Bush Legacy Already Established
President Bush should stop worrying about his legacy. It’s already established.
By his deeds you shall know him; preemptive war, torture and wiretapping, for starters.
Nothing said in history can wipe out those flaws in his administration. And no revisionist historian down the road can diminish the importance of those acts. He has governed with threats — and by nourishing fear in the American people.
The president seems to have a hard time abiding by the law. Referring to his struggles with Congress during his first year in office, Bush joked that “a dictatorship would be heck of a lot easier.”
But it is no joke that he has found ways to circumvent the constitutional restraints of his office with signing statements and secret directives.
Bush also has been able to execute his power grab by playing the fear card — and with hardly a peep from a cowed Congress. This tactic has worked most of the time.
Now, fortunately, the administration is encountering some pushback from Capitol Hill, from those who reject the chipping away of our civil liberties and the tarnishing of our reputation in the world among those who once respected our leadership.
It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “If we are willing to give up our liberty for security, we are in danger of losing both.” Hopefully, more lawmakers will realize the wisdom of those words.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) gives the president a wide berth to invade the privacy of Americans. True, a warrant is needed for eavesdropping but in a dire emergency, wiretapping can begin and the warrant obtained later, after the eavesdropping.
What’s the problem with persuading a judge before starting the wiretap?
“It’s cumbersome,” says the administration.
Warrants for eavesdropping have rarely been denied by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court created under the FISA law that was enacted in 1978.
Meantime, the president has threatened to veto a legislative ban on waterboarding and other coercive interrogation techniques that are tantamount to torture.
In waterboarding, a prisoner is strapped to a board with his face covered with a cloth and water poured over his face and nostrils. The goal is to induce a sense of drowning.
At two consecutive news conferences late last year, the president said flatly: “We do not torture.”
So why does he want to veto legislation to ban it?
U.S. legal commitments and international law bar torture of prisoners as “cruel, inhumane and degrading.”
Bush has rejected a congressional demand that the rules in the Army Field Manual about the treatment of prisoners should apply to the CIA and to government security contractors. The manual does not allow waterboarding.
In a strange defense of Bush’s viewpoint, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the Army Field Manual is “public for all to see, and we know that al-Qaida trains to resist interrogation techniques such as those. So the president will veto the bill.”
Thirty retired admirals and generals have sent a letter to key Democrats stating their view that intelligence agents must adhere to the Army manual on treatment of prisoners. They said it was vital for the protection of U.S. troops if captured by an enemy.
A week ago, Steven Bradbury — acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel — told Congress that the department has not decided whether waterboarding is unlawful.
But he said changes in the law since three terrorism suspects were waterboarded have eliminated the technique from the list of allowable practices.
Bradbury is notorious for signing two legal memos in 2005 authorizing the CIA to use head slapping, freezing temperatures and waterboarding when questioning terrorism suspects.
Because of those memos Senate Democrats have blocked his nomination by Bush to formally head the legal counsel’s office.
As his months in office dwindle down, Bush has often said his low standing in public opinion polls do not worry him because he is certain he will be vindicated in the future.
He should stop worrying about his legacy. Instead, the president should use his fading time in office to do some soul searching on whether he could have done better in the most powerful job in the world.
Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers. E-mail: helent@hearstdc.com.
Copyright 2008 Hearst Newspapers
He will be known as the Village Idiot of Crawford, Texas…………
Dubya’s Legacy = The WORST President in the history of the US
All Bush did was make his oil buddys rich and place America in a useless war. Thank you Dubya for a waste of eight years.
Bush says “We don’t torture.” That is exactly what the past eight years have been. So from all of us taxpayers, a big thanks to your administration for rising gas costs, high taxes, and cutting of valuable educational programs.
Dis-Aster, when the stars fall.
Space-time is overturned and things fall apart.
Ruling by intimidation, torture and terror.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned
In the flood consuming this world age.
(apologies to W. B. Yeats)
Very well said Helen…
It is remarkable how few people will listen when you tell them that their future is being mortgaged away by the people they elected to public office.
They supported the criminal enterprises of Bush & Company and believed every mis-named effort put forth by said group… “Clean Air Initiative”, “Save our Forests Initiative”, “No Child Left Unrecruited”.
