(cross-posted to The People's Republic of Seabrook)

The Worst President in History?: One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush

The Elephant in the Room? George W. Bush has the lowest presidential approval rating in a generation, and the leading Dems beat every major ’08 Republican. Coincidence?

Bush Hits New Low in Polls

Bush in '99--We Warned You!

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

I'm frequently amazed at the copious amounts of denial it must require to be Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © . Does the man not read newspapers (Does he even read?)? Watch the news? Even if he only listens to Right-wing Hate Radio, he's still bound to get a sense that he's just not very well liked outside the Beltway...or even inside. How does arguably one of the stupidest, most inarticulate Presidents this side of...well, his father...deal with the reality that 72% of the populace detests him? OK, so perhaps it's not the entire 72% who detest him. Most probably just strongly dislike and disagree with him. Even so, there are a growing number of folks who legitimately view George W. Bush as The Worst President EVER © ...and let's face facts, shall we? While there may be competitors for the crown that one could point to, no President has lied, prevaricated, and propagandized their way through their term in office as King George the Worst © has. None has so thoroughly and blithely sacrificed young Americans in the pursuit of a legacy. Yes, LBJ comes close (yet even he eventually threw in the towel), but Commander Codpiece © has shown a level of disdain for ordinary Americans that's truly unparalleled in this nation's history.

I still fail to understand how it is that Congress can impeach a sitting President for the high crime and misdemeanor of getting blown by an intern. Meanwhile, his successor lies and propaganidizes his way into an immoral and illegal war...and that same Congress does NOTHING. Which do YOU think is the more egregious offense? If you even have to stop and think about the answer to that, you might as well just check your humanity at the door. You're clearly not going to be needing it any time soon.

May 5, 2007 - It’s hard to say which is worse news for Republicans: that George W. Bush now has the worst approval rating of an American president in a generation, or that he seems to be dragging every ’08 Republican presidential candidate down with him. But According to the new NEWSWEEK Poll, the public’s approval of Bush has sunk to 28 percent, an all-time low for this president in our poll, and a point lower than Gallup recorded for his father at Bush Sr.’s nadir. The last president to be this unpopular was Jimmy Carter who also scored a 28 percent approval in 1979. This remarkably low rating seems to be casting a dark shadow over the GOP’s chances for victory in ’08. The NEWSWEEK Poll finds each of the leading Democratic contenders beating the Republican frontrunners in head-to-head matchups.

Perhaps that, when it's all said and done, will be Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader's © legacy. Having been so consumed with his own self-interest and self-aggrandizement, The Worst President EVER © appears about to take his party down with him. Of course, I suppose this one could be filed under "poetic justice"...albeit eight-plus years too late. Having stolen one election (and quite possibly two), and having set up Bush 43 as the figurehead for what promised to be a neoConservative dynasty for generations to come, it began to fall apart when King George the Worst © began to think he could actually lead. And then came 9.11....

If not for 9.11, it's quite possible that the neoCons behind the throne would have gotten exactly what they were after- President willing to act as their front man as they remade government in their image. 9.11, as we've heard so often, changed everything. Now, Commander Codpiece © was actually called upon to lead...and for a time, he appeared to be doing exactly that. American forces went after terrorists known to be hiding in Afghanistan. It appeared that progress was actually being made...until the Administration began to make the case for war with Iraq...a country that Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © has since admitted had nothing to do with 9.11.

Talk about a collective "WTF??" moment. Never had there been any indication that there was any sort of terrorist threat or activity in Iraq...or any connection whatsoever to 9.11. Yes, there's no denying that Saddam Hussein was a bad man, but no one at that time, or at any time since, was able to link Saddam to al-Qaeda or any other anti-American terrorist movement (except Dick Cheney in one of his many Darth Vader moments).

Of course, Iraq had oil, and a bad man for a dictator. That bad man once plotted to Kill the father of The Worst President EVER &copy . In order to get the war against Iraq that neoConservatives wanted so desperately, it became necessary to lie and massage intelligence reports to get the "right" message out to the American sheeple. Then, by using 9.11 as a one-size-fits-all justification, war with Iraq gained a patina of inevitability. The only question before long was when, where, and for how long.

Well...GOOD MORNING, VIETRAQ!!

Now that Commander Codpiece © has spent the past four-plus years reliving LBJ's experience in Vietnam, the only thing we're missing are the made-up casualty figures relayed to us nightly by Walter Cronkite on the six o'clock news.

We are exactly where we were on 5.1.2003, when Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © stood on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln off San Diego and declared "the end of major combat operations" before an adoring and carefully selected and appropriately sycophantic audience. Like Vietnam, we're mired in a war that's winnable only to those neoConservatives unwilling to own up to the reality they've helped so brilliantly to create (et tu, Bill Kristol??). They've been drinking the KoolAid for so long now, that their careers and their credibility is inextricably linked to events in Iraq. The need for victory is paramount, because to admit defeat would be to admit that they were wrong- criminally wrong.

Like Vietnam, American troops are fighting an unconventional enemy they can neither see nor take the battle to. Iraqi insurgents don't wear uniforms and they don't march in formation. They blend in with the rest of the Iraqi population, and their weapons of choice are both deadly and almost impossible to counter.

At the risk of being called a libtard Defeatocrat, I firmly believe this war can no longer be won on the battlefield...if only because the entire country is a battlefield. If Iraqis cannot or will not get their political act together, then it's time for us to leave. Yes, the immediate future after an American withdrawal may be a horrific thing to contemplate, but our presence there is no longer a positive thing (as if it ever was).

The time has come for American soldiers and marines to return home to their families. They've fought long, hard, and ably under trying circumstances. They've been asked to do the impossible- pacify an entire country- with inadequate leadership, inadequate support, and inadequate planning and materiel. Well over 3,000 of our sons and daughters have died for...well, for what, really? What has been accomplished by their selfless sacrifice? What goals and victories have been achieved by their deaths? What has all of the blood and suffering purchased?

Well, if we're to be honest with ourselves, we'd have to admit that the blood and the suffering and the deaths have been for naught. They've been squandered by a President and a government that cares nothing for or about them. More than 3,000 American lives have been wasted.

If that isn't grounds to impeach this President, then what is?