I have basically grown up under the Bush Adminisration, and over the past couple years I've gone through a range of emotions relating to him, almost all of them not good.

I never understood why people made him out to be an evil man. He isn't. I don't believe when he set out to run our country he wanted to ruin it, or make everyone hate him.

Yes, he's done some questionable things, and I have never been a supporter, but don't you think it's time for the bashing to stop?

I believe he set out to do good, but, it went incredibly wrong.


It happens.

IDK, I just dont think Bush is some crazy, power driven maniac like some people make him out to be.

I read his interview in Rolling Stone, and he doesnt seem to be really THAT bad of a guy.

He just has made bad choices.

i'm just so glad it's gone.

it's like having some sort of std for 8 years and finally getting treatment for it.

I get where your coming from, but he honestly deserves not only the bad mouthing but an actual, legal punishment. He extended his presidential power and broke the constitution. He should be made as an example the this country won't take that kind of abuse of power anymore.

And uh, you do know that the Rolling Stone interview was a JOKE right?

Alrighty, so because you've heard of two schools that performed differently you automatically assume that that's how every other school works.

Let me try to explain this in a way you can understand.

Schools in poor communities have less access to certain things like books and computers, etc. because the people paying the taxes for the schools can't pay much because of their low socio-economic status. While schools in wealthier communities get more money for taxes meaning that they can afford computers and books for every kid.

Now wouldn't it be great if all schools could afford the same things? You would think no child left behind would give money to schools that perform badly so that way they could afford more educational equipment, but that isn't how it works. The schools that score higher on standardized tests get money, money that they usually already have, while the schools that are in poor communities do badly and get shit. Does this make any sense? no.

Alixx,

I understand the point you're making. I can't speak for others, but for me, however, the Bush Administration can't ever have enough castigation leveled at them. I know that may sound harsh, and unnecessary. However, in the spirit of calling a spade a spade, lets be honest: screw ups to this degree at the highest of levels, in a country considered to be an example for every other, are not simply just a matter of incompetence, but rather a combination of that, arrogance, stubbornness, irrationality, lies, and the worst of all, fear mongering...which is a form of brainwashing.

While these are adjectives, the lives in Iraq and New Orleans that have been lost or changed for the worst, the millions without jobs, and up until recently, reducing the state of our dialogue to concentrate on petty differences are not. These examples and many more effect us all, and while I or no one in their right mind would fault the Bush Administration with all of the blame, certainly, we elect and trust our officials and our president to do much, much better than this. It's hard to think Bush is a cruel guy, but the idea that he was the president is a really bad joke and one that cost a lot of people a lot and sometimes everything. To brush it all under the table, to look the other way, to let go of it too soon and shelve Bush as a "good guy who just made major mistakes" would significantly underestimate his and his administration's intelligence which was able to get him in office in the first place. Many of these mistakes weren't accidental, they were done thought and done with purpose. That's something we should all keep in mind.

In response to Wolfie, poor schools don't automatically score worse than rich schools. In my opinion, "rich" schools make things easier and dumb down the material. I took a newspaper class in my middle school, a "poor" school, we then moved and I took the same course in High school, a so called "rich" school. I didn't learn anything, several other students had been in my class the year before and said the same thing. The materail wasn't the same, we didn't learn some of the basics, because they were "to hard" and were cut out of the "rich" schools ciruculum. In Idaho, a Nampa elementary has 365 students, and scored 54.2% on a reading ISAT, but, Owyhee elementary with 717 students scored 87.3%. Both of these schools are considered "poor" and both are in gang territory. The scores are based on the children, and if the children want to succeed then they will. Their enviroment, or how much money they have has an effect but deos not rule the outcome.

Alrighty, you obviously know nothing about the workings of "no child left behind." This act forces students to take tests and the better they do on it the more money schools get.... meaning poor schools score poorly and get NO money while rich schools score better and get more money... leaving absolutely no room for improvement. You have to live under a rock to think that nclb actually helps schools.

As for terrorism, how can you say he did a good job when we haven't even caught the mastermind of 9/11?

But none of this will matter tomorrow. ^.^

Humans are supposed to be mostly good, so yeah, he did make some good choices as president. He wasn't the best, and I didn't really like him during most of his eight years. His main lobbyists were credit card companies so he took away a lot of regulations set after the Great Depression which is part of the reason we're in a recession now. Either way, it's time for a change (and it would have been time for a change now even if Gore had won in 2000, or Kerry in 2004.). Looking forward to Obama's inauaguration, for sure!

quote:

People don't think he's evil. People think he's stupid. lol

The evil one is Dick Cheney. Puppet and Master= Bush and Dick.

^ so true.

I don't really like Bush, but he did a lot of great things for our countrey, "No child left behind." and he has gotten rid of some of the worst terrorists the world has seen. Sure he made a bunch of bad choices, but so do we. Polousi wants to put him in prison for the bad choices he made, if we put that standard to everyone, than everyone would be in jail. If Bush is put in prison then Obama, whom I do not like, should pardon him. If our country went back to the original constitution, our country would be in a better place. I support Bush in relation to the choices he made about the war on terror and education.

People don't think he's evil. People think he's stupid. lol

The evil one is Dick Cheney. Puppet and Master= Bush and Dick.