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Your (dis)approval of Bush over the years

L

Lord Garth

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I was wondering how your opinion of Bush has or hasn't changed over the years. This is inspired by the shift in general approval throughout.

I'll go year-by-year except with 2001 and 2002 which I'll divide into Pre-9/11 and Post-9/11 instead. Makes more practical sense that way.

My opinion over time:

Pre-9/11 = Indifferent
Post-9/11 = Supportive
2003 = On the Fense
2004 = Strongly Disapproved (polarization kicked in)
2005 = Disapproved (the freshness tapered off)
2006 = Disapproved
2007 = Indifferent (my opinion was the House & Senate and the President cancelled each other out)
2008 = Non-Issue (I was focused on the Election instead)
 
At first I thought he'd be a care-taker president, not accomplishing much pro or con. I didn't vote for him, but I wasn't crying about his win.

After 9/11 I had a few weeks of wondering how well he'd handle it. At first, things were going pretty well. After about awhile it became clear that his administration was thrilled that 9/11 had given them an excuse to do all the things they'd WANTED to do since 1990, but didn't have the support to do. That concept is pretty distasteful to me.

So out of 8 years I probably respected him for about 2-3 months.
 
I was thirteen/fourteen in 2003 and that's when my interest in politics began. I was less than impressed. My absolute dislike of the man came around the time of Katrina and Harriet Miers. After that I disliked him a lot but he was winding down.
 
Pretty much what SWC said. Aside from shortly after 9/11 (and definitely _before_ mention of Iraq), it would be fair to describe my feelings for Dubya as "contempt".

Looking outside the immediate issue, I would say it also horrified me that we could not just put this man in office in the first place, but then _keep_ him there another 4 years.
 
I never cared for the guy. I have been a 3rd party voter since 2000. This era of neo-cons and neo-crats needs to end.
 
Overall, I haven't had any specific feelings about Bush either way. Overall, I think he did decently enough for the position he was put into. He spent the better part of his presidency fighting an enemy that has no nationality and no face. I agreed with the invasion of Iraq, but overall it was mishandled.

I think what my perspective comes down to is that the presidency is easy enough when things are running normally, but it becomes a completely different animal when the shit hits the fan, and I think some people forget that. People want to compare this to other presidencies as if all things were equal and say that the last 8 years were a disaster. However, all things weren't equal. Everything could have been handled better, but things could have been so, so much worse.
 
2000 Voted for President Bush.
2001 Supported Bush Pre & Post 9/11.
2002 Support wanes slightly.
2003 Frustration starts to set in with handling of post-terrorism issues.
2004 Divided - Voted for Kerry.
2005 Very Unsatisfied with Bush's performance.
2006 Angry with Bush's actions and bungling of major disaster.
2007 Resigned to the fact that Bush is detrimental and ineffective as President.
2008 Voted Obama because of McCain's kowtowing to Bush. Figured they might as well be twins or lovers.

J.
 
Never voted for him, never liked him. That said, even I'm surprised at what a horseshit president he turned out to be.
 
Never liked him, thought it was a sham how he got elected in 2000 and that he was in way over his head from the start, post 9/11 I was supportive but like Small White Car when it became clear these guys were happy they had an excuse to do what they were doing I got ticked.
 
I didn't vote for him in 2000 (voted for Gore), and thought he was going to be an ineffectual and forgettable one-term president, but I was willing to give him a chance. Thought his handling of his first foreign policy crisis (the Hainan Island incident) was kind of rough and belligerent at first, but he recovered nicely. Was supportive after 9/11 and through Afghanistan, but was extremely skeptical when things turned towards Iraq. That skepticism quickly turned to anger and distrust at the warmongering and falsehoods, and things sort of went downhill from there. Voted against him again in 2004, and was absolutely dismayed that he beat Kerry, even though I didn't think Kerry was all that great (though vastly better than Bush). And his second term has been a continuation of that anger, distrust, and resentment, but always mixed with a bit of comedy at his expense.
 
Never liked him. And if I had been old enough to vote I would have voted
for both Gore and Kerry. Proudly voted for Obama in the first election I
was able to participate in.
 
My opinion of him hasn't changed; a) He's a Right-Wing Fundamentalist, b) He's a smug anti-intellectualist, c) His entire life has been a litany of failure. I supported the action in Afghanistan, of course, but anybody would have done the same and done it better. I was also happy to see Iraq finally taken care of, but he handled that so badly that the occupation turned into a horrible massacre.
 
Starbreaker said:
I've never liked the man. How he was ever re-elected is beyond my comprehension.
Click to expand...

He was not elected for the first term, which means he was never re-elected. Eight years later, people have forgotten this, and I'm not sure why.
 
J. Allen said:
2000 Voted for President Bush.
2001 Supported Bush Pre & Post 9/11.
2002 Support wanes slightly.
2003 Frustration starts to set in with handling of post-terrorism issues.
2004 Divided - Voted for Kerry.
2005 Very Unsatisfied with Bush's performance.
2006 Angry with Bush's actions and bungling of major disaster.
2007 Resigned to the fact that Bush is detrimental and ineffective as President.
2008 Voted Obama because of McCain's kowtowing to Bush. Figured they might as well be twins or lovers.

J.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this with the exception I voted for Bush in 2004.
 
Pre-2000: Gore supporter, worked on the campaign. Hated everything Bush stood for.
Post-2000: Continued to hate everything Bush stood for and disagreed with virtually every policy decision "he" "made".
Post-2001: Supported the initial moves in Afghanistan. Did not support domestic "anti-terror" moves at all. All other domestic, international and administrative policy was obviously ideologically driven, shortsighted and potentially disastrous.
Post-2003: The man should have been impeached and turned over to the ICC for due process.

That pretty much brings us up through the present.
 
Never voted for him. I knew we were going to war the second he "got elected" (stole the election from Gore). I was also amazed at the stupidity of those who elected him for a second term.
 
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