NYT Columnist: Bush And Cheney Should Resign Now

Thanksgiving is next week, and President Bush could make it a really special holiday by resigning.

Seriously. We have an economy that's crashing and a vacuum at the top. Bush -- who is currently on a trip to Peru to meet with Asian leaders who no longer care what he thinks -- hasn't got the clout, or possibly even the energy, to do anything useful. His most recent contribution to resolving the fiscal crisis was lecturing representatives of the world's most important economies on the glories of free-market capitalism.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[PhilipTaylor]

It was said during the campaign that Bush-Cheney doubled the NATIONAL DEBT to $10 Trillion.

Now Bloomberg did an analysis and found that Bush-Cheney along with Bernake and Paulson have given out, loaned or traded for equity in AIG and the BANKS the STAGGERING AMOUNT OF

$7.76 TRILLION - in BAILOUTS and LOANS!

Basically that $10 Trillion deficit is now $17.76 Trillion!

So he entered with the US at a $5 Trillion Debt and caused a $12.76 Trillion Increase in Debt
a 255% increase.

Where can we PUT THESE GUYS for questioning?

[lesterbud]

Bush is certainly no scholar, but someone must have read something to him about Sherman's March. We are seeing Bush's version - we don't like him so he is going to take his country and:
Give over $1 Trillion to his friends and supporters in the guise of a financial bail out.
Grant environmental exemptions to supporters and eliminate portions of the Endangered Species Act.
Give pardons to a list of Toadies.
Get in a few last months of arrests and tortures (so much fun!).
Order a few hundred more US soldiers to die for.......sorry, thought I was going somewhere with that.
Push in a few last-minute federal judges.
Convert hundreds of presidentially appointed jobs to permanent civil service jobs with tenure.
Create his library, which will rival only Dan Quayle's in number of partially finished coloring books.
Perhaps our best option is to surrender to the Cheney/Bush coup and distract them with permission to build a statue to themselves somewhere around the mall. That should appeal to their enormous egos and desire for a legacy and it might take a couple months for them to plan.

[strangerinthenight]

Any response ?

With due respect to the author, there is NO RULE that says the incoming President can not make decisions to address the emergent crisis facing the nation , and in fact during the during this ATRANSITION PERIOD - TRANSFER OF POWER, his first duty is to lay out his policies, form his cabinet and to meet with that lame duck President on how best to transfer the power of the presidency.
Those are his first OFFICIAL DUTY, and so far, that transition is working to the optimum.

i hope Gail Collins has read the last 5 Transfer of Power, from Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43 - where the incoming Presidents were laying out their administration policies, and and publicly addressing public issues.

re is written NO RULE that prohibit the PE to discuss with the Senate and Congress on how to address the economy. NONE. It's the OFFICIAL DUTY OF THE PE to meet with the Lame Duck, to lay out transition goals, and to make sure, the outgoing Lame Duck insure a smooth transition.

challenge Gail Collins to show me any mandate or ruling that the PE must sit and wait until the country is ruin. Perhaps Gail Collins missed the PE's itinerary for the last 2 weeks, and while he has not taken the oath of office, or be inaugurated, PE Obama has tackled an emergent crisis none ever has ever faced in modern American history.

I will be

[keepemhonest]

Strangerinthenight,

Where have you been? Obama has laid out what his policies will be for both domestic & foreign policy. Obama met with Bush the week after the election, did you miss that? He has also addressed his intentions of passing an infrastructure stimulous pkg in January.

Obama has NO legal authority, under the Constitution to "EXECUTE" his policies.

Gail Collins thinks Bush Cheney should resign so Obama CAN execute his policies. In case you haven't noticed, Bush/Cheney have gone AWOL.

[strangerinthenight]

Dear Keep - you make it easy for me to counter your argument. I did not quote the constitution. I ask Gail Collins if there are any Rules that says the PE can not intercede during this crisis. There is NONE.

And in fact, he is actually doing what an incoming PE is rightfully doing - regardless of legal authority.

I beg to suggest, and I mean it with no malice, but you missed my point completely. But thanks for your response any way. It's good for you and me to be a part of the conversation.

[OldKnute]

Dear Stranger,

Sometimes it is important to let TIME run it"s course and events to unfold in due course.

Just think of the confirmations that are being seen in the turn of recent events. McCain suspended his campaