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I can't believe I'm saying this..I miss Bush. He just owned Trump.

squall211

Member
He was a disaster of a president, but I attribute that to incompetence more than active malice. I never really doubted that he was essentially a good person; he just wasn't someone who should be in a position to create policy.

I always felt Bush genuinely believed he was doing the right thing, and that he wanted what was best for the country, but he allowed himself to be surrounded and influenced by some incredibly shitty people.
 

TaterTots

Banned
Thus far, the difference between Bush and Trump is that Trump is only trying to do terrible things. Whereas Bush did good and bad. Hell, there are other countries that have statues dedicated to Bushy from his work as the POTUS. Pepfar, actually, all of his work for Africa. I simply cannot imagine Trump doing any such things seeing as how he handled Puerto Rico.
 
Whilst I firmly believe Trump is capable of the same and worse, he has yet to knowingly lead the US into a war on false pretences, kill hundreds of thousands, and start up a torture program.

Trump literally wants to start a war, and he's threatening the planet too. I'd say that's much worse then even Bush, and there's almost no comparison either. Bush was terrible, but Trump is horribad.
 

fanboi

Banned
trump is about 20% of the way through disassembling the last 8 years of progress. War sucks and all of that, but the ENTIRE REST OF MY LIFE is in the process of being affected. Everything trump is undoing now is going to take a minimum of 20 years to fix.

bush being awful doesn't make trump not more awful.

I mean that is quite an egocentric view on it since the war has cost thousands of lifes and part to blame for the situation in whole of Europe with the refugee crises which then increase the nationalism and far-right movement.

Would it really take 20 years? I mean isn't it just some EO the next president need to sign?
 

Poppy

Member
yeah dude i wish we were getting locked into more interminable wars based on lies, that would be such a better world to live in
 

Briarios

Member
The issue of the Bush presidency is primarily one of abdicating his power to Dick Cheney. Bush still holds responsibility as it was his watch - but the evils primarily side from behind the throne. I don't believe he even realized it until he stepped away.

Regardless of the damage he did, trying to mitigate things now should be applauded. It doesn't mean you have to forget the tragedies of his presidency.
 
I always felt Bush genuinely believed he was doing the right thing, and that he wanted what was best for the country, but he allowed himself to be surrounded and influenced by some incredibly shitty people.

Trunp genuinely thinks he's doing the right thing too
 

RangerX

Banned
Nah I don't. Trump is a repugnant cunt and has the potential to be much worse but he still hasn't launched a war that resulted in the death of at least 500,000 people. The Iraq war was a humanitarian disaster. Lets never forget that. Bush is also a horrible cunt.
 

mlclmtckr

Banned
umm.. he is desperately working at killing ACA and environmental responsibility. try again. you don't think those actions will kill even more?

Bush was all about drill baby drill and, you know, was president before the aca ever existed

The actual answer is that you value the respectability of American political discourse more than you value human lives.
 
No, he just outright killed people and destabilized a whole region instead.

Trump has been in the office for 8 months and already threatening nuclear war, a conflict with Iran, and America quickly losing its power and becoming destabilized. Hell, he barely wants to even help obliterated parts of America where citizens are dying. Lets see how things go after 4 years because I guarantee things will get worse under Trump than they are now.
 

Rockandrollclown

lookwhatyou'vedone
Don't miss Bush at all. If he wants to talk shit about Trump, good for him. The man was a shitshow of a president.

By all indications Trump will likely be worse.
 
Reminder that Bush started an illegal war on a lie that has killed hundreds of thousands of people

This exact talking point is why leftists hate liberals

Miss me with your discourse, your conceptions of America being shattered by trump's election. Bush is a fucking war criminal.

dhMeAzK.gif
 
I've said as much before, but let's derail the Bush Administration Public Rehabilitation train.

Just because he's somewhat more capable of acting like a human than the current president shouldn't cloud you from forgetting that results of Bush's presidency were horrifically bad.
 
Only if you lack any type of perspective. Bush killed thousands, Trump hasn't. Until he does, it's no contest.
Hundreds of thousands of just Iraqis actually unless you were only counting the tens of thousands of US soldiers killed.

But Trump is the best thing that could have ever happened to Bush, he can actually show his face in public again.
 
umm.. he is desperately working at killing ACA and environmental responsibility. try again. you don't think those actions will kill even more?

Trump has been in the office for 8 months and already threatening nuclear war, a conflict with Iran, and America quickly losing its power and becoming destabilized. Hell, he barely wants to even help obliterated parts of America where citizens are dying. Lets see how things go after 4 years because I guarantee things will be worse under Trump.

When Trumps body count matches Bush, then I will say he is a worse president. I know how evil and malicious Trump is, he still hasn't killed hundreds of thousands.

You're saying thousands won't die without affordable health insurance?

Hundreds of thousands of just Iraqis actually unless you were only counting the tens of thousands of US soldiers killed.

