Liberals (and Conservatives), why do lefties hate Bush so intensely?
This was by a poster on the History Channel message board - and this guy made a lot of sense - so I thought I would show you his post: Why do Liberals hate President Bush so much? By John Hawkins Why do they hate him so much? They'll give you every reason in the book for it, but in my opinion, most of it is really all about four things: #1) A lot of Democrats felt cheated after Gore lost in Florida. Were they cheated? Absolutely not. But, they FELT cheated and they got angry at Bush because of it. #2) Many Republicans absolutely despised Bill Clinton and part of the animus towards Bush is just payback. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is really the primary driving factor behind the impeachment talk. They're desperate to try to impeach Bush, for anything and everything they can come up with, because the Republicans impeached Clinton. #3) During the Vietnam war, the libs protested incessantly, they spit on soldiers, and they became radicalized. It's the same dynamic this time around, except back then, it was Lyndon Johnson who was really responsible for getting the war into full swing. So, there was more bi-partisan blame for them to spread around. The war in Iraq is Bush's war all the way and so most of the venom is getting aimed at him. #4) The Democrats are out of power and that's making them more bitter, more willing to accept conspiracy theories, and more angry at the guy who has beaten them, George Bush. Bonus Answer: The left has actually been nasty, angry, and vicious for a long time now. For example, they absolutely hated Ronald Reagan's guts and had few qualms about saying so. So, why didn't people notice it more back then? Because there wasn't a new media out there to report it and the old media, as they do today, protects "their side." A kooky or vicious comment by a liberal is much, much, more likely to be buried, minimized, or completely ignored by the MSM than a similar comment by a conservative. The difference is that now there's an alternative media that reports things that would have been swept under the rug 10 or 20 years.
Was Reagan a bad president? Why? If you think Reagan was a bad President, what were his failures and shortcomings?
This is not a yes or no question. It's a yes AND no question.When Reagan took office, inflation, unemployment, and interest rates were all in the double-digits. That's unthinkable today, but that's how it was. When Reagan left office, all were in single digits. It's hard to knock that. On that score, it was a successful presidency. Here are some other good things:In 1980, the United States seemed like a nation in decline. Just four years later, you would never have thought that. The country rewarded Reagan with a one-sided near-sweep in the 1984 election. Mondale took Minnesota... Reagan took the rest of the states.Reagan loved Gorbachev. The two men hammered out treaties and nuclear reduction treaties. Reagan signed an acid rain treaty with Canada. The Soviet Union was going bankrupt - Reagan helped hurry its demise. On the other hand, there were the bad things, screw-up, and scandals:Reagan's disastrous idea to deploy troops in Beirut led to the deaths of hundreds of Marines. Not one balanced budget. Nowhere even close. Deficits soared and the debt ballooned. He armed Iraq and was friends with Saddam Hussein and we all know how that ended a few years later.Reagan hated the Soviets so much he armed and funded radical Afghan fighters to fight the Russian occupation; many of those fighters would go on to form the Taliban.Reagan vilified the Iranian mullahs, but still saw fit to swap arms for hostages, sell weapons to Iran, and use profits to fund an illegal war in Central America. Reagan's administration was terribly corrupt - look up how many of his team were indicted... your jaw will hit the keyboard. (Hint: more than 137 but less than 139.)Every president's legacy is a mixed one, but with Reagan, it was extreme highs and extreme lows. When he was good, he was excellent. When he was bad, it was unimaginably terrible.
In the US, liberals say that conservatives have moved to the right. Conservatives say that liberals have moved to the left. Is either true?
From all of my reading I’d have to say that Conservatives (in the U.S.) are moving to the right far faster than Liberals are to the left, and it’s because of a lack of moderate views in the Republican party. Things like the Tea Party, the Southern Strategy and pandering to Evangelicals have made the base very conservative and given them no patience for moderates or compromise.I think this is also pretty well illustrated by the policy goals and achievements of each of party. For example, while Republicans in government today fervently oppose Roe v. Wade, that decision was made by a Supreme Court whose majority was appointed by Conservatives. Ronald Reagan, a Conservative darling, granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. A Republican candidate running on these policies today would just not win their base.On the other hand, though Liberals have been successful in achieving many parts of their agenda, the policies they continue to fight for a largely unchanged throughout the last few decades (expanding equality, providing healthcare, education, protecting workers rights, etc.). While Bernie Sanders is campaigning on policies to the left of Hilary Clinton, neither of them really push the boundaries of 20th. century American Liberalism. In fact, I’d say that Hilary Clinton is so close to centre (or centre-left/right depending on your view) that Sanders is a mild liberal at best, made “revolutionary” by how far to the right everyone else is.Basically, while the Democratic Party still contains a wide spectrum of beliefs from centre-right to far-left, the Republican Party has been casting out the “RINOs” (Republican In Name Only) and promoting more stringent conservative, authoritarian, and uncompromising leaders. (Which is how they got a party that shut down the government and votes to repeal a bill they don’t like 60 times - it’s not like they have work to do or anything…).The biggest problem with all this is the polarization. Conservatives and Liberals in the U.S. seem to be living in completely different worlds and that makes any progress incredibly difficult.(The second biggest problem is Republican politicians bending to Christians on issues of mixing Church and State to get votes - but that’s another question).