nuclear weapon in your kitchen.<ref>Ehrenreich, Barbara, [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/feb/21/barbara-ehrenreich-guantanamo "My unwitting role in acts of torture"], Guardian (20 Feb 2009, 7:01 PM EST).</ref> Others were held for owning a particular type of Casio watch.<ref>Ball, James, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-casio-wristwatch-alqaida "Guantánamo Bay files: Casio wristwatch 'the sign of al-Qaida'"], Guardian (24 April 2011, 11:21 PM EDT).</ref><ref group="note">Also, {{wpl|Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project|"material support for terrorists"}} has now expanded beyond all reason, thanks, Obama.</ref>
*Sabotaged a {{wpl|Agreed Framework|deal}} [[North Korea]] made with Clinton,<ref>Sanger, David E., [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/20/world/us-to-withdraw-from-arms-accord-with-north-korea.html "U.S. to withdraw from arms accord with North Korea"], NYT 20 October 2002.</ref> which is why they restarted their nuclear program. In the past, Bolton has pushed/cheered for talks to fall apart to prove diplomacy doesn't work.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/1427428/We-want-them-to-be-nervous-That-means-you-Ali-Bashar-and-Kim.html "'We want them to be nervous' (That means you Ali, Bashar, and Kim)"], ''Telegraph'' (13 April 2003, 12:01 AM BST).</ref>
*Abducted [[Haiti]]an President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and exiled him to Africa,<ref>Lydia Polgreen and Tim Weiner, [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/international/americas/haitis-president-forced-out-marines-sent-to-keep.html "Haiti’s President Forced Out; Marines Sent to Keep Order"], NYT 29 Febuary 2004.</ref><ref>Kim Ives and Ansel Herz, [https://www.thenation.com/article/wikileaks-haiti-aristide-files/ "WikiLeaks Haiti: The Aristide Files"], ''The Nation'' 5 August 2011.</ref><ref>Beeton, Dan, [http://cepr.net/publications/op-eds-columns/soldiers-without-a-cause-why-are-thousands-of-un-troops-still-in-haiti#_ftn25 "Soldiers Without a Cause: Why Are Thousands of UN Troops Still in Haiti?"], Center for Economic Policy and Research via NACLA Report on the Americas, Spring 2012.</ref> which included a US/UN occupation and the murder or disappearance of 8,000 of Aristide’s supporters.<ref>Kolbe, Athena R., [http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(06)69211-8/abstract "Human rights abuse and other criminal violations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti: a random survey of households"], Lancet 31 August 2006.</ref> Aristide championed the poor and called for France {{wpl|Haiti indemnity controversy|to pay $21 billion}} for their colonial crimes.
*Allowed detainees to be sent to state interrogation centers in Guantanamo, Bagram, Saudi Arabia, Abu Ghraib, and Syria.<ref>Mayer, Jane, [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/02/14/outsourcing-torture "Outsourcing Torture"] New Yorker 14 February 2004 issue.</ref><ref>Bazelon, Emily, [https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/03/bagram-abu-ghraib/ "From Bagram to Abu Ghraib"], Mother Jones March/April 2005 issue.</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4461642.stm "US man guilty of Bush death plot"], BBC (22 November 2005, 11:37 PM GMT ).</ref><ref>[https://www.democracynow.org/2011/6/13/maher_arar_my_rendition_torture_in "Maher Arar: My Rendition & Torture in Syrian Prison Highlights U.S. Reliance on Syria as an Ally"], Democracy Now! 13 June 2011</ref> We still have forty guys in Guantanamo; only one of them was convicted, but most of them are still uncharged with anything nearly twenty years later.<ref>[https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article2203501.html "Who's still being held at Guantanamo"], ''Miami Herald'' (24 August 2016. at 1:47 AM).</ref>
*Tried to [[privatization|privatize]] Social Security.<ref>Weisman, Jonathan, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35231-2005Mar14.html "Skepticism of Bush's Social Security Plan Is Growing"], WaPo 3.15.05; Page A01.</ref> All that patriotism turned out to be hollow, unless it's about blowing up someone different than you. When taking care of your fellow citizens, it ain't worth dick. 
*Used an obscure law to {{wpl|Free speech zone|obstruct free speech}} around anyone protected by the Secret Service.<ref>Bovard, James [http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Quarantining-dissent-How-the-Secret-Service-2816927.php "Quarantining dissent / How the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech"], ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (4 January 2004, 4:00am). Calling it a "Free Speech Zone" is pretty Orwellian.</ref>
* {{wpl|Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy|Fired}} U.S. Attorneys who a) wouldn't prosecute bogus fraud charges against Democrats, or b) pursued fraud charges against [[Republican]]s. (See [[Regent University]].)<ref name="ag">Dan Eggen and Paul Kane, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031400519.html "Justice Dept. Would Have Kept 'Loyal' Prosecutors"], WaPo 16 March 2007.</ref><ref>Savage, Charlie, [http://archive.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/04/08/scandal_puts_spotlight_on_christian_law_school/ "Scandal puts spotlight on Christian law school"], Boston News via ''Boston Globe'', 4.8.07.</ref>
*Used private email servers to skirt FOIA.<ref>Burleigh, Nina, [http://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/23/george-w-bush-white-house-lost-22-million-emails-497373.html "The George W. Bush White House 'Lost' 22 Million Emails"], ''Newsweek'' (9/12/16 at 7:31 AM).</ref>
*Defied Congressional subpoenas,<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/us/01subpoena.html Judge Rules Bush Advisers Can’t Ignore Subpoenas], ''The New York Times''</ref> destroyed documents that should not, by law, be destroyed,<ref>[http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB123600509352009745 Justice Says CIA Destroyed 92 Tapes], ''Wall Street Journal''</ref> and violated its own rules on document declassification.
*Went around JSCOC and the [[CIA]] and created some kind of creepy parallel department which does pretty much the same stuff, but with (at the time) much more direct control from the executive, e.g., the "Terror Alert" system and the way it was used right before the '04 election.<ref>[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/32501273/ns/us_news-security/t/ridge-says-he-was-pressured-raise-terror-alert/ "Ridge Says He Was Pressured to Raise Terror Alert"], NBC via Associated Press (20 August 2009, 9:55 PM ET).</ref> It serves no purpose other than a way of getting around ''posse comitatus'', and is just a giant GOP jobs program; it was pretty clear when they gave the RapiScan contracts to the former DHS chief.<ref>Kindy, Kimberly, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123102821.html "Ex-Homeland Security chief head said to abuse public trust by touting body scanners"], WaPo 1.1.10. There are too many CEOs or contracting firms making mint from the profligate waste of taxpayer money.</ref> The Democrats support it because they are the only government jobs they will get out of the GOP.
*Went over the heads of [[FBI|Robert Mueller and James Comey]] to initiate the {{wpl|Stellar Wind}} program, after the Attorney General was felled by a kidney stone.<ref>Savage, Charlie, [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/us/politics/george-w-bush-made-retroactive-nsa-fix-after-hospital-room-showdown.html "George W. Bush Made Retroactive N.S.A. ‘Fix’ After Hospital Room Showdown"], NYT 20 September 2015.</ref>
* Unleashed [[Ron DeSantis]] upon prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.<ref>Wade, Peter, [https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/desantis-guantanamo-force-feedings-canceled-documentary-1234793826/amp/ "Canceled Documentary Details DeSantis’ Time at Gitmo, Including Allegedly Overseeing Forced Feedings"], ''Rolling Stone'' 23 July 2023.</ref>
*Allowed the Assault Weapons Ban to expire, which has led to a golden age for [[Fun:Weapon of gun|Modern Sporting Rifles.]]<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/09/us/politics/democrats-assault-weapons-ban.html</ref>
*Launched [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|ICE]] in the same breath as the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, and the AUMF. Back in the before times, it was called Immigration and Naturalization Services. Then some Bush Apparatchik was all, "''What if we name this after a branch of Cobra Command''", and it became [[US Immigration and Customs Enforcement]], because the government didn't want to pretend it was possible to legally naturalize anymore.<ref>Preston,
 Julia. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/weekinreview/14preston.html "No Need for a Warrant, You’re an Immigrant"], NYT 14 October 2007.</ref>
*Had a spate of bribery and [[Haggard's Law|sex scandals]] in the GOP-controlled Congress.<ref>Kurtz, Howard, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36733-2005Feb18.html "Jeff Gannon Admits Past 'Mistakes,' Berates Critics"], WaPo 2.19.05; Page C01.</ref><ref>Flynt, Larry, [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00240.htm#a "John R. Bolton Court Divorce Records Show His First Wife Fled Home When He Was Traveling Abroad"], via Scoop 13 May 2005.</ref><ref>Weisman, Jonathan, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010402111.html "Bush to Give Up $6,000 In Abramoff Contributions"], WaPO 1.5.06.</ref><ref>Nizza, Mike, [https://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/the-story-ends-for-the-dc-madam/ "The Story Ends for the ‘D.C. Madam’"], WaPo 5.1.08. at 5:25 PM.</ref><ref>Savage, Charlie, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty.html "Sex, Drug Use and Graft Cited in Interior Department"], NYT 9.10.08.</ref>
*You know what, screw it. Go on his [[Wikipedia]] page, and you won't make it past the first few paragraphs.

