The right of habeas corpus is still damaged. Warrantless wiretapping is still not illegal. Telecoms are immune to suits over warrantless wiretapping. The justice department is still the legal arm of the Republican Party. Congress still dithers while the executive runs amok. The financial "community" still has not explained where the money went. The most common cause of personal bankruptcy is health care debt.

I follow the dictum of Lord Acton that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

We must hold Obama's feet the to fire and demand that balance be restored in our checks and balances system. We must demand that he draw back from the imperial presidency abomination supported by the neocons.

you mentioned this point: 'The regret Bush should have is not that we didn't find WMD in Iraq, which is what he's consistently said in his goodbye messages; it's that we went to war without knowing whether or not we did.'

We knew they didn't have WMDs (at least the nuclear kind). We would never have invaded a country that could have nuked our troops.

The WMD thing was all a big lie (unless you think we need to lose 4200 troops to stop someone from posessing phosgene gas).

I certainly agree with you that he became president intending to invade Iraq (or Cheney intended).

The substance of the Bush speech was pathetic, but even more extraordinary was the shit-eating grin on his face throughout. He looked like a guy who had just smoked a huge doobie and could hardly wait to open the bag of Oreos.

May we never hear from him again. Ever.

If only we could be truly free of this right-wing sock puppet and his masters in another five days. Between the stink bombs his administration has hidden here and there in the last three months and the damage they've inflicted on us over the past eight years, it will be half a century before we recover.

What was remarkable to me was that he didn't mention a major news story of the day -- a horrific plane crash that averted disaster because of real heroism on the part of a pilot and crew and rescue workers. There's a lack of ability to empathize there that is really pathological.

ABC news had a success story this morning about how Iraq was almost starting to resemble a developing country, which is to say, it could be just a few years away from breaking that darned failed-state status. Yippee Skippee! GW's taken it from a horror-pit, to a sorrow-hole! On the down side, all maters states-side are moving towards sorrow-hole just as quickly. How we shall miss thee...

It's astonishing, startling, the most pathetic display of national shame of my lifetime that this man was re-elected. It is and I can only pray remains the absolute bottom for American liberalism in whatever time I have left. And to only take American conservatives and their reactionary breathern in the boondocks accountable is the greatest mistake of all.

Just wanted to get that out there.

Only James Buchanon is in the same league with Bush Jr.

The other 4 gentlemen you mentioned are all much, much better people & presidents than the current POS ('current' for 4 more days).

IMO, if 911 had never happened, he'd have been voted out in 2004.

Thank you for pointing out something that we should all know, but which almost nobody seems to say aloud: Bush became President intending to invade Iraq. I said it as soon as the Supreme Court ruling in Bush v. Gore was announced.

What you didn't quite say is that the reason no WMDs were found was that the intelligence that suggested that there were WMDs was cooked by Bush/Cheney as the justification. Seymour M. Hersh's reporting for the New Yorker has been solid on this, and it speaks poorly of the rest of the media and Congress that there has not been more made on this issue.

Stop saying "You can't believe it". By the 2004 election, anyone with even minimal, functional intelligence could see what Bush, Cheney, et al were up to. What did this nation do?

(Re)Elect Bush to a second term. With that in mind, it is hardly surprising that his approval might jump up a few points after his "I did the best I could trying to protect the Country,etc." self-pity speech and his recent responsibilty-deflecting propoganda offensive.

ARB

I beg to differ

We have had a terrorist in the WH for 8, he has destroyed our Constituion, our moral standing , alienated allies, killed and displaced millions , and emptied the Treasury for his cronies.

He has contributed to the death and destruction of plants and animals in wilderness areas and sentenced future generations of our descendants to early death by toxins

Our economic system will never recover to be what it was and we still have to see the full impact of this slow motion disaster upon American lives.

I would say The Terrorist won.

"Third, thank God Hussein didn't have WMDs, thanks to Bush and his policies. Thank God we haven't been attacked. Finally, thank God for the children."

Will someone PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

Oh hear the word of the Lord!

E-ze-kiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"

E-ze-kiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"

E-ze-kiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"

Oh hear the word of the Lord.

The foot bone con-nected to the (pause) leg-bone,

The leg bone connected to the (') knee bone,

The knee bone connected to the (') thigh bone,

The thigh bone connected to the (') back bone,

The back bone connected to the (') neck bone

The neck bone connected to the (') head bone

Oh hear the word of the Lord!

Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun'

Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun'

Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun'

Oh hear the word of the Lord

The head-bone connected to the neck-bone,

the neck-bone connected to the back-bone

The backbone connected to the thigh-bone

the thighbone connected to the kee-bone

the kneebone connected to the leg bone

the leg bone connected to the foot bone

Oh hear the word of the Lord