When you elect people who let the industries write the bills intended to regulate them, and appoint people from those industries to the key oversight positions, you are creating a climate for abuse and evil that has never had a comparison in the history of our nation.
The farmers, the blue collar workers and the NASCAR Dads who trusted Bush & Company (and the slime in the MEDIA that helped Bush & Company sell their agenda) should rise up and demand prosecution of all of the people who are causing them to lose their farms, their homes and the futures of their grandchildren.
If America survives this, let’s hope and pray that the “neo-con” philosophies never again acheive power in this once great land.
A rather narrow perspective, focussing on one non-entity.
Torture, illegal eavesdropping–sure:
What about the murder of 1.3 million? Several million totally degraded refugees? Massive environmental destruction and waste? Massive bankrupting of US taxpayers? This follows on the sanctioning to death of over 500,000 children.
Where are our War Crimes Tribunals? There are so many deserving to stand trial, in the executive, and all on one side, and many on the other side of the “aisle.” We know well the long list of names.
Maybe that is the problem: too many to try, no one left to try them all? Or, if you just vote to support ongoing war crimes, are you a war criminal yourself? Just a patriot? A taxpayer? A shopper?
Beginning to look like it’s just what we do: Go on killing sprees against those not exactly like us, elsewhere. We think of ourselves (some of us) as good, religious people, but we can’t be war heros unless we kill people, so… (Not to mention the amazing blatant war-profiteering.)
We killed 3 million asians in Vietnam, and we got? –war heros like McCain, et al. We have 1.7 million to go in Iraq, and what will we get? –several thousand (dead) heros so far, but maybe there will be a live one (a general, say) to run for president in 5 years. To “lead” us in continuing righteousness.
Thank you Mr. Bush for tearing away the thin veil that has disguised the true Imperial-Fascist nature of America for too long.
The USA has always been the gravitational center of evil in the world, Bush has now just made it unquestionably obvious.
American got just what they wanted. A big-mouthed, phony, strutting, banti rooster with a brain the size of a pea. Now, just pay your $3.25/gallon gas, drive your SUV away from your house that has a higher mortgage than the current selling price, and go off to your two or three jobs without health insurance or benefits, and be happy with what you voted for. And by the way, Republicans, please enlist your children to go help with the two wars that we are loosing.
Thank you, Helen. It is refreshing to hear in clear and concise expression of the times and fools we face. It is also good to hear from someone who has a sense of historic proportion — which lends meaning and gives sense to the sickness that confronts us. We have allowed ourselves to fall into leadership by ego — and must now declare our need and work to lead ourselves by our hearts and our minds.
Here is a brief glimpse into Bush’s future “legacy”
CHOEUNG EK, Cambodia (Reuters) - The chief torturer under the Khmer Rouge “Killing Fields” regime wept and prayed on Tuesday as he led the judges who will try him for crimes against humanity around the mass graves for some of its victims.
Duch, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, accompanied 80 judges, lawyers and other officials of a U.N.-backed tribunal to the 129 graves, uncovered after a Vietnamese invasion sent the Khmer Rouge back to the jungles in 1979.
BTW - Steven Bradbury was re-nominated for a 3rd time as head of Office of Legal Counsel on Jan 24.
May God have mercy on us.
We certainly had none for anyone else.
Bush did what no Soviet ever could. He bankrupted and discredited the U.S. to the rest of the world.
We call him the shrub, but he is really a mole.
OK, so you think that portayal is too kind to the entirety of U.S. history… so how ’bout-
The U.S. finally finds her inner brute in G W Bush.
We are not out of the woods with this administration yet. As we look for changes after the general election in November there is still much damage these bastards can create, including a martial law fabrication, stalling, if not ending the elections. When I mention this to my very hopeful friends, they scoff at me as if I’m nuts. But I don’t trust these guys for one second and we mustn’t take our eyes off of them, especially now.
Vote for Obama so Helen Thomas can have her front row seat back at the presidential press briefings.
Soul searching? He’s not capable of that.
No matter how bad Bush and Co. may be remembered the congressional Democrats should also share the blame, since until the House’s recent refusal to renew the bill that would keep warrantless wiretapping legal and give telecoms immunity, they have supported Bush every step of the way. It’s easy to blame Bush, but what about our Checks and Balances. The congressional Democrats have a lower approval rating than Bush, and rightly so. Will History remember their cowardice?
