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I admit I get a slight case of schadenfreude in watching the mainstream media get forced to come around to what we in the liberal blogosphere have been saying all along: the Bush administration will be looked at as the worst ever. As we come mercifully to the final months of the Bush presidency, The McLaughlin Group asks its panel (made up of one “liberal” - Eleanor Clift and three conservatives - Monica Crowley, Mort Zuckerman and Michelle Bernard, naturally) just how toxic the legacy of Bush & Cheney will be. Try as they might to spin it to a more positive bend, none of the conservatives can truly deny McLaughlin’s list.
Clift: Well, the notion that the terrorist threat would have been worse if he had not acted the way he did does not excuse a war of choice in Iraq that was then needlessly and poorly managed. And also you left off the list ‘shredded the US Constitution’. I thought your list was pretty good [laughter] and that’s why President Bush has a 29% approval rating. He deserves it!
Big kudos to Clift as well for challenging Monica Crowley’s mindless “we’re winning in Iraq” meme. The clueless award goes not to Zuckerman for his equally mindless “at least we haven’t had another terrorist attack” either, but to Michelle Bernard, who seeks to give credit to Bush for bringing our collective attention to education and women’s rights, especially in the Middle East. Say what? I guess the fact that the conversation is about how lacking the Bush policies are in those areas doesn’t negate that we’re at least talking about them.
Transcripts below the fold:
McLaughlin: Is George W. Bush quote unquote radioactive?
[video]
Rep. Tom Davis: The President’s the face of the party, he’s absolutely radioactive at this point…
McLaughlin: Bush radioactive. For the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Davis is frustrated and very gloomy.
[video]
Davis: We’re seen as an appendage to President Bush and between an unpopular war, you take a look at the gas prices, the housing costs and everything, we are being tied to that.
McLaughlin: In the House of Representatives, three seats held special elections this year. In the last six months, Democrats have picked up three long time Republican seats. The GOP on March 8th lost an Illinois seat to a Democrat. Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert had occupied the seat for 22 years. Hastert resigned in November. In May, Republicans lost a Louisiana House seat that has been in Republican hands also for 22 years, since 1986, and most recently, Republicans lost a Mississippi special election. That seat had also been held by Republicans for 14 years. Question: how toxic is the Bush legacy for all 173 Republican House members up for re-election and 23 of the 49 Senate Republicans? Uh, Monica Crowley.
Crowley: Here’s what Republicans have to do going into November. Number one, pray. Number two, if the President offers to come to your district and campaign for you…
McLaughlin: Run for your life.
Crowley: …opt for the cardboard cutout of President Bush, rather than the actual guy. And you also have to run…they have to get back to conservative principles. They have to talk about reducing the size of government, lower taxes, fighting the War on Terror, continuing that on the offense, talking about a national energy strategy, in a very real, tangible way, because gas prices are dominating the conversation. And also talk about the need to appoint conservative judges.
[crosstalk]
McLaughlin: Let me…let me go ahead with this exit question and you can fill it in with your own point now. Exit question: Is it too soon to conclude the following about the Bush/Cheney legacy? One: They destroyed the GOP Congressional majority. Two: Tanked the value of the dollar. Three: Created unprecedented red ink in the federal budget. Four: Drew us into a quagmire in Iraq. Five: Left us with a recession and inflation. Six: Then skedaddled out of town. The question is, is it too soon to conclude that the foregoing constitutes the Bush/Cheney legacy? Zuckerman.
Zuckerman: Well, I think you probably have weighted the case just slightly, John. Now I don’t know why I think that. [laughter]
McLaughlin: What are the redeeming features?
Zuckerman: Well, I mean, the one that you have to imagine, okay, is that…
McLaughlin: Imagine? Then it doesn’t exist.
Zuckerman: No, excuse me. That the terrorist threat is something that might have been a lot worse had he not been as forceful as he was. And the thing that I think astonishes everybody about this administration is not that their policies [sic], but how incompetent they were in administering their policies.
Clift: Well, the notion that the terrorist threat would have been worse if he had not acted the way he did does not excuse a war of choice in Iraq that was then needlessly and poorly managed. And also you left off the list ‘shredded the US Constitution’. I thought your list was pretty good [laughter] and that’s why President Bush has a 29% approval rating. He deserves it!