But Trump is the best thing that could have ever happened to Bush, he can actually show his face in public again.

Trump is the best thing to happen for Bush, no doubt. Health Insurance can eventually and hopefully be fixed if/when the Dems are back in power. Nobody is bringing those Iraqi citizens back to life.
 

kmax

Member
Only if you lack any type of perspective. Bush killed thousands, Trump hasn't. Until he does, it's no contest.

I'm referring more to how he carries himself in comparison to Trump. Obviously Dubya is a war criminal and was an incredibly bad president, but a spoilt child behaves better than Donald Trump on his best of days.
 

RMI

Banned
I agree that Bush was far worse, but give it time. We haven't gotten to panic mode Trump yet. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
 
It just puts things in perspective for me about how we went from voting for a war criminal to Obama and now to a white supremacist Russian puppet. America is fucked that's my take away.
 

Oberon

Banned
Bush may be responsible for an illegal war the caused hundred of thousands of deaths and destabilizing an entire region, made america trade their freedom for security, but hey only a fraction of those deaths were american so that's fine.
 
This is how the Overton window shifts. Most of the country is begging for Pence-level conservatism to save us from the madness.

It's great that Bush, McCain, and others are taking the president to task for his buffoonery, but we should still demand more from our politicians than basic human decency.
 
On the other hand, even the fact that we're having an argument comparing eight years of Bush to a scant eight months of Trump shows the destructive potential the latter has.
 

mlclmtckr

Banned
I'm referring more to how he carries himself in comparison to Trump. Obviously Dubya is a warcriminal and was a incredibly bad president, but a spoilt child behaves better than Donald Trump on his best of days.

Right, the only possible argument that Trump is worse than Bush is an aesthetic one, which is an extremely fucked up but frighteningly common way of looking at politics
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Bush was all about drill baby drill and, you know, was president before the aca ever existed

The actual answer is that you value the respectability of American political discourse more than you value human lives.

there is no political discourse. the right controls every branch of government. the only minor savior thus far has been that they are eating each other alive. once that stops, we are fucked.

I get that hundreds of thousands die. you don't seem to get how fucked this country is. if the mid terms don't swing the needle at all (or even further right) next year, this country is utterly fucked. could easily match the numbers you are talking about over 10 years or so.
 
people shouldn't lower their standards like this. Trump is an awful human being and nothing will change that, but the people of the United States and the World deserve better than Dubya and his father.
 
Reminder that Bush started an illegal war on a lie that has killed hundreds of thousands of people

This exact talking point is why leftists hate liberals

Miss me with your discourse, your conceptions of America being shattered by trump's election. Bush is a fucking war criminal.

Prettayyy much this
 

kirblar

Member
Right, the only possible argument that Trump is worse than Bush is an aesthetic one, which is an extremely fucked up but frighteningly common way of looking at politics
Having a president actively respecting minority citizens in the wake of a massive terrorist attack vs one that's encouraging white supremacist organizations is not an "aesthetic" difference.

There is plenty of shit to hate about Bush, but having all the death eaters come out of the woodwork is a very real net negative. Just ask Heather Meyer.
 

Fercho

Member
Bush is only speaking out because.....well yeah Trump is god tier shit, but he is taking the opportunity to not go down in history like the worst president in USA, and that's...kinda smart on his very personal side.

Dude is a war criminal and the worse kind of Republican, he did a lot of damage to the American people in several aspects.

although i do sympathize with somebody who thinks they "miss him", but that's only because Trump is a psychopath who lacks any kind of skills of human decency and emotions and that provokes that feeling.
 

Spider from Mars

tap that thorax
Bush ruined generations of lives and would have stood before a tribunal in a just world. Just because he has the aura of a lovable oaf compared to Trump doesn't mean that he should be looked upon fondly.
 

Linkura

Member
Which Bush are we talking about here? I'm assuming W, but there's two of them and OP gives zero indications as to who.
 

ApharmdX

Banned
Before y'all throw Bush a ticker tape parade:

-he lied us into a war that killed thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis
-he tortured prisoners of war. TORTURED. In violation of international law.
-the above two actions ruined America's good name around the world
-the deadliest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor happened on his watch, and he had advance knowledge.
-Bush normalized unconstitutional surveillance of American citizens
-deregulation on his watch caused the 2008 crash/recession

FUCK BUSH. One of Trump's sole positive achievements was his destruction of the Bush political machine, and of the lie that Bush was not responsible for 9-11 during his presidency. Trump achieved more success against that egregious lie than Dems did for 15 years!

And yes, Trump is a dumpster fire president, but that doesn't retcon Bush's presidency. The man was a terrible president by any metric.

Reminder that Bush started an illegal war on a lie that has killed hundreds of thousands of people

This exact talking point is why leftists hate liberals

Miss me with your discourse, your conceptions of America being shattered by trump's election. Bush is a fucking war criminal.

Yup. Fuck throwing this dude a parade. He's literally a war criminal.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Bush may be responsible for an illegal war the caused hundred of thousands of deaths and destabilizing an entire region, made america trade their freedom for security, but hey only a fraction of those deaths were american so that's fine.

in a comparison of "who is worse", yes causing the harm or deaths of YOUR VERY OWN CITIZENS to the tunes of hundreds of thousands, is worse than starting a foreign war. I'd think that wouldn't need explaining.

edit - oh yeah and literally threatening nuclear war.
 

Briarios

Member
But Bush literally started a war.

Bush didn't threaten to use nuclear weapons. He didn't dismantle the EPA. He didn't dismantle our treaties and drive away our allies.

Yes, he started an illegal war, abused human rights in the name of security, and did some awful stuff.

But the things Trump is doing are literally pushing us to the end of days. In 4 years, he can do enough damage to the environment that it could take decades or centuries to reverse, if it's even possible. He's literally blown apart this nation's standing in the world, and the instability from that could bring about a world war.

I voted against Bush, I think he was horrible, miserable president. But, I don't think he wanted to watch the world burn to get personal validation. He had empathy and reason. He wasn't a mentally unstable sociopath.

There is literally no comparison between the two. With Bush, I could see better on the back side. With Trump, I'm skeptical we'll survive.
 
Great speech by him was just on CNN. He spoke out about nationalism, Russia, white supremacy and more. As terrible a president he was, he is still 1000x more of a President than Trump any day. We need more of this. Especially from past Republican presidents.

On CNN now, no link to full speech yet.

Nah, his dumbass was convinced that war was necessary. That's the only thing where Trump is factually better - he hasn't started an unecessary war yet.
 
This is how the Overton window shifts. Most of the country is begging for Pence-level conservatism to save us from the madness.

It's great that Bush, McCain, and others are taking the president to task for his buffoonery, but we should still demand more from our politicians than basic human decency.
I agree with that. I don't miss Bush as a president in the slightest. He was an embarrassment for completely different reasons and crippled our country in multiple ways.
 
Bush would talk to newly elected Iraqi Prime Minister Rouri al-Maliki every week or so via video conference, as Bush felt that the new Iraqi leader would need some advice and help during uncertain, difficult times after the war. Bush was candid and warm, and also strategic- he understood some of al-Maliki's deficiencies as a statesman and spent time relating some of Bush's own missteps and misconceptions when he was a freshman President. He was effective at keeping al-Maliki in line somewhat, as al-Maliki went off the deep end engaging in divisive and aggressive acts that led to a lot of instability and unrest during Obama's first term. Obama had no interest in Iraq, totally disengaging from al-Maliki.

Obama was completely green and didn't have the benefit of Bush's wisdom gained through years of being in that position as he left office. That was a pretty big fuckup, coming from a smart, level headed guy.

Being president is incredibly difficult, as even smart good guys like Obama can make huge mistakes at any given time. Now imagine all of the things Trump is fucking up even behind the scenes that we don't know about.
 

mlclmtckr

Banned
Having a president actively respecting minority citizens in the wake of a massive terrorist attack vs one that's encouraging white supremacist organizations is not an "aesthetic" difference.

There is plenty of shit to hate about Bush, but having all the death eaters come out of the woodwork is a very real net negative. Just ask Heather Meyer.

Good job correctly spelling the name of the dead woman you're using as a political argument

More importantly as someone who looks Muslim and who has a half-Muslim family I do not give a fuck if Bush said islamophobia was bad while bombing the shit out of Muslim countries and ignoring the civil rights of American Muslims and filing Guantanamo with Muslims
 

Codeblue

Member
If only Trump was a goofball while waging war against minorities.

Bush and his administration were monsters. Let's not get crazy here.
 

SKINNER!

Banned
Reminder that Bush started an illegal war on a lie that has killed hundreds of thousands of people

This exact talking point is why leftists hate liberals

Miss me with your discourse, your conceptions of America being shattered by trump's election. Bush is a fucking war criminal.

100% this.

Getting a little sick and tired of all this "I miss Bush" rose-tinted glasses bullshit. Just because he's human compared to Trump and gives a "great speech" doesn't mean he gets away with all the criminal acts he and his party has committed.

Fuck him, Fuck Cheney, Fuck Bush Senior and fuck Reagan. and yup, Trump too. All cut from the same GOP mindset cloth.
 

Zhengi

Member
Bush was a terrible president and by all metrics is still a worse one than Trump, you just can't upsurp him as the worst president in such a short amount of time.

Bush the man and how you feel about his humanity is irrelevant towards his policy work and Trump's Trumpness.

Trump has no policy work at all and that's why he's better than Bush.

Checkmate Liberal Scum!!!
 
Bush and Trump I'd say were/are both inept presidents who have made their own share of terrible decisions. Not really seeing this as a Sophie's Choice scenario at all.

Though I do think at the rate Trump is going, he and his administration have the capability to be definitively worse than Bush and his administration when all is said and done.
 
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