OT: Goodbye to George W. Bush - How would you say it?

[Voyager]

Yeah, it was so much better under Saddam Hussein.

It's not our job to create a better place for Iraqis to live in, nor is it our duty to police the world and force our brand of democracy on countries at random. Our country is on the verge of bankruptcy for these stupid mistakes that have cost us trillions of dollars.

Good riddance Dubya!

[mikemarrs]

i would say to him that i'm finally glad he is leaving.people say carter is worse than bush but there is no way in hell thats true.last time i checked jimmy didn't turn half the other side of the world against and stir up a hornets nest of bullshit.bush approval ratings were in the single digits and that shows just how awful he really is.barack obama can't get in there fast enough for me.....so for bush i'd say don't let the door hit you on the way out.in almost every category he is an unqualified failure and not to mention very incompetent.way back in 2000 when clinton left office he had us sitting pretty good.....

[squirt1]

Ariandu- Saddam supplied terrorists money. Abu Nidal and his gang was there and God knows who else. Saddam shot him dead at point blank range.Poor Abu ! Russia was also setting up shop around that oil and if you saw the 55 semi's leaving for Lebanon as we entered from the south. Whatever it was ,it is buried in the Becca Valley. Israel knows exactly where and so do we. Now, Google yellow cake that we just got out of Iraq. It went to Canada to run nuclear reactors. I think it was 212 tons. It was a CBS or AP story,I think. I call that WMD along with whatever our great friends Russia sent to Lebanon. Oil plays a huge role ! Andrew,please no more shoes.

[Michigan Girl]

Yeah, it was so much better under Saddam Hussein.

It's not our job to create a better place for Iraqis to live in, nor is it our duty to police the world and force our brand of democracy on countries at random. Our country is on the verge of bankruptcy for these stupid mistakes that have cost us trillions of dollars.

Good riddance Dubya!

There are many other's to blame as well.....Frank, Greenspan (mortgage crisis).....the list goes on and on and on!!!

[conversationpc]

Yeah, it was so much better under Saddam Hussein.

It's not our job to create a better place for Iraqis to live in, nor is it our duty to police the world and force our brand of democracy on countries at random. Our country is on the verge of bankruptcy for these stupid mistakes that have cost us trillions of dollars.

Good riddance Dubya!

The war in Iraq has nothing to do with our current financial problems.

[Michigan Girl]

I think a simple "thank you" from that journalist for allowing him to live in a country where he is now free to throw a shoe at a world leader would have been more appropriate.

I find it strange that Americans are not offended by this. We should all be outraged at the disrespect shown to the United States of America. Because you can believe......he would have thrown that shoe at any one of us.

Agree with the man or not, I feel that as Americans we should stand behind our appointed leader and not applaud this kind of behavior from other countries. If someone did this to Obama.....I would be appalled. No matter what I think of the man or not. He is MY president regardless. JMO.

Gotta say, Buckeye, you have a very valid point here!!!

PS~ My signature bars are disappearing before my eyes....

[Since 78]

I think a simple "thank you" from that journalist for allowing him to live in a country where he is now free to throw a shoe at a world leader would have been more appropriate.

I find it strange that Americans are not offended by this. We should all be outraged at the disrespect shown to the United States of America. Because you can believe......he would have thrown that shoe at any one of us.

Agree with the man or not, I feel that as Americans we should stand behind our appointed leader and not applaud this kind of behavior from other countries. If someone did this to Obama.....I would be appalled. No matter what I think of the man or not. He is MY president regardless. JMO.

Gotta say, Buckeye, you have a very valid point here!!!

PS~ My signature bars are disappearing before my eyes....

Just like your teams!

[Michigan Girl]

I think a simple "thank you" from that journalist for allowing him to live in a country where he is now free to throw a shoe at a world leader would have been more appropriate.

I find it strange that Americans are not offended by this. We should all be outraged at the disrespect shown to the United States of America. Because you can believe......he would have thrown that shoe at any one of us.