McLaughlin: Treat it as the abridged version. The executive summary.
Clift: You have to.
Zuckerman: He has a higher disapproval rating than Richard Nixon did in the last week of his presidency.
McLaughlin: Truman was the lowest though…I believe.
Clift: Well, by two points, he was at 27, I think, which at that time…
McLaughlin: That’s a lower figure…
Clift: Well, he has time.
Crowley: Okay, so that was a pretty loaded question, John, and I do think it’s too soon to pass judgment on the Bush/Cheney legacy. They still have a couple of more months in office, anything could happen. But on Mort’s point, this is…
McLaughlin: You talking about Israel?
Crowley: …this is, well, a number of things could happen. The economy could improve, and by the way, we’re winning the war in Iraq now…
[crosstalk]
…which even left-wing media that opposed the war-the Associated Press and so on-now admits we’re winning in Iraq. There are a lot of…
Clift: Could you describe what winning is? Winning, what does that mean?
Crowley: The violence is down dramatically, Eleanor. There’s political reconciliation happening like mad in Iraq. That doesn’t mean it’s not reversible, but…
Clift: And all those refugees is winning?
Crowley: …progress is in the right direction. And I will say, in terms of the Bush/Cheney legacy, there is some time to go and it’s too early to pass judgment.
Bernard: Here is something positive, that I hope we’d all agree on about the Bush/Cheney legacy. Despite all the negatives that you just listed, which are probably correct, the Bush…President Bush brought education to the forefront of our national discussion. For the first time in a very long time, people are talking about what happens in our K-12 system, and how we prepare the future for a 21st century workforce.
Clift: But they’re hating No Child Left Behind.
Bernard: But we are having the discussion. We have never had this discussion before, it is a national discussion, it’s an important one to have, regardless of how you feel about No Child Left Behind, and also to President Bush’s credit, for the first time in I think a very long time, we are actually talking about women’s rights as human rights in the Middle East. We have had these discussions with Saudi Arabia, with Egypt, with Pakistan, with Iraq, and even in Iran, and I credit the administration for doing that.
McLaughlin: I think those are redemptive features. I also think Mort’s point is quite helpful, helpful to redeem, and that is we haven’t had a terrorist attack of the kind of significance that brought us to our knees with September the 11th.
Filed Under: PBS
Tags: , Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, PBS, The McLaughlin Group
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is it too soon to say bush is the worst president ever? no.
And he can’t leave quick enough.
And it’s all the Democrat’s fault!
Bush was too busy supporting the troops to NOT destroy our country.
And now the Iraqi government wants a timetable for withdrawal of our troops. That should go over with W and Cheney like a lead balloon. Doesn’t the Iraqi government know that we, the American people, need our troops in Iraq to guard the Exxon employees and OUR oil?
Hahaha. Use something that can’t be proven (Bush has prevented any additional terrorists attacks) as its only redeemable feature. After 8 effing years.
The President is staying up at night worrying about the rights of women in Iran …
Crowley: …this is, well, a number of things could happen. The economy could improve, and by the way, we’re winning the war in Iraq now… which even left-wing media that opposed the war-the Associated Press and so on-now admits we’re winning in Iraq. There are a lot of…
left-wing media… anyone who parrots this GOP talking point gets an immediate rejection from the life raft.
monica crowley, the slightly smarter and nicer ann coulter. coulter 2.0
the bullshit she spews is still *gaspingly* wrong.
she is the current bush-apologizer-in-chief, yet she (like tony ‘my pimp suit’ blankley) tries to portray herself as some bastion of journalistic credibility.
to which i respond: bwhahahahahahaha!!!!
the legacy of bush will be fascism, and may well be martial law… it’s not over yet
But we did have a terrorist attack on bush’s watch, we just haven’t had one since. The terrorist probably decided they didn’t need to attack us again seeing as how bush has done more damage to our lives and our country than they could have ever hoped to do.
Quagmire . . where have I heard that before? Seems like somebody predicted that Iraq might become a quagmire in the early ’90s.
“At least we haven’t had another terrorist attack.”
