MSD

I don't see any blatant flaming. I see heated discussion during which the participants are being civil and avoiding flames from erupting.

That said, let me play Devil's Advocate.
Even so, I have to argue against some of these.

-Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.

What's your point? Reagan was an actor. Should he get more credit because he was on the big screen and known more widely? (Don't like him much, either.)

-First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.

I don't agree with the death penalty, but if anyone deserved it, it was the guy who got it.

-First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.

It's just that he was the only one to get caught. Plenty of other presidents did illegal stuff, including my favorite, Bill "I didn't inhale" Clinton.

-Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.

They brought that on themselves. Kofi Annan's personal bodyguards carry illegal weapons and Annan himself had some personal ties to Saddam. Doesn't provide a good basis for relevancy.

-Withdrew from the World Court of Law.

I stood up and applauded when I saw this. It's another step toward world government, which is not a good thing. Our buddy Bill applauded this decision, so it's not exactly a good thing to hold against Bush

-Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.

Could go either way. He's trying to find out what people want him to do. As much as I don't like it, he didn't go to war until he had over 50% support.

-First US president to establish a secret shadow government.

It's been around since the middle of the cold war. he was the one who acknowledged its existence.

-First US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.

Uh, that's not what I hear from someone I know who moved here from S. Korea last year and sitill has family there.

-Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive'.

Sorry guys, he's got another year-and-a-half before his first chance is over. It's not exactly an easy thing to do.

-Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capitol building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.

I'd like to see any of you do any better.

-Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.

This is not entirely Bush's fault, it is not entirely Clinton's fault. It's part of a much larger trend that transcends presidential terms. The original Bush did some good stuff, Clinton continued it. What Bush II did wouldn't have crashed the economy alone, these scandals would have happened with any president, and the Terrorist attacks would have happened no matter who was in office.


These points have been dissected and rebutted by a Liberal who would like nothing more than to see Bush voted out by an honest election. I think that's a good argument to discount those. I did this becasue I think that if I rebut the weak opinions of those who agree with me, it will focus our efforts on the strong ones and strengthen our argument overall.