Agree with the man or not, I feel that as Americans we should stand behind our appointed leader and not applaud this kind of behavior from other countries. If someone did this to Obama.....I would be appalled. No matter what I think of the man or not. He is MY president regardless. JMO.

Gotta say, Buckeye, you have a very valid point here!!!

PS~ My signature bars are disappearing before my eyes....

Just like your teams!

I am LMAO!!!
That was, not only funny....but very quick, high five '78!!!

[Andrew]

I would tell him thank you for spending 8 years in the most demanding, thankless job in the world. Nothing you do - keeping us safe from another terrorist attack, freeing millions from the torture and killing of Saddam Hussein, providing leadership and $ to help solve the AIDS crisis in Africa, the list goes on - will be appreciated in this lifetime. While there are plenty of things I wish you would have done better or differently, I believe you did the best job you knew how to do.

Perhaps history will judge you more fairly.

Your location under your avatar explains this.

Bwahahahahaha!

[Andrew]

I say bring out more shoes....and boots too.

The ironic thing is that without Saddam Hussein being removed from power, the shoe throwing guy would have had his tongue cut out, fingernails pulled out and then shot on the spot by Hussein himself. And then all members of his extended family would have been raped and murdered with their bodies left in the streets for days and then buried in a mass grave.

Yeah, it was so much better under Saddam Hussein. What a bunch of dumbasses.

One terrorist running a country is a better outcome than 25,000 wanna be terorists now using the country and their new training ground.

[lights1961]

if 9/11 dd not happen our economy would have been amazing...the tax cuts we got in August of 01 would have kicked in the winter of 02... but the world changed 9/12...and he had the priorties of our saftey to work on... which IRAQ was a part of.. in 50 years we will be saying that Bush made the mid east a safer place to live... and the world a better place...but it will take that long or longer for things to happen... Also yes AFrica is better with our money aid aid giving to the people of africa...only part of the world that really hates is the blue states and western Europe... and who gives a shit about them... we will appease them under obama and western europe and the states will sing KUMBYA until another terriost blow up something in the next 5 yeas... now the last 15 months has sucked down all the momenteum because of the oil spike the last year and that lead to the mortage crises...no one could pay for home and gas for their cars and all the toys we have, cell phones..and wii and big screen tvs... so know one paid their house payments.. that too me is where we the people blew it... and now we are bailing out the wrong people... where will it end... that is the question....

Rick

JMO..

Rick

[Rockindeano]

Yeah, it was so much better under Saddam Hussein.

It's not our job to create a better place for Iraqis to live in, nor is it our duty to police the world and force our brand of democracy on countries at random. Our country is on the verge of bankruptcy for these stupid mistakes that have cost us trillions of dollars.

Good riddance Dubya!

The war in Iraq has nothing to do with our current financial problems.

No? 10 Billion with a B is being spent a month in that shithole, and they have a surplus while we run almost a trillion in the red. Not the only reason why we are in the shitter, but it isn't helping.

[Jana]

i would say to him that i'm finally glad he is leaving.people say carter is worse than bush but there is no way in hell thats true.last time i checked jimmy didn't turn half the other side of the world against and stir up a hornets nest of bullshit.bush approval ratings were in the single digits and that shows just how awful he really is.barack obama can't get in there fast enough for me.....so for bush i'd say don't let the door hit you on the way out.in almost every category he is an unqualified failure and not to mention very incompetent.way back in 2000 when clinton left office he had us sitting pretty good.....

Amen.

[Arkansas]

The war in Iraq has nothing to do with our current financial problems.

Totally agree. Wish more Americans did.


later~

[artist4perry]

The war in Iraq has nothing to do with our current financial problems.

Totally agree. Wish more Americans did.


later~

Say hello to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack and all the "cooked books" they invented. Also say hello to Katrina, financial drain there, Not to mention 9/11 pretty penny that cost us, and the lists go on. I wish more people put blame where it is due. As I said, I am no fan of W. But we have had our share of natural disasters and crooked CEO's to blame. But it seems it is easier to blame W. After all he is leaving and so will our problems................not. One person does not have that much power. Don't leave out our Congress. They have a great deal of the blame to shoulder as well.

[Arkansas]

I would say "Thank you, Mr. President, for your service to our country." I would offer a firm handshake and a salute (although no longer in uniform).

Like him or not, he is the President of the best country in the world. And as Americans, although we have the freedom to disagree and diss anyone we want, we must respect the office and offer simple praise to anyone that puts themselves in the line of public and military service. I would do the same for any and ALL Presidents...certainly including LBJ that quagmired us in VietNam, killing 58k Americans and <unknown> millions of Asians.

I would then politely excuse myself, hoping & praying for a better, smarter, more prosperous future.


later~

[nutz4Neal]

I would say "Thank you, Mr. President, for your service to our country." I would offer a firm handshake and a salute (although no longer in uniform).

Like him or not, he is the President of the best country in the world. And as Americans, although we have the freedom to disagree and diss anyone we want, we must respect the office and offer simple praise to anyone that puts themselves in the line of public and military service. I would do the same for any and ALL Presidents...certainly including LBJ that quagmired us in VietNam, killing 58k Americans and <unknown> millions of Asians.

I would then politely excuse myself, hoping & praying for a better, smarter, more prosperous future.


later~

YES!

[Michigan Girl]

I would say "Thank you, Mr. President, for your service to our country." I would offer a firm handshake and a salute (although no longer in uniform).

Like him or not, he is the President of the best country in the world. And as Americans, although we have the freedom to disagree and diss anyone we want, we must respect the office and offer simple praise to anyone that puts themselves in the line of public and military service. I would do the same for any and ALL Presidents...certainly including LBJ that quagmired us in VietNam, killing 58k Americans and <unknown> millions of Asians.

I would then politely excuse myself, hoping & praying for a better, smarter, more prosperous future.


later~

YES!

yes, yes, yes!!!

[Michigan Girl]

The war in Iraq has nothing to do with our current financial problems.

Totally agree. Wish more Americans did.


later~

Say hello to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack and all the "cooked books" they invented. Also say hello to Katrina, financial drain there, Not to mention 9/11 pretty penny that cost us, and the lists go on. I wish more people put blame where it is due. As I said, I am no fan of W. But we have had our share of natural disasters and crooked CEO's to blame. But it seems it is easier to blame W. After all he is leaving and so will our problems................not. One person does not have that much power. Don't leave out our Congress. They have a great deal of the blame to shoulder as well.

Nice!!!

[artist4perry]

I would say "Thank you, Mr. President, for your service to our country." I would offer a firm handshake and a salute (although no longer in uniform).

Like him or not, he is the President of the best country in the world. And as Americans, although we have the freedom to disagree and diss anyone we want, we must respect the office and offer simple praise to anyone that puts themselves in the line of public and military service. I would do the same for any and ALL Presidents...certainly including LBJ that quagmired us in VietNam, killing 58k Americans and <unknown> millions of Asians.

I would then politely excuse myself, hoping & praying for a better, smarter, more prosperous future.


later~

Nicely put. I like where you come from. And not just your handle!

[tj]

I say bring out more shoes....and boots too.

The ironic thing is that without Saddam Hussein being removed from power, the shoe throwing guy would have had his tongue cut out, fingernails pulled out and then shot on the spot by Hussein himself. And then all members of his extended family would have been raped and murdered with their bodies left in the streets for days and then buried in a mass grave.

Yeah, it was so much better under Saddam Hussein. What a bunch of dumbasses.

One terrorist running a country is a better outcome than 25,000 wanna be terorists now using the country and their new training ground.

I disagree. One man running a country had complete control of an army of more than your estimated 25,000 people. That army consistently did what he told them to. Ask the Kurds and others gassed in Iraq. Ask the Iranians who fought against him in the 1980s. One terrorist (Saddam) had WMD.

(I know, it's cool to now say that he didn't because we haven't found them. If they didn't exist, then why was Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, the list goes on, saying all through the 90's that he did? Also, if you ask the families of the Iraquis gassed by Saddam, they will tell you that he did.)

