George W. Bush vs Richard Nixon

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'd say Dubya did more damage.

That was my point.

[ingemann]

If we blame the situation in the Middle East on Bush, we have to blame Cambodia on Nixon, and that alone has likely caused more death than all of Bush's missteps.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

If we blame the situation in the Middle East on Bush, we have to blame Cambodia on Nixon, and that alone has likely caused more death than all of Bush's missteps.

The Middle East situation is far from over.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

Nixon was a foreign policy great with Detente with the Soviets and a reopening of relations with the PRC. He was also the last Liberal president of the post war Keynesian consensus. He supported things like Wage and Price controls , healthcare reform and the EPA.

Me. Reading this post:

Nixon is to the left of Obama economically. Yes, he was a nasty SOB with the whole dirty tricks, but LBJ and other presidents before him were corrupt. He was the first president to get caught.

[Goldwater]

Bush

[SWE]

Nixon was a foreign policy great with Detente with the Soviets and a reopening of relations with the PRC. He was also the last Liberal president of the post war Keynesian consensus. He supported things like Wage and Price controls , healthcare reform and the EPA.

Me. Reading this post:

Nixon is to the left of Obama economically. Yes, he was a nasty SOB with the whole dirty tricks, but LBJ and other presidents before him were corrupt. He was the first president to get caught.

stop

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Nixon was a foreign policy great with Detente with the Soviets and a reopening of relations with the PRC. He was also the last Liberal president of the post war Keynesian consensus. He supported things like Wage and Price controls , healthcare reform and the EPA.

Me. Reading this post:

Nixon is to the left of Obama economically. Yes, he was a nasty SOB with the whole dirty tricks, but LBJ and other presidents before him were corrupt. He was the first president to get caught.

You are aware of the context Nixon operated in right? Your post is absurd.

[TDAS04]

Ugh. Bush.

[free my dawg]

Nixon was a foreign policy great with Detente with the Soviets and a reopening of relations with the PRC. He was also the last Liberal president of the post war Keynesian consensus. He supported things like Wage and Price controls , healthcare reform and the EPA.

Me. Reading this post:

Nixon is to the left of Obama economically. Yes, he was a nasty SOB with the whole dirty tricks, but LBJ and other presidents before him were corrupt. He was the first president to get caught.

No.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

RIP NIXON

PROGRESSIVE HERO

NEVER RORGET

[free my dawg]

One is a slimy, dirty criminal who deserves much worse than he got from the system.

The other is Richard Nixon.

[Sol]

I expected better of this forum. Seriously, let's compare the "big flaws/failures" of each:

Bush:
-Iraq
-Afghanistan
-Katrina Response
-Campaigning on Homophobia
-Guantanamo

Nixon:
-Chile
-East Timor
-Bangladesh
-Secret Wars in SE Asia
-Watergate
-Greece/Cyprus
-Sabotaging Vietnam Peace Talks
-War on Drugs starting
-Manipulation of 1972 Election Process
-Appointment of Warren Burger to SCOTUS
-Campaigning on Racism

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I expected better of this forum. Seriously, let's compare the "big flaws/failures" of each:

Bush:
-Iraq
-Afghanistan
-Katrina Response
-Campaigning on Homophobia
-Guantanamo

Nixon:
-Chile
-East Timor
-Bangladesh
-Secret Wars in SE Asia
-Watergate
-Greece/Cyprus
-Sabotaging Vietnam Peace Talks
-War on Drugs starting
-Manipulation of 1972 Election Process
-Appointment of Warren Burger to SCOTUS
-Campaigning on Racism

Sorry, but simple list won't do. Bush did more damage globally. A damage we continue to feel to this very day.

Also, aside his numerous "big flaws", Nixon has some accomplishments (hardly absolving him of said "big flaws", but there's at least something). Bush had none.

[RR1997]

Ugh. Bush.

[Sol]

Nixon at the very least is probably the most evil president the United States has ever had. Basically there's no logical reason to vote for Nixon is if your dislike of Bush outweighs the facts. Which is fine, but also completely ignores facts.

And the most negative aspects of Bush's legacy are fairly constrained to the Middle East, while Nixon's are all over--from Chile's disappearances to Laos's still pervasive unexploded bomb problem to the partition of Cyprus

[Mr. Smith]

Whoa there, Bush did do more in Africa regarding AIDS and he took Mandela off the terrorist list.

Nixon still had more accomplishments, but give credit where credit is due.

[H. Ross Peron]

Whoa there, Bush did do more in Africa regarding AIDS and he took Mandela off the terrorist list.

Bush Sr. or Bush Jr.? Mandela had already served his term as President of South Africa by the time Bush Jr. took office?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

And the most negative aspects of Bush's legacy are fairly constrained to the Middle East

That's a very optimistic statement. And even so, given how everything that happens in the Middle East influences the rest of the world, I wouldn't be so sure about how "constraining".

Also, while it was a longterm process, Bush and his administration had their share of responsibility for an outbreak of the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression. This is affecting everyone, to various degrees, but everyone.

Nixon at the very least is probably the most evil president the United States has ever had.

I can't argue with that, but the question was "which president was better, or less worse", not "which president was a better human being".

If it was the latter, I would reluctantly, but vote for Bush.

[All Along The Watchtower]

As lousy and awful as Bush was as President, he's still not Richard Nixon.

[ScottieF]

Nixon, easily. He at least had redeeming qualities (detente, China, EPA, OSHA, affirmative action) to go along with all the bad, so his administration is a mixed bag in my book. Yes the political climate was very different but his record is his record.

Bush was a better person, but also a lot stupider. Cheney is much more evil than either.

[Vosem]

Too late to vote in this thread, but Bush is better by far.

[Indy Texas]

I expected better of this forum. Seriously, let's compare the "big flaws/failures" of each:

Bush:
-Iraq
-Afghanistan
-Katrina Response
-Campaigning on Homophobia
-Guantanamo

Nixon:
-Chile
-East Timor
-Bangladesh
-Secret Wars in SE Asia
-Watergate
-Greece/Cyprus
-Sabotaging Vietnam Peace Talks
-War on Drugs starting
-Manipulation of 1972 Election Process
-Appointment of Warren Burger to SCOTUS
-Campaigning on Racism

I don't see how you can compare starting a war and invading a country (Iraq; Afghanistan) with indirectly supporting another country in its military campaigns (East Timor; Bangladesh).

Bush all but demanded the Palestinian government hold democratic elections, which ushered Hamas into power. Are you going to hold Bush responsible for rockets fired into Israel? Are you going to hold him responsible for Palestinian children killed in the various Gaza wars?

Bush supported plenty of authoritarian regimes that aren't much better than 1970s Chile or Greece: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan...