Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To Say"

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/18/snow-iraq-stability/

Whatever the white house pays this man, it cannot possibly be enough, as he stands in front of reporters, (Metaphorically) with his hair on fire, and swears he doesn't smell the smoke.

One has to wonder at the absolute failure of moral conscience of every member of this administration (and the democrats who enabled them) which gives them the capability to trumpet "progress" in Iraq when they know, through every level and source of intelligence they have, that this war has been an unequivocal disaster - except for the defense contractors.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

When 3,527 Americans and 300,000 Iraqis have died for a cause that's taken longer than World War II and consumed a portion of national wealth that's on its way to the cost of that war, and you don't know if you've even stabilized the area when the whole point was to stabilize it... well, there's your Worst President in History Award right there, fellas. Not to mention Bush's single-handed destruction of the Republican consensus that elected him.

Nixon was George Washington compared to this guy.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Worse than Franklin Pierce? Worse than James Buchanan? Worse than Calvin Coolidge? Worse than FDR? Worse than LBJ? I think not.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

FDR doesn't belong on that list. He was one of America's best Presidents. Further, LBJ was, at worst, a middling President.

Even the remaining ones on your list fail to compare, in sheer magnitude of ineptitude, to the current President of the United States.

Add to this the various offenses against rights guaranteed under the constitution, and it's impossible to rank this President any higher than forty-third -- out of forty-three.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

One that built on FDR's use of the federal government to provide social programs when the feds have no right or repsonisbility to do so. And then there's Vietnam.

Yeah, you're right. Pierce and Buchanan doing literally nothing to prevent the Civil War is somehow less inept than Iraq. Gotcha.

Because Lincoln violating Habeas Corpus is somehow less bad than Bush listening in on terrorist phone calls. Jackson and the Trail of Tears is less offensive to rights than a No Fly list.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

There was nothing they could do. Secessionism was virtually inevitable, despite the best efforts of the Great Compromiser and others.

Lincoln was permitted to do so by the terms of the United States Constitution, which provides, in relevant part:

Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution of the United States.

It's true that the Supreme Court found his acts unconstitutional. Nevertheless, Lincoln's other actions more than redeemed him from this transgression.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Uh, Article I Section 9 deals with Congress's powers, not the President's. Usurping Congress's powers by suspending Habeas Corpus was the worst mistake Lincoln ever made, and is the act in our history most comparable to Bush's anticonstitutional push for the unitary executive.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Congress gave Lincoln authority to do so, although this did not satisfy the Court (Ex parte Milligan).

See: http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_mlaw.html ("On September 15, 1863, Lincoln imposed Congressionally-authorized martial law. The authorizing act allowed the President to suspend habeas corpus throughout the entire United States.")

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Lincoln suspended the writ in April 1861, well before Congress rubber stamped it for him.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Congress has no Constitutional authority to delegate it's powers to the President or ANYONE.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

I'm not going to dispute that Lincoln acted unconstitutionally. However, as I've said, what he did for the country by holding it together far outweighs that offense.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

So it's okay for Lincoln to violate the Constitution because he though it was good for America, but it's not okay for Bush to violate the Constitution when he thinks it's good for America.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

With all this talk about worst Presidents, how have Grant and Harding not made anybody's list?

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Yep...there is a healthy fistful of dismal Presidents on the roster...certainly enough to lift Dubya's ranking at least into the thirties.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

I've already had this argument with Excelsius. For him to keep harping on about this only indicates he hasn't bothered to actually pay attention to any real information.

Even just compared to Andrew Johnson, Bush comes out like a rose.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

I'd tend to agree. For sure at this moment(and Bush still has a little time to go one way or the other) I'd put Harding, Grant, and Buchannan below Bush right now for sure. I'd have to ponder it some more to see if I think anybody else belongs below him. And no not Harrison, he doesn't even make the list having served for only a month.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Give it a few decades - or at least a couple - before your start any serious analysis of the Bush administration's place in history.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Off the top of my head, Presidents (and only Presidents... Grant wasn't bad, just everyone around him was) worse than Bush:

Carter
Johnson
Truman (2nd term)
FDR
Hoover
Jackson

and he's right about tied with Nixon, Lincoln, and Wilson.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

If we wait that long, he may be fighting to make the 40s.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

If President Bush is the worst Prez evah just for Iraq alone.... well I'd disagree, but when you include everything else he's done, his constant attacks on our constitution with his anti-terrorism legislation such as but not limited to the USA Patriot Act, use of torture, then he is definately in the top five.

The thing about Iraq is that you have to watch out for the partisan politics. The issue is rife with it and in order to stabilise a country like Iraq it takes time, but everybody wants it done yesterday or it's a great failure.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

I'm a Bush-hater and I don't think it's OK for either one to violate the Constitution.

I'm a Lincoln hater, too.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Johnson showed up in New Orleans the evening after a hurricane wrecked the city.

Bush didn't even know what happened for a few days when it got wrecked again, and he had comm tech light years of what was available to Johnson.

So Bush clearly loses in the cluelessness department.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

New Orleans is asking for foreign aid. What does that tell you about how his administration is handling it?

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Or maybe there's just a lot of greed going on in the big NO.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

The New Orleans fiasco was so bad that Fidel Castro scored propaganda points by offering to send in medical teams to help. Now that's bad.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

About the Administration? Nothing. But it tells me the entitlement mentality--you know, that which made the people in New Orleans too helpless to take any hand in avoiding disaster--is alive and well in the Big Easy.

If doesn't matter what is given, those who leech off the rest of us will always want more.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Sure it does. Unless the costs from the disaster, or those associated with rebuilding the city and rendering aid are more or less covered, the administration can't toss billions of $s down the drain in a war on the other side of the Atlantic and still genuinely claim it's looking out for us.

Like New York after 9/11?

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

Mewa's been demanding 40 acres and a mule ever since 9/11.

Re: Snow: "I Don’t Know" If Iraq War Has Helped Stabilize Middle East, It’s "Hard To

I stand by my comments. No President other than Bush has brought American into such disrepute and for so little reason, has caused so many deaths for such nonexistent results, has violated the constitution for such little gain, has been so inept as to defeat virtually every one of his own initiatives, or has been so corrupt as to cause the incarceration of a standing senior member of his Vice President's White House staff. Not Grant, not either Johnson, not anyone else.

Bush stands alone as the worst President in history -- and hopefully, the worst of all time to come, because we certainly don't deserve another one who's any worse.