Who has done the most damage.......Reagan or Bush?

[yourout]

Before you scream....."Bush by a mile"...keep in mind that without Reagan, Bush probably doesn't happen.

From deregulating everything which allowed the Republican noise machine to develop to the training of future Bush henchmen(Cheney, Rumsfeld) Reagan layed the groundwork for Bush.

[Syrinx]

1. Bush by a mile

[Journeyman]

2. Hard to say, as everything Reagan did still hasn't come to light. . .

and much of what Bush has done may never be known.

[Echo In Light]

20. Yep. "Oct Surprise," Iran Contra, phony drug "war," REX84 - blueprint for subverting constitution...

a la a "national terror attack," cough...cough.

In my lifetime, the right has been about fascism/corporatism, war$, dismantling democracy, fucking over the least among us, here and globally, etc, and wrapping their entire warped package of evil shit in "patriotism" and the bible, with a complicit, vast media system to sell their evil under the guise of phony cover stories. Reagan/Bush are basically how I began to become politically aware as a teenager.

[lapfog_1]

3. "Bush by a mile"....

it's not even that close a contest.

Bush has put our entire country at risk of either fascism or third world status... or both.

Reagan was bad, used to be my second worst President in the last 120 years... right after Nixon.

W. wins this race by a country mile.

[Eric Condon]

22. The funny thing is, though, that while Nixon was sleazy and paranoid,

his policies weren't like the Rethug-Fascist doctrine of today, which began as we know it with Reagan. Nixon was the last president to spend more domestically than on defense - by today's standards, he'd be "liberal." It's sad that that's true, since he'd only be considered that way in a political climate like ours, but it really just speaks to the fact that he was a part of the old-guard GOP, which had some at least non-vomit-inducing individuals (Eisenhower, etc) before the party was taken over by fascistic neocon thugs.

[chknltl]

4. yep gotta go with bush2 on this one

Reagan did his share and got the ball rolling BUT bush-2 by far did more damage to our Constitution, to our economy, to our judiciary, to our people and worse is directly to blame for each and every person held in his torture prisons, for each and every Middle Eastern refugee, for each and every death in the Middle East caused by his fiasco. I'll scream bush by two miles and weep for the harm he has brought to our planet. This man ranks right up there with Adolf Hitler and history will judge him so.

[SeattleGirl]

5. I say Bush (2).

Yeah, Reagan opened the door, but Bush went through it with a bulldozer.

[melody]

6. It was one long relay race of destruction

Bush was an excellent anchorman for them.

[Kitty Herder]

24. Excellent analogy!

[nomorenomore08]

7. Well, Bush has a much higher body count, but as you said, he wouldn't have happened without Reagan.

Reagan was the original dumb-but-charismatic, rich-guy-posing-as-regular-guy Republican puppet president. He harnessed the untapped prejudices of otherwise decent folk, and in the process changed our entire national discourse - the thread on Bill Cosby vs. Rev. Wright today was a good example, ostensibly liberal-minded people spouting Reaganite talking points. It may well take us generations to escape the Gipper's influence. Then again, it may take us just as long to undo the damage wrought by Bush, and that's only the economic/diplomatic damage - those million or so dead Iraqis ain't comin' back.

[napi21]

8. Bush, He appointed two young SCOTUS's who will haunt us for

generations, started two wars, destroyed every fed. dept., and pissed off the whole world!

[MrSlayer]

9. Gerald Ford.

For not prosecuting Nixon and letting everyone off the hook in Watergate. Had we stamped out the "Unitary Executive" neo-cons then and there, in their early stage, we would not have had them come back for Iran/Contra, Gulf War I, 9/11 and the current wars and the shredding of the Constitution.

[liberal N proud]

10. bu$h - Raygun just put a dent in the process

Raygun regime attempt at destroying America was a failed attempt but everything that happened in the Raygun years enabled the bu$h regime.
Bu$h just finished the job Raygun started but is responsible for the largest share of damage.

[annabanana]

11. Reagan kicked it from the 20 to the 40 yardline.

Bush (cheerleading from the sidelines) hollared and yahoo'd while Cheney bullied it the other 60 yards.

[Perry Logan]

12. Bush outdid Reagan by destroying his own party.

[stillcool]

13. I think they are the same thing.

[AndyA]

14. I think it was equal.

Reagan set the stage for Bush. Without Reagan's initial abuses, Bush would not have happened, as you said, and if he made it to the Presidency, he would have had to finish "setting the table" so to speak.

They worked in concert to make everything happen.

Bush did more damage, but it was only because Reagan opened the doors so Bush could do it.

Let's hope the next President closes some of those doors, but I don't see it happening with the three we have running. :(

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

15. Reagan screwed us. Bush screwed us AND destroyed our international standing

Bush by a mile.

[HughBeaumont]

16. Bewsh by 1 length.

Granted, St Ronnie screwed this country, but at least the damage was somewhat in the arena of repairable.

The Bewsh Administration getting two terms, 3/4 of that time period with a Repuke rubberstamp congress, nailed half of the coffin shut. If America goes for the stupid trifecta and elects McClown, kick the box in the ground.

[JANdad]

17. It was actually IMHO

Bush I acting as VP (Actually the acting POTUS behind the scenes) that put all of this in play. Bush I positioned all of the players (Buddies he made under Nixon)...the rest as they say is history...

[tavalon]

18. You could have made it easy and asked about Bush vs Nixon!

That one would be easy.

This one, a little more complex, but really, Reagan was senile during most of his tenure so really, you're asking which of the Bush's is most culpable and I think they are two peas in a pod. Daddy was certainly more intelligent (by a Texas mile) but they both had/have PNAC Neocons all around them and that's where the evil comes from so really, I think you've got yourself a false dichotomy there. I think it's two branches of the same rotten tree or hehe, bush.

[trotsky]

19. Without Raygun, the Booshes never would have happened.

So that's kind of a trick question.

[Echo In Light]

21. Exactly. They greased the skids for em, by design

[Kitty Herder]

23. Reagan!

Bush is just finishing what he started. Of course, one could argue that it goes clear back to Nixon.