When it comes to partisanship, I'm all in favor of disagreeing with those you oppose politically and engaging in vigorous debate over your differences.  All too often, however, human nature causes political differences to degrade into personal attacks on both sides.  Unfortunately, this reveals more about your character than the person you are attacking.  I will be the first to admit that I was perhaps a little harsher on Bill Clinton that I should have been and I hope I have learned my lesson and take a softer tone toward Barack Obama.  I will not be afraid to disagree with him when I think he is wrong, but I hope it never causes me to launch a personal attack against him.

For eight years now, George W. Bush has been the President of the United States and it has been a tumultuous journey for the entire country.  He just happened to be the man who was in the Oval Office when the United States was attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001.  As a new President, he engaged in the war on terror vigorously and fought it in the way he thought was best for the country.  I'm sure he will be the first to admit that he made some mistakes along the way, but as a human being, it's such an enormous task to take that much responsibility on oneself and always make the right decision.

Immediately after 9-11, Bush enjoyed one the highest approval ratings in history, reaching 91%.  That number has since fallen to an average of about 31%.  But much worse than the low approval rating is the downright hatred that has been expressed toward him by those who oppose him.  It's such a shame that disagreement has to devolve into hatred.  I'm willing to respect a person who disagrees with Bush's policies on a rational basis, heck, I have disagreed with some of them from time to time myself.  But what I have little or no respect for those who turn their disagreement into hate.

I decided to make this post when I heard about an editorial that was written by Jeffrey Shaprio in the Wall Street Journal today.  He agrees that the personal attacks on Bush have been unwarranted.  The striking thing about Shapiro is that he was a member of John Kerry's legal team during the 2004 election.

For whatever reason (I think I know why) the press has not been very favorable to Bush over the course of his Presidency either.  They have chosen to write about the things that show him primarily in a negative light and ignored the good things he has done.  How many people are aware, for example, that Bush has been the most generous President to Africa in the history of the United States?  You may know it, but how often have you heard about it in the media?  I have only rarely seen a story on it.  The coverage, which could be so beneficial to the African continent, has been so neglected that Bob Geldof has taken the American media to task on it and has drawn criticism himself from Bush haters.

So, in closing, if after reading this post, you still can't stand Bush, that's up to you.  But it might be a little better for the country if you toned down the hate a little bit.

Originally posted by Zindaihas

I decided to make this post when I heard about an editorial that was written by Jeffrey Shaprio in the Wall Street Journal today.  He agrees that the personal attacks on Bush have been unwarranted.  The striking thing about Shapiro is that he was a member of John Kerry's legal team during the 2004 election.

I think that was yesterday.

I thought it was wrong when Bush supporters in 1992 slapped "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Bush" stickers on their cars before Clinton was even sworn in.  The simmering Clinton-hatred was bad for the country and, for that matter, for republicans. ... I'm not an Obama fan, particularly, but a lot of pepole I like and respect are. To treat Obama as something evil or subhuman would not only be disrespectful toward Obama, but toward them. 

- Blogger and law professor Glenn Reynods writing Tuesday at Forbes.com

No one "hates" or "can't stand" Bush as a person, just his policies. That's why he's going down as the worst President in America's history.

Of course there's some good about his Presidency, but there's a disproportionate amount of bad as well. So you have to think about what's reasonable and what isn't reasonable amid all the crises America is currently suffering; the expectancy of people dismissing all the bad to "show a little respect", or the expectancy of fingers being pointed to place blame where blame is due? 

I don't feel sorry for Bush. His penstrokes effect the health, homes and employment of millions; the context of the times have and still far outweigh any pity felt over tonguelashings and lack of friends in Washington.

So yeah, I agree with you that there's things about him that should be respected, I just believe it's entirely appropriate right now that people be as cynical as they are towards him. 

Ok I didn't read more than the title to this thread, and usually I kow I should read the whole thing, but I'm sorry, all I can say is:

LOL ROFL LFMAO!!!

At least Hillary was right when she said Bush was the lamest of lame ducks

Why?  He's on his  way out.  Thank God.  He has become incredibly unpopular.  I've seen popularity numbers as low as 25% recently and a year ago, according to the NYT, it dipped as low as 19%.  As far as I'm concerned, he doesn't even deserve that.  Why would it be better for America to pretend he wasn't so bad?  He's gone.  Kaput.  I'm just hoping he doesn't pull some monumental last minute idiocy and then I'm hoping he'll just fade into obscurity except to be taught in schools as an example of one of the all time worst presidents in history. 

He made his bed, he can lie in it.

He will always be able to be called Mr.  President. 

As a Texan and a moderate I had hope for Bush's compassionate conservatism. Here are the reasons I think his approval rating is so low.

