this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2024
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[–] FlyingSquid 85 points 7 months ago (6 children)

This really isn't anything different than any other president has said in living memory. If anything, it's not as extreme as some of them.

For example-

No, I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God.

That was George H. W. Bush.

That said, I will give his piece of shit son credit for one thing. He said this:

I will be your president regardless of your faith. And I don't expect you to agree with me, necessarily, on religion. As a matter of fact, no president should ever try to impose religion on our society. The great – the great tradition of America is one where people can worship the – the way they want to worship. And if they choose not to worship, they're just as patriotic as your neighbor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination_against_atheists#United_States

I can't remember any other time when a Republican at pretty much any level, let alone a president, would say that about atheists.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Crazy times when the bar fell so low that Bush isn't even considered to be one of the worst US presidents anymore. US hardliners have all gone so crazy that people like him, by comparison, appear to be moderate now.

[–] glimse 25 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Trump was the greatest thing to ever happen to GW's legacy

[–] FlyingSquid 19 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Remember the "miss me now?" signs with Bush on them after Obama was elected?

I hate to say it, but... compared to the alternative Republicans have on offer these days, yes.

[–] ChicoSuave 11 points 7 months ago

Jesus, that was such a weird time that folks wanted Bush back despite the super recession he caused. Obama really rocked the right hard so they said to themselves "never be mocked by libruls again" and are trying to take down democracy. And folks were calling out the fascist direction back with Bush/Cheney too.

[–] hark 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Then your memory is lacking, sorry to say. Bush is the patriot act, Iraq war, border fence, torture program, PRISM, secret courts, worst economic crisis since the great depression, too big to fail, surplus-to-deficit, rich tax cuts, axis of evil, no child left behind (deceptively-named act that burdened public schools), global embarrassment guy. He is actually worse than trump, and unlike trump's fumbling ass, bush was well-connected enough to successfully steal the election in 2000 with help from the supreme court. Don't help republicans shift the overton window by rehabilitating that war criminal's image and treating him as some sort of moderate.

[–] FlyingSquid 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Do you know how many worse things I could list about Trump? Shall we start with how he let a million Americans die with his COVID policy?

[–] hark 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Feel free to list them. As for COVID, Biden was just as eager to open things up, he was just lucky that the vaccine became a thing as he entered office, so he could fast-track that (Trump tried to sabotage the rollout on his way out because he's a sore loser). Lockdowns weren't popular among the capitalist class because of the impact to business, and you can see they weren't taken seriously with a number of politicians flouting lockdown rules (including democrats). As a reminder, Bush was warned about a potential terrorist attack happening and then let 9/11 happen on his watch, then used that as an excuse to launch two wars and install a vast surveillance apparatus, secret courts, and a torture program.

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Okay, let's start with all the "great" things Trump did for queer people. (I'm guessing you will handwave all of this away.)

https://www.hrc.org/news/the-list-of-trumps-unprecedented-steps-for-the-lgbtq-community

[–] hark 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Do you think bush was some sort of champion of LGBT rights? He also attacked them as a distraction. It's a common republican tactic.

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I never said he was. I did predict you would handwave that away though. Thanks for proving me right.

[–] hark 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

We're doing a comparison. Me pointing out that Bush was just as bad in this regard is not a "handwave" it's part of the comparison. Your "many worse things" list turned out to be a damp squib.

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You pointed out that he was just as bad. You didn't provide any evidence to that effect.

[–] hark 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] hark 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

How? You claimed I was handwaving, but you're the one handwaving. You project like a republican and you play into their hands by pretending trump is a special case when he's really just following standard republican policy.

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Your links showed that Bush took far fewer actions on oppressing queer people than Trump. What did you expect me to say?

[–] hark 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If we're going to play that game, how many wars did trump start vs bush? How many torture programs did trump start vs bush? How many surveillance apparatuses did trump start vs bush?

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Now you're changing the subject. I wonder why?

[–] hark 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You changed the subject first by ignoring all the heinous shit I listed for bush. There you go projecting again.

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure I'm not projecting when you did, in fact, change the subject from their relative treatment of queer people.

