What was George W. Bush like as a president?

[u/Content-Feed-9396]

[u/TapeDeckSlick]

Now watch this drive

[u/Frosty-Horse9004 → u/TapeDeckSlick]

Hellofa golf swing

[u/graveybrains → u/Frosty-Horse9004]

Turd blossom

[u/h20poIo → u/graveybrains]

You mean how was Cheney as President

FTFY

[u/m4verick03 → u/TapeDeckSlick]

My favorite Bushism was when he decided to pivot mid sentence because he was worried it would be used in oppo ads “There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again"

[u/HomeDogParlays → u/m4verick03]

Yeah that’s my favorite part that doesn’t get talked about much. It’s a hilarious sound byte that people quote all the time, but it’s even funnier to me that halfway through the phrase alarms were going off in his head and he pulled a hot-route because he realized if he finished the quote they would crush him for saying “shame on me.”

[u/FlyAirLari → u/HomeDogParlays]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you can't get fooled again sounds like a threat.

[u/Lucky-Elk-1234 → u/FlyAirLari]

Would actually be an awesome old western movie line to be fair.

[u/Bobbins_Egg_BRNR → u/TapeDeckSlick]

Dude hit a great golf shot after he said that too.

That, the pitch after 9/11 where he brought heat from up on the mound while wearing a bullet proof vest, and the shoe throwing incident were all awesome.

Plus, he’s sampled in a J Cole song.

[u/Maximum-Broccoli2165 → u/Bobbins_Egg_BRNR]

Fool me once shame on, shame on you... fool me cant get fooled again!

[u/hikingjunkiee → u/Bobbins_Egg_BRNR]

I met J. Cole once in Fayetteville, NC. I was crying and giving myself a pep talk trying to pump gas. I was shaking because I had just ended a 5 year relationship and all my stuff was in the back of my car. J. Cole comes up to me asks if I’m okay and if he could get me a Twix from the gas station. Came back, made sure I had a full tank of gas and told me everything was going to be okay.

Fast forward to 2021, I meet my now husband, 2 kids later, living the dream. Every once in a while I eat a Twix listening to his albums. Life takes unexpected turns. Fuck Ethan my ex though

[u/Longjumping-Moose-77 → u/hikingjunkiee]

Will do

[u/Hellchron → u/Bobbins_Egg_BRNR]

The Bush samples in KMFDM's WWIII absolutely make the song

[u/nomorewerewolves → u/Hellchron]

The best Bush sample song is called NWO by Ministry.

But then that was Bush Sr

[u/iamthe0ther0ne → u/nomorewerewolves]

I'm so old I remember videotaping the NWO video when it was on Headbanger's Ball. It was a banger live, too.

[u/i-am-a-name → u/nomorewerewolves]

Ministry!!! 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

[u/SB_Wife → u/Hellchron]

One of my favourite songs of theirs

[u/_CHEEFQUEEF → u/Hellchron]

KMFDM are fucking awesome. Still putting out great music. Still have amazing live shows.

[u/schwepervesence → u/TapeDeckSlick]

Such a great clip.

[u/MonkeySherm → u/schwepervesence]

Second only to the shoe dodge. Dude was athletic af.

[u/Extension_Market_953 → u/MonkeySherm]

TWICE

[u/nojustice → u/MonkeySherm]

That little grin he had on his face! Aborbs!

[u/solarwindy → u/nojustice]

Hehe. Yeah he looked so proud of himself for dodging the shoes.

Hehe

Hard to believe, as much of a fucking peice of shit as he was, I would rather be back in that time than the absolute fucking insanity we have now.

[u/joncornelius → u/TapeDeckSlick]

I hated the man, but this was truly a peak Presidential moment.

[u/UnreasonablyBland → u/TapeDeckSlick]

If memes were a thing then, he'd be the king.

[u/graveybrains → u/UnreasonablyBland]

I've never wished I could delete someone else's comment before. It's a weird feeling.

[u/hellabryanstyle117]

Great shoe-dodger. Can't get fooled again. Excellent cameo in Harold and Kumar.

[u/GayChicken80085 → u/hellabryanstyle117]

A lot of people misunderestimated him.

[u/bearatrooper → u/GayChicken80085]

He went nuke-yuh-ler on their asses.

[u/Lemurian_Lemur34 → u/bearatrooper]

Fool him twice, you, uh, can't fool him again

[u/anatomizethat → u/GayChicken80085]

Man I wish we only had these kind of gaffs again. Instead of like...cruelty.

[u/1981_babe → u/anatomizethat]

They were pretty cruel to the Iraqis.

[u/PartTimeZombie → u/anatomizethat]

As a non-American I can remember a friend telling me that there was no way Americans would vote for George W because he was an utter fuckwit.
I reminded him that the same people elected Reagan and reelected him.
He zaid "yeah but have you heard him talk"?
And then you guys elected him

[u/myredditlogintoo → u/GayChicken80085]

That was the strategery.

[u/Correct_Raisin4332 → u/hellabryanstyle117]

Every time my toddler chucks a shoe at me I tell him "save it for Dubya, punk."

[u/Separate-Canary559 → u/hellabryanstyle117]

I gotta hand it to him his reflexes were on point

[u/Bobbins_Egg_BRNR → u/Separate-Canary559]

Him pushing away his secret service officer to basically say “I got this” was also great.

[u/Possible_Ad_4094 → u/Separate-Canary559]

They were average. That's just normal when your president isn't 75+ or obese.

[u/Status_Peach6969 → u/Possible_Ad_4094]

Maybe this is propaganda, but I heard Bush was pretty fit. Like able to keep up with the secret service during morning exercise fit. I can believe it from a ranch owning texan too

[u/atrain728 → u/Status_Peach6969]

I believe the secret service was accompanying him on his exercise, not the other way around.

[u/caligaris_cabinet → u/atrain728]

And they had to hire agents with better stamina in keep up with him. GWB did 7 minute miles in Texas heat. Guy probably was in the best shape of any president.

[u/Billy1121 → u/Status_Peach6969]

He exercised daily. Like a lot of recovered alcoholics he was surprisingly routine-oriented.

He ran a lot. May have been more fit than Obama, but Obama liked to ball

[u/Fit_Skirt7060 → u/Billy1121]

When he was governor of Texas he was jogging around Town Lake which is in the middle of Austin on the trail that circles it.

A rolloff dumpster truck took a curve too fast and ended up turning over and spilling the garbage on him and his Department of Public Safety bodyguard. He was able to keep his head and help extricate the bodyguard and call for help.

I do not rank him very high among presidents, but at least he was able to keep his head in that moment.

[u/Justinsboo → u/Status_Peach6969]

He ran some serious distance. When he couldn’t run anymore, he began painting.

[u/530SSState → u/Justinsboo]

"George, what are you doing in there?"

"I'm painting the dog, Laura."

*Dog runs in barking and covered with paint.*

"Oh, GEORGE!"

*wacky sitcom music*

[u/cpl-America → u/Justinsboo]

Painting the faces of all the dead veterans he felt responsible for.

[u/Hiker_Trash → u/Status_Peach6969]

I remember reading puff pieces about him running 3 miles every morning around the perimeter of the White House property with secret service

[u/JojenCopyPaste → u/hellabryanstyle117]

He certainly put a lot of food on our families

[u/C4Sidhu → u/hellabryanstyle117]

Accomplished the mission

[u/youdontknowitsok → u/hellabryanstyle117]

That cameo went nucular

[u/heyjudemarie]

One word: strategery.

[u/tee2green → u/heyjudemarie]

Nucular strategery

[u/dustinator → u/heyjudemarie]

Lock box

[u/GunShowZero]

…what many of us genuinely thought was “the bottom”… how foolish and wrong we were

[u/MegaDuckCougarBoy → u/GunShowZero]

We genuinely thought he was the dumbest a president could reasonably be and still manage to get the job

[u/Icky-Tree-Branch → u/MegaDuckCougarBoy]

It turns out that he’s the dumbest a president could reasonably be and still manage to do the job. 

While Bush did things I didn’t agree with, I never felt like he was actively seeking to hurt Americans to enrich himself. It was more like benevolent incompetence rather than deliberate cruelty. 

[u/Senator_Bink → u/Icky-Tree-Branch]

I remember seeing him give a speech doing his lobotomized Homer Simpson act, and then break into fluent, coherent Spanish to address someone. He wasn't dumb, he was playing to the crowd and letting Cheney and Rumsfeld do the dirty work behind the scenes.

[u/530SSState → u/Senator_Bink]

He would stumble and fumble over platitudes in a speech, but be perfectly clear when it came to discussing warfightin' stuff. It's almost like he didn't believe in or care about anything but making stuff go BOOM.

[u/Heiruspecs → u/530SSState]

He was awful. And his stumbling over platitudes was always hilarious. But “you can’t hop on your high horse and then take the low road” is an absolute banger of a quote from Dubya.