1. He squandered the goodwill of other nations after 9/11 by not listening to their concerns.

2. He chose to focus on Iraq instead of Osama Bin Laden.

3. He claimed to be fiscally Conservative but embarked on a borrow and spend economic philosophy that is just as bad, really worse, than tax and spend.

4. He failed to adequately respond to Katrina.

5. No WMD in Iraq.

6. He aggressively increased the size and role of government.

7. He inherited a strong fiscally responsible nation but is not leaving it the way he found it. (people are not better off now than they were 8 years ago)

8. He believed that the virtues of his right-wing base were enough to sustain the Nation as a whole.

Personally, I feel that if conservatives are to regain there rightful place as strong respected leaders, they will have to come to terms with the fact that they supported a bad leader, and they will have to find away to reconcile this with the American people.

The deserting warmongering coward deserves not one iota of respect.

He is the most incompetent President in the history of the United States of America.  He makes Harding look not so bad.  His criminality makes Richard Nixon look like a model citizen. His vacuousness makes Ronald Reagan look like a Nobel laureate.

The only example he sets is the worst one imaginable.

Good riddance to rancid rubbish.

No, lets wait till we're sure it's over.  Clinton managed to give Bush the middle finger by enacting a zillion little things he wanted to do right before he left.   And the thing is, Clinton was always a little thinker.  Faced with an obstacle, the man would try to get around it, work with other people to go over it, chip away at it bit by bit.

Bush calls in air strikes on obstacles, and screw collateral damage.  If the objective is destroyed along with the obstacle, well, Mission Accomplished! Clinton pardoned a few cronies and enacted some things that he wanted to be enacted (including a few measures that might as well have been signed "Al Gore" since it's reasonably obvious who wrote them).  Don't even want to imagine what Bush could do.  

Well, that's just it.  I'm still peeking through my fingers, waiting for some last minute shenanniagans.

I look over this thread, and I have no response...

CLEARLY no one knows how to leave politics in the office anymore.

CLEARLY it's ALWAYS going to be personal now.

CLEARLY people dont believe in respect anymore... for themselves or each other.

And CLEARLY the OP is one of the ONLY people here who still thinks and doesnt just follow the mob.

If I get banned for this, so be it, but you ALL SUCK.

Well not that im not happy Obama got elected, being half black myself and half white. I just personally didnt think it was gonna happen anytime soon. So here it goes..

Kudos to you Mr. President Bush You are my Hero because you F-D up so bad in Office that the we Americans ELECTED a BLACK MAN. Congradulations you deserve a medal seriously.

I still think Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice, and others should all be strung up and hung after being convicted in a court of law for lying to and otherwise deceiving us about Iraq. Over 4000 dead and untold billions spent because of these scumbags. I'm not going to forgive that. I remember very well the lead up to our invasion of Iraq, even if some of the rest of you do not.

Bush has done our nation tremendous harm in many ways, but to me our invasion of Iraq was the worst single thing he did.

Respect? Please. If I had my way, he'd already have been impeached, convicted, tossed from office, criminally indicted, convicted, and then hung.

Respect is EARNED, not given.

OP, your title mentions respect, yet your post talks about not hating. The problem is that a lack of respect and hatred are two different things.

I do not, never did, nor will I ever, respect that man. A friend, who is democrat, once during a political discussion said "You might not like him, but if you had the chance to meet him, you'd take it." My answer, simply, was "No."

The man has done very little that's been good for this country. He's lied, cheated, and sent good people off to their deaths for selfish reasons. He's tried to take away our rights. He's also a giant moron and isn't capable to speaking without someone's hand up his ass like a puppet to make sure he doesn't say more stupid things.

Do I hate him though? Not really. What I hate is the fact that he's getting off scott-free without having to pay for his crimes, and I hate the government for letting him off.

Originally posted by Tuor7

I still think Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice, and others should all be strung up and hung after being convicted in a court of law for lying to and otherwise deceiving us about Iraq. Over 4000 dead and untold billions spent because of these scumbags. I'm not going to forgive that. I remember very well the lead up to our invasion of Iraq, even if some of the rest of you do not.

Bush has done our nation tremendous harm in many ways, but to me our invasion of Iraq was the worst single thing he did.

Respect? Please. If I had my way, he'd already have been impeached, convicted, tossed from office, criminally indicted, convicted, and then hung.

Respect is EARNED, not given.

Thank you for proving my point. NOT ONLY, do you spout outright falsehoods (if anyone lied, it's iether Saddam or the CIA, take your pick), but you have shown a complete UNWILLINGESS to show respect... and seem proud of such an attitude.

I pray you are in the minority, but either way, your value shows through.