====Silver linings====
{{main|Stopped clock}}
[[File:Bush Islamic Center Washington.jpg|thumb|right|300px|President Bush at the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C. on September 17<sup>th</sup>, 2001.]]
* {{wpl|President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief|PEPFAR}}, which drastically reduced [[HIV]] transmission in Africa and remains a highly effective program.
*The National Do Not Call Registry.
*Stood in front of a mosque and said Islam is not our enemy.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liudIJFg8UQ Bush Visits the Islamic Centre, 2001.]</ref> That was nice of him.
*Gave us lots of black and brown officials in high positions. Probably a comparison to be made with [[Tokenism|overseers]].<ref name="ag" /><ref>Cohen, Andrew, [https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/the-torture-memos-10-years-later/252439/6 "The Torture Memos, 10 Years Later"], ''The Atlantic'' February 2012.</ref><ref>Michael Rubinkam and Chelsea J. Carter, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/23/AR2007082300343_pf.html "Senate Plans Hearing on Mine Collapse"], WaPo via Associated Press (8/23/07 at 9:42 PM).</ref><ref>DeYoung, Karen, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/27/AR2006092700106.html "Falling on His Sword"], excepted from ''Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell'', WaPo 1 October 2006.</ref>
*The wind farms were OK<ref>Reilly, Michael, [https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602261/george-w-bush-helped-make-texas-a-clean-energy-powerhouse/ "George W. Bush Helped Make Texas a Clean-Energy Powerhouse"], MIT Technology Review 29 August 2016.Reuters</ref>...even if it was W. who pushed for drilling in ANWAR in the first place.<ref>Doggett, Tom, [http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-bush-oil-anwr/bush-drilling-plan-wouldnt-have-eased-pump-prices-idUKN2934033020080429 "Bush drilling plan wouldn't have eased pump prices"] Reuters (29 April 2008, 10:21 AM).</ref>
*Put in place a Guest Worker Program for illegal immigrants......Of course, it was a futile attempt, as the people in his own camp blasted it as just another "pathway to amnesty."
*Gave the green light for a human mission to [[Mars]].........but it has since been canceled after Congress neutered NASA.<ref>Trujillo, Mario, [http://thehill.com/policy/technology/256580-gop-warns-of-journey-to-nowhere-at-nasa "GOP: NASA on 'journey to nowhere'"], ''The Hill'' (10 October 2015, 9:32 AM EDT).</ref>
*You could argue that, while Medicare Part Donuthole was a vote-getting scam<ref>Bartlett, Bruce, [https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/medicare-part-d-republican-budget-busting/ "Medicare Part D: Republican Budget-Busting"], NYT 19 November 2013, 12:11pm).</ref> (uber-expensive, no discounts on prescription drugs),<ref>Silverstein, Stuart, [http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/drug-industry-pharmaceutical-lobbyists-medicare-part-d-prices/ "This Is Why Your Drug Prescriptions Cost So Damn Much"], ''Mother Jones'' (21 October 2016, 10:00 AM).</ref> it got peoples' minds on health care reform............though Medicare Part D was paid for on credit.<ref>Bartlett, Bruce, [https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/medicare-part-d-republican-budget-busting/ "Medicare Part D: Republican Budget-Busting"], NYT (11/19/13 at 12:01 am).</ref><ref group="note">It's worth remembering that [[Paul Ryan]], the so-called "deficit hawk", voted for this [[Obamacare|unfunded expansion of big government.]]</ref>
*Stopped listening to Cheney after 2004 and fired Rumsfeld in 2006, which enabled him to salvage... something... maybe... from Iraq.
*The "Obamaphone" thing is hilarious because it has absolutely nothing to do with Obama. They're referring to the Lifeline program, which started under the Reagan administration and expanded to include cell phones under the Bush II administration.<ref>Sasso, Ben [http://thehill.com/policy/technology/322041-fcc-chief-reagan-could-be-proud-of-obamaphone-program "FCC chief: Reagan could be proud of 'Obamaphone' program"], ''The Hill'' (12 September 2013, 9:58 PM EDT).</ref>
*At least tried to pave the way for a national [[pandemic]] response (though justification for funding one such program fell through after a time), and was reportedly "obsessed" with preparing for this eventuality. About this, he stated: "A pandemic is a lot like a forest fire… If caught early it might be extinguished with limited damage. If allowed to smolder, undetected, it can grow to an inferno that can spread quickly beyond our ability to control it."<ref>Matthew Mosk (April 5, 2020). [https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/george-bush-2005-wait-pandemic-late-prepare/story?id=69979013 "George W. Bush in 2005: 'If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare'"]. ''ABC News''.</ref> Too bad [[Donald Trump#White House outbreak of COVID-19|somebody rendered any such preparations moot when that eventuality did arrive]].<ref>Paul Biasco (May 31, 2020). [https://www.businessinsider.com/george-bush-said-prepare-for-a-pandemic-that-trump-ignored-2020-5 "All the things George W. Bush said we should do to prepare for a pandemic that Donald Trump ignored"]. ''Business Insider''.</ref>
*The light bulb ban was his idea, so at this point, they're just harping about some imagined grievance from 20 years ago.<ref>Restuccia, Andrew, [https://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/incandescent-light-bulb-ban-101732 "Lights out for the light bulb battle?"], Politico (3 January 2014, 5:15 PM EST). Paying huge utility bills to own the libs!</ref> Republicans will not rest until their light bulb is as inefficient as possible and inconveniences everyone connected to the same power grid as them. (Trump later reversed the ban.)<ref>Edelman, Adam, [https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-administration-dims-obama-era-light-bulb-energy-regulations-n1049636 "Trump administration rolls back Obama-era lightbulb energy regulations"], NBC (4 September 2019, 1:15 PM CDT).</ref>
*He never really snapped at people, even though there was so much bad press directed at him, not to mention multiple impeachment attempts by the Democrats. That is the best anyone can say about Bush. He seemed to take an "above the fray" attitude towards all of the negativity. He even sat holding a children's book, waiting for his handlers to tell him what to do. Now ''that's'' poise!<ref>Glass, Andrew, [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/bush-reads-the-pet-goat-to-schoolchildren-sept-11-2001-213544 "Bush reads ‘The Pet Goat’ to schoolchildren, Sept. 11, 2001"], Politico (09/11/15 at 1:30 AM EDT).</ref>

