Let's list all of George W. Bush's disastrous incidents, policies, and appointments

Let's just get all of our grievances with the Bush Administration out there, once and for all. The object is not analysis here. Let's simply list as many Bush disasters as we can think of-- no analysis, no sourcing, just briefly name the person, policy, or incident that has been bad for the country.

Four rules for comments in this diary:

1. You may not use the body of the comment form. Your comments should use the title only-- which will limit you to maybe 10 words or so. (That should keep the comments analysis free)

2. One disaster per comment.

3. Try not to duplicate a disaster that someone else has already listed.

4. The disaster must be something that Bush has some plausible fault-- so, no Asian Tsunami. But incidents which simply brought embarassment to Bush, such as the Harriet Miers affair, are allowed, on the grounds that they are embarrassing to the country.

What's the purpose? Well, John brought up a point that he didn't think it was very useful to simply list bad things about Bush without cause/effect analysis, but there have been so many bad things that have happened under Bush, that many of us just need a way to periodically vent about them. Perhaps if we just have a place to list all of the disasters, big and small, that Bush may have some responsibility for, we will get some of our frustration off our chests and we can be more analytical elsewhere. There also may be some venting value in seeing how long the list becomes.

As an added incentive: Whoever posts the most disastrous incidents/ people/ policies will earn a free point from me on their next diary, whether I agree with it or not :-)

I will start with a couple examples.

EDIT: If someone posts a large disaster, such as "Iraq", I encourage the posting of sub-disasters to that disaster as replies to that comment.  I will post an example below.

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Harriet Miers

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Not a problem.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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He can nominate whomever he wants.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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and when he nominated an unqualified sycophant,

...it's an embarassment to the country.

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He can still nominate whomever he wants.

skymutt approval not required.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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He can. Still a disaster, though. Nepotism.

Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce

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Aftermath of Katrina

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Michael Browne

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Local democrats mostly to blame.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Federal response given. Local authorities sitting on hands.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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"Nobody could've anticipated the breach of the levees."

Then video surfaces with weatherman telling Bush about probable breach of levees.

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Lies. That's not what he said.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Ok, how about "'I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of

the levees."

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"You're doin a heckuva job, Brownie!"

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Budget Deficits

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Necessary in a time of war.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Tax cuts.

Not appropriate in a time of war.

Nitwit.

If you really believe this is the "fight of our lives," how come you're not in Iraq?

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Required to bootstrap economy, boost federal revenues.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Budget deficits + tax cuts = bad economics

Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce

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Recession + Tax Cuts = Good Economics

Recession + War = Budget Deficits

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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plus low interest rates

= record home foreclosers and worthless paper in the world financial markets.

It is the economy, stupid.

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Out of control spending & pork-- Bush vetoes nothing

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Congress passes it all. They are in control.

Bush respects the "will of the people"!  :)

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Agree or Disagree is total control? Nonsense.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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I said "ultimate control", i.e. he has the last word.

Didn't say "total control."

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No he doesn't, Congress has final word.

They can override vetoes.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Not gonna happen

The only veto of an appropriations bill that has a decent chance in of being overriden is a veto of Congress's own funding-- getting paid has appeal across party lines :-)

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This is Bush's fault how?

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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But war unecessary.

"Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence." - George Orwell

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Needed to insure no WMDs passed to terrorists.

UN inspectors documented that they existed.  Saddam would/could not account for them all.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Listen to Scott Ritter's speech from before the war...

...and reply to the comment you promised you would, particularly the WMD intelligence section:

http://swordscrossed.org/node/1205#comment-51037

"Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence." - George Orwell

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Iraq

If you really believe this is the "fight of our lives," how come you're not in Iraq?

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Post-invasion looting

Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson

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By Iraqis or Halliburton?

If you really believe this is the "fight of our lives," how come you're not in Iraq?

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Looting by Iraqis

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Rumsfeld's dumb comments about Iraqis looting

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What dumb comments?

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Looting by contractors

(that answer your question?)

:-) 

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Lies.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Not done by Bush. Not under his control.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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No?

He was told over and over that he needed more troops before the invasion.

Not having the personnel is what led directly to the uncontrolled looting.

If you really believe this is the "fight of our lives," how come you're not in Iraq?

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You're just wrong. No realistic number of troops can stop

all looting.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

………… parent

We're good then. Some control was maintained.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

………… parent

I intended "some" to mean "a certain level of"...

a certain level of control is needed.

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So did I. A certain level of control was enforced.

Not everything was looted.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Dissolving the Iraqi Army

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Not unreasonable at the time.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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"who'd a thunk it?" --GoRight

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There were plenty of people who advised against it.

Including Bremer's predecessor, many in the military and many in the State Department.

But the numbskulls in the Executive knew better than to listen to the experts, just like they knew better than the many military commanders who told them in advance that they would need many more troops to adequately police Iraq.

If you really believe this is the "fight of our lives," how come you're not in Iraq?

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Who cares? Still not unreasonable under the circumstances.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Mission Accomplished

A politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man -- e e cummings

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It was.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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BS

We got suckered into a rope-a-dope, and fell for it hook line and sinker.

A politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man -- e e cummings

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We ousted Saddam and freed the Iraqi people.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Not securing the ammo dumps

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Didn't know where they all were. Still finding them.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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BS

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Can only spread forces so thin. Priority call on battlefield.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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De-Bathification

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Necessary.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Humbug. Iraqi's decide whether to let them back in.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Decision made by CPA. Damage done.

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Iraqis can vote them in if they want them back.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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moot point now: closing barn door after horse is gone

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This is nonsense. Iraqis can have Bathists back if they want.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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No military analyst agrees with that in retrospect.

Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce

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Key words = "in retrospect"

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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"Bring 'em On"

A politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man -- e e cummings

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"Cakewalk"

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"greeted as liberators"

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"oil will pay for reconstruction"

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"last throes"

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al Qaeda fomenting sectarian violence caused resurgence.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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al Qaeda sabotage to blame.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Payment is just delayed.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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We were by some. Still are.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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not enough, apparently

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Why? Meh.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Only by al Qaeda + other enemies of freedom and democracy.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Lies. Not Bush.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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Bush's minions. The decider chose his minions.

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Lies. Who said it?

I thought it was CIA.

Republican Maverick at Large
-4:Strongly Disagree; 0:Meh; +4:Strongly Agree

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