tecoyah

Talk about a foobar, I almost feel sorry for the Bush campaign.

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0...w=wn_tophead_2

Guess living with him as governor, was almost as bad as having him as president.

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

Seaver

Actually Bush was one of the most popular governors in the history of Texas. He did a LOT of good for the state, and his slogan of being a uniter was based off of his stay in the state, where he brought both sides together to pass a lot of needed laws.

This was no small feat considering that at the time the legistlature had been democratic since the civil war. A sign of how popular he was... after his terms the state swayed to republican, the first time in about 150years... even more of a feat considering the massive jerrymeanduring that went on.
Side note: now that the republicans are jerrymeanduring themselves the democrats threw a fit and left the state in a protest. To the populace it was as simple as a hissy fit (both sides mind you), and those that left the state found their public opinion polls at an all time low.

One person is no judge on how well a person ran an entire state (with the second highest population in the nation now). It's his popularity and the changes that continued after he left office that is the biggest sign.

Superbelt

Um. What good did Bush do for his state?

Please, some accomplishments.

tecoyah

Oh come on....

How about the incredible advances in public education in the Texas schools.
Or the fantastic changes in air quality.
You gotta be impressed with the number of executions.
Also the significant shift in tax burden.

Damn....this sounds strangely familiar.

I wonder if he will scale up his impressive record in buisiness, we could bankrupt the entire country......wait a minute.

__________________
Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

djtestudo

So you live in Texas?

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"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

tecoyah

No....I do not.

Research is a wonderful thing though.

__________________
Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

cthulu23

I live in Louisiana, and we're sick of Texas' air pollution blowing into our state. We don't exactly have a pristine environment anyway, so we don't need any help. Texas is the most polluted state in the union, btw.

Superbelt

Ooh, he signed a damned good Patients bill of Rights for Texas!

Ooh wait, he only took credit for it. It passed with a veto proof majority and he let it pass into law without his signature. Now as president he got the SC to nullify it.

Hwed

Wait.... if George W. Bush was such a horrible governor, why did Texas vote for him as President?

He's popular as all getout in Texas (yes, I'm from Texas), and he was a great uniter. If he has one big fault in Washington, it's that he's an outsider and hasn't become entrenched in their petty partisan bickering, nor will he tolerate it. That's why the Beltway crowd hates him so.

Myself, I think the Presidency should be held by an outsider. DC politicians on both sides are pathetically misguided, and more concerned with funneling pork to their constituencies so they can stay in office than they are in acting as responsible stewards of OUR tax money. A governor from outside the Eastern timezone is a great counterbalance to the shady actions of Congress.

tecoyah

Must...resist.....reply.........Oh the pain,....

__________________
Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

Seaver

Well he HAS to be popular, considering he's the only Governor in Texas to be elected 4 consecutive times.. but lets choose to ignore that.

He prevented the passing of a state income tax, helping greatly those that dont own land... mostly the poor... but lets ignore that too.

He prevented the deregulation of the public universities, ensureing low priced higher education (including the very highly esteemed UT/A&M schools)... helping mostly the poor... but lets ignore that too.

During his term Texas became second only to Silicone Valley in IT industries, bringing in billions of high paying jobs... but lets ignore that too.

.. I could go on...

Bush is extreamly popular here in Texas, if it was so bad under him he wouldnt have been elected an unheard of 4 consecutive terms for the Governor, nor elected by the state by a landslide.

Hwed

Quiet you! Facts have no place in the 24/7 Bushbash Extravaganza!

Besides, if the liberals are attacking his record as governor, it means they've figured out that they can't touch his presidential record.

Speaking of records, how about that Kerry? At least he's shown some consistency in one thing: Raising taxes. Other than that, I can't figure out what he actually stands for.

I keep waiting to here this at the end of one of his campaign commercials:

"I'm John Kerry, and I actually did authorize this message, before I didn't authorize it."

cthulu23

Ummm....am I wrong or was Bush elected to TWO four-year terms? Your timeline has him being elected in the late 80's.

analog

Well this is going nowhere fast, let's see if someone can resurrect it.

Oh, and let's keep the overzealous sarcasm (aka trolling) to a minimum, shall we?

Thaaaaaaaanks.

-analog.

apeman

my observations, sarcasm free but with added cynicism
1) nothing is so bad that it just can't get any worse
2) I'm almost starting to feel sorry for Bush
3) why didn't they mention www.whitehouse.org and www.whitehouse.com ?