=="History will vindicate me."==
[[File:George & Laura Bush board Air Force One 1-20-09 hires 091220-F-0194C-001a.jpg|thumb|right|300px|January 20, 2009: we waited so long for this moment, we didn't know what to say.]]
{{cquote|I think the lens of history is not changing. A lot of us used to say President Bush will look good and he'll be vindicated in the public eye. But realistically speaking, I don't see a lot of the people who write history all of a sudden changing their mind about George W. Bush.|||Former Bush White House press secretary [[Mission accomplished|Ari Fleisher]]<ref>[http://theweek.com/article/index/243205/was-george-w-bush-the-worst-president-ever Was George W. Bush the worst president ever?], ''The Week''</ref>}}

Mr. Bush is currently engaged in two part-time jobs, one as a paid speaker and the other as [[scapegoat]] for various elected officials' misconduct.

===The damage===

{{cquote|George Bush has fucked up so bad, he made it hard for ''a white man to run for president!'' People are like, "give me a black man, a white woman, a giraffe, a zebra...ANYTHING but another white man! That last one fucked up my roof!"|||Chris Rock, ''Kill the Messenger''}}

Bush finished at 36th place in a poll of 65 historians conducted by C-SPAN.<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29216774/ns/politics-white_house/t/list-presidential-rankings/ List of presidential rankings], NBC News</ref> He beat out luminary presidents such as [[Warren G. Harding]], [[Millard Fillmore]], and [[James Buchanan]]. The overall ranking was averaged from scores given in ten areas. Some examples:

*40th in [[economic]] management. He beat out the father of the Great Depression, [[Herbert Hoover]], but couldn't quite get past the guy who died after only a month in office ([[William Henry Harrison]]). This is unfair to Hoover since he came into office seven months before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, while Bush had nearly eight years before his disaster. Hoover simply bungled the management of the Depression, while Bush played an active role in ''triggering'' the Great Recession.
*41st in [[international relations]]. He's dead last here unless you count his beating W.H. Harrison (see above).
*37th in administrative skills. So much for that MBA.

===Burning his bridges===
[[File:The Trumps and the Bushes.jpg|thumb|right|350px|The Bushes with the Trumps in 2018.]]
{{cquote|The conservative [[think tank]] that fired me for criticizing George W. Bush has gone out of business. No loss to anyone|||Bruce Bartlett, former economic advisor to Ronald Reagan<ref>Bartlett, [https://twitter.com/BruceBartlett/status/883436185762357248 2:22 PM - 7 Jul 2017 Tweet], @BRuceBArtlett.</ref>}}

Bush campaigned as an outsider (how ''[[Nepotism president|the son of a former President]]'' pulled that off remains a mystery) in 2000. He campaigned on fear of terrorists and gays in '04 and won with moderates, [[Evangelicalism|evangelicals]],<ref>Nagourney, Adam, [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/politics/campaign/moral-values-carried-bush-rove-says.html "'Moral Values' Carried Bush, Rove Says"], NYT 10 November 2004.</ref> and [[Neoconservatism|neo-cons]].

The GOP post-Bush saw the near-collapse of their neoconservative wing in terms of influence: they were foreign policy wonks, and the war was all their idea. The 2008 financial crisis badly damaged their [[Libertarianism|libertarian]]/[[Neoliberalism|neoliberal]] wing. That's two of [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]]'s three wings of conservatism gone. [[Donald Trump|Trump]] campaigned heavily on driving the neocons out of 'his' party: See him trashing the Bush family in the primaries, and even attacking [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary]] for voting "Yes" on Iraq.<ref>Byrnes, Jesse, [http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/269410-trump-on-bush-going-into-iraq-they-lied "Trump on Bush going into Iraq: 'They lied'"], ''The Hill'' (13 February 2016, 9:47 PM EST)</ref><ref>Sullivan, Sean, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/07/17/trump-excuses-mike-pences-iraq-war-vote-but-slams-hillary-clinton-for-voting-the-same-way/17 "Trump excuses Mike Pence’s Iraq War vote — but slams Hillary Clinton for voting the same way"], WaPo July 2016.</ref> Not to mention that counties with a high percentage of war deaths voted for Trump. (Maybe nominating a warmonger was not a good look for the Dems.)<ref>Weiss, Phillip, [http://mondoweiss.net/2017/07/clinton-because-communities/ "Clinton lost because PA, WI, and MI have high casualty rates and saw her as pro-war, study says"], ''Mondoweiss'' 7.6.17.</ref> Trump stood out from the free-market conservatives by pushing for protectionist trade policies. He even attacked hedge fund managers (in the primaries) and Wall Street (in the GE) for their role in the mortgage crisis.<ref>Schroeder, Peter, [http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/286761-trump-keeps-wall-street-guessing "Trump keeps Wall Street guessing"], ''The Hill'' (7 July 2016, 6:00 AM EDT.)</ref><ref>Lynch, Sarah N. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-election-trump-hedgefunds-idUSKCN0QS0P120150823 "Trump says tax code is letting hedge funds 'get away with murder'"], Reuters (23 August 2015, 8:59 AM).</ref>

The xenophobia really ramped up after GWB's immigration reform bill died in the Senate. Before 9/11 and Bush's presidency, a lot of immigrants were starting to vote Republican.<ref>DeFrancesco Soto, Victoria, [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/bush-administration-courting-latinos "Remember When The GOP Actually Courted Latinos?"], TPM (9/4/15, 6:00 AM).</ref><ref>[http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/10/16/karl-rove-says-gop-is-doomed-without-embracing-hispanic-vote/ "Karl Rove Says GOP Is ‘Doomed’ Without Embracing Hispanic Vote"], CBS (10/16/12 10:58 PM).</ref> If you were watching the debates on Univision, [[abortion]] was a top issue for Latinos watching. The U.S. funds conservative churches in Central America and other parts of Latin America, and they follow the same playbook to a "T". 

*Bush tried 3 times to give immigrants amnesty. The Republican Party wouldn't hear of it. Under Bush II, 3 million illegals were allowed in,<ref>Michael Hoefer, Nancy Rytina, and Bryan C. Baker, [https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Unauthorized%20Immigrant%20Population%20Estimates%20in%20the%20US%20January%202008.pdf "Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2008"], Department of Homeland Security Feb 2009.</ref> benefiting the Administration's corporate friends, but not the Republican base. And the establishment wonders why Trump supporters hate them when they insist on lying about this and other issues.<ref>Melissa del Bosque and Patrick Michels, [https://www.texasobserver.org/homeland-security-corruption-border-patrol/ "Homeland Insecurity"], ''Texas Observer'' 12.7.15.</ref><ref>Noah Bierman and Brian Bennett, [http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-immigration-players-20160704-snap-story.html "Elite Republicans tried to ignore them. Now they're shaping Donald Trump's immigration policy"], ''LA Times'' (4 July 2016, 3:00am).</ref> 
*Conventional wisdom also over-estimated how reliable the Cuban demo was.<ref>Fund, John, [http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/333072/romneys-hispanic-disaster-john-fund "Romney's Hispanic Disaster"], ''[[National Review Online]]'' (11/9/12, 10:30 AM).</ref>
* Muslims had long skewed conservative, mainly on religious grounds, but fled to the Democratic side when the right started treating them all as terrorists:<ref>Jazayerli, Rany, [http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/George_W__Bush_Immigration.htm "How the Republican Party alienated the once reliable Muslim voting bloc"'], WaPo 11.16.02.</ref> Stuff like the fact that there was an ''America’s Most Wanted'' 9/11 edition, and that it aired at the behest of W.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/2001/10/a-very-special-most-wanted/ "A Very Special Most Wanted"], ''Wired'' via Associated Press (12 October 2001, 10:43 am).</ref> and has been disappeared from our collective conscious. Or the racial profiling in the wake of the attacks.<ref>[https://www.aclu.org/other/factsheet-nypd-muslim-surveillance-program Factsheet: ThE NYPD Muslim Surveillance Program], ACLU.</ref> Or that psycho [[Michelle Malkin]] calling for internment camps.

