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http://prospect.org/article/how-bush-broke-government
To gain a true sense of Bush's legacy, we survey the systematic and politically motivated ways he undermined the federal government.
"There is nothing new about presidents who are eager to overstep the bounds of their power, whether they are conservative or liberal in their political views. But the strategies that George W. Bush used to strengthen his presidency -- and weaken other branches of government -- have been more widespread than the ones employed in the past. Rather than isolated abuses of executive power, such as Bill Clinton's bombing of Kosovo without congressional approval, the actions of the Bush administration have been the most systematic abuses of executive authority since the branch's powers were curtailed in the wake of Watergate.
"You know how there are all these checks and balances in the government?" says Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. "Under the Bush administration, all that was turned on its head. When you look at what they did, it's like reading the opposite of the Federalist Papers." Despite the fact that Alexander Hamilton clearly articulated that there should be checks on the president's power -- especially in a time of war -- the Bush administration selectively interpreted the Federalist Papers to claim that Congress has no right to restrict the president. Government lawyers such as John Yoo, who worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, went so far as to assert that Hamilton's view of "executive unity" allows for a supercharged executive branch with unlimited power.
Some of Bush's power grabs made national news. Unaccountable military contractors in Iraq and ideological shenanigans at the Justice Department were front-page headlines. However, to gain a true sense of Bush's legacy we must look beyond these individual transgressions and examine how the administration employed politically motivated strategies throughout the federal government -- with devastating results. In other words, to understand what happened to government under the Bush administration, we must look at the methods that were used to break it down..."
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I want all the Bush apologists to read this. Then try to imagine taking the office of the presidency with full blown wars in 2 countries and an economy on the brink of total meltdown, plus what is detailed in this article. All this talk about "transparency" or lack thereof by Obama, surveillance by Obama, wars started by Obama...when Bush had a secret surveillance program (the same one you're now questioning) in February, 2002...some say it was much earlier.
On September 11, 2001, I was more afraid of Bush than I was any terrorist threat...and I watched the "patriotic fervor" explode like a mushroom cloud over the country...flags on cars..."my country, do or die" (which did indeed end up happening to a whole raft of people after the fact). This kind of flag waving is exactly the way Hitler rose to power in Germany...and what we had with "leadership Bush" was the closest we may have ever come to totalitarianism and a fascist state. Once stirred, the national fever could be directed against anyone...the desire for revenge was out of control on Main St. USA.
This is a short explanation of why I constantly harp on Bush...and will never stop questioning the real source of the terror on 9/11.