When will any of our “liberal” pundits get the balls to say, “Excuse me, what about 9/11? What about anthrax? We’ve had at least two major terrorist attacks against our country under George W. Bush.”
gawd @ 3:
Actually, he had the caveeat of “an attack of the kind of significance”.
Nice way to avoid the anthrax attack, I must say.
Martial law? But I thought the troops PROTECTED our freedoms? Hahahahahaha!
I just want to know how these insane morons will sell it to the troops? We’re all gay liberals and must die. We’re the REAL terrorists so we must be hunted down and put into repatriotization (new word in W’s Amurika) camps run by Halliburton’s KBR subsidiary.
RichStraightWhiteAmericanMale @ 9:
and, let’s not forget to mention that the incidence of “terror” attacks worldwide has gone up. “terror” recruitment and funding? yup, that has gone up too.
True, the education system hasn’t been completely destroyed . . yet.
By the way,
I was trying to look up the suggestion I once read about, some democratic senators/congressmen who sometime in 1996-1998 had a suggestion to make armored cockpit doors mandatory on planes, but the proposal was shot down by republicans due to the cost it would incur to the airlines.
I was unable to locate sources, anyone know if it was a factual case?
I could only stomach a few minutes of that moron Crowley she was unbelievable , stating that W’s presidency wasn’t over and there was a chance he was likely to pull it out of the ashes . Never mind that his time is 90% up and he hasn’t done a thing right so far. Equally as galling was watching everyone else sitting there and not calling this bimbo on any of her bull shit. In Monicas case it can’t be who you know.
*sigh*
incidents, not incidence….
Maybe that’s why W likes “no child left behind” so much. He was left behind when he was young and now he has to make sure all of the children have the same fate.
Destroyed the GOP Congressional majority.
Really, where is the proof in the statement. You can count Rs and Ds but that is completely misleading.
Look at the legislation. Tell me where Bush didn’t get what he wanted, except for privatizing social security which was DEAD ON ARRIVAL (thank gawd, can you imagine). Tell me where this congress hasn’t caved at every turn. What am I missing.
The worst president ever? Sure but you wouldn’t know it from this criminal congress. Joined at the hip.
Actually, it can be disproven– we still haven’t found and brought to justice the perpetrator(s) of the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people.
It’s as if Jim Jones were President and Charles Manson Vice President.
It pisses me off there are still people as ignorant and smug as a Monica Crowly.
“Hahaha. Use something that can’t be proven (Bush has prevented any additional terrorists attacks) as its only redeemable feature. After 8 effing years.”
Did you forget about the Anthrax mailings? Another terrorist attack and we don’t know anything about it other than it happened.
The conservative pundits can spin McLaughlin’s question any way they want to, this is the worst president and administration ever! 20 January, 2009-end of an error!
Women’s rights in Iraq have actually taken a back step since the invasion.
Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld (who said he’d take responsibility for the failures in Iraq) should all be hauled in front of the Hague for war crimes. Nothing would please me more for Bush to take a trip somewhere and be arrested; what an incident that would be. Could you imagine, just for a minute, what we would have said or done if, say, Russia invaded Venezuela for their oil because Lithuanian terrorists set off a bomb in Moscow? Bush must have an agenda because what idiot would’ve prosecuted a war like this like they did. OOPs, sorry, Bush isn’t smart enough to know what an agenda is let alone have one. He’s a dupe of Big Oil and we all know it.
Sad, that’s the perception and perception influences reality, sad but true.
The Busheviks make the Nixon Gang look like choir boys.
It seems like an excuse for ignoring it to me. These very newsies that ignored news for the “do what you are told” from the office of the chief shooter, have nowhere to go but the happy home. TV news is an oxymoron. Their viewers don’t know what an oxymoron is.
Monica Crowley is a dumb bitch.
She says republicans need to get back to “conservative principles”. Well I wish liberals would scream from the top of thier lungs that we are living under conservative principles!!!!
But I ain’t gonna hold my breathe!
Why the hell there is no loud & attractive liberals on that panel? That old lady is poorly representing our side. She is simply no match for that bitch Crowley and company.
And now the reich-wing are so desperate, they are toting a senile shell-of-a-man, who graduated 894 of 899 at the Naval Academy, as the best they have to offer. Ouch. Heckva job, Booooshie!
