I didn't vote for this guy, but if you knew back then what you know now would you still vote for him?
Let's let history judge Bush's 8 years... doing so now is premature and foolish. He has had to deal with a number of crises that have been unprecedented, be they foreign policy, terror, financial crises, the commodity boom, the tech bust, and on and on. I'll say this, I'd rather have had him at the helm than Al Bore or John Forbes Kerry.
TRANSLATION: Let's wait on the next Administration to clean up the crap G W Bush did .. . and then Claim credit for it. It worked for Bush Sr. Rocket River
Rocket River, I noticed that you voted in the poll. Does this mean you voted for George W Bush in the election? Or does it mean that you can't read? JUST CURIOUS
Neither. . .means I care enough to let the world know . . .NO is the correct answer. I notice you didn't comment on my Translation . . .so, I will accept that as your approval . .. Have a nice day . . . Rocket River
I preferred him in 2000. In 2004, I would of liked Kerry simply for the fact that he would of kept the congress and Presidential office balanced. Iraq's been a failure, he didn't privatize social security, didn't make the tax cuts permament, and didn't cut the corporate tax. Kerry wouldn't of been a bad president, and neither for Gore. But I can't complain under Bush, my family's done well these last 8 years.
thats you're reasoning for being content with bush? because your family has done well? my family has done well also but i still acknowledge what a crappy president he has been, that gore or kerry wouldve been a better alternative, and that our economy is becoming very bad under his leadership(albeit maybe not his fault, but the fault of the people he appointed)
Alito and Roberts. I got what I wanted from my votes. Of course, being that I am from California and my state went to Gore and Kerry, as it turns out my votes didn't mean much.
Wow. Over 70% of Bush voters on this site regret their votes. That doesn't bode well for Republicans offering a candidate promising to continue his policies pretty much to the letter.
Yes and, to be fair, that's why I said more than 70% instead of the full nearly 80%. I wish RocketRiver and whomever else didn't vote for Bush hadn't voted in this poll since he (and they?) undercut what is already a striking statistic. To wit, easily more than half of the people on this board that voted Bush wish they hadn't. That is striking. And it is in line with the striking national polling that shows that not only does the vast majority of the country think the Iraq war was a stupid debacle, very much unworth all the American blood spilled there, but they also disdain the Bush presidency in historic numbers. There is no way to put a good, mediocre or less than horrible spin on this presidency. And, if you do, you'll be met by hordes of your countrymen who disagree. George Bush went from winning twice (kind of) to being the most unpopular president in our lifetimes. That is why Republicans jump over each other lately to remind us he's not running again. I admire those few, those brave few, who are willing to admit they'd vote for him again, given the chance. That is serious balls. Don't dampen it quibbling over a couple percentage points. You are the proud, (even if you are) the few.
I voted for Bush in 2000, and voted for the Libertarian Party candidate in 2004 (some dude who teaches classes on the Constitution), mostly because Bush had ran so far away from his platform. I disagree though that Kerry would have been anything but miserable as President. He really was a horrible candidate and has been an atrocious Senator.
It's a tough question to answer because I don't think Gore or Kerry would've been any better. I guess it depends on whether or not Gore would've gotten us into Iraq. You want to think he wouldn't have, but keep in mind Clinton was saying back in '98 that Saddam was a threat, so who really knows? Sure, Kerry might have pulled the troops(or at least most of them) out of Iraq, but what if the situation goes to hell afterwards? We'd be right back in there. As for the economy, Bush inherited a mess. The dot com bubble bursting, 9/11, and the Enron/Worldcom debacles left everything in shambles. Would Gore have handled this any better? Probably not considering he wanted to keep taxes the way they were if not raise them more. I don't think either Gore or Kerry would've made a difference in terms of energy prices. Hell, Gore is the reason we have the current ethanol policy disaster(he cast the tiebreaking vote to pass the bill). Ultimately I'm left with the conclusion that all 3 choices were sh-tty. It's the same situation I'm in this election year. McCain, Obama, and Hillary will all be lousy Presidents. I'm almost certain of that. The question is who will be the lesser or 3 evils and who can get more accomplished given their respective unfavorable ratings and the likelihood of a heavily Democrat Congress?
Not enacting budget-busting tax cuts has pretty much nothing to do with the tech bubble bursting or corporate accounting fraud. Given that we followed up the tech bubble with a real estate bubble built partially on fraud, it's pretty hard to argue that Bush's response to the accounting frauds of the early 00's was sufficient. Further his fiscal policy has been an acute disaster, largely due to the trillions spent on Iraq. If you honestly think a republican congress would have allowed a democratic president to run the budgetary shambles that Bush got away with, yo u need to re-read the history of the 1990's.
That's true. A GOP Congress(assuming they would've had the same numbers in the House and Senate in a Gore Presidency) would not have laid down as easily to President Gore the way they did with Bush who is no fiscal conservative(aside from tax cuts). The GOP sold out their conservative principles for power. That didn't happen during the Clinton years.