Salon: retired officer saw Bush natl. guard records in trash

[mburbank]

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.

The respect he was given vsa vis unwarranted criticism was a mark of American Character, and I think the office of the President warranted it. The absence of warranted criticism was a honeymoon. Are you suggesting his performance was perfect?

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

"The Congress and the Senate saw the same exact intelligence that the president saw."
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.

"Whether or not you agree with The Patriot Act is a whole seperate issue. It sounds like your argument here is with Congress, not Bush."

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.

"Well, his approval rating was in the mid 80's so I don't think your complaint is really with the media here.....it's with the American people."

If by media, you mean US magazine, then I suppose theirs a connection beytween aproval ratings and reporting. I think journalism ought to be held more closely to standards connected to truth. 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. 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.