Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for November 12, 2010

Who wants breakfast?

Not enough beer in the world to make that happen.

Does this really happen in trailer parks?

@Clark Kent:

Thanks for the link. It raises goosebumps knowing Bush and Cheney probably won’t be (intentionally) leaving the country anytime soon.

Perhaps Bush’s most sadistic, painful example of torture has been inflicted lately upon liberals by the fact that the man is becoming more popular again as a result of his book and its associated media tour. He’s not very slick, but comes off charming in his way, not unlike Jimmy Carter, and the people are being reminded why the majority of them elected him president - twice.

Much worse than waterboarding to you guys would be if recent history determines that Bush becomes credible enough to support and help boost Sarah Palin into the White House in 2012. Cruel and unusual punishment? You betcha.

Nemesys are you kidding me? When he was in office I thought Bush was merely a vacuous, incompetent Cheney puppet.

But listening to him on this ‘book tour’ … God is it frightening that we gave him the reins for 8 years. It’s amazing that we’re actually not in a WORSE position then we are.

He has learned nothing … regrets nothing … understands nothing.

I speak as someone who judges presidents based on competency. HW Bush senior (in my opinion) was an excellent president. I don’t understand how the son could be so clueless … even now.

Dear Toggle’s Mom…

THAT’S WAY MORE THAN I NEED TO HEAR!!!

Signed,

Dragoncat

I agree corzak. And apparently so do a lot of scholars. I saw an article a few months back where scholars of presidential history ranked all the past presidents and George W. Bush was somewhere in the low thirties. I don’t remember where his father ranked or who was first. I do recall being surprised by number one as it was not any you might have expected such as Lincoln, FDR, Washington, or Jefferson. But no doubt, Mr Bush did great harm to this country in so many ways and yet he still believes everything he did was right. Sad actually.

Isn’t that a (big) pot calling a kettle black?

Oh my gosh! I just noticed Big Pot Mom has the gall to wear a cross necklace. Trash is trash. Trailer parks, apartment houses, and suburbs-no big difference. I might be suffering some guilt here from some much earlier years.

Uh, Nemesys, a majority of Americans elected Bush-Dick only once, and that was after September 11th, and when he had all the benefits of being an incumbent.

(Perhaps an inability to count or to understand history fuels a desire to see Sarah Palin as president.)

History shows that Bush-Dick was one of our worst presidents, right down there with Warren Harding, U.S. Grant, & Richard Nixon—indeed, maybe worse than Nixon. Bush-Dick attempted for eight years to destroy America, and it will take President Obama at least four years to help America recover from the shellacking it took from Bush-Dick & the Republicans—and its own paranoid foolishness in retaining them in office for so long.

Corzak, G.H.W. Bush was a below average president. He did little to help the nation. The economy tanked. He permitted Iraq to invade Kuwait, and then slaughtered thousands of Iraqis in retaliation.

One’s opinions on Bush’s competency and where “scholars” rank him has absolutely no relevance to the points about the recent upsurge in his popularity that were made. It is true that his book and tour are not entirely responsible for that…. the country’s mood against the current administration has inflated the image of the previous one, and puts things into an interesting perspective. I suspect that this perspective will continue to evolve over several decades of such comparisons… “history” shows nothing yet.

Being likeable goes a long way in American politics. Bush has helped his image by refusing to criticize Obama, which does more damage to the left than may be readily apparent. Polling shows that Bush’s popularity has slowly increased since leaving office, and may eventually eclipse that of Obama. When that happens, how credible will the “Blame Bush” tactic be when the only ones who are still listening will be the hateful foamers?

Our current president does not have a clue either. After the election, he still does not get it!

We have managed to elected several presidents in a row now that make Bill Clinton really look good!

^I disagree. The voters don’t get it. They want to believe that all the hardship can go away in, like, 30 minutes. Hence the volatile and overwhelming shifts between party majorities the last 4 years…

BRIAN glad to see you honor Nixon, the guy who got us out of Vietnam. Oops, you sat that out. The guy who opened diplomatic relationships with a sixth of the population of the world, Nope, thas wus nuttin. That dirty Nixon played political tricks and got caught (well, he didn’t get caught but he took the bullet) Terrible. Can you imagine a politician who doesn’t play fair?. Gee, I’m glad Nixon was the only lying politician in history.

On Bush’s Florida vote showdown, how many times did you want them to count? Bush won every time. Course the Chicago Democratic Machine handled it much better for the current President, past governor, and two generations of mayors. Don’t point liberal, three fingers are pointing back at you.

“[U]psurge in [Bush’s] popularity”? “the country’s mood against the current administration”? Where do you get this information, Nemesys? America has one mood? You have surveyed millions on their thoughts about Bush-Dick?

All you have are the right-leaning mainstream media. They like Bush-Dick and always have.

If President Obama continues to work progressively, and if he finds better ways to talk to us, over the heads of the media, and if the Senate Democrats develop a backbone, then we will not need to “blame Bush”, because we will be recovering from his attempted destruction. You should never forget, however, how awful the eight years of his presidency were, and I am glad that you do not attempt to say anything good about them. I trust that you regret your two votes for Bush-Dick.

Brian, of course I haven’t. But others have.

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/georgebushpollspopular/2010/08/22/id/368129

I agree with you in that if Obama is able to play nice, stop blaming others and work together with the new Congress to create a healthier job and business-friendly economy, he’ll be a success, as Clinton was, and that’s how history will remember him. That kind of behavior will seal his re-election, and deservedly so. However, if he follows your example in tone and tactics, he’ll be the next David Dinkens… the smart but toxic executive that most people try to forget.

As the ancient Vulcan prophecy states, “Only Nixon could go to China”. Similarly, only President Obama could make Bush look good so soon after leaving office. Had McCain been elected (something I was not in favor of), we would not be having this conversation.

But considering the alternatives in each election, I have no regrets about my votes, even as most of the candidates that I voted for in my state earlier this month lost.

But look on the bright side. At least W’s new book gives you more opportunities to type “Bush-Dick”.

f’ing rerun again???

Why is it that every self-respecting cartoonist draws more cartoons to run when he wants time off, but Trudeau gets a free pass?

Yes, his strip is often very current so it’s not like he does them a year ahead (Jim Davis), but not always. This current strip, for example, is not stale even though it’s a few years old.

Trudeau is cheating his readers and the papers.

I’m visualizing Nemesys in his: “I’m a Momma Grizzly” t-shirt. Betcha Leo’s Mom has one.

listening to her sexual encounters will give you hearing aids

Lew, how do you possibly teach anyone to read when you read so badly yourself? Nemesys claimed that a majority of Americans elected Bush twice. I merely corrected that to once. Including the certified count in Florida, Al Gore received more Americans’ votes for president than did Bush-Dick.

Considering your inabilities to read, write, or understand simple facts, it is no wonder that you consider Nixon a good president. I am afraid that history does not agree with you, and its judgment of Bush-Dick is not positive, either.

Nemesys, do you read Newsmax regularly? It is all right-wing. Can’t you find a news source that has a stake in accuracy, not in getting more regressives in D.C.?

More of my candidates won, but that is only because of my state & federal districts. In what state do you vote?

I would love to write more, but duties call, but after eight years of his trying to destroy America, and less than two years of President Obama’s trying to clean up after him, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to type “Bush-Dick”.

Lewreader

Yeah, Illinois really put Obama over the top…

BTW, it this you in the last panel of This Modern World?

Their outraged response to the needling by Nemesys proves that Neolibs are still alive if not quite well. So far, their responses have all been predictable and thoroughly in character: Bush was the worst president (excusing our incumbent from the competition, of course); his fleeting popularity owes everything to the media; the only progressives who can save us from that Neolib bogey “a return to the Bush years” are the Senate Democrats.

It was precisely because they believed—or at least said—these things that the Democrats got their teeth kicked in by an angry electorate. Neolib is constitutionally deaf to the vox populi.

I’m not surprised that BCrook managed to tear himself away from his “duties” to remind anybody who cares to listen that he’s compulsively recording “history” as it unfolds. For him, that history includes the logic, the grammar, and even the reading of anyone in the forum who mentions George W. Bush. Or as he would say, what the vox populi spoke doesn’t “make sense.”

Ahhhhh, but vox populi kicked the republicans in the teeth twice, in 2006 and 2008. Where were your pontifications of neocons’ constitutional deafness to vox populi back then, hmmmm?

I’m guessing that what vox populi spoke only “makes sense” when they are in agreement with you.

Oh, and one more thing…vox populi.

@Nemesys: The people are becoming aware of what a dipwad, doofus is sitting in the chair now!!!

Yawwn.. None of this has any meaning to a poor oppressed Canadian. Why do people so quickly start frothing at the mouth and calling each other names after having started a discussion about principles and ideas in the first place? or am I mistaken, and was it all just personal insults from the beginning?

I stopped reading Calvin and Hobbes months ago because I got tired of their endless, meaningless arguments. Time to try them again, I think.

Oh, I’ll still read Doonesbury. After all, C&H is 100% repeats. Doonesbury mostly is fresh and new. But I may avoid the comments.

Rina, most of the time, they can’t come up with a good argument to go against the previous point.

plus4 – ‘fraid it does fit more folks than you realize – I did social work in the trailer trenches and “Mom” is unfortunately in abundance.