Bush should have been offered exile a long time ago, but the problem we face now is that those who elected him are stronger than ever. The religious right are a totally pliable group that will follow their leads to whatever ends necessary. We have seen them using acts of terror against our doctors and women and we have seen them do whatever it takes to foster their agenda. Unless this entire group is corralled and disabled, our country will continue to decline. This group includes the likes of Fox news and the Israeli organizations that are pulling the strings of the religious right and manipulating them at every turn.
Bush is meaningless but his legacy is the fact that those who put him up to it are stronger than ever and few are watching what they are doing. They are the most dangerous group on earth.
Bush has often said his low standing in public opinion polls do not worry him because he is certain he will be vindicated in the future.
Raised up above the common man - to slowly twist in the …
“It’s official. The George W. Bush Presidential Lie-brary will be built at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.”
“Money for the Lie-bury, which is expected to cost more than $200 million, is to be raised from donors.”
“The George W. Bush Presidential Library will provide the public and scholars a facility to access papers documenting the Bush Administration and to learn more about the Bush Presidency and the times in which he served,’’ the foundation said in a statement released today about the formal selection. “It will also be accompanied by a policy institute that will be a forum for scholarly study and the exchange of ideas.”
“Yet many academicians at the Methodist Church-owned university worry that some of the lessons of the Bush administration’s past pursued in future studies at the new Bush institute will tarnish their own reputation for independent scholarship and forever associate the school as a sponsor of the controversial Bush administration’s ideologies.”
You got that right. Enjoy the first War Criminal Lie-bury, SMU!
The Bush Crime Pig International Terrorist Family’s little fascist pissant Georgie will join the long list, including his Poppie, of escaped constitutional and human criminals stretching back through every Republican White House since the unholy reign of Nixon. Our complicet Congress is still enabling the oldest & largest terrorist organization on earth. The Republican Party!!!!
“Bush did what no Soviet ever could. He bankrupted and discredited the U.S. to the rest of the world.”
The US was discredited in the eyes of the world’s working class majority way, way, before Bush. James Polk, perhaps? or maybe Mckinley. Just ask any Mexican, Philipino, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Central Amerrican Chilean, Congolese, Palestinian etc…etc…
Its still a long way off before the War Criminal-in-Chief is out of the Whitehouse (haven’t they painted it black yet), what new new pearl harbor will halt the end of their reign of terror?
“By his deeds you shall know him.”
Yes - and his deeds are grounds for impeachment!
it’s not to late to give bush the legacy he so richly deserves: MAKE HIM THE FIRST PRESIDENT TO BE IMPEACHED AND REMOVED FROM OFFICE FOR CRIMES HE COMMITTED! and don’t forget to do the same for cheney’s legacy.
FDR - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
GWB - We have nothing but fear.
Helen, please don’t apologize for going off on Bush on that TV interview. You were great!
While this is true, it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Bush, like Hitler, Stalin and Mao, could not have committed his crimes alone. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Ashcroft, Powell, Gonzales, Mukasey, Wolfowitz and a host (in the etymological sense) of others made it happen. And, a fortiori, so did almost all Republicans and many Democrats in Congress, and large sections of the media–and not just Fox and WSJ. Thousands of military officers, federal judges, intelligence officers and bureaucrats made it possible. As of now there is no serious attempt to investigate and prosecute these consummate crimes, without which justice, our reputation among friends and foes around the world, and the powerful deterrent effect of laws strictly enforced will remain absent.
Come on people, remember Bush has a direct hot line to GOD. He is not only the most powerful man on earth he is the second most powerful being in the Universe, maybe third if you count Putin.
locust,
May I add a bit?
FDR: We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.
GWB: We got nuthin’ to fear, ‘cep not havin’ ‘nuf fear.
And for the rare CD reader who hasn’t yet seen the Helen Thomas role in Stephen Colbert’s April 29, 2006 Press Club roast of GWB, it’s here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869183917758574879
If it falters, go for a transcript at the Daily Kos:
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/30/1441/59811
The bush criminal org., like gamblers, have acted as such. And, like a cheater caught during a game of cards, he should be TREATED as such.
Just like the Reagan legacy, Bush will be remembered by the same corporate history books and corporate media and being loved and trusted by the masses.