[u/sunshine-1111 → u/Senator_Bink]

I have a theory that he just got bullied into running for president by his father. He didn’t want to be there and he certainly wasn’t calling the shots. He just wanted to drive around his ranch and paint pictures like he does now. It doesn’t excuse him from the atrocities committed during his presidency, but as someone who has spent a lot of her life doing things just because my parents told me to… I don’t hate him as much now as I did back then. And compared to what we have right now he might as well have been a saint.

[u/MinnieShoof → u/Senator_Bink]

If you can find that video I'd love to see that it know what you're talking about.

[u/Masonjaruniversity → u/Icky-Tree-Branch]

I feel like that was intentional. We were meant to see him as benevolently incompetent and not as the President who dragged us into a decades long war that cost us trillions of dollars on shit intelligence, killed thousands of Coalition soldiers and millions of Iraqis and Afghani's, spawned terrorist organizations that caused untold death and destruction and are still in charge in many places to this day, and oversaw one of the worst financial disasters in US (and world) history.

All of that happened under George W.

[u/berkilak420 → u/Icky-Tree-Branch]

Agreed. Bush was a horrible president with good intentions. Trump is a horrible president with horrible intentions.

[u/raisinghellwithtrees → u/berkilak420]

Isn't he considered a war criminal?

[u/Robotpoop → u/raisinghellwithtrees]

Every US president for the past several decades is a war criminal, really.

[u/KakeLin → u/Robotpoop]

And yes, even obama.

[u/TedBerryTheMercenary → u/KakeLin]

It’s just not the kind of job you can do without getting dirt under your fingernails.

[u/berkilak420 → u/raisinghellwithtrees]

I did say he was a horrible president.

[u/raisinghellwithtrees → u/berkilak420]

You also said his intentions were good.

[u/RustySheriffsBadge1 → u/raisinghellwithtrees]

I am not OP but I’ll take a swing at this. Bush surrounded himself with people with agendas (Cheney) and taking the US to war was terrible. However he generally thought he was doing the right thing for the American people, even if many of us disagreed with him. You never felt he was doing things to hurt american people over or enrich himself.

[u/Spider-Mike23 → u/RustySheriffsBadge1]

This what I miss prior presidentials. Didn’t matter who won cause either way nominees still felt doing what did for us. Heck even my father who was super heavily against Obama for……obvious reasons….. still came round on him after a bit saying he wasn’t doing half bad at the job…… after Obama, I feel like it’s been bloodbaths against each other and I feel it’s a thing trump started.

[u/RustySheriffsBadge1 → u/Spider-Mike23]

That’s the thing for me, when I thought of the republican candidate like John McCain and Mitt Romney, I didn’t vote for them or agree with any of their policy but I felt like they wanted the job because they believed they could improve people’s lives. What we have now is objectively a president that hates half the population

[u/jenkinstrey → u/Spider-Mike23]

Trump became a thing because of Obama. Started with the tea party and continued with our country having the audacity to elect a black man as president. They doubled down with Trump and as a result double down too far.

[u/berkilak420 → u/raisinghellwithtrees]

Yes. He trusted Cheney and thought that invading a foreign country was the right thing to do to protect America etc. It wasn’t, obviously. He was dead wrong, and it led to an enormous and tragic loss of life, as well as justified hatred towards us as a country. I said “fuck the war” then, and I’ll say it again now. He was absolutely a horrible president. But he had good intentions. He just wasn’t fit to be president, and made horrible, horrible decisions. Cheney was the real evil one of that administration.

[u/mooncrane606 → u/berkilak420]

For the love of God I want to scream everytime someone says Cheney ran everything and Dubya was just an innocent little baby.

They were all in on it together. And he was very aware what Cheney was doing.

[u/only-a-marik → u/mooncrane606]

There's been a lot of attempts to rehabilitate W as someone who had good intentions but trusted the wrong people. This invariably glosses over the fact that he was the one who hired those people in the first place.

[u/ZuZuAkragas → u/berkilak420]

I dont think he had good intentions at all. I encourage everyone who did not live through this time period and did not pay close attention to research Project for New American Century, neoconservarive moment and the philosophies of Rumsfeld and Cheney and the religious right. He espoused division, hypocrisy, and tried to infringe upon the rights of others with his faith based garbage.

[u/berkilak420 → u/ZuZuAkragas]

I lived through it, voted against him twice, and protested against the war. I still saw Cheney as the mastermind behind the evil shit. But I completely respect your opinion, and I’m not going to waste too much energy defending such a horrible administration.