===Who?===
[[File:Obama, Bush, and Clinton discuss the 2010 Haiti earthquake.jpg|thumb|right|325px|Presidents Bush, Obama, and Clinton]]
His people tried to palm responsibility for the recession off on Clinton and Obama,<ref>Gongloff, Mark, [http://money.cnn.com/2002/08/07/news/economy/bush_cheney/ "Bush says he inherited recession"], CNN 8.7.02.</ref><ref>Baragona, Justin, [http://www.politicususa.com/2014/08/28/course-rush-limbaugh-blames-george-w-bushs-great-recession-president-obama.html "Of Course! Rush Limbaugh Blames George W. Bush’s Great Recession On President Obama "], PoliticusUSA 8.28.14.</ref> but it didn't play.<ref>Saad, Lydia, [http://www.gallup.com/poll/127472/Bush-Gets-More-Blame-Economy-Obama.aspx "Bush Still Gets More Blame for Economy Than Obama"], Gallup 4.21.10.</ref><ref>Lamarque, Kevin, [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-economy-bush-idUSBRE85D0XI20120614 "Most say Bush to blame for weak U.S. economy, poll finds"], Reuters 5.15.12.</ref>

Most neo-cons now deride a POTUS they unanimously supported (or even wanted to make "[[Frank Gaffney#Center for Security Policy|president for life]]")<ref>Boyd, Sam, [http://prospect.org/article/least-hes-honest "AT LEAST HE'S HONEST."], American Prospect 8.23.07.</ref> as a [[RINO]], having sold out all "[[No True Scotsman|true conservative principles]]."<ref>Rose, David, [https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2006/12/neocons200612 "Neo Culpa - The Neoconservative Blame Game"], ''Vanity Fair'' December 2006 issue.</ref><ref>Threlkeld, Jon, [http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/01/rinos_handmaids_in_the_destruction_of_america.html "Handmaids in the Destruction of America"], ''[[American Thinker]]'' 6 January 2012.</ref>

This is yet another fit of wingnut [[negationism]] post-recession, spanning from Herbert Hoover's [[Amity Shlaes|supposed crypto-socialism]] to Saint Reagan's [[Ronald Reagan#A sterling record of fiscal conservatism|spectacular efforts at fiscal restraint]]. Each time their ideas fail, they see the problem as being one of branding, rather than the ideas themselves being flawed. (Many of these people, by the way, declared they were [[Tea Party movement|"Tea Partiers" and "Taxed Enough Already"]] when [[Mitt Romney|their man lost again.]])<ref>[http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/04/tea_party_and_george_bush "Wait, Bush is okay now?"], ''[[The Economist]]'' 4.17.10.</ref> They are the German soldiers fleeing Berlin as the Allies approach, stopping only long enough to burn their uniforms.

===Memoirs===

In 2010, Bush published his memoirs, ''Decision Points,'' in which he defended using torture as an interrogation method (really pushing it there, are ya!) and described a bizarre moment when his mother showed him the [[fetus]] she'd miscarried. Also, of all the low points of his presidency, being called a [[racist]] by [[Kanye West]] was apparently the absolute worst because it made him feel really sad inside. Facts behind this interaction: Bush flew over the Katrina mess and looked out a plane window. People became agitated that this was his only response. Bush then went back and hugged people.<ref>Http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4826744</ref><ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1498331/Bush-makes-his-first-visit-to-ravaged-New-Orleans-since-Katrina.html</ref>

However, in living up to his reputation that he'd never read a book in much depth,<ref>Rich, Frank, [http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/28/opinion/journal-and-the-winner-is-george-w-bush.html?pagewanted=all "Journal; And the Winner Is . . . George W. Bush"], NYT 28 August 1999.</ref><ref>Charles, Ron, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/bushs-911-school-visit-pushed-pet-goat-into-spotlight/2011/09/08/gIQAYpXtFK_story.html "Bush’s 9/11 school visit pushed ‘Pet Goat’ into spotlight"], 9.9.11.</ref> let alone written one, it turned out whole passages of his "memoir" were lifted [[plagiarism|wholesale from other books]], including those written by former aides.<ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/14/george-bush-accused-borrowing-memoirs George Bush accused of borrowing from other books in his memoirs], ''The Guardian''</ref>

===Irony, guilt or change-of-heart?===

{{cquote|04/17/2014 - George W. Bush Debuts New Paintings of Dogs, Friends, Ghost of Iraqi Child That Follows Him Everywhere|||''[[The Onion]]''}}

Living under the radar (compared to the constant scrutiny while in office), Bush and his spouse have spent time in Africa opening and renovating [[medical]] clinics.<ref>Allen, Mike, [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78094.html George and Laura Bush open clinic in Africa], Politico (Updated 07/04/12 01:09 PM EDT.</ref>

He also paints pictures of wounded soldiers (his bad), the White House dog 
Checkers
 
Tony
 Barney, and other assorted crap. Fittingly, it appears that they were also mostly copied off of [[Google|The Google]].<ref>Schultz, Colin, [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-get-solo-show-as-an-amateur-artist-first-serve-two-terms-president-180950476/?no-istthat "How to Get a Solo Show as an Amateur Artist: First, Serve Two Terms As President…"] Smithsonian Mag 4.9.14.</ref> The ones of himself in the shower are especially disturbing.