That is why we shouldn’t impeach him, because it would be a conflict with the corporate message about how good a decider he was.
Bush is good, Reagan is good, Crack cocaine is good.
Bush will be remembered for the ease of his cruelty.
President Primate’s legacy is surely an embarrassment to his family. If he had the mental capacity, he too would be ashamed, but that is doubtful.
Among the obvious things already spoken of here and elsewhere, I think and hope that he will also be remembered for…
Decimating elections, Habeus Corpus and the Constitution.
Allowing a direct hit on US soil by terrorists(if not planning it).
Creating the (dismal) political climate that allows not one but two, viable, minority candidates to run for and be elected POTUS.
Being the only POTUS ever, to not read or speak English.
Forty years from now, I will still remember him as the worst president in American history. Future generations will say to us, “Why in the hell did you elect him….for eight years?” What a sad chapter he will be within our American history books.
Bush will be remembered as the Connecticut Cowboy who shot from the hip, who went “all in” a global game of Texas Hold ‘em and got cleaned out.
History is not going to be kind to him. Nor will it be kind to those who did not even attempt to impeach him despite public outcry. Nor will it be kind to those who were fooled severely enough to vote for him twice. Nor will it be kind to the lack of a federal election system that enabled a fraudulent outcome in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio in 2004.
Bush will also, then, be remembered as a fraud. Never elected legitimately. The only President-elect whose inaugural motorcade had to hit the gas through a barrage of rotten eggs raining down upon it.
In the end, the one way in which he could surpass his father spectacularly was in incompetence.
Does this really surprise any of us? We all know this administration has been detrimental to our country. I have been one of the many, cynical and critical of Bush. But I find this approach so empty. After complaining about the man and his cohort, I am left more angry than I was before. Our society allowed this man to be placed into office. Granted he stole the election for the first four years, still doesn’t it say something about the people that he was even on the ticket? Aren’t there others who share similar beliefs? I’m afraid we all need to look at our actions, are some of the things we do motivated by similar egotistical thinking? We need to all change our ways of thinking and each try to bring about positive change that spreads to others.
IMPEACH THE WAR CRIMINAL BASTARDS! Take to the streets! Write your editorials! Educate your colleagues! Call your representatives! We’re in a REAL pickle… ALL OF US need to DO SOMETHING.
Thanks, Helen, for your work and your words!
Bush is a Fascist and The Fascists won. That’s his Legacy.
He plays by his own set of rules.
He makes them up as they go along.
He stole all the money.
He killed your sons and daughters.
He destroyed this Country.
That’s his job.
He knows the Truth.
While you group for answers.
Drowning in Propaganda.
Grasp at straws.
They write History.
They run the system.
They have infiltrated every facet of your life.
Who?
Cor‘pirate’ FASCISTS!
The create The Grand Delusion
That you live in.
You can shout change from every Mountain top in the World.
That has little effect on their power.
They run the Military/Media/Complex.
A tool that kills millions and brainwashes billions.
While you spit into the wind.
They control the Debate.
Bush is water boarding the American People with BU__! SH__!
They are torturing you.
People are stuck in the Reptilian Dogma like
Jack in Boxes with no place to go.
Glued down
By
Illusion
Frozen inside a Dream.
Why?
They program followers.
Drones are easier to control and will march over a cliff
When ever you tell them to.
Reality is like Death
Ready to smash you in the face.
Get over it.
Let’s move on.
If you are awake let’s continue.
It is a beautiful and infinite Universe.
Our war criminal president wrote his own legacy when he lied our nation into a war of his own choosing. We could have been well on our way to defeating international terrorism if Bush had choosen to fight the right war. He’s failed miserably in every endevor. Why did the people who voted for him think the presidency would be any different? It was a given with thinking Americans, but then again no one ever accused a republican of straining his brain. I hope we all live to see Bush/Cheney behind bars!
No doubt, friend Helen, he’s an ignorant idiotic dangerous fool, always has been, and no personality change in sight. You’ve always tried to ask him the hard questions (many kudos to your often thwarted efforts), but here’s one for you. How can we rid ourselves of him & his misguided ilk? Tough one isn’t it?
he would have to have a soul to search in the first place
once one’s soul is sold it is no longer available for introspection