Jeb Bush: My Brother Kept us Safe

One thing I know about my brother: He kept us safe.

— Jeb Bush, about George W. Bush during the 2nd GOP debate, answering Donald Trump’s comment

What?

The worst and most deadly attack against Americans on American soil since Pearl Harbor (9/11) happened during Bush’s watch.

Bush started two hugely expensive wars, killing thousands of American soldiers, and maiming tens of thousands.

Then he allowed the economy tailspin into free fall just before he left office.

And Jeb Bush says: “He kept us safe.”

How is that for monumental lack of judgment?

Last 22 Years – Dow with Democrats vs. Republicans

During the Clinton years, the Dow grew steadily to record highs.  Then Bush came, and his reckless economic policies turned a $200 billion surplus into a $1.4 trillion deficit. Along with that came a rocky stock market and a total meltdown at the end of his presidency.

Dow Clinton Bush Obama
[click for source]
Since Obama took office, the Dow has been climbing steadily.

And still, our illustrious Republican candidates all tell us that Obama’s presidency has made our lives so much worse than they were when we had Bush.

It’s dumbfounding, how one can think that, given these charts.

This chart is only about the Dow. I could make similar charts about gas and oil prices, dependency on foreign energy, the value of the dollar, actual government spending, the number of people employed, the unemployment rate, on and on.

But Dick Cheney still calls Obama the worst president of his lifetime.

He must not have been alive during the Bush years, when he was co-president.

Bush and Clinton

It looks like there is a good chance that we’ll have a choice between a Bush and a Clinton in the 2016 election for president.

I was 24 when the first Bush became vice president and 32 when he became president. Until the last few years, I have spent my adult life with a Bush or a Clinton in the White House. At this rate, and the way it looks, I will spend my retirement years with a Bush or a Clinton in the White House.

Out of 330 million people, this is the best we can come up with?

We have a political elite in this country that buys elections. It’s an oligarchy.

And we, the voters, don’t seem to mind.

American Voters Bewilder Me

Here are a list of facts:

  • Gas prices are lower than they have been in years, and are still falling.
  • The  U.S. is the second largest oil producer in the world, poised to take the number one slot from Saudi Arabia. Oil imports are declining.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 17,000, a record. It was at 7,000 when Bush left office, and never higher than 14,000 while he was in office.
  • The dollar is now at its strongest levels in years.
  • There is no inflation.
  • Our interest rates are the lowest in 30 years.
  • Our deficit is rapidly declining.
  • Our unemployment rate is lower than 6%. We have added 200,000 jobs a month, every month, for years. We have added 10.6 million jobs over 56 straight months of job growth.
  • We have almost doubled the wealth of billionaires in the country since Obama. The wealthy make more money than ever today, and their taxes are the lowest in history, and the lowest in the world.
  • America is leading the world once again and is respected internationally, unlike when Bush was in office.
  • Obama brought soldiers home from Iraq and stopped the bleeding and dying of Americans for foreign causes.
  • Obama found and killed Osama bin Laden.

And yet, we just voted the Republicans into both houses of Congress and into many state governorships, decimating the Democrats. I can only see four main initiatives of the Republicans:

  • Undo the Affordable Care Act (which would mean taking away the health insurance of 10 million Americans who finally now were able to get insurance).
  • Do nothing further about our immigration problem and somehow deport 11 million people.
  • Send American soldiers back into Iraq to get killed and maimed for the bizarre delusions of a messed-up religion under the lie of calling it protecting our homeland and freedom.
  • Sue, impeach or otherwise paralyze Obama.

So the American people voted to impair or throw out the president who dug us out of the mess Bush put us in?

I don’t get it. What do people want? Go back to where we were in 2007?

Really?