==Why did he talk like that?==
One of the most infamous things about Bush was the sheer amount of gaffes he made during his administration, to the point where Jacob Weisberg was able to fill up a series of books with what have been labeled "Bushisms," or strange examples of wording coming from the mouth of the 43rd President.

Christopher Hitchens said in a 2000 article for ''The Nation'' that he thinks the most likely cause is dyslexia,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20211016120644/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/why-dubya-cant-read/ Why Dubya Can’t Read]</ref> which the Mayo Clinic describes as "a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words."<ref>[https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dyslexia/symptoms-causes/syc-20353552 Dyslexia]</ref> Others, such as American linguist Mark Liberman, argue Bush is not unusual in how gaffe prone he is, and the reason we see it so frequently is simply due to him being on camera as commonly as he is. As he put it, "In many of the other cases, the cited examples seem well within the range of expected human error. Which of us could stand up to a similar level of linguistic scrutiny?"<ref>[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000292.html YOU SAY NEVADA, I SAY NEVAHDA]</ref>

Either way, although it does make for a good laugh every now and again, it must be remembered that of all the things wrong with Bush, his failures with the English language are far from the most important. There is nothing saying somebody with his verbal skills could not have been a good President. In the same regard, his actions in the White House would have been terrible for the nation even if he was better with his words.

==National Guard controversy==
[[File:Bush in uniform .jpg|165px|thumb|right|Bush in uniform]]
One of the bigger controversies starting in the 2000 campaign and following Bush for his entire time in the White House involves how he acted while serving in the Air National Guard in the 1970s. According to records, Bush was suspended from his position in 1972 because of his failure to show up for an annual medical examination.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/this-day-in-politics-aug-1-1972-095023 George W. Bush suspended from Texas Air National Guard, Aug. 1, 1972]</ref> Some have claimed that Bush went AWOL during his time in the military, however "Air Force Reserve records show Bush was credited with enough points to meet his requirements for that year — barely."<ref>[https://www.factcheck.org/2004/02/new-evidence-supports-bush-military-service-mostly/ New Evidence Supports Bush Military Service (Mostly)]</ref> That said, {{wpl|Killian documents controversy|Memogate}} was unambiguously bullshit and pushed hard by people who really should have known better.