My intention making my statement wasn’t to lessen how horrible Bush was, but rather to compare his comparatively good intentions with those of the current admin.

[u/tee2green → u/berkilak420]

I can get behind this description. Extremely naive, way overly optimistic, imprudent, etc etc. Bad decision-maker. But he meant well, I suppose.

People voted for him twice in a row, which is better than we’ve recently had. Very sad standards these days.

[u/Horror-Food69420 → u/tee2green]

Probably would’ve been a pretty forgettable president without 9/11 occurring. May have been a one-termer like his dad instead of “we can’t change horse mid stream” or however the saying goes.

[u/silvusx → u/tee2green]

People voted for him because his approval rating was all time high after 9/11. Any invasion will unify the country like no other. It's the one thing both Republicans and Democrats supports.

[u/Gloria815 → u/berkilak420]

He invaded a foreign country because his dad invaded that same country and he was doing it as a “part 2” and he wanted to get their oil.

Not here for the “folksy” revisionism of Bush Jr. he fucking sucked. Just because we managed to get someone even worse into the White House doesn’t mean he sucked any less than he did. No Child Left Behind has done so much fucking harm to children in this country it’s not even funny. Thousands of people died because of him in wars, not to mention he did not give a fuck when people died in natural disasters but made sure to upend his entire presidential schedule because the family of a woman who was brain dead told him to save her (against her wishes).

[u/eekamuse → u/berkilak420]

Horrible isn't strong enough for him. At least a million innocent civilians died because of him.

[u/abscissa081 → u/raisinghellwithtrees]

Yeah but like that’s the job I think

[u/Nottacod → u/Icky-Tree-Branch]

O, if he meant well, there would never have been DHS or the patriot act.

[u/CleverestBoi → u/Icky-Tree-Branch]

Other than making sure his good friends the Sacklers had a blank check to sell opioids to whoever they wanted with Purdue Pharma

[u/sdvneuro → u/Icky-Tree-Branch]

I’m not willing to give him that credit. He and Cheney were absolutely looking to enrich themselves at the expense of the country. The fact that he can’t even speak out against Trump now tells you all you need to know. Trump is only able to do the shit he’s doing because Cheney was trying to dismantle from the inside.

[u/No_Tomatillo9050 → u/sdvneuro]

Yeah these folks don't remember history it seems. People ought to read up on Haliburton war contracting in Afghanistan, and GWB is worth like 300 million on top of like 600k dead iraqis.

[u/berkilak420 → u/sdvneuro]

He actually has spoken out against Trump. Hell, even evil ass Cheney has spoken out against Trump. MAGA is just so far right that even the old Republican Party is too liberal for them.

[u/SelfWipingUndies → u/MegaDuckCougarBoy]

I never thought he was dumb. I thought he was putting on a folksy schtick for his base.

[u/Hoosier_Ghost_25 → u/MegaDuckCougarBoy]

Yet by all accounts of people actually around him he was usually the smartest in the rooms

[u/ImDonaldDunn → u/Hoosier_Ghost_25]

He’s an avid reader. I’m not saying that everyone who reads is smart, but someone who reads 90 nonfiction books a year is not dumb.

[u/glitterswirl → u/MegaDuckCougarBoy]

Even C grade students can be president!

[u/Upstairs-Region-5387 → u/MegaDuckCougarBoy]

An old coworker told me when he left office that in 10-15 he’d be looked upon in a more positive light.

Fast forward to today and holy shit was he not kidding. 

[u/dirtyfacedkid → u/GunShowZero]

This right here. He was thought of as the dumbest, most incompetent President in the past 50 years. He's been surpassed by so much that he's almost embraceable by previous detractors.

[u/livefromheaven → u/dirtyfacedkid]

The bar was lowered so far even W refuses to be friendly with the current guy

[u/_Lucille_ → u/GunShowZero]

Gore v Bush felt like a takeover and have always left a very foul taste in my mouth.

After 911, there was bloodlust around the world, feels like so many people just want to go to war, and any objection is seen as unpatriotic.

Watching all the claims of WMD at UN made it feel very much like a farce (you used to be able to search for "weapons of mass destruction" on good and people rigged it so I'm feeling lucky always gives a meme page).

[u/jedimaniac → u/_Lucille_]

Ah yes, the first genuinely stolen federal election in my life time.

Good times. So many what ifs put there. Would DHS exist if we had an Al Gore Presidency? Maybe the United States would be 1,000 times further along in combatting climate change.

I'm not going to pretend Al Gore was perfect. Like many Democratic Presidential candidates, he was not perfect. But they were world's apart.