“we haven’t had a terrorist attack of the kind of significance that brought us to our knees with September the 11th.”
No need… Bush has done exactly what they wanted… destroying the economy and chipping away at the constitution… doing much more damage than 9/11 did.
At least we haven’t had any zombie attacks or alien invasions under GW’s watch. The Corporate MSM will always have that talking point…
No shortage of apologists in that clip. It gets so tiring listening to them spew praise. Theyre as clueless as a Bush in a grocery store or at a gas pump.
michele bernard: below the radar rightwinger. and she hides it well.
which begs the quesiton… what, exactly, is she up to.
let there be NO doubt, the organization that bernard is the “CEO” of is a far right wing “think” tank, yet, on TV, bernard cloaks her true allies and views.
msnbc owes it to their viewers to give a little background to the people and their organizations. of course, though, that would smack of journalistic credibility.
Any time we hear women’s rights discussed in our own country, they are talking about taking at least one of our rights away from us, via the Supreme Court.
I usually consider the McLaughlin Group a bunch of “screamin’ me-me’s”. I don’t care much for Monica Crowly; she’s such a shill for BushCo. Elenor Clift makes good observations and points but is constantly drowned out by the me-me’s.
Who is the dumb heiffa that wants to credit the giggling murderer for womens rights in the middle east? At the same time he and his right wing criminals opposed any equal rights amendment for women here in America!!
Where do these bitches come from??
oldtree… Exactly. It’s mostly NOT news, just marketing. Making sure the sheeple get their daily dose of “what to think” and the shoving down our throats of…..OUR interests are one and the same as THEIR corporate interests.
FRN @ 19:
Yes, and what about Osama bin Forgotten? All that oil and no bid government contracts are sure distracting!
And much work can get done at the Brush Ranch, Monica? Someone cut her dolly pull string, please!
pissed off patricia @ 7:
And yet no one wants to say that ..
At the very least they ignored the warnings & let 9-11 happen.
No “conspiracy theory” .. it’s all public record.
And yet the entire Bush administration has been built around “preventing another 9-11″ by shredding the Constitution, invading Iraq, etc.
What you have to remember is that these people are PAID to think for you. They’re paid to go on TV and give the status quo answers and talking points. And the opposition (can barely be called that) keeps to their script. It’s a sick joke. Whether you buy the bullshit they’re peddling is up to you. Never attempt to rationalize INSANITY.
Crowley’s definition of “winning” the war in Iraq, “The progress is going in the right direction.” There’s that word progress again. It has been used literally thousand of times to spin this mess. And where did they find Michelle Bernard?? Where do these people come from? “Bush has brought education to the forefront of our national discussion.” She’s kidding right? She’s just testing us to see if we’re listening. The closest Bush came to bringing education to the forefront was to use a Florida classroom as a hideout while the WTC buildings were pulled.
How can we possibly be “winning in Iraq” if our purpose to invade this nation, that didn’t attack us, was because WMD….WMD were not found….Mission Failed.
These wingnuts are delusional.
Conservatives caused these problems!
Republicans are NUTS!!!
It’s all BS. Just a bunch of moronic sound bites. No facts, just sound bite marketing by and for the marching morons.
We didn’t have any terrorist attacks for 8 years BEFORE 9-11, either. Point 7 should be “The total and complete destruction of the Republican Party.”
“No child left behind” is crap, but “…at least we’re having the conversation”.
So by that logic, Shrub was done wonders for regular people’s knowledge of the constitution. Everytime they do something to take away more rights, liberals scream foul and ‘regular americans’ ask: “That was a right we had?”
We are getting to know our constitution better everytime bush shreds another part of it.
so… I guess that’s good?
Zuckerman, Crowley and Bernard…WRONG!!!!
In my youth I thought there could never be an administration even close as bad as Nixon, then came Ronald Reagan. I just knew that there would never be an administration that was as criminal and fascists as Ronnie and the boys. I really pisses me off anytime I hear anyone give the Bush any credit for anything even in the slightest good. I have been ashamed of my fellow American voters and ashamed to be American for going on 8 straight years now and don’t tell me he stole both elections. I know he stole them but they should have never been close.