How the Bush Administration Ran the Country Into the Ground

[kpete]

How the Bush Administration Ran the Country Into the Ground

JB

This stunning image from a New York Times story on the deficit speaks volumes about how truly reckless the Bush Administration was, aided by a Republican majority in Congress, in running the country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10leonhardt.html?partner=rss&emc=rss



......................

If I had to think back to a key moment in American history when everything went wrong, I would have to point to the moment of George W. Bush's selection as President in 2000. It put an incompetent in the White House (George W. Bush), assisted by a mentally unhinged lieutenant (Dick Cheney), and aided and abetted by a self-righteous and corrupt Republican-controlled Congress led by the likes of Tom Delay. What a noxious combination of incompetence, arrogance, hubris, and ideological zeal!

The Republican Congress by itself did not cause this problem. It They wasted two years of the country's time impeaching Bill Clinton for having sex; but together with Bill Clinton they managed to produce a budget surplus. No, it was the toxic combination of Bush, Cheney, Delay and the Republican Congressional Caucus that led the country into disaster.

...............

Earlier I spoke of the moment of Bush's selection. It is worth remembering that the election of 2000 was contested (and of course, Bush actually lost the popular vote). It is possible that a Republican-controlled Congress would have installed George W. Bush anyway under the federal Electoral Count Act, aided by a Republican-controlled Florida Legislature (which would have chosen a new slate of electoral college delegates), a Florida governor who was the President's brother, and a Florida Secretary of State who was the head of the President's Florida campaign committee.

But we should not forget the contribution of five conservative Republican Justices of the Supreme Court in making sure that it was George W. Bush, and not Al Gore, who occupied the White House in January 2001, writing an opinion whose remedy made little sense legally but whose purpose was clear: to smooth George W. Bush's transition into the White House. (No doubt this is an example of the impartial style of judging that Republican opponents of Sonia Sotomayor advocate.) These five Justices must take their share of the blame for the many disasters that the Bush Administration unleashed on this country. They could not have known that Bush would have been such an unmitigated failure, but they certainly did understand that they were twisting the law to benefit their favored political party. If the Bush Administration was the greatest disaster in modern American history, surely Bush v. Gore must rank as one of the Supreme Court's most egregious errors.

more:
http://balkin.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-bush-administration-ran-country.html

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Off to greatest...

[emulatorloo]

2. kick and rec n/t

[glitch]

3. Doesn't reckless imply unintentional? I think their sacking of our economy was deliberate.

The people who voted for them were reckless though.

[troubledamerican]

9. Agreed.

[MarjorieG]

4. Is the off-budget Iraq War reflected in graphic? Change from off to on?

[felinetta]

5. Every day we see more and more why they stole the election!

They made sure that everything they touched would screw up the
world.  And yet they still get called
President Bush and Vice President Cheney.  They deserve NO
respect whatsoever. I make sure every time
I refer to them, I preface their name with the word
ILLEGITIMATE.

[snot]

6. "The Republican Congress by itself did not cause this problem."

Ok; but I think their pushing through the repeal of Glass-Steagall and refusing to regulate credit derivatives, among other things, makes them at least a significant part of the cause?

[HOLOS]

7. KICK

[AntiFascist]

8. Agreed! Bush v. Gore was the result of a right-wing influenced Supreme Court...

and the nation as a whole is now paying the price of a right-wing influenced government.

[HamdenRice]

10. The single most stupefyingly dishonest thing in that article: NO MENTION OF IRAQ WAR !

I was outraged reading that article yesterday because it made no mention of how much the Iraq War, the unnecessarily prolonged Afghan War and increased military spending contributed to the deficits and debt.

But at one point it attributed $300 billion to Obama's continuation of the Iraq War.

Although it squarely put the blame for the trillions in debt on Bush, it desperately avoided the 800 pound gorilla in the room.

[BeFree]

11. Silly

Don't you know it's the Liberal media?

2,000 pound cash cow is more like it. Can't blame the MIC now, can they?

[texasleo]

12. kick and rec n/t