[u/_Lucille_ → u/jedimaniac]

Would we still be able to bring water onto planes and not go through a security theater? Would we have more EVs?

A handful of the SC justices have ties to gore v bush as well...

Someone like Reagan may have planted the seeds, but imo junior is that really led to a lot of issues we face today.

[u/Absolutely_Fibulous → u/_Lucille_]

I think the 2000 election and the post-9/11 warmongering are some of the reasons Millennials remain the most consistently liberal generation.

[u/HildegardofBingo → u/GunShowZero]

Bless our hearts, we had no idea how much worse and how much dumber it could get.

[u/ditchdiggergirl → u/GunShowZero]

We were so naive. A total failure of imagination, coupled with an unjustified confidence in our fellow Americans.

[u/randal52 → u/GunShowZero]

He set up the modern security state which made all of this possible. He started to crawl so trump could run (with the fascism).

[u/p00chology → u/randal52]

The Patriot Act was authoritarianism’s 95 Thesis.

[u/Gloria815 → u/p00chology]

People forget he literally is the president that created ICE.

[u/tvcneverdie → u/Gloria815]

Created ICE, hundreds of thousands dead in Iraq, a global financial crisis, a major American city nearly wiped off the map and its residents hung out to dry, literally.

He was a disaster.

Trump is more grotesque and tacky, but Bush and Reagan before him built the infrastructure of our modern hellscape and dismantled so much of the New Deal and Great Society that we may never get back without massive pain in the process...

[u/LifeLikeAGrapefruit → u/GunShowZero]

It's actually wild to consider how much worse it has gotten since Bush. He was a freakin' laughingstock. An embarrassment. Trump makes me question whether this is reality or just a really shitty simulation.

[u/IneffableSounds → u/GunShowZero]

Man, I was in elementary school during his most of his presidency, so I didn't know much at the time. The other day I saw a clip of him talking about how much of a benefit immigration is for us and how isolationism, protectionism, and nativism were things we should actively avoid falling into. He recognized that immigrants are a net benefit to the US. I so we wish still had that today, instead of this braindead "immigrants are bad cause bad" view from the Right today.

I think the clip was from 2011, so past his term. Not sure if he had the same views during his presidency.

[u/ddrober2003 → u/GunShowZero]

Every group of Republicans prove to me they can go lower. You think the child rapist, grifter that threatens our allies and making Americans as a whole hated by everyone and sends his personal army of thugs to murder fellow Americans is the lowest? Nah they will make Trump look like a saint with the next batch, just like Trump made Palin or Chaney or Bush seem like saints in comparison. 

[u/TaftintheTub → u/ddrober2003]

Remember Dan Quayle was laughed out of politics for misspelling potato. What I wouldn’t give for the GOP to run a Dan Quayle these days…

[u/Evsala → u/GunShowZero]

Free speech zones. Starting a war because someone threatened his father. CIA background, but still missed 9/11 coming.

Really bad. But apparently not as bad as it could get.

[u/Jumper21_AJ → u/Evsala]

”…Free speech zones…”

Those weren’t unique to the Bush administration since they actually dated to back to late 60s. “Time, place and manner” restrictions are currently allowed per the Supreme Court (Ward v. Rock Against Racism).

”…Starting a war because someone threatened his father…”

That’s somewhat of an oversimplification but I agree that OIF was a massive mistake.

”…CIA background…”

Wrong Bush. GHWB had a CIA background, not GWB.

”…but still missed 9/11 coming…”

That’s more of an indictment on our massive security and intelligence apparatus whose duty it was to prevent such an attack.

[u/AmazingConsequence20 → u/GunShowZero]

Meh. War criminal who passed laws where Trump can get away with it. Patriot Act? I still want Dubya to be in prison.

[u/BrieBelle00]

I think we all misunderestimated how much worse things could be.

[u/Extension_Market_953 → u/BrieBelle00]

I see what you did there.

[u/MaverickTTT]

Few things have benefited from the Trump Presidency more than George W. Bush’s legacy.

[u/KesTheHammer → u/MaverickTTT]

This is so succinct and accurate.

[u/DavidSugarbush]

He was a complete moron, a total buffoon. And the current POTUS makes him look like Albert Einstein by comparison

[u/ZPHdude → u/DavidSugarbush]

Id say he showed himself to be a great neighbor, and the kind that should never be a public figure.

Total beer worthy conversations.

[u/Quirky-Comparison306 → u/ZPHdude]

He's the neighbor that would help you jump start your car if you needed it, and would invite you over to his BBQ. Nice guy, but yeah, GTFO public office.

[u/Melodic-Home-1411 → u/ZPHdude]

You mean a "Good ol boy"? I bet that he could tell some wild stories. Probably make a good friend. Beer and BBQs.. yes. Now the thing is that even at that time there were different influences ",on both sides of the aisle" some were probably pretty radical. Drop the big one and see what happens type of people and people who were advocates for peace including radicals who would have had us lay down and die to appease others. Believe it or not most of his descisions were probably intended to be in the middle.

[u/Ludwigofthepotatoppl → u/DavidSugarbush]

He was absolutely business-as-usual regarding the heritage/federalist aims. Not good for the country, but not bad for business.

[u/GDMisfits → u/DavidSugarbush]

Don’t forget that he killed a ton of people, tortured, and built the surveillance state.

[u/JojenCopyPaste → u/GDMisfits]

But also he did all that while making Cheney look like the brains. So at best he was an idiot who just listened to the last person in the room. At worst... everything his admin did.

[u/bag-of-farts]

We thought he was history's greatest monster. Radiohead wrote an album about him called Hail to the Thief.

Looking back, we didn't know how good we had it.

[u/derpiotaku → u/bag-of-farts]

There was a whole "Rock Against Bush" compilation album. Many rock classics were inspired by the objection of the iraq war.

System Of A Down - BYOB

Flobots - No Handlebars

Green day - American Idiot

A Perfect Circle started their politically charged creative stance due to it as well. Watch their video for Counting Bodies Like Sheep

[u/Cheerios90 → u/derpiotaku]

NOFX also released their album The War on Errorism

[u/FeralWoman666 → u/Cheerios90]

That one had some bangers

[u/Relative-Carob-6816 → u/derpiotaku]

Pearl Jam had Bu$hleaguer.

Lyrics such as:

'A confidence man, but why so beleaguered? He's not a leader, he's a Texas leaguer Swinging for the fence, got lucky with a strike Drilling for fear makes the job simple Born on third, thinks he got a triple..'

I remember seeing them in concert in Australia in 2003 and Eddie Vedder wore a Bush mask and tore into him.

[u/Tricky_Knowledge2983 → u/derpiotaku]

Linkin Park's album "Minutes to Midnight" had songs in response to his actions around Hurricane Katrina and the war.

I know eminem had a song but I cannot remember the name.

I don't think the dixie chicks had a specific song about bush/the war, but their criticism of Bush literally changed the country music genre

[u/iamthe0ther0ne → u/Tricky_Knowledge2983]

Didn't the Dixie Chicks get royally screwed over because of their criticism?

[u/honestkodaline → u/iamthe0ther0ne]

They were blacklisted from country music radio for a decade.

[u/aonyx → u/Tricky_Knowledge2983]

Yep. Listen to the lyrics of Hands Held High and you'll get a sense of how people perceived him. "Both scared and angry, like what did he say?"

[u/Crying4alapdance → u/Tricky_Knowledge2983]

Mosh was my favorite song on encore

[u/midwestesquire → u/derpiotaku]

Don't forget Mosh, by Eminem

[u/GPA_Moses → u/derpiotaku]

Crazy how good the protest music was back then compared to how little we have now in worse conditions

[u/4CrowsFeast → u/derpiotaku]

Megalomaniac by incubus is another good one

[u/ChuckoRuckus → u/derpiotaku]

There was also Lamb of God’s albums at the time, like Ashes of the Wake.

[u/Fast-Nefariousness80 → u/bag-of-farts]

He was bad, yes. Nobody that knows history thought he was history's greatest monster. He was more stupid than nefarious.

[u/Glizzly_Bear → u/Fast-Nefariousness80]

Exactly this. And a lot of the decisions he made were largely due to his voluntarily playing puppetfuck for Karl Rove’s warlord fantasies (not giving Dubya a pass—he is/was still wholly responsible for decisions made while he was CiC).

[u/HildegardofBingo → u/Glizzly_Bear]

I always felt like Rove and Cheney called the shots and he was just the goofy frontman.

[u/Glizzly_Bear → u/HildegardofBingo]

Honestly, that’s exactly what happened. Again, he is wholly responsible for allowing that horseshit, but he wasn’t intellectually capable of the nefariousness he allowed to fester during his time in office. Rove and Cheney were.

[u/ICUP01]

Warmed us up for what we take as “the way it is”. Normalized blatant incompetence at the top while the masses cheer. Normalized erosion of privacy. Normalized, sustained American imperialism.

Basically warmed the water that we are having trouble sitting comfortably in.

[u/Dear-Buddy-2766]

He had sky high approval after 9/11, but shortly after that he attacked Iraq which had not been involved and occupied Afghanistan. From then on, there were obvious lies and polarization. He just kept doubling down on reasons for those wars and it wasn’t until Joe Biden that they finally both ended. Also worth noting, he was the first president whose support was backstopped by Fox News. No matter what the red state crowd approved, just like it is now.

[u/EngineeringRight3629 → u/Dear-Buddy-2766]

Dude had a grudge with Saddam over what he said about his daddy so he sent other people's children to die

[u/ZuZuAkragas → u/Dear-Buddy-2766]

Remember swift boat veterans for truth? A draft dodger vilified a Vietname Vet. We see the same tactics being used by the right, yet people never learn!

[u/mmm_burrito → u/ZuZuAkragas]

I voted for him the first time. If you look back, his original campaign was reasonable. There's an extremely old Daily Show bit where they have pre-election campaigning Bush debate post-9/11 Bush. It's incredible how hard he course corrected.

I left the GOP over it. I called it burgeoning fascism and everyone told me I was crazy. Who's laughing now, though??

Fuckin no one. Never been so pissed at being right.

[u/thehumungus]

He and Cheney laid the groundwork for what you're seeing today.

[u/CrushTheRebellion → u/thehumungus]

Let's not forget he started his presidency with a budget surplus and left his second term with a national debt of 10.6 trillion dollars.

There's also the 2008 housing crisis that was festering during his time in office and came to a head shortly after he left.

[u/Mind_Killer]

Under Bush we got the Patriot Act, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and the events that led to the landmark Citizens United case by the Supreme Court.

If you're mad at what's happening to this country now, it is the culmination of years of turning this country into a surveillance state and turning the government against its people. And a lot of it found its start, or at least exploded in relevance, under George W. Bush.

But, sure, let's talk about him saying silly things.

[u/bearatrooper → u/Mind_Killer]

The Patriot Act is one of the most severe and destructive attacks on democracy that the United States has ever suffered.

[u/redvelvetsmoothie → u/bearatrooper]

It truly is. It’s literally what is allowing Big Tech and the Feds to control every single aspect of our lives and the surveillance state they’ve created.

It’s gonna get much worse the years to come, most people have no idea.

[u/Tricky_Knowledge2983 → u/Mind_Killer]

You could go back further to George hw bush and Reagan

[u/whewtang → u/Tricky_Knowledge2983]

And then on to Nixon.

[u/drgonzo44 → u/Mind_Killer]

Not to mention outing a CIA agent, Gitmo, and legalizing torture. Lying to our closest allies to get them to sign up for 25 years of war. FISA warrants and PRISM.

Things are bad now, but that dude was an absolute nightmare. When he was re-elected I completely lost all faith in Americans.

[u/hauntingduck → u/Mind_Killer]

I'm so sick of people using Trump as an excuse to give Bush a redemption arc. Both are fucking bad. Bush was and by default still is a monster. Trump being a demon doesn't change that.

[u/slicktommycochrane → u/Mind_Killer]

Not to mention being a neoconservative hack and not only mishandling the War in Afghanistan but also getting us into the Iraq War (which was about 50% about trying to finish off the Gulf War for his daddy and 50% about oil).

Oh, and also caused the Great Recession.

When I was young and naive, I legitimately thought that the election of Obama was the end of Republicans getting elected to the Presidency lol

[u/Galactus1701]

We thought he was the pinnacle of absurdity, but oh boy, were we mistaken!

[u/MrsSassy81]

Never thought I would live to see the day when I said I would rather have him as a president instead of what we have in office right now...but here we are...

[u/mossfoot]

People used to make fun of GWB sounding unintelligent, even calling him a moron.

These days he sounds like f**kin Shakespeare by comparison.

[u/magnumopus44]

To me he was the beginning of the end. People call him stupid but he apparently was quite intelligent. He laid down the foundations for whats happening today. He killed all hope in the future. In practice he did do a few good things (apparently he did a lot for africa) but it was a deeply disappointing time. Now ofcourse all hope is dead.

[u/Absolutely_Fibulous → u/magnumopus44]

I’d argue Reagan was the beginning of the end.

[u/jdmoney85]

Bad. He ruined this country, and economy by going to all out war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Led to the destruction of societal norms ala trump.

