[Ronnie Raygun]

"W got no honeymoon in the election, and had none coming. A contested election where the winner had less than half the votes doesn't get you a honeymoon. Soon after, 9/11. My personal opinion is it rescued his presidency." - Max

I disagree. 9/11 gave him an advantage in the polls early on but now many problems associated with 9/11 are hurting him in the polls....such as the economy, war, etc......But I see what you are saying..and I agree that for a time Bush was not bashed in the media as much as he is now or when he was elected.

"Are you suggesting his performance was perfect?" - Max

Certainly NOT perfect...I like the way he's handled forign policy and I disagree with much of his domestic policy.....I think most Americans would agree.

"I have problems with the administration, the congress and the press. I think the latter two gave W. a huge benefit of the dooubt during a time of crisis. I think he abused that trust. I think congress and the press abdicatted their responsability to the nation by giving him such free reign." - Max

I don't agree with you as far as the media is concened. I just think that you have your opinion and that you wish to see more of your opinion on t.v. Max, we all feel that way.....but I seem to remember a lot of criticism surrounding The Patriot Act....

With Congress I can certainly understand your viewpoint and I totally agree but you still can't argue that the president got a free ride from the democrats.....just look at all the judges that were shot down. But I agree the Congress has a responsibility not to give the president too much leeway........the president can't be blamed for that. It's his responsibility to send bills to congress and it's their job to refine them. It's not his job to actually wright the laws.....

"I have problems with the way the adminsitration used that free reign. " - Max

I know you really need to do this but it's just not the president's responsibility worry about whether or not Congress is going to do their job. Congress has to take responsibility for that.

"That may be a true statement. However, the adminsitration implied over and over that they knew things they couldn't reveal for national security reasons. The feeling among many conf=gressman was that the administration HAD to have solid info or they wouldn't e doing what they were doing. Again, an abdication of responsability and an abuse of trust." - Max

Max, they looked at the same intel. PERIOD. When you say the administration said that there were other things they couldn't reveal...they were talking about the general population, not the members of the senate and congress that ended up voting for the war. Senators like John Kerry voted for the war either because they believed the intel. or for political reasons.

"Congress abdicatted responsability passing legislation they hadn't read. The administration abused trust at a time of national tragedy by writting such a piece of abussive, unamerican tripe."

You can't say the administration abused trust just because Congress didn't do it's job. If Congress would have, you wouldn't have anything to complain about.........not that I'm 100% against The Patriot Act. To be honest I probably don't know as much about it as you do. Have their been any documented abuses of The Patriot Act that we know of?

"I think journalism ought to be held more closely to standards connected to truth." - Max

I agree.....and I agree that there is a problem. ....but it's just the opposite what you think it is.

"I don't wish to make a comparison between the two leaders, but Hitler had a hell of a high approval rating for quite a while." - Max

So was JFK, FDR, Churchill, Reagan, Thatcher......why use Hitler? Because you just wanted to compare him with Hitler...

"Popularity and reality often walk seperate paths. When the media is cowed by popularity, the abdicate responsability. When a President takes advanage of a cowed media, he abuses the nations trust."

I don't think that's the case here but I can certainly agree with your statement, just not the context in which it was given.