Let's try to look at the other side of the coin...

[LMNO]

So, 1 in 5 people believe that Obama is a musilm.  That's pretty fucked up, and seems to be indicative of some sort of conservative brain defect.

But as I thought about it, I remembered that it's often said, this is a one-party system, and the libs and dems aren't very different from each other.  And that we are all monkeys, and behave like monkeys much of the time.  Which means that conservatives and liberals should be making similar thought patterns.

So, I put it to you: When George W Bush was president, what massively erroneous beliefs did 20% of the country in opposition to him have about who he was?

Snarky answers may or may not be counted, depending on the wit and humor of said snark.

[Kai]

So, 1 in 5 people believe that Obama is a musilm.  That's pretty fucked up, and seems to be indicative of some sort of conservative brain defect.

But as I thought about it, I remembered that it's often said, this is a one-party system, and the libs and dems aren't very different from each other.  And that we are all monkeys, and behave like monkeys much of the time.  Which means that conservatives and liberals should be making similar thought patterns.

So, I put it to you: When George W Bush was president, what massively erroneous beliefs did 20% of the country in opposition to him have about who he was?

Snarky answers may or may not be counted, depending on the wit and humor of said snark.

Good question. I don't even really remember now. He was a conservative Christian, we know that much is true, once had an alcohol problem, may or may not still have that problem.

Was he a cocaine addict? Don't know, but that was thrown around a bit.

Did he ever serve in the airforce? I can't quite remember the argument behind that one.

It's clear he did really get an MBA from Harvard, but I'm sure I remember some people saying he bought his way through.

There are of course all the completely outrageous things that didn't happen, like "he's going to insert creationism into every public school and ban evolution", or "he's going to make homosexuality illegal".

How many people believe he was behind the WTC disaster? Or that he was just Cheney's puppet?

[LMNO]

Yeah, the Truthers came to mind.  But that's more about what he did, rather than who he was.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

The man is a space alien of course! 

All of these things have been put into our minds to distract us while he prepares the earth for brain sucking aliens to take over. 

It's true, I read it on the internets.....

[Cain]

Bush was a Nazi.  An actual, 100%, bona fide subscriber to the tenents of National Socialism.

Admittedly, I don't think this was as widespread a belief as the Muslim one about Obama, but the argument was made now and again on sites like DemocraticUnderground.

[LMNO]

Bush was a Nazi.  An actual, 100%, bona fide subscriber to the tenents of National Socialism.

Admittedly, I don't think this was as widespread a belief as the Muslim one about Obama, but the argument was made now and again on sites like DemocraticUnderground.

That'll work.

[Cain]

Actually "Bush was a neoconservative" might count.  Bush was never really part of that movement, and his pre-9/11 actions suggest he leaned closer to the Buchananite school of thought on foreign affairs ie his statements about not getting into nation building.  9/11 put America on a war setting which increased the power of Rumsfeld, Cheney and Rove considerably - these three were also not Neocons, but willing to use the language and theory to advance positions which increased their power and riches further.  When Gates replaced Rumsfeld, we saw a lot of pushback against the more Neoconservative aspects of the administration (credit was unfairly given to Condi Rice for some of this, who is and always will be a vapid airhead), such as a greater willingness to deal with Sunni militias in Iraq, and allowing the European trio to try and negotiate with Tehran.

[Cramulus]

I know a lot of people who believed Bush was intentionally trying to destroy the country.  Basically people who listened to just enough of the Truther's blathering to form some half baked conspiracy theory.



Another thing - a lot of people bought into the Bush Is Just Stupid narrative. As if he could have done a good job but he was so dumb that he bungled everything. He may not have been a great public speaker, he may not have had a great academic track record, but he wasn't retarded. He knew exactly what he was doing.

[Cain]

Bush is Stupid gets my vote as well.  Berlusconi pulls very much the same kind of trick and I'm amazed how many otherwise rational and intelligent people fall for it.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I agree with Cram... He did go to Yale and Harvard... yet people thought he was a dumb monkey. I think his handlers wanted to make sure he kept that Folksy 'have a beer with me' appeal. The Truthers were definitely fully immersed in beliefs that had little relation to reality. But then, the "Clinton's  killed dozens of people secretly" was pretty nuts too...

I think the last sane moment of history in the US was under George Bush Sr... not that he was a great president, but he seems to have been the last guy everyone treated like a president. Since then, its all been downhill.

[Cain]

I'm not even sure he was treated that well.  Remember how many Republican hardliners jumped ship and shacked up with Ross Perot, claiming Bush Snr was a RINO etc? 

Also, I found a thread on EB&G which Cram's comments made me think about, where a lot of people were like LOLOLOL Bush is teh moron!!1!11, which is of course exactly what Bush wanted people to think.  If you're stupid, you're not culpable, and you're not dangerous enough to be taken seriously.  Bush played to both of those expectations, and outmanouvered the Dems repeatedly, to the point that his own party were better at opposing his policies (Dubai Ports Deal, illegal immigrant amnesty etc).

Plus, candidates for the man behind the throne are thin on the ground.  Rove, contrary to Pwog mythology, is nothing but a vicious asshole who plays to peoples bigoted emotions (gosh, that must be hard, since the practice of such a technique was perfected over a century ago), Cheney spends most of his memoirs whining about how Bush wouldn't listen to him and nuke Tehran right away, Condi was a lost little girl playing at a game she had no clue about, Rumsfeld felt the same as Cheney and Powell was forced out.

[LMNO]

Being related to someone who worked directly for W, I can attest that Bush wasn't an idiot.  Apparently, he was driven by ideology more than reason... which really isn't that different than most politicians.  It's just that the presentation was different.

[Jenne]

I think he was street smart in some ways, but highly intelligent like Clinton, no.  I think he was a dumbed down version of Rove.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I'm not even sure he was treated that well.  Remember how many Republican hardliners jumped ship and shacked up with Ross Perot, claiming Bush Snr was a RINO etc? 

Well sure, but that was more politics than outright crazy. I mean, even if they thought he was a RINO they still showed some respect to the office... since then though the Presidents all appear to be from the Rodney Dangerfield School of Politics.

[Requia ☣]

That Bush stole the 2000 election, to a lesser extent, that bush stole the 2004 election.