People Still Blame Bush

[babylonsister]

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/6/16/141054/263

People Still Blame Bush

by BooMan
Thu Jun 16th, 2011 at 02:10:54 PM EST


Common wisdom says that a sitting president can only blame his predecessor for the state of the union for a brief period of time. After a year or two at the helm, a president has to take ownership of the condition of the country. This is partly because people are forgetful, but also because we expect our leaders to be accountable and get results. So, it's interesting that people are still more inclined to blame Bush than Obama for the economy. And it's really surprising that people are more inclined to blame Bush today than they were a year ago. I don't know what explains this phenomenon, but it's definitely helping Obama maintain some pretty decent approval numbers despite a deeply grumpy and pessimistic electorate.

I think the main thing is that people really don't like Republicans. Obama is still crushing all comers in pretty much every poll that I've seen. I think McCain's former adviser John Weaver is on to something:

For Weaver and the rest of the team, {Jon} Huntsman's intelligence and foreign-policy experience, combined with his strong record of fiscal conservatism and social semimoderation (he supports civil unions for gay couples and believes climate change is an urgent issue), made him the ideal candidate to shake up a Republican field that Weaver calls "the weakest since 1940."

"There's a simple reason our party is nowhere near being a national governing party," Weaver told Esquire. "No one wants to be around a bunch of cranks."

Weaver sees Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and the presumed front-runner, as a man afraid to take a stand — or, more accurately, as a man unafraid of taking every stand. "What version are we on now?" Weaver said. "Mitt 5.0? 6.0?"

And in former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, another leading candidate, Weaver sees what he considers the worst tendencies of his party — pandering to the GOP's hard-right margins at the risk of falling out of serious presidential contention.

snip//

Do you think this is the worst Republican field since 1940?

[SpiralHawk]

1. "That's because it's true. Smirk." - xCommander AWOL (R)

"Republiconomics is sooo cool (for fatcat republicons). Sneer. Smirk."

- xCommander AWOL (R)

[Philippine expat]

2. I still blame Reagan n/t

[BobbyBoring]

3. I still blame Bush

And I blame the numb skulls on the right that didn't know the Constitution existed until Obama was elected.

Although Hitler was out of power in 1945, Germany suffered for years because of his actions and yes, this is the worst Rethug offering yet!

[Frisbee]

5. This IS quite likely the worst yet...

and I see no signs of the trend reversing itself anytime soon, which is great as long as they don't get elected. But it scares the hell out of me that one of these evil mothercluckers may someday find their way into the Whitehouse. That is why it is to my mind so important to try to win back the House and to maintain a majority in the Senate. Getting some good young, liberal justices on the SCOTUS would be nice too.

[bluerum]

4. shrubbish lowered so many bars so far that the repukes will be crawling for years to come.

[eridani]

6. Good for us. Now why doesn't Obama do the same thing? n/t

[GoCubsGo]

7. The way the repugs talk, he apparently blames Bush for everything.

At least. that has been their meme for the past two years.

[eridani]

15. Great. Now we are supposed to just accept Repuke memes and not fight back against them n/t

[FrenchieCat]

8. I think it is because if Obama kept pointing it out (as he did for a tim), then folks would decide

that he was just using excuses.....
But since he doesn't really say it anymore,
folks do remember that the financial crisis indeed
happened during the election, and therefore Bush would have
caused it.

The trick is not to give people any reason to call an undeniable fact,
a constant excuse.

[Beartracks]

9. You make a most excellent point. n/t

[eridani]

14. Gee, now how come that logic never worked when Reagan kept on campaigning against Carter

--in 1984? He blamed Carter for everything, and blew off high unemployment with constant references to 70s stagflation.

That's what pisses me off about this administration. Blaming Bush is not excuse-making if Obama would also point out that Republican blocking and watering down of his policies are the reason for continuing economitc disaster.

[uponit7771]

16. Obama himself doesn't have to, he has people in his party to do it for him

[underpants]

10. They are desperate to turn it around - Rush said Bush was "the good old days"

I heard it the other day. You will hear this again - trust me.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. A Bucket of Truth!

[Samantha]

12. When I checked some time ago as to the deficit Bush* left

the CBO figure was 11.5 trillion. Most of this deficit he kept off the official books away from the public eye. When Obama became president, one of the first things he did was to combine that with the official figures so that the American public would know where things stood. He made a public announcement of this. Shortly there after, the Republicans started blaming him for the excessive spending and the huge deficit.

Sam

[AtomicKitten]

13. That's particularly amazing since Faux News blames Pres O 24/7.

While news-cruising, I actually heard the nitwits on Faux News claim taxes have never been higher which, of course, is also horseshit.

[Avant Guardian]

17. People know who broke it

I wanna know who is gonna fix it

[Ter]

18. Some still blame Woodrow Wilson

n/t

[QuintanarooBoy]

19. Yeah. Your point being?

Dick-in-Bush fucked this country.

[and-justice-for-all]

20. Oh not just shrub, but his father and reagan....Axis of fucking satan.