OK big one.
I found thsi post bouncin around. I think I'll comment! YAY! my comments are in RED .....finish later
I attacked and took over two countries.
The first country was undeniably harboring and aiding those who attacked us on 9/11. The second was perceived to be a clear and present danger to the security of the US. Also, if you're going to attack a country, you better damn well take it over. Invasion is the only time-proven method of controlling a hostile territory.
I spent the US surplus and bankrupted the US treasury.
I inhereted the beginnings of a recession, which turned out to be a whopper. The events of 9/11/2001 hammered the airlines, tourism, and all the business that depend on tourists for profit (restaurants, theatres, etc.). The additional economic hammering of 9/11 on top of the already underway recession took a massive chunk out of the economy, which will address a number of other points below.
That being said, I could have done a better job handling the outgo of money from the US coffers, but am also severly hampered by the undeserved entitlements already inherent in the budget and Congress's complete unwillingness to stop funding anything at all.
I shatterd the record for the biggest annual deficit in history (not easy)
I was also the second President in history to have to respond to a foreign attack on US soil. Ramping up the security, military and intelligence agencies to be able to deal with post 9/11 problems, after both were severly crippled by the Clinton administration, took a bunch of money that the recessive economy was not able to provide.
I set an economic record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
I inhereted the inevitability of this "record" because of two factors: the recession that was already beginning, and the already crippled household financial situations from the tech stock crash.
I set all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
A: read about the stock market crash that caused the Great Depression, then argue about "the biggest drop in the history of the stock market" from a position other than that of ignorance.
B: See the above points about the inhereted recession, the impact of 9/11 on the economy, and the required increase in government spending for security, military, and intelligence agencies.
C: I also presided over that same stock market soaring back above 10,000 - a goal that was nothing more than a dream until the late 1990's tech boom, but without the benefit of overinflated tech stocks.
I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
The prisoner in question was convicted and sentenced before I took office. Do you think I would actually **pardon** Timothy McVeigh?!!?
I am the first president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
A. Having a criminal record does not preclude one from running for President.
B. The criminal record in question was known before I was elected, and is therefore moot.
In my first year in office I set the all-time record for the most days on vacation by any president in US history (tough to beat my dad's, but I did).
At my ranch and/or at Camp David meeting with and schmoozing with other international leaders ain't as fun as it sounds. Have you ever been on a "business golf meeting?"
After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, I presided over the worst security failure in US history.
After the intelligence agencies were gutted by Clinton, and with the complete lack of border enforcement on either the northern or southern borders, combined with the pure hatred and willingness to kill inherent in the attackers, do you really think **anything** I did in August would have changed the outcome whatsoever?
I set the record for most campaign raising trips by any president in US history.
Not because the others didn't try as hard as I did. Just 'cause I'm better at it.
In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.
See the answers to: 2, 3, 4, and 5 (seriously, go read them again). Then take into account the fact that in the following 2 years, 1.2 million of those have regained jobs. Obviously, my economic policies are working, or the job loss would have continued and the recession would have lasted longer.
I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history.
....and only wish I had a Congress willing to let me do it to Welfare recipients instead, so those willing but unable to find work could receive benefits instead of those able but unwilling.
I set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12-month period.
See the answers to 2, 3, 4, 5, and 11. Combine that with the fact that mortgage interest rates were so incredibly low, a whole heapin' helping of people who had *no business* buying a house, as they are not financially secure enough to deal with emergencies, ran out and bought a home. Emergencies/unemployment happened (again, see 2, 3, 4, 5, and 11), and those unable to handle them lost their homes.
I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any other president in US history.
The criminal records were known to the public and to Congress, yet neither protested. I would also point out that I appointed more minorities to high administration positions than any other President in US history.
Besides, Ted Kennedy is still a senator, so a democrat/liberal arguing against criminals in positions of power are either complete hypocrits or willfully ignorant (which amounts to the same thing).
I set the record for fewest press conferences of any president since the advent of TV.
Everything I do is reported by the press anyway. Need I tell them what they already know?
I presided over the biggest energy crisis in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
The Federal Government does not have the authority to intervene in California's totally screwed up energy problem (a creature of their own design).
Also, I would consider times when gasoline was rationed to be a "bigger" energy crisis than Californian's going without power for a couple days, a couple times, over the course of a couple months.
I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other US president in history.
I can only sign laws passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, so point A is moot.
Executive Orders are subject to judicial review, and do not become Constitutional Amendments regardless.
I cut health-care benefits for war veterans.
(isn't going to address this one, as he doesn't think this one *is* defensible).
I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any one person in the history of mankind.
I would think the people Hitler murdered and their families, which total well over 15 million people, would have protested louder had they not been dead or afraid for their lives. That being said....
The opinion of the world is not my concern. The good of the US is.
I dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
Yay for me! Treaties that damage the US are not treaties the US should participate in
I've made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.
Alex, I'll take "Unfounded, Vague Conspiracy Theories for 500, please!"
Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US histiry (the poorest mulitmillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her).
A. Good for her.
B. All US Presidents have been multimillionaires (when converted to modern dollars). Every single one.
C. Who would you rather have presiding over the economy: people who know how to make money, or people who do not?
I am the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the union simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy.
Again, I encourage you to educate yourself about the Great Depression. That being said, the standard of "tax more, spend more than that, tax more, spend more than that" attitude that is inheret to both Federal and State legislators (of BOTH parties) needs to be seriously curbed.
Fiscal Irresponsibility: It's Not Just For Democrats Anymore!
I presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world.
Fraud that was taking place before I gained office, and was discovered while I was in office. This should instead read: "Uncovered and prosecuted the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world, fraud that my predecessor let slide!" (As I obviously had as much to do with uncovering it as my predecessor had in allowing it: which is to say, nothing at all).
I am the first president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation, and I did so against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the international community.
This statement is so rife with a lack of knowledge of history that it's painful to read. Educate thineself, then say something that is actually true for me to argue against.
I have created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the US.
If increasing the communication between the CIA, FBI, NSA, and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies on the federal, local, and state level so that they may more easily work as a cohesive force towards a common goal is what you're attacking, attack away. I'm proud of it.
I set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any other president in US history (Reagan was hard to beat, but I did it!!!)
A. Reagan used the ecomonic might of the US to break the back of the U.S.S.R. Kudos to him! He had the ecomony to do it with, and it was done brilliantly.
B. Yeah, yeah - I know. I don't have the economy for it, and even fiscal conservatives are angry about my spending spree. That being said, I will stand by the answer to #2.