Respect is earned, true... but it was earned by clearly making it into office (or do you want to downgrade Gore and Kerry in one fell swoop... after all, they failed to get in). And as such, I do believe Obama should ALSO get respect. But clearly you do not. If people treat him like crap, you have no right to complain.

Originally posted by LV426

Originally posted by Tuor7

Thank you for proving my point. NOT ONLY, do you spout outright falsehoods (if anyone lied, it's iether Saddam or the CIA, take your pick), but you have shown a complete UNWILLINGESS to show respect... and seem proud of such an attitude.

 

I think the point is, it doesn't matter who lied he should of known. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that after 2 wars and 10 years of embargo's the man was not a threat to anyone.
 

Now thousands of our son and daughters are dead or wounded, we are spending billions of dollars of our children's future, and the man who started it all is still free.

In my opinion, the fact that you are not angered by this says more about you than anything Tuor7 said says about him.

So now that bush is the most ahted man in the world [yes it does exist] America is now seen as a arogant bully your economy if unstable, wall street is bust and now he lost the election. And he now deservs respect!!!!

Originally posted by qazyman

Originally posted by LV426

Originally posted by Tuor7

Thank you for proving my point. NOT ONLY, do you spout outright falsehoods (if anyone lied, it's iether Saddam or the CIA, take your pick), but you have shown a complete UNWILLINGESS to show respect... and seem proud of such an attitude.

 

 

I think the point is, it doesn't matter who lied he should of known. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that after 2 wars and 10 years of embargo's the man was not a threat to anyone.
 

I personally would be far more scared of a president who could look at the CIA (who's job is to make sure of these things) and say "Nah... you guys dont know what you are talking about." then one who took bad info because the CIA is supposed to be reliable. THAT is what you call a loose cannon.

Now thousands of our son and daughters are dead or wounded, we are spending billions of dollars of our children's future, and the man who started it all is still free.

Then go after the head of the CIA if you REALLY want to point fingers. Personally, I find the fact that they werent the ONLY intelligence agancy not duped makes it a little hard to do that, either, though.

In my opinion, the fact that you are not angered by this says more about you than anything Tuor7 said says about him.

Yeah, it says I can be rational. Facts are facts, and I dont let rage get in their way. I get fustrated with people who do let rage get in the way because all they seem to do is stamp around and get in the way of fixing the problem.

I will show my respect to him as well.
Bye George, and don't let the door hit you on the way out..................

On a serious note, he might have done good things, but the proportion good/bad is 2/10.
Just pointing out the good things over all the damage he has done is like saying that OJ Simpsom was a good football player, so we shouldn't judge him so negatively  for murdering his wife and organizing an armed robbery................

Let this guy fade into oblivion, and let's all look forward to the future.

Originally posted by HYPERI0N

So now that bush is the most ahted man in the world [yes it does exist] America is now seen as a arogant bully your economy if unstable, wall street is bust and now he lost the election. And he now deservs respect!!!!

 

1) As the last person said, hate and respect can co-exist. However people letting things get too personal and not rational enough forget this.

2) Frankly, who gives a damn? I really doubt any anti-US views was all Bush. Some? sure, but not all. No I will say a chunk is older, deeper, and frankly wont be rooted out anytime soon... so for now, lets ignore it and co-exist because we all need to do that.

3) Bush can be blamed to some extent, but he isnt the source... nor is conservatism, for that matter. He can be blamed for not trying to cancel Clinton's actions. HIS regulations that pretty much enforced "Equal Opportunity Lending" (translation = "Lending to those who clearly can not afford it") is what caused the issue.

4) You are now officially retarded... BUSH DIDNT RUN IN THIS ELECTION! Unless of course you are so desperate to hate that you mentally put him in McCain's place... and if that's the case, all Im doing is pissing you off.... which of course leads me to ask...

am I?

Originally posted by LV426

Originally posted by qazyman

Originally posted by LV426

Originally posted by Tuor7

Thank you for proving my point. NOT ONLY, do you spout outright falsehoods (if anyone lied, it's iether Saddam or the CIA, take your pick), but you have shown a complete UNWILLINGESS to show respect... and seem proud of such an attitude.

 

 

I think the point is, it doesn't matter who lied he should of known. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that after 2 wars and 10 years of embargo's the man was not a threat to anyone.
 

I personally would be far more scared of a president who could look at the CIA (who's job is to make sure of these things) and say "Nah... you guys dont know what you are talking about." then one who took bad info because the CIA is supposed to be reliable. THAT is what you call a loose cannon.

It's what you call a strong leader

Now thousands of our son and daughters are dead or wounded, we are spending billions of dollars of our children's future, and the man who started it all is still free.

Then go after the head of the CIA if you REALLY want to point fingers. Personally, I find the fact that they werent the ONLY intelligence agancy not duped makes it a little hard to do that, either, though.

There isn't anyone to blame we just have to pay for it. This is the result of a weak leader

In my opinion, the fact that you are not angered by this says more about you than anything Tuor7 said says about him.

Yeah, it says I can be rational. Facts are facts, and I dont let rage get in their way. I get fustrated with people who do let rage get in the way because all they seem to do is stamp around and get in the way of fixing the problem.

It's about accountability, it goes hand  in hand with leadership

 

Originally posted by qazyman

Originally posted by LV426

Originally posted by qazyman

Originally posted by LV426

Originally posted by Tuor7

Thank you for proving my point. NOT ONLY, do you spout outright falsehoods (if anyone lied, it's iether Saddam or the CIA, take your pick), but you have shown a complete UNWILLINGESS to show respect... and seem proud of such an attitude.

 

 

I think the point is, it doesn't matter who lied he should of known. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that after 2 wars and 10 years of embargo's the man was not a threat to anyone.
 

I personally would be far more scared of a president who could look at the CIA (who's job is to make sure of these things) and say "Nah... you guys dont know what you are talking about." then one who took bad info because the CIA is supposed to be reliable. THAT is what you call a loose cannon.

It's what you call a strong leader

It's what you call being stupid. You act on the facts you are given. And at the time, these were believed to be the facts. Now, if you think there is a better response to those facts, then yeah, I can see a point. But what we are talking about is completely disregarding intelligence reports.... which, I might add, were backed by intelligence agencies around the globe.

Now thousands of our son and daughters are dead or wounded, we are spending billions of dollars of our children's future, and the man who started it all is still free.

Then go after the head of the CIA if you REALLY want to point fingers. Personally, I find the fact that they werent the ONLY intelligence agancy not duped makes it a little hard to do that, either, though.

There isn't anyone to blame we just have to pay for it. This is the result of a weak leader

Or bad information... frankly I will not blame someone for doing what they think is right based on the information at hand. If the information proves false, then that has to be handled (and THAT Bush has done wrong), but at that moment, there was no blame.

In my opinion, the fact that you are not angered by this says more about you than anything Tuor7 said says about him.

Yeah, it says I can be rational. Facts are facts, and I dont let rage get in their way. I get fustrated with people who do let rage get in the way because all they seem to do is stamp around and get in the way of fixing the problem.

It's about accountability, it goes hand  in hand with leadership

Accountablility has nothing to do with raging around. If you want to blame him for handling how it was handled... or after the information proved false, go ahead. He IS to blame for those things. But not for going in in the first place. Based on what he knew, he did what he had to. Period.

 

 

Originally posted by qazyman

Originally posted by LV426

Originally posted by qazyman

Originally posted by LV426

Originally posted by Tuor7

Thank you for proving my point. NOT ONLY, do you spout outright falsehoods (if anyone lied, it's iether Saddam or the CIA, take your pick), but you have shown a complete UNWILLINGESS to show respect... and seem proud of such an attitude.

 

 

I think the point is, it doesn't matter who lied he should of known. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that after 2 wars and 10 years of embargo's the man was not a threat to anyone.
 

I personally would be far more scared of a president who could look at the CIA (who's job is to make sure of these things) and say "Nah... you guys dont know what you are talking about." then one who took bad info because the CIA is supposed to be reliable. THAT is what you call a loose cannon.

It's what you call a strong leader

Now thousands of our son and daughters are dead or wounded, we are spending billions of dollars of our children's future, and the man who started it all is still free.

Then go after the head of the CIA if you REALLY want to point fingers. Personally, I find the fact that they werent the ONLY intelligence agancy not duped makes it a little hard to do that, either, though.

There isn't anyone to blame we just have to pay for it. This is the result of a weak leader

In my opinion, the fact that you are not angered by this says more about you than anything Tuor7 said says about him.

Yeah, it says I can be rational. Facts are facts, and I dont let rage get in their way. I get fustrated with people who do let rage get in the way because all they seem to do is stamp around and get in the way of fixing the problem.

It's about accountability, it goes hand  in hand with leadership

Umm the Stuff your smoking can i have some? Ill share my candy...
 

I can understand respect for the office.

What i DO NOT want to hear anymore is any connection of anyone to "failed bush admin policies".This was a campaign tactic used in a most annoying fashion.

I didnt vote for either party as i feel they didnt do enough to convince me.That being said i will support my president and respect his office.

To all you democrats:

You now have control.

The Bush years are effectivley behind us.We are watching you do not blame anything else on a former administration.You elected this man to run this country and turn it around.

DO NOT SCREW THIS UP YOU HAVE 1460 DAYS TO PROVE YOU WERE RIGHT!!!