The Hatred of President Bush by the Lib/Left

I am always amazed by the displays of unfathomable hatred, pure blinding hatred, that continues to be displayed by the "lib/leftists’ in regards to US President George W. Bush.
This thread, forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … highlight= , being only the most recent manifestation of this weird phenomena.

And then, I happened to recently come across these related articles…An Explanation. As good as any I’ve seen.

[quote]Eight Years of Liberal Hatred
By J.R. Dunn, November 28, 2007


We often overlook the fact that liberalism is an ideology, and has been since the days of the New Deal. It is not a doctrine or a school of thought, and does not operate by the rational rules required in those cases. It’s an ideology in the sense of a synthetic, politically-based replacement for religious belief, and it operates by the rules of an ideology – irrational, compulsive, and totally divorced from anything outside of the ideological system itself.

Hatred, along with fear, hysteria, and conformity, is a basic element of ideological thinking. I know of no exceptions. For the Nazis, the hate-figures were, of course, the Jews. For the Soviet communists, they were a shifting cast of kulaks, socialists, capitalists, Trotskyites and “wreckers” (saboteurs out to destroy communist achievements on the orders of any of the above). For the New Dealers, it was businessmen (as it is today for some Greens).

The need for devil figures remains true no matter what part of the political spectrum the ideology lies on, what other elements are present, and whatever the ideology’s goals may be. You could go so far as to say that hate is necessary to the definition of any ideology.(article at link)
Eight Years of Liberal Hatred[/quote]

And here is the article referenced above:

[quote]The Insanity of Bush Hatred
Our politics suffer when passions overcome reason and vitriol becomes virtue.

BY PETER BERKOWITZ, Wednesday, November 14, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST

Hating the president is almost as old as the republic itself. The people, or various factions among them, have indulged in Clinton hatred, Reagan hatred, Nixon hatred, LBJ hatred, FDR hatred, Lincoln hatred, and John Adams hatred, to mention only the more extravagant hatreds that we Americans have conceived for our presidents.

But Bush hatred is different. It’s not that this time members of the intellectual class have been swept away by passion and become votaries of anger and loathing. Alas, intellectuals have always been prone to employ their learning and fine words to whip up resentment and demonize the competition. Bush hatred, however, is distinguished by the pride intellectuals have taken in their hatred, openly endorsing it as a virtue and enthusiastically proclaiming that their hatred is not only a rational response to the president and his administration but a mark of good moral hygiene.

This distinguishing feature of Bush hatred was brought home to me on a recent visit to Princeton University. I had been invited to appear on a panel to debate the ideas in Princeton professor and American Prospect editor Paul Starr’s excellent new book, “Freedom’s Power: The True Force of Liberalism.” To put in context Prof. Starr’s grounding of contemporary progressivism in the larger liberal tradition, I recounted to the Princeton audience an exchange at a dinner I hosted in Washington in June 2004 for several distinguished progressive scholars, journalists, and policy analysts.(article continues at link)
opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110010861[/quote]

Is there any real difference between this and the right/con/repub hatred of Clinton? The reason Berkowitz gives in the 2nd paragraph above seem pretty similar to how it was with Clinton, despite what he concludes.

Hate? He’s not worthy of hate.
Contempt, certainly.
I hate many of his policies and views, but not him personally.

That said, there’s something to be said for the view that

[quote]hatred is not only a rational response to the president and his administration but a mark of good moral hygiene.[/quote] His administration has flip-flopped between outright moral idiocy and moronic simplicity. Being repulsed by such ain’t a bad start. :stuck_out_tongue:

[quote=“Jaboney”]Hate? He’s not worthy of hate.
Contempt, certainly.
I hate many of his policies and views, but not him personally.

That said, there’s something to be said for the view that

Ahhh…an excellent example so quickly thrown out…unfortunately geing reduced to partial quotes taken out of context is an all too common example this shoddy hatreds exhibits.
The entire quote - “Bush hatred, however, is distinguished by the pride intellectuals have taken in their hatred, openly endorsing it as a virtue and enthusiastically proclaiming that their hatred is not only a rational response to the president and his administration but a mark of good moral hygiene.”

Jaboney…this should not be construed as a compliment.

But how does this differ to the red states and their hatred of Clinton. To them, AFAIK (viewing from Australia for most of the Clinton years), they justified their hatred of Clinton as a mark of good moral hygiene.

I think that wherever there’s a 2 party system, the sides often “hate” each others leaders and wear that as a badge of distinction. It’s certainly the case in Australia, even though our system govt is more like the UK than the US. Already there are people on forums and blogs saying how Aust have voted in a socialist govt and the economy will go down the toilet within 2 years. And that’s less than one week after the election and overlooking the fact that the new Aust PM is economically not much different to the old one (different in other areas sure, but in terms of economic policy they’re about the same).

Bush is a likable guy. If he only wasn’t a mass murderer.

Exactly.

After the fine job Bush has done as president it is understandable that you would be “amazed” at the hatred the “lib/leftists” “continue” to display towards him. Yours is an alternate universe, lies are the truth, distortions are reality…
This will not change. You’ll try to demonize those who engage in honest criticism by calling them lib/leftists etc. Boooring.

Clinton brought us prosperity and low crime - and the conservatives hated him for some reason.
Bush brought us war and decreased freedoms - and the liberals hate him because of it.

Which is the more rational?

TC, it’s not just the left/libs.
I am a life long Republican, raised in a family of life long Republicans. I voted Reagan x 2, Bush 1 x 2, Dole, and Bush 2 the first time.
I think he and his administration sucks ass.
Ron Paul, or other Libertarians, or even some more central Democrats would be better than the shit we got now.

Goldwater and Reagan must be spinning in their graves.

No, there is none, as anyone who was breathing and had a pulse during the 1990s knows.

Mr. Cowboy, these articles are spurious partisan tripe. One commenter at the WSJ site gets it right:

[quote]It is possible that the reason that progressives hate Bush so much may have the tiniest little bit to do with the way conservatives treated his predecessor? Is hating Mr. Bush so much more insane than hating Mr. Clinton? Was Mr. Clinton treated with “tolerance, generosity and reasoned skepticism” by conservatives, or is it only liberals who are supposed to aspire to such virtues?

Emotional rejection of a President who invaded a country by mistake, and has brought America into unparalleled international disrepute does seem to be rather less absurd than trying to destroy a President because he had an affair with his intern.[/quote]

[quote=“bobl”]
Goldwater and Reagan must be spinning in their graves.[/quote]
Good republicans don’t spin.

I don’t think conservatives hated Bill Clinton as much as liberals hate Bush…Hillary Clinton is another story though.

Conservatives have to work harder to hate either of the Clinton’s because they have to make stuff up to hate them about.

I am very conservative. I did not hate Bill Clinton. I did not respect him and given what most “liberals” here claim to care about, I find it amusing that he got away with as much as he did. The press and its liberal slant plays a big part in “controlling” when and how a certain segment that fancies themselves “well-educated” and “up on current events because I traveled to Italy this summmer” sees world events. In fact, on a tangential note, I may even vote for Hillary in 2008. So much for conservatives hating the Clintons.

[quote=“bobl”]TC, it’s not just the left/libs.
I am a life long Republican, raised in a family of life long Republicans. I voted Reagan x 2, Bush 1 x 2, Dole, and Bush 2 the first time.
I think he and his administration sucks ass.
Ron Paul, or other Libertarians, or even some more central Democrats would be better than the shit we got now.

Goldwater and Reagan must be spinning in their graves.[/quote]bobl -
Good reply. My voting record is similar to your - not exactly the same but close.
The comments so far do more to verify my supposition than dis-prove it.
Even though I make no pro-Bush posts, repeatedly state my extreme dis-agreement with many of his policies - especially domestic security - and strongly express my views that the War in the ME has been, and up until recently, pursued in a manner not to my liking, look at the personal attacks directed my way. Some label me as a ‘bush-bot’ or much worse. Thats takes really a tenuous grip on reality to make such slags. I just consider the sources.

But thats o.k., I don’t tell people what to think, only ask that they make a reasoned decision rather than an emotionally driven one. For some, thats just too weird a request - they have been programmed to attack what is different from what feels good.

Goldwater and Reagan would look very askance at a lot of the policies President Bush has put forth; with this I agree.

Mr. Smith…Hilary!..?..LOL!

For more liberal left wing drivel and mindless Bush hatred please turn to the communist menace / Che Guevera wannabes at The American Conservative.

Thank you for your cooperation citizen.

In my experience, the hatred was equally extreme. The difference is that the conservatives’ hatred had no rational basis.

I hate Bush for his freedoms.

His freedom to kill innocent Iraqi people by the tens of thousands.
His freedom to torture people.
His freedom to spy on American citizens.
His freedom to do nothing about climate change.
His freedom to subvert democracy and steal elections.
His freedom to hold anyone in custody for years based on nothing.

I have no doubt that this is true.

Funny… I thought that it was al Qaeda’s stated aim to kill people. Given the millions killed by Saddam, one wonders where your freedom to be “concerned” was for the past 30 years. No? okay, then…

Yup. That waterboarding on 6 to 12 people was really an egregious example of wanton wilful disregard for international norms. In the meantime, Amnesty International, Freedom House and others including Human Rights Watch have endless lists of those being tortured… for real… Got anything to say? about that? no? Strange…

This was done under the anti-Racketeering laws of the 1970s. It was done during wartime and you might be surprised how many more nations are doing this to a far greater extent than the US. Wanna compare? No… What was that about irrational hatred again? haha

Much better to “do” something about it like signing treaties when one has no intention of actually meeting the requirements? exceeding one’s commitments by vast amounts? sort of better to pretend to care rather than state that even if you do care that there is nothing to be done? or that the effort will result in more harm than good?

If you are referring to the presidential elections in the US, this was investigated by EVERYONE and THEIR DOG. All determined that under any circumstances, Bush won. Would you also like to comment on the Democrats and their subversion of democracy during the last midterm elections? no… oh what was that word again? irrational? yes.

How many? where?

Too bad this were not true. I would love to see a few of the gasbags on this forum rounded up and denied their “right” to speak. God knows the level of discourse would not suffer at least not like those of us who are rational do when listening to these “earnest” voices of “outraged sophomores” who study at third-tier universities and graduate with limited knowledge of “Third World voices.” Solidarity! All power to the people yelling all power to the people… er… um… never mind…