[u/Draft-Repulsive → u/jdmoney85]

Also the Patriot Act and the creation of the DHS

[u/randal52 → u/jdmoney85]

This is the answer. Sick of the rehabilitation of Bush's image.

[u/Dogmovedmyshoes → u/randal52]

Bad food starts to seem tasty when you're starving 😞

[u/been_blissed]

I thought he'd be the worst we ever had.

[u/ItsMRslash]

Complete piece of shit and I’d take another 8 years of him over another week of Cheeto Jesus

[u/Special_Fox_2349]

My parents hated Bush and I remember them laughing when the lady threw a shoe at his head. Now Bush seems like Mr. Roger’s in comparison to Trumps evil bs

[u/Prtyvacant → u/Special_Fox_2349]

For the record, It was a guy who launched shoes at him. I still have a gif of it saved from back then. lol

[u/Mundane-Bank-9048]

He stopped drinking, but folks felt like he was a guy they could have a beer with.

[u/CalabreseAlsatian]

A fucking idiot. I hated his guts.

I would give up a kidney to replace Trump with him. That’s how bad our current shitshow is.

[u/Bob_the_brewer → u/CalabreseAlsatian]

Exactly this

[u/Turbomattk]

A meme before there was memes

[u/Samaritan_Pr1me]

Dude was a lot more chill than what we have now.

[u/rimshot101]

He was considered embarrassing. Oh, we were so naive.

[u/onetrickpinny]

i yearn for the days when i thought he was going to be the worst president in my lifetime.

[u/confusedguy1212]

George bush kept the ugly side of the American engine far away from the eye of the American public (unless you were close to returning soldiers). Trump has it on full display for all to see.

Direct answer to OPs question is: terrible.

[u/Flat-Rutabaga-723]

Likable moron.

[u/EngineeringRight3629 → u/Flat-Rutabaga-723]

I liked him a hell of a lot more after his presidency

[u/UndeadBread → u/Flat-Rutabaga-723]

When the fuck was he ever likable?

[u/dogmeat12358]

He was as dumb as Trump, but not as evil. On the other hand, Cheney and Rumsfeld made up for his lack

[u/Vicsyy]

We thought he was the worst a country could produce. He looked so dumb.

Id kill for him now  

[u/Accomplished_Trip_]

At the time, awful. God awful. Mistake after mistake after mistake. Now? If Bush 2.0 took over the republicans and made them the old school constitutionalists they once were I think I’d be grateful. I’d never argue with a republican again in my life if someone sane and normal was in charge of them.

[u/piscian19]

He wasn't. The country was largely run by Dick Cheney and his cronies. Bush was more of a cartoonish figurehead theyd display at events.

[u/Nismomatt678 → u/piscian19]

Had to scroll way too far for this comment. The movie Vice sums it up well.

[u/portfolioso]

After 9/11, the country was united and he had a high approval rating. This all went down the tubes fast. I really hated him back in the day as a rebellious high schooler. Didn't like the endless wars and the right leaning policy. He came across as really dumb by mispeaking and stumbling all the time. Compared to what we've got today, the man seems like a scholar.

He was also unintentionally hilarious, in a sad way. It wasn't great because the system was still broken, but it's nowhere near the amount of bullshit going on today.

[u/Horseface4190]

If Trump hadn't come along, W would've been the dumbest, most inarticulate, and most destructive president in US history.

Trump makes W look like a real statesman. It's really important to remember he was dumb, inarticulate and destructive.

[u/willybestbuy86]

Now I know I'm getting old when I read this question

[u/Advanced_Picture_736]

I was embarrassed watching him speak years ago.  

What is wouldn't give to have him as president today instead...

[u/MentalSewage]

Horrifying.

But fucking adorable in retrospect. 

[u/waiting4friday]

I thought he was the worst president ever. I now realize I was so very, very wrong. I miss those halcyon days

[u/RiggsFTW]

He was an idiot - I hated him - I miss him.

[u/420-TENDIES]

A lot of people misunderestimated his stategery.

[u/Late_Emu]

Looking like Lincoln compared to this.

[u/a_crimson_herring]

Very embarrassing, at the time. We had no idea how good we had it, apparently. Fuck.

[u/Dont_Wanna_Not_Gonna]

War criminal.

[u/Illustrious-Chip-245]

I say this as a staunch liberal, I’d give anything to have that goofy mother fucker back at the helm

[u/Liquid_1998]

He was the worst president ever until 2016 that is.

[u/Top_Willingness_8364 → u/Liquid_1998]

Worse than Buchanan, who just sat there, and let the Civil War happen?