[peridactyl]

For what he did to this country there would be no just punishment....The closest thing I could think of is having him captured by Osama and be put to use as Al-Qaida's bitch for the rest of his life......He fucked us, and he deserves no better.

Yeah, I know this is a little mild, but hey, I am not a vindicative type.......

[Voyager]

Yeah, it was so much better under Saddam Hussein.

It's not our job to create a better place for Iraqis to live in, nor is it our duty to police the world and force our brand of democracy on countries at random. Our country is on the verge of bankruptcy for these stupid mistakes that have cost us trillions of dollars.

Good riddance Dubya!

The war in Iraq has nothing to do with our current financial problems.

No? 10 Billion with a B is being spent a month in that shithole, and they have a surplus while we run almost a trillion in the red. Not the only reason why we are in the shitter, but it isn't helping.

Exactly. If I started spending money to fight my neighbor, I would eventually run out of money. But then again, I can't just print off a bunch more or borrow trillions from China like the U.S. Government can do when they run out of cash.

To say the war didn't cause any financial problems for the country is ridiculous. We could employ 3.5 million workers at $40,000 per year for what we are spending in Iraq. That figure would drastically reduce the unemployment rate.

[HERO]

This is a load of horse shit! "Awoke other nations to the realization of the dangers and that we are at war" - you know what, he fucking dragged other nations into his stupid 'war on terror', lied about who was involved so he could settle his daddy's old score, and fucking created the terrorist war! Don't bother looking at why it happened, don't bother looking at who is possibly supporting Bin Laden and how you can change their minds about the US, oh no! Let's just use this as an excuse to fuck over Iraq - and give every person in the middle east who didn't really give a shit either way, certainly not enough to get involved, a real reason to hate and fear the West! And just to keep things sweet, let's refer to the fucking Crusades! 'Cause that's really going to help the Islamic world keep calm about it.

Try living in a country that deals with terrorism as more than a one off (and I'm not denegrating the terrible events on September 11th in the States in any way, so don't start). Look at attitude that the people in London and Madrid have. I lost count of the number of people I knew in London who rolled their eyes at the over-the-top declarations from Americans about how the US was standing by, and God Would Prevail. Because hey, it wasn't like it was the first time a bomb had gone off in London. And guess where the money for all the previous terrorist attacks on London came from? When the people of the USA stand up and appologise for 50+ years of sponsoring IRA terrorism in the UK, when they stand up and appologise for selling arms to most of the middle east (where the fuck do you think Iraq got its training and hardware from in the 80s?) and when they start looking long and hard at their own foreign policies and considering that maybe, just maybe, if your international dealings consist mainly of fucking over and railroading anyone whose opinion differs from yours then people are going to get pissed... then maybe you've got a right to start taking the high moral ground.

I don't condone what those fuckwits who took over the planes did, under any circumstances. But it would make a refreshing change to hear a bit of speculation coming out of the US about why people were so desperate to hit and hurt back.

And I am pissed off that that arse-licking, lying, ball-sucking, two faced fuckwit John Howard turned the Australian Defence forces into an invasion force, for the first time in our history, just so he could keep his nose firmly planted between Bush's buttcheeks.

How refreshing to see someone with some sense around here. You are so right my friend. I do not recall Americans bleating about terrorism when they were fundiing the IRA, a terrorist organisation! As Arianddu so astutely points out Americans were only too happy to supply Saddam Hussein with weapons when he was fighting Iran. It is a little hypocritical to start whining now. There is no denying the utter horror of 9-11, so don't even bother suggesting that I condone such a heinous crime, but maybe you should look a little closer to home for the reason of the attack. Remind me, how many of those terrorists were Iraqi?

[Ehwmatt]

I think a simple "thank you" from that journalist for allowing him to live in a country where he is now free to throw a shoe at a world leader would have been more appropriate.

I find it strange that Americans are not offended by this. We should all be outraged at the disrespect shown to the United States of America. Because you can believe......he would have thrown that shoe at any one of us.

