Much of Bush's legacy will be debated (by wingnuts, but still debated).

Cold, hard numbers are hard to refute, as the GOP is discovering as they try to claim that Reagan's tax cuts increased tax receipts.

One thing I'm glad he destroyed was the GOP.

if you are going to use the 2000 number for the US budget, then you should use the 2008 number for comparison; or show 2001 and 2009. His numbers are bad enough without fudging to make them worse.

the glories of a M.B.A. presidency ...

can we now put this stupid idea to rest, viz., that M.B.A.'s make great managers--of governments, of universities, and yes, even of companies?

kp is right. No reason to give Fox something to cry "liberal media" about

The effects of Bush's "environmental negligence" will be "quantified" soon enough, as the vast grain growing regions of North America turn into deserts and the glacier-fed freshwater supplies for hundreds of millions of people vanish.

By the time rising sea levels begin to make the heavily populated coastal areas of the world uninhabitable, we will be too preoccupied with mass starvation to care.

Following up on kp's point, population figures should be rates, not counts of people, and dollar figures should be real dollars.

I heard a wingnut from the National Review on the Diane Rehm show this morning, stating that one of the shining aspects of the Bush presidency was the prevention of further terrorist attacks in the United States. Funny thing: I didn't hear this same fellow glorifying President Clinton who also had an attack on the World Trade Center at the beginning of HIS presidency, and there wasn't another attack. But, I guess, according to this fellow's "logic" that means Clinton prevented attacks as well??

How can people fall for this sophistry?

It's Bill Clinton's fault, don't you people know what by now?!?

Harvard MBA.

Oh - if the US had only held onto Elian Gonazles and successfully woke up Terri Schiavo - all the #s would have been different.

Don't they just say it's all Obama's fault?

sduffys: Oh - if the US had only held onto Elian Gonazles and successfully woke up Terri Schiavo - all the #s would have been different.

That means it's all Eric Holder's fault.

those who had to put up with my posts the past several years at CBR, I apologize for beating this drum to death. Yes, these are stunning numbers that at least begin to starkly quantify the utter failure of conservative governance (and even better, its failure compared to the last Democratic administration). Wonderful that First Read did this.

Now, why exactly hasn't the DNC run simple, stark, graphical versions of these comparisons periodically (particularly right before the start of each biennial election cycle) the entire time Bush has been in office? We need to stop thinking of mass media messaging as something that only happens from Labor Day to Election Day in Presidential years - politics, whether electoral or the more subtle assumptions of power and momentum in legislating, and organizing for the future, go on all the time not just a few months every four years. Never let someone like Bush get big approval numbers when they are built on ignorance - inform the public, not just when you are running against him, but when you have to outflank him on governance issues.

aaarrrgggghhh! /rant

So with the poverty rate higher than ever, Obama is going "cut the fat" from Social Security and Medicare. He should try living on Social Security and relying on Medicare, which does not cover basics, and then find the "fat." What hypocrisy.

kp and his whining legions need to STFU. Bush is being judged in the article by the way things were when Americans bought into the GOP's "Big Lie" as compared to when his ability to force his "decider-izations" down the Republic's throat runs out of spare rope.

As for "giving FauxNoise something to blather on about," one should remember that the only thing that the GOP noise machine is worthy of is the business end of a well-sharpened "fairness doctrine"---thus leading to the following riddle: If you stab a Repiglican in the woods and FauxNoise isn't there with their biased camera-crews, does it make a squealing sound, or does it just become so much junk-food for the critters?

Just wait until 2009 is in the books. We have not seen the worst of these number yet.

Unfortunately, this crisis will dominate Obama's first term in office. This recession is both deep and broad. It touches nearly all sectors of the economy.

The possible silver lining is that we may finally get serious about reducing energy consumption and build a greenergy infrastructure.

I heard a wingnut from the National Review on the Diane Rehm show this morning, stating that one of the shining aspects of the Bush presidency was the prevention of further terrorist attacks in the United States.

Anthrax mailer. DC sniper.

Funny thing: I didn't hear this same fellow glorifying President Clinton who also had an attack on the World Trade Center at the beginning of HIS presidency, and there wasn't another attack.

Oklahoma City.

Sorry, neither Bush nor Clinton come out shining by the "we had a terrorist attack, but at least we only had one" metric. Domestic terrorism is still terrorism.

Obama could miraculously turn the economy around, conclude both wars, reduce unemployment to 3%, personally capture Osama bin Laden and the "experts" at Fox news would blather that it could have all been better accomplished by cutting taxes for the rich and shrinking the size of government.

Quantified

Miserable Failure isn't just a defunct google bomb any more...

How about not reneging on campaign promises before even being sworn in? Does the Rev think that Social Security and Medicare are the places to pare down costs when people who rely on these are the poorest among us and the services provided are at subsistance level?

God Bush America! (and he did)

For someone who thinks the US Constitution is just a g22dam piece of paper, I'd say he did a good job.

Don't misunderestimate his legacy.

Preston Hollow 2000 - Would not allow persons of color.

Preston Hollow 2009 - Will accept Toxic Waste.

It seems rather covenient that the economy crumbles when the Rethugs knew that their stranglehold was to end. Now it will be all about restriction of power so the White House cannot go after the few who stole everything from us. And do keep the MSM printing articles about how the rich are suffering so we believe they were hurt as much as we were.

Steve's take away should not be overlooked: the damage stretches beyond quantifiable sums. This country is suffering from many and deep wounds to its national spirit, the law, the body politic; to families and even whole cities enduring grievous loss to poverty and indifference; to soldiers who have lost essential body parts (arms, legs, brain slices and on and on) in a battles where they did not even have proper safety gear; to the expectation and process of civil discourse (more dangerous than it might first appear); to our international standing and power to do good. And all this damage only enables those who mean us harm.

I heard a wingnut from the National Review on the Diane Rehm show this morning, stating that one of the shining aspects of the Bush presidency was the prevention of further terrorist attacks in the United States.

Or, in other words, once the horse was out of the barn they closed the door.

Christ, it's as if these morons believe he became president on September 12, 2001. If the above is true, wouldn't it be counterbalanced by the fact that the glaring catastrophe of the Bush presidency was the failure to prevent the single largest terrorist attack on the United States? Or are they really attempting to claim that he deserves credit because he only failed spectacularly once?

And the above also assumes that there even were further 9/11 style attacks to prevent. So far as we know, al Qaeda has never attempted another such attack -- which we know partly because if there had been such an attempt, and if they had prevented it, the Bush regime would have broadcast it across the heavens.

"But I'm afraid Bush's failures exceed statistical evaluation."

FAILURES? Not according to Laura Bush. Her husband exceeded expectations, for his "have mores". They are richer, and better off than ever.

Did we run out of Kool-Aid?

I've heard repeatedly from wingnuts that Democrats have run Congress for the past four years and are responsible for most of our decline. Apparently they are either unable to count, or are in deep denial about the results of the past few elections.

The numbers, to be sure, are bleak. But I'm afraid Bush's failures exceed statistical evaluation.

One statistic that would be lovely to see:

Number of U.S. Presidents incarcerated for life for War Crimes: 1

It couldn't happen to a nicer Village Idiot.

Literally.

.

This deserves posting again, as I did it rather late last night.

--

Salon has a pretty interesting article describing some of the damage done by the Bush administration. You can find it here

It also included a link to the "mid session review from the OMB" Here's the White House link

Here's a gem that pretty much describes how incompetent the Bush Administration really is:

The President’s major tax relief proposals enacted during his terms in office reflect a commitment to rewarding hard work and prudent risk-taking. These provisions have allowed Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money and encouraged businesses to make additional investments. Because of the President’s efforts, workers and businesses saved $1.3 trillion in taxes by the end of calendar year 2007.

Isn't that 'so-called' savings amount pretty much the same as the deficit Obama will inherit from Bush? Not to mention that he'll have to spend about the same amount in order to get the economy back on track?

and here's another one:

The President’s tax relief has been good for individual Americans and good for the economy.

and another 'winner' blaming the Clinton Administration:

The President’s fiscal policy approach has focused on pro-growth economic policies and fiscal restraint. As noted above, the President’s tax relief policies have promoted economic growth and rewarded hard-working Americans. The President’s policies of spending restraint have held down the growth in spending in the face of significant fiscal pressures on the Government over the past seven and a half years as a result of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the ensuing Global War on Terror, Hurricane Katrina, and increasing entitlement costs. These challenges came on top of significant underfunding in national security, an inherited recession, and an economy built on a high-tech bubble.

1)Bush has presided over the largest increase in entitlements in the history of the US.
2) It were the Republicans in congress during the Clinton years who obstructed any meaningful changes.
3)Obama is inheriting a recession. In my opinion, all those tax cuts for the rich is about the amount of money in the deficit. Interesting how that all trickled down

There is more, but the irony is too rich.

We're all waiting for the Republican / Conservative refrain and answer to any of their colossal mistakes: "Nobody could have predicted this" or "Nobody could have seen this coming"

You get the idea.