When Will Historians Say Bush Jumped The Shark?

[Plaid Adder]

Years from now when the books are written, what will the historians identify as the moment at which Bush passed the Point Of No Re-Election?

[slestak]

1. For me...

... it was when he unveiled his Cabinet picks. Then I knew we were truly screwed!

[TwentyFive]

2. Ashcroft - the biggest screw job - evil - shriveled soul of a man....

[Minimus]

27. but he gave us "Let The Eagle Soar"

http://www.newwartimes.com/eagle.html


:puke:

[Inland]

3. Excellent, and serious, question

Bush was invincible as the war president. He was simply beyond questioning. And of course, his opposition were puny whiners, destined to be crushed, so nobody should listen to a thing they had to say.

At some point, it became acceptable to question Bush. At another, people started hearing it, and at another, understanding it. And at another, the opposition stopped being fodder for the Bush machine of secrecy and media manipulation and became, well, Kerry, able to win, and because he was able to win, able to meet Bush on his own terms and as a peer.

[ixion]

4. don't you have to first be elected to be re-elected?

Since Bush was never actually elected, but rather was installed by a duplicitous and courrpt SCOTUS, I would have to opt for 'other' and say he jumped the shark in Nov 00.

[Brotherjohn]

5. Big Picture? The decision to invade Iraq.

After he loses the election, people will look back in future years and say he "went too far", he "overreached" in launching a pre-emptive war of choice against a nation that posed a dubious threat at best and had no connection to 9-11. And he did so against the will of most of the world.

That is how history will paint it.

[realisticphish]

9. agreed

before that, he was your run-of-the-mill ineffective president, who got a crapload of good will after 911. he could have run out for four years just on that, and maybe even 8. Iraq fucked him

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

28. Agreed with the other agreer. He would have been an average bad president

if not for Iraq. Now he's become the worst ever.

[Robbie67]

6. Will historians know...

just exactly what "Jumped the Shark" means?

I wonder if they'll associate an episode from a 20-year removed TV show with Bush's presidency in any way.

(I know, I know...just breaking your balls)

[DefenseLawyer]

15. You are correct

Historians are more likely to conclude that the president "Turned into Potsie" in about week two of his reign.

[DrFunkenstein]

7. When Administration Officials Started Suggesting No WMDs

If there were WMDs found, it would have been unlikely that Kerry would be in the position he finds himself today. The economy alone probably wouldn't have done the trick, not with this media filter...

[Uzybone]

32. Oh if there were indeed WMDs

Bush would be at 55-60% in the polls. The threat level of Iraq would not even be an issue with most Americans at that point.

[Neshanic]

8. The "let me think a minute" press steno pool practice/charade.

[eataTREE]

10. I'd have to say it was the totality of the 3 debates.

Fence-sitters got to see that the caricature of Kerry that they had been fed by the GOP spin-meisters was an illusion. They got a reasonably unfiltered comparison of the two men side by side -- a comparison highly unflattering to Bush.

When Kerry wins, the debates will be seen as the turning point of the campaign.

[Cocoa]

11. his hardball tactics during the recount

the guy that lost the popular vote fighting to keep thousands of votes from being counted.

[DefenseLawyer]

12. When he was egged

at his own inauguration.

[UpsideDownFlag]

13. when the SCOTUS appointed him. nt

[Francine Frensky]

14. You forgot Abu Ghraib!!

That's when the Iraq war, bush's war, jumped the shark....the weekend those pics came out on the internet, and that's when the Freeway Blogger had the picture of the guy in the black cape with wires coming out of him and the caption underneath: "The War is Over".

[lil-petunia]

16. I just finished Sy Hersh's latest book on Abu Ghraib

heads ought to roll. starting with Rummie.

[Plaid Adder]

22. Dang! How could I forget Abu Ghraib!

Major shark jumpage.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[dirtyduck]

17. When He Said We Were Going to Mars

sounds like the Fonz jumping the shark and the brady's going to Hawaii

[d_b]

18. I believe history will show that

Iraq was the quietus of this administration. The GLOBAL protests BEFORE the war was launched (unprecedented) and the careless handling of it after primary operations (whatever they were)were ceased.

[rocktivity]

19. His inauguration

:headbang:
rocknation

[Mad_Dem_X]

20. Day One - The day he was APPOINTED

:mad:

[jacksonian]

21. another nominee is the 2004 State of the Union Address

that was the first time I could hear conservatives audibly gasp.

[Hamlette]

23. When Howard Dean had the guts to say the war was wrong.

and started getting traction.

When Paul O'Neill said "blind man in a room full of deaf people."

When Dick Clark said: "we failed you"

Of course none of these are "Bush" moments. For those I remember a time when they were trying to get him out there to repair the damage. There was his appearance on Tim Russert for the whole hour and a press conference. He was awful at both of them.

I'd love to see an approval ratings analysis with all the suggestions in this threat lined up with his drops in the polls.

[LeftyMom]

24. When he oozed out of Barbara! eom

[fizzana]

25. When he blew up his first frog

n/t

[Kal Belgarion]

26. "Bring 'Em On!"

Dumbest thing to say while fighting insurgents in a hostile country.

Dumbest words to be uttered by the dumbest President.

[Awsi Dooger]

29. I'm not sure, Jumping The Shark usually involves Ted McGinley

If I remember my last visit to that website correctly. Who knows what connection McGinley has to Bush, other than much better at his profession than Bush at his.

Admitedly, this is an excuse to mention I went to college with Ted McGinley, and my foxy girlfriend chose me after briefly dating him. "He had zits," she reported with disgust.

[Maiden England]

30. about the time the Dr. declared 'its a boy'

[Astrochimp]

31. ya gotta have a shark to jump...

with * it's more like hopping a goldfish, over and over again.