Random Thoughts

Oct. 1, 2003

The worst?

Do you think that George W. Bush is the worst president we‘ve ever had? That‘s the concensus of a number of pundits whose job it is to play pin the tail on the donkey with awards of this sort.
Texas columnist Molly Ivins thinks that Bush is the worst, naturally, since she knows him from back in his days as a part-time governor. She calls Bush “a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate America.“
Ditto for Metro Times columnist Jack Lessenberry, who calls Bush “the worst president in history... nobody has done as much to ruin the nation and mess up the world as the reformed drunken frat boy whose daddy failed at the job before him.“
And in a recent letter to Gen. Wesley Clark, urging him to run for president, Michael Moore wrote: “Right now, for the sake and survival of our very country, we need someone who is going to get The Job done, period. And that job, no matter whom I speak to across America -- be they leftie Green or conservative Democrat, and even many disgusted Republicans -- EVERYONE is of one mind as to what that job is: Bush Must Go.“
The Onion weekly newspaper notes that under Bush, “Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over.“
Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes notes that, “The only real good news will be when this terrible time in American history is over.“
Seems kind of harsh. Just because the guy has turned the whole world against us like a pack of rabid dogs, wrecked the economy, raised unemployment to record levels, run the Bill of Rights through a wood-chipper, evaporated the biggest budget surplus in American history with a switcheroo for the biggest deficit in our history, gotten us into two Vietnam-style wars, installed a conspiracy of oil & coal company executives in his cabinet at a time when the world is going up in global warming smoke, and handed our nation‘s environmental protections to the nation‘s biggest polluters, loggers and miners... does that make him “the worst?“
Well, we‘ll report and you decide.
Following are a few “Interesting facts about Dubya,“ sent to the Express as an email. Apologies, I don‘t know who the author is, but it makes for a thought-provoking read. Enjoy.

The record-setting achievements
of George W. Bush

I attacked and took over two countries.
I spent the U.S. surplus and bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
I shattered the record for the biggest annual deficit in history.
I set an economic record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12
month period.
I set all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the stock
market.
I set the record for most campaign fund raising trips by any president in
U.S. history.
In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other
president in U.S. history.
I set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12-month
period.
I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any
president in U.S. history.
I set the record for the fewest press conferences of any president, since
the advent of TV.
I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any
other U.S. president in history.
I presided over the biggest energy crises in U.S. history and refused to
intervene when corruption was revealed.
I cut health care benefits for war veterans.
I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take
to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for
protest against any person in the history of mankind.
I dissolved more international treaties than any president in U.S. history.
I‘ve made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in U.S.
history.
Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history.
(The poorest multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker
named after her.)
I am the first president in U.S. history to have all 50 states of the Union
simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy.
I presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in
any country in the history of the world.
I am the first president in U.S. history to order a U.S. attack AND military
occupation of a sovereign nation, and I did so against the will of the
United Nations and the vast majority of the international community.
I have created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history
of the United States, called the “Bureau of Homeland Security.“
I set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases,
more than any other president in U.S. history (even Ronald Reagan).
I am the first president to compel the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
I am the first president to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Elections Monitoring Board.
I removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of
congressional oversight than any presidential administration in U.S. history.
I withdrew from the World Court of Law.
I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. prisoners of war and by default
no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
I am the first president in history to refuse United Nations election
inspectors access during the 2002 U.S. elections.
I am the all-time U.S. (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign
donations.
The biggest lifetime contributor to my campaign, who is also one of my best
friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in
world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in U.S.
history.
I am the first US president to establish a secret shadow government.
I took the world‘s sympathy for the U.S. after 9/11, and in less than a year
made the U.S. the most resented country in the world.
I am the first US president in history to have a majority of the people of
Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and
stability.
I changed U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government
contracts.
I set the all-time record for the number of administration appointees who
violated U.S. law by not selling their huge investments in corporations
bidding for government contracts.
I have removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any
other president in U.S. history.
I entered office with the strongest economy in U.S. history and in less than
two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.

GEORGE W. BUSH

The White House, Washington, DC