==Junta==

*[[Dick Cheney]] — Cyborg. Currently rocking the J.R. Ewing look (as expected). His daughter, [[Liz Cheney]], attacked her sister for being gay on national television in an opportunistic bid to win a congressional seat in [[Fun:Wyoming|Wyoming]]
*[[Karl Rove]] — Criminal who has avoided summons to appear before Congress.
*[[Paul Wolfowitz]] — Architect of the Iraq War and the man who brought much of the Bush staff together. When an Army General asked for more troops, Wolfie and Rumsfeld laughed in his face.<ref name="schmitt" /> Right before they demoted him.<ref>Mills, Nicholaus, [http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/20/opinion/mills-truth-teller-iraq/ "Punished for telling truth about Iraq war"], CNN (Updated 20 March 2013, 7:53 AM ET).</ref>
*[[Donald Rumsfeld]] — Torturing POWs? There's an app for that!<ref>[https://medium.com/@DonRumsfeld/at-83-i-decided-to-develop-an-app-dadd4e53d342#.w1c31xt7w I’ve done business, politics, and war. Now I’m trying my hand at mobile gaming!] The devs have managed to string along Rumsfeld through 172 builds and the better part of 2 years...for a Solitaire game. For once, the workers are exploiting the lack of knowledge of the capitalist.</ref> Forget the Iraqis; he was a more significant threat to U.S. soldiers. He actually had to resign after a long while.
*[[David Frum]] — Did you know that [[Iran]] was co-operating with the US in Afghanistan and improving relations until Bush called them a part of the "Axis of Evil" in a speech Frum wrote?<ref>Filkins,
 Dexter, [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/30/the-shadow-commander "The Shadow Commander"], ''New Yorker'' 8.30.13 issue.</ref>
*[[John Ashcroft]] — Ultra-religious Attorney General who was busy covering up nude statues in the Justice Department.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1788845.stm Ashcroft protects the boobies.]</ref> Also prosecuted Martha Stewart, sings, and authored the [[PATRIOT Act]].
*[[Alberto Gonzales]] — You thought Ashcroft was bad? This guy ensured, by any means he knew how, that the United States would use [[torture]].
*[[Enron|Ken Lay]] — Californians had to fork out an extra $420 a month for his fake "rolling blackouts",<ref>Oppel Jr., Richard A., [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/weekinreview/word-for-word-energy-hogs-enron-traders-grandma-millie-making-like-bandits.html "Word for Word/Energy Hogs; Enron Traders on Grandma Millie And Making Out Like Bandits"], NYT 13 June 2004.</ref> which was never paid back. The governor kept asking for help and being blown off by the Bush administration.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/2001/05/bush-no-electricity-price-caps/ "Bush: No electricity price caps"], Wired (29 May 2001, 3:09 PM).</ref> (Gray Davis was a contender for the 2004 Presidential election. After your $700 utility bill, Mr. Bush didn't have to worry about him anymore.)<ref>Gardner, Michael, [http://legacy.sandiegouniontribune.com/uniontrib/20040730/news_1n30davis.html "Now, he's just Davis the delegate"], San Diego Union-Tribune 30 July 2004.</ref>
*[[Goldman Sachs|Hank Paulson]] — The funny thing is that Paulson was Goldman CEO when most of the subprime securities and risky CDs were being written. In 2008, he became Secretary of Treasury, who was also instrumental in handing out the bailouts. While letting other equally-dependent banks fail for doing exactly the same thing.<ref>Gordon, Greg, [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/economy/article24596200.html "How Hank Paulson's inaction helped Goldman Sachs"], McClatchy (10, October 201, 12:01 AM).</ref> Pretty funny. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u79hDi6XBwQ If you're a member of the 0.01%, that is.]
*John "I Don't Do Carrots" Bolton — 
A strange little fucker
<ref>Wolff, Michael, [http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html "Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Be President"], ''New York Magazine'' (3 January, 2018 at 11:53 am).</ref> Definitely one of Bush's sketchier picks. The oh-so-diplomatic Bolton believes that the UN is illegal; in fact, he said that it didn't exist right before Bush named him ambassador to the UN, where he only served for a short time because the senate would not approve him. Trump was supposed to move us away from the blood-thirsty, neocon warmongers, and now he's floating Bolton's name for a position. Bolton, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rice... Funny how old names keep popping back up lately.<ref>Nahal Toosi and Madeline Conway, [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/john-bolton-state-trump-232573 "Trump's flirtation with Bolton sends shivers through Senate"], Politico (14 December 2016, 5:10 AM EST).</ref><ref>Glasser, Susan B., [http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/24/paul-wolfowitz-donald-trump-iraq-middle-east-215065 " Why Paul Wolfowitz Is Optimistic About Trump"], Politico 24 April 24, 2017.</ref><ref>Johnson, Eliana, [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/dick-cheney-trump-surrogate-232746 "Cheney emerges as surprise Trump surrogate"], Politico (12/16/16 at 01:44 PM EST).</ref><ref>Jagannathan, Meera, [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/condoleezza-rice-argues-removing-slave-owners-statues-article-1.3147695 "Condoleezza Rice argues tearing down slave owners’ statues is ‘sanitizing’ history"], ''NY Daily News'' (8 May 2017, 1:58 PM).</ref>

==See also==
{{fun}}
*[[Reaganism]] — He just seems like a guy you could take to the bar 
and smash a glass over his head
 ya know?
*[[Fun:Bushisms]]
*[[Mission accomplished]]
*[[Bush Derangement Syndrome]]
*[[REAL ID Act]]
*[[Guantanamo Bay]]
*[[Rick Perry]] — Lieutenant Governor (and successor) in [[Texas]], who is in many ways Bush on steroids.
*[[Stephen Harper]] — If America has rednecks, Canada has slednecks.
*[[Tony Abbott]] — And in Australia, they have bogans.
*[[Ronald Reagan]] — The prototype.
*[[Donald Trump]] — The ''somehow worse'' next model. He makes Bush look like a rocket scientist.

==External links==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqJiCDElWmo "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" (''Late Show'' with David Letterman)] - In case any of us ever forget.
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O0WUzU-Kxc You're Welcome, America.]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfiaGungQsg Sadly, this may be less satire than you would think.] 
*[http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/im-really-gonna-miss-systematically-destroying-thi-11435 Bush reflects on his time in office near the end of his term]
*Some news articles and blog posts on how Dubya let his belief in [[God|Gawd]] influence his presidency:
**[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/oct/07/iraq.usa Dubya told Palestinian officials: "God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq"]
**[http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2009/aug/10/religion-george-bush Dubya invoked "Gog and Magog" when trying to sell the Afghanistan and Iraq wars to the French, much to their bewilderment] ([http://www2.unil.ch/unicom/allez_savoir/as39/pages/pdf/4_Gog_Magog.pdf The French take on this])

==Notes==

{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
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[[Category:War on science]]
[[Category:We're on a mission from God]]

Categories: Anti-abortion activists, Anti-intellectualism, Anti-LGBT bigots, Artists, Business, Chickenhawks, Christians, Conspiracy theorist scapegoats, Crimes against humanity, Denialists, Former United States Governors, Global warming denialists, Government incompetence, Imperialists, Iraq, Living people, Machismo, Neoconservatives, Plagiarists, Presidents of the United States, Protestants, Pseudoscience promoters, Right-wing activists, Texas, United States politicians, War criminals, War on science, We're on a mission from God