Agree with the man or not, I feel that as Americans we should stand behind our appointed leader and not applaud this kind of behavior from other countries. If someone did this to Obama.....I would be appalled. No matter what I think of the man or not. He is MY president regardless. JMO.

Excellent point. I can't believe anyone in America would condone this. Obama, if he sticks with his policy promises, will have just about 0 in common with me and probably will piss me off a fair amount. But, I still would be the first to support him and condemn someone for doing the same thing or worse to him. Fuck that guy. I didn't see conservatives around here or anywhere else urging more white supremacists to hatch more plans to off BO when those nutjobs were arrested a couple months back.

[hoagiepete]

I would tell him thank you for spending 8 years in the most demanding, thankless job in the world. Nothing you do - keeping us safe from another terrorist attack, freeing millions from the torture and killing of Saddam Hussein, providing leadership and $ to help solve the AIDS crisis in Africa, the list goes on - will be appreciated in this lifetime. While there are plenty of things I wish you would have done better or differently, I believe you did the best job you knew how to do.

Perhaps history will judge you more fairly.

AMEN

[Gin and Tonic Sky]

I would say "Thank you, Mr. President, for your service to our country." I would offer a firm handshake and a salute (although no longer in uniform).

Like him or not, he is the President of the best country in the world. And as Americans, although we have the freedom to disagree and diss anyone we want, we must respect the office and offer simple praise to anyone that puts themselves in the line of public and military service. I would do the same for any and ALL Presidents...certainly including LBJ that quagmired us in VietNam, killing 58k Americans and <unknown> millions of Asians.

I would then politely excuse myself, hoping & praying for a better, smarter, more prosperous future.


later~

YES!

agree too, thats why I wont crticise Obama (even though I really dont like him at all ) whilst Im living overseas (at least in the company of non Americans) when as I predict, everyone in Europe will turn on him and make him face the brunt of their anti americanism as I predict will happen. After all the President is the President.

[HERO]

[I disagree. One man running a country had complete control of an army of more than your estimated 25,000 people. That army consistently did what he told them to. Ask the Kurds and others gassed in Iraq. Ask the Iranians who fought against him in the 1980s. One terrorist (Saddam) had WMD.

Pardon me for stating the obvious, but if Saddam Hussein had these mythical weapons of mass destruction why did he not use them on the invaders, and why have they never been found? Your military, along with the others, have gone over the country with a fine toothed comb and found zilch. Is nothing registering yet? Let me give you a clue. There are no WMD, there never were. You can't find what isn't there. The UN couldn't find them, you can't find them, the British have never found them, none of your invasion forces have found them. America, and its allies, used WMD as an excuse to topple a former friend who had decided not to play ball, and to get at the oil. Iraq isn't about terrorism, it is about oil.

[whirlwind]

I would advise Mr. Bush to go back to school to further his education.

[Ehwmatt]

I would say "Thank you, Mr. President, for your service to our country." I would offer a firm handshake and a salute (although no longer in uniform).

Like him or not, he is the President of the best country in the world. And as Americans, although we have the freedom to disagree and diss anyone we want, we must respect the office and offer simple praise to anyone that puts themselves in the line of public and military service. I would do the same for any and ALL Presidents...certainly including LBJ that quagmired us in VietNam, killing 58k Americans and <unknown> millions of Asians.

I would then politely excuse myself, hoping & praying for a better, smarter, more prosperous future.


later~

YES!

agree too, thats why I wont crticise Obama (even though I really dont like him at all ) whilst Im living overseas (at least in the company of non Americans) when as I predict, everyone in Europe will turn on him and make him face the brunt of their anti americanism as I predict will happen. After all the President is the President.

You nailed it. The president is probably more important in his role as a figurehead than as a policymaker for our nation (which is obviously, much maligned). Like a head coach in pro sports, he might not be the only one (or even one of the ones) to blame, but he'll always be the first to receive it. If BO hasn't been raked over the coals in Europe/throughout the world after 4 years for US policies, I'll be shocked.