[–] hark 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Go back and read the thread from the beginning. I'm not going to play your bad faith games.

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Why should I read from the beginning when you changed the subject a handful of posts ago? Would that alter the fact that you changed the subject? I'm pretty sure that accusing me of doing it first doesn't alter what you did.

[–] hark 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I didn't change the subject, you did. I listed all the things that bush was worse for and you decided to change the subject to one that wasn't even a political focus back then. When it came to lgbt rights back then, it was mainly about marriage, and bush was against that. Bush was also for upholding sodomy laws, as one of my links pointed out. Do you honestly think that bush would be for trans rights or whatever other lgbt issues that are the focus today?

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Sure looks like a change of subject to me:

trans rights or whatever other lgbt issues that are the focus today?

And here's the actual issue. You know nothing about what queer people faced under Trump and what they're going to face if he gets back into office. I'm guessing that's in part because you didn't actually look at my link.

[–] hark 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Go further up the thread. I'm not going to play your stupid games.

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Going further up the thread will not have made the change of subject I pasted not a change of subject. Strange that you're accusing me of playing games when you're doing the "what are you going to believe, me or your own eyes" thing...

[–] hark 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Going further up the thread will not have made the change of subject I pasted not a change of subject.

It would show that you were the one who changed the subject in the first place. Nice try, but I'm used to talking to disingenuous trolls like you.

[–] FlyingSquid 0 points 6 months ago

Yes, again, accusing me of changing the subject doesn't mean you did not change the subject. I demonstrated very clearly that you did.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

To be fair, Dubya said a whole lot of things that no president before or since has said, mostly because his grasp of the vocabulary, grammar, and basic sentence structures of the English language is tenuous at best.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Ok, but no one has given me a straight answer yet: is our kids learning?

[–] jordanlund 3 points 7 months ago

Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!

[–] FlyingSquid 9 points 7 months ago

I'll take my wins where I can get them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Bush Jr was totally a warmonger… but he was also seemed more rational and sane than a lot of republicans comparatively… I wouldn’t say that he’s a good guy, just one of the least bad republicans. I’ll also give it to Romney for having some sense of principles and standing up against Trump despite everything else about him. They seem like the last in a rare breed of republicans that actually have some basic sense of honor. It’s a pretty low bar honestly but they seem to be slightly less lead poisoned? Which is something, I guess?

[–] pdxfed 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Dude barely could form coherent sentences. He wanted to be on his ranch, not make hard decisions and coast through life as he always had on his privilege.

His cabinet on the other hand, of course picked for him, was the Mr Rushmore of military-industrial corpo takeover.Cheney ex Halliburton CEO that directed no-bid contract awards in the many billions to them. They of course still fraudulently over billed the government and had to cop to repayment in a level of awkwardness seldom achieved. "Con"deleeza Rice, who Exon named an oil tanker after prior to being secretary of state may have had oil interests in mid, Rumsfeld who was both the youngest and oldest secretary of defense in Ford and then Shrub administrations directed negative and increasingly antidemocratic military policy from Vietnam to Afghanistan.

[–] captainlezbian 6 points 7 months ago

He clearly wanted to be to republicans what Clinton was to democrats, the firm commitment to centrism. Instead 9/11 happened and the country lost its damn shit and decided to declare war on Muslims and for some reason environmentalists.

[–] Madison420 4 points 7 months ago

He said that because of what his dad said... Its pr

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Why is it always that the US does something bad or beyond logic, it always goes back to "what about that time when x said/did something worse" as if it's any fucking better?

  • Remember that time when obama bombed a wedding?
  • Remember when bush made up lies about invading iraq and got out scot-free?
  • Remember that time when we invaded countries for no reason other than pushing our agenda?
  • Remember when we funded terrorists that are now terrorizing the locals?
  • Remember when we changed regimes to religious fundamentalists that turned into theocracy?
  • Remember when we supported coups in democratic countries?

He can say any fucking prepared statement, he's a piece of shit zionist currently perpetuating a genocide. People trying to present him in positive light comparingto the scum of the nation are maggots that plague the earth.