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pain is inevitable but misery is optional - stick a geranium in your hat and be happy

Kadath

Well, first of all that's not really related to the story. Those domains are already gone and the story was about being smart in your domain grabs when you announce candidacy. Second, there's nothing anyone could do anyway; government websites always have the .gov TLD and anyone who doesn't know that is going to get an eyeful of porn.

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it's quiet in here

choskins

That site is not as funny as it could be, but this was pretty good:

"Several of the world’s poorest nations have asked the United States to initiate military campaigns in their countries in a desperate attempt to cash in on lucrative reconstruction money from the US. Citizens in at least eight developing nations welcome a US attack and occupation with the promise of clean water, electricity, and health care. "

I hope Bush doesn't pull a Clinton on this guy, lest his friends never see him again.

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"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
- Sigmund Freud

Kalis Enigma

The education system was NOT improved all around. I know several Texas families who removed their children from school and now homeschol- and have since bush was in office. Waht I am told is that as long as you were white and Christian he did a GREAT job. If you were a minority- then it was not as good. yes he had some accomplishments- but I have been told the damage outweighed the benefit. I will have to get ahold of my Texas friends for the details... They are poor Native Americans....

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Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!

onetime2

Interesting that he got a hell of a lot of Hispanic support. But nevermind. He's only interested in helping white Christians got it.

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Strive to be more curious than ignorant.

Kalis Enigma

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH REFUSED TO PROVIDE ANY
RESPONSES TO CITIZENS ON ISSUES THROUGH THE
NATIONAL POLITICAL AWARENESS TEST


PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH REFUSED TO PROVIDE THIS INFORMATION WHEN ASKED TO DO SO ON 23 SEPARATE OCCASIONS BY:
http://www.vote-smart.org/npat.php?can_id=CNIP9043
So didn't kerry. Hmmm....

bush has changed his mind and stance and aweful lot as well:
http://www.ontheissues.org/George_W__Bush.htm

Restore consumer confidence with tax cuts & new oil supplies. (Mar 2001) (anyone else notice a coincidence here? )

Too much government spending will end prosperity. (Nov 2000)
$46B in new spending on health, education, & defense. (Apr 2000)

Bush claims gay tolerance but record differs. (Oct 2000)
Tolerance & equal rights, not gay marriage & special rights. (Oct 2000)
No gay adoptions; but listens to gay GOP group. (Apr 2000)
Against gay marriage, but leave it to the states. (Feb 2000)
No gays in Boy Scouts. (Aug 1999)
Hate-crime rules don’t apply to gays. (Jul 1999)

TX test score improvements not reflected on national tests. (Oct 2000)

Weaken Clean Air; no comment on Clean Water. (Nov 2000)
Clear Skies Initiative improves air quality now. (Aug 2003)

There are some good things there as well. I just want to illustrate that ALL politicians are guilty of changing their stance as public opinion sways...

__________________
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!

Kalis Enigma

As I said- this was the opinion of a Native American living in New Boston texas. Her family suffered under bush.

__________________
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!

MSD

What is that supposed to mean?

apeman

yeah ok, my mind is a bit tangential today I'd best go and have a beer, that'll sort me out

__________________
pain is inevitable but misery is optional - stick a geranium in your hat and be happy

onetime2

It's the whole "Clinton Coverup Theory". The one where they supposedly count bodies and come up with a whole bunch of people "who knew too much" dying before they do any damage to Clinton's political career.

Nothing really to it just more conspiracy theory political drivel.

__________________
Strive to be more curious than ignorant.

choskins

You are right. Actually, though, I just meant it as a joke!

onetime2

Yep that's how I took it.

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Strive to be more curious than ignorant.

seretogis

/offtopic-rant on

I absolutely despise domain squatters. They are the lowest form of life and should be executed by friendly Arab terrorists. For someone to buy up hundreds of freely available domains for $10 a pop and then expect others to pay $64,000 or more for them is disgusting. Never fear, though, celebrities and multinational corporations can get whatever domain they want by going through WIPO.

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seretogis - sieg heil
perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost
no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames

Kadath

Uh...while I agree that domain squatters are suckass, I think suggesting they be executed by friendly Arab terrorists makes you look incredibly stupid and ignorant.

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it's quiet in here

dy156

I hope this isn't too off-topic, but I wanted to reply regarding Bush as Gov. of Texas. Many people in Austin and around the state recall his terms so fondly because he got along so well with the Democratic legislature, and the very powerful Democrat Lt. Gov., in particular.

Yes, the environmental numbers were worse following his terms, but that had very little to do with his enviromental policies, but could be directly attributed to the growth in population and industry in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio that occurred during his years as governor. Yes, he was good for business, but that brought jobs and money to people, and tax dollars for our schools.

My wife is a teacher, and most teachers were strongly against his education reforms, but that was, in my opinion, because teachers were afraid of accountability. Yes, they "teach to the test" now, but the test ensures that every kid can read before they're promoted. (Hence, "no child left behind") His top 10% rule for state schools, while also criticized by above average kids and parents in nice suburbs, is a very logical, so-far successful, and objective alternative to affirmative action in admissions that continues to this day. He knew he could count on the votes of these same above average suburban kids' parents, and rather than pander to them, did something unpopular among his base of supporters that was good for minorities and rural kids.

Not only was he successful in preventing a proposed state income tax -see the growth in pop. and jobs- but his proposed property tax reform would have made the state's tax collection far more fair (though unpopular), and he fought a good fight only to have it defeated in the legislature.

He took criticism for vetoeing hate crime legislation when he ran against Gore, but, perhaps coached improperly for the debates, did not do as good a job of explaining why then as he did at the time. (remember the goofy comments about how we killed the guys that dragged James Byrd to death?) He artfully dodged a debate about minority interests and explained that if you murder someone or beat someone up, it's wrong and already against the law. To have prosecutors become mind readers won't do any good, and the punishments in Texas for violently breaking the law are plenty adequate.

Remnants of his ideas on normalizing and legitimizing the mexican emigration problem were, for the most part, killed with the heightened security after 9/11, but it was another shining example of good policy that was a little bit counter to traditional conservative thinking. I regret that it never came to fruition. Ironically, he had probably more foriegn policy experience than any other governor, and his relations with Mexico were better then than they are now.

Just ask anyone involved in Texas politics, and you'll hear much the same thing. How good Bush was back then, how bad the current TX gov. is, (though both Republican, Bush never really got along with him and when he was running for Lt. Gov., did not endorse him until embarassingly late in the campaign.) and finally how Bush the pres. is very different from Bush the Gov.
Just writing this has reminded me how disappointed I have been at times with Bush, but I will still support him as the lesser of two evils.

To the angry anti-Bush crowd:
Please don't let your current anger at the president allow you to spin his entire record as negative, when you are really just upset by his recent actions, because you will lose some credibility with me and many Texans that wonder what Washington does to some people.

Now back on topic, internet domain squatters are irritating, I agree.

Superbelt

I can't let what you said about education in Texas to stand. Bush royally screwed education in that state for years and is on his way to messing it up for the entire nation now. The Houston area schools also had some of the highest dropout rates in the nation. And there was coverup associated with that so that people wouldn't know just how bad the dropout rate was.

And here it is, here is the "Texas Miracle"

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/arc.../drop181.shtml

Superbelt

Additionally, because of NCLB, schools across the country now strategically hold back children in the critical grades that they know can't pass the mandated testing. Not summer school, just hold them out of that grade. Sometimes held back two or three years and then if they still aren't proficient they leapfrog them over that grade to bypass the test all together.

It's not accountability, it's shifty, criminal accounting.

dy156

Yes, there was quite a scandal in Houston ISD. Gov. Bush was not the superintendent, nor was he directly involved. Teachers and administrators don't like accountability, and I'm sure that some buckled under pressure and cooked the numbers or cheated. It's the same as in any business, just that educators are not used to it. All I know is that at the mostly hispanic elementary school where my wife taught, there was more stress and pressure on the teachers, but that the kids(most of whom knew english as a 2nd language) started slowly but steadily improving, and that they could all read. They may not have gotten the enrichment provided by building models of volcanoes anymore, but dammit, they learned to read and do math, and they'll be better for it in the long run. This has gotten way off topic, but quoting some article about a Houston ISD scandal doesn't prove anything, or even effectively argue, against the no child left behind school reforms of Bush when he was governor of Texas.

tecoyah

Yes , it has veered far from topic.

But,....yes it does.

__________________
Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha