-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Do you remember the Bush years? (9/11, Katrina, Valerie Plame, etc.)
- Thread starter Back-In-Black
- Start date
- Status
dickroach
Member
hell yeah
Paranoia Cha Cha Cha!
Fat Wreck is losing money if they don't release a few Rock Against Trumps
What I remember most was how much damage was done not necessarily by the president but by the people in his administration. It's what happens when you elect a not so smart guy who doesn't even really want the job. Good thing we learned our lesson.
Jeffolation
Banned
I remember being exhausted by the level of sandal and ineptitude exhibited by the Bush 43 administration...and then that whole housing crisis thing happened.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
Maybe it's my naivety again, but I don't think Bush admin and Trump admin will be the same.
I think A LOT of what fell out with Bush was due to 9/11. I think it greatly dictated his next 3, and then 4, years.
I think A LOT of what fell out with Bush was due to 9/11. I think it greatly dictated his next 3, and then 4, years.
Oh I remember. Spent all of high school and college during the Bush Administration. Wrote my senior paper about the Patriot Act. I actually used to post in poli-gaf during those days.
Even somehow have pictures saved from those days:
Those days were awful. I dread the next four years.
Even somehow have pictures saved from those days:
Those days were awful. I dread the next four years.
That's one thing that always amuses me: how he went from the highest approval rating of a President....to the lowest.
EDIT: Oh yeah, I totally forgot about those color-coded terror alerts! Do we even use that system anymore?
Haha.
In topic, I was 19 when 9/11 happened, so yeah, I was a voting adult during the Bush years. I don't recall ever feeling the sense of dread and despair I did when Trump won when Bush did.
It's no use comparing right now, but this is an entirely different ballgame. Hell it might not even be a ballgame anymore.
No, you're right, they're going to be very different. Trump will be much, much worse. I'd rather a well meaning but easily manipulated idiot in office than an evil man-child sexual predator imbecile.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
Yep, ditto. I remember in 2004/5 just thinking "shit, oh well" and this year was "fuck, this could be bad". We knew what we were getting with Bush (and McCain & Romney) but we have no clue with Trump.
As I said above, without 9/11 I really wonder what Bush's presidency would have been like
I remember how prescient this onion article turned out to be.
Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'
Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'
Didn't one of them roll in to every meeting on some shitty sedan because of it afterwards.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
metalslimer
Member
Even at Bush's worst point which I think was around Katrina, I don't think I was ever as worried about the country as I am now.
It's amazing though how complacent everyone became and seemed to forget how bleak things looked at the end of Bush's term. We were dangerously close to the cliff and still haven't completely recovered.
It's amazing though how complacent everyone became and seemed to forget how bleak things looked at the end of Bush's term. We were dangerously close to the cliff and still haven't completely recovered.
Like, I try to explain to the younger people I know.. everything just felt different.
The late 80s and 90s had a unique ethereal quality, and then Bush was elected and 9/11 happened, and there's been this sort of weird numb, almost PTSD-esque collective "feel" to society since then.
The late 80s and 90s had a unique ethereal quality, and then Bush was elected and 9/11 happened, and there's been this sort of weird numb, almost PTSD-esque collective "feel" to society since then.
But mostly I remember the Bush years for the nightmare that was the New England Patriots dynasty. Three Super Bowl titles during Bush's tenure, including two consecutive ones. Truly a travesty.
But at least we did get the awesome New York Giants upset in the fourth Super Bowl, disrupting their "perfect season". Thanks for that Eli.
But at least we did get the awesome New York Giants upset in the fourth Super Bowl, disrupting their "perfect season". Thanks for that Eli.
They voted third party in this election. I'm pretty sure it's clear young people don't remember 2000 and the fallout.
At this point, so would I. I guess if Trump doesn't massively destabilize the international stage he'll have that one up on Bush, but it's kind of like looking through bizarro-world when you consider how much better we'd have been off if Bush had been able to get immigration reform passed, and the great work the administration did on HIV/AIDS relief in Africa. It seems hard to fathom Trump or any of the Republicans doing any of that stuff now.
MrCunningham
Member
Oh I remember. Spent all of high school and college during the Bush Administration. Wrote my senior paper about the Patriot Act. I actually used to post in poli-gaf during those days.
Even somehow have pictures saved from those days:
Those days were awful. I dread the next four years.
Where's the updated graph to show his popularity after 2005? His popularity was probably deep underwater by the end of that year.
Trump would just let that shoe hit him in the face and find a way to sue the person that threw it later on.
If this was your first election, you were at best 11 or 12 during the tail end of the Bush administration. I don't put much stock in that kind of memory.
Like I said, I think the difference is Bush was terrible at governing but ultimately did want to serve this country. I still think it'd be fascinating to have a beer with him and just pick his brain about how shit went down during his two terms. I really think he was exploited, which doesn't excuse him but gives context to his presidency.
Trump is human garbage who would happily stab you the front for a nickel and then blame you for it. This is a man whose priority is to try and deliberately exploit his office for personal gain, no question about it. Trump feels as far right of Bush as Obama was to his left.
WaffleTaco
Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
Almost everyone remembers, they just don't care.
I was around that age and knew that Republicans were to blame for everything in the past.
I was around that age and knew that Republicans were to blame for everything in the past.
Doc Holliday
SPOILER: Columbus finds America
You forgot the 2008 Market/Housing crash
ZombiePlatypus
Member
And his friend apologized.
Adam_Vania
Banned
remembering the Bush years is the main reason i couldn't vote for Clinton
Electric Eye
Banned
We were in a recession as soon as Bush took power and for the entirety of his administration there was net ZERO job creation in the country despite the GOP having their way with the economy with their budgets and tax plan.
ZERO JOB GROWTH
these people are back in power.
LookAtMeGo
Member
I remember waking up to my mom shouting at the top of her lungs "armageddon is here! Oh lord! armageddon is here!"
I just about shit myself out of bed
I just about shit myself out of bed
Dubbedinenglish
Banned
Who was the name of the secretary he tried appoint to the SC?
Good going.
chbrevolution
Member
I remember when he was elected I was excited the President was going to be from my home state (stupid 11 year old me). My mom on the other hand just shook her head and said it was going to be a fucking disaster and she was right. I don't remember all the details of his presidency but I know they helped shaped my views to be more liberal. I miss the Bush republicans compared to the new breed that's been around since the Tea Party "revolution". They were just greedy compared to republicans now which are just pure evil to me. The fact that the Bush years are going to be the good republican years I remember in my life is mind blowing. If I could go back and tell my 16-18 year old self my mind would have been blown.
Yeah, the older I get and the more cycles of Democratic presidents getting elected because Republican presidents fuck up so badly, with the Dems then spending so much of their time and political capital having to clean up the GOP mess, the more I feel like it's never going to change. People just don't seem to remember things anymore. Maybe it's the 24 hour news cycle. Maybe it's the internet. I don't know. The thing is, while Dems can clean up GOP mistakes with respect to the economy and policy (not without the poor/middle class and minorities/women bearing the brunt before that can happen), they can't reverse what's going to happen when it comes to climate change. That's probably what scares me the most. I'm really glad I'm not having kids, but I fear for my nieces/nephews. The polar ice caps lost ice equivalent to the size of India. That's not coming back without geoengineering on a massive and unproven scale.
rokkerkory
Member
Cheers to this, actually give me Bush Sr over Trump
Duane Cunningham
Member
George W. Bush's presidency was rough indeed. Say what you will about him, at least is stance on Muslims was not batshit crazy like Trump's:
Source: https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/ramadan/islam.html
Source: https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/ramadan/islam.html
I've heard it said that W was ignorant but not evil and Nixon was evil but not ignorant.
Trump is both. That's a terrifying combination.
sixteen-bit
Member
dollar days in New Orleans...
Harriet something
i mostly remember because there was that song about her in Rock Band 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sODfR9pRlco
You showed em.
Electric Eye
Banned
we laughed at this then and here we have this asshole appointing the ceo of Carl's JR, the editor of a fake online news site and his family.
TheWorthyEdge
Member
Bush White House brought us 9/11 and Katrina?
I do remember both though. Family lived in New Jersey at the time of 9/11 (Ohio during Katrina). Dad worked downtown in a building directly next to the towers. He was at the Expo Center on his way back to the office. My Mom and I were watching TV when my grandmother called telling my mom to switch the channel. Once she did the first plane went through. My Mom called my Dad and he picked up. My Mom told him what had happened. He had no idea. Then the second went through, and my Dad was there to see it. His building collapsed with the towers. He immediately hung up with my Mom. We didn't hear anything for HOOOURS. My Mom prayed and pleaded for him to be okay. Around 1am my Mom prayed one last time and the door opened.
Couple days later they found my Dad's belongings in the rubble. We have a piece of the Trade Center and his ID's hung on the wall.
I do remember both though. Family lived in New Jersey at the time of 9/11 (Ohio during Katrina). Dad worked downtown in a building directly next to the towers. He was at the Expo Center on his way back to the office. My Mom and I were watching TV when my grandmother called telling my mom to switch the channel. Once she did the first plane went through. My Mom called my Dad and he picked up. My Mom told him what had happened. He had no idea. Then the second went through, and my Dad was there to see it. His building collapsed with the towers. He immediately hung up with my Mom. We didn't hear anything for HOOOURS. My Mom prayed and pleaded for him to be okay. Around 1am my Mom prayed one last time and the door opened.
Couple days later they found my Dad's belongings in the rubble. We have a piece of the Trade Center and his ID's hung on the wall.
VendettaRed07
Member
What should worry people is that Bush did not campaign on being a racist, idiot war hawk
He campaigned mostly on educational reform and school children, and generally came across as a likable decent man in the process.
Then look how it turned out.
Now look how Trump campaigned. It is going to be worse. Significantly worse in every respect imaginable. Bush years will be the good ole days in comparison.
He campaigned mostly on educational reform and school children, and generally came across as a likable decent man in the process.
Then look how it turned out.
Now look how Trump campaigned. It is going to be worse. Significantly worse in every respect imaginable. Bush years will be the good ole days in comparison.
Maybe he is just conspiracy theory follower (So a 9/11 Truther and Bush-Vodoo-Magic-Truther) You shouldn't judge him for that.
Insane Metal
Gold Member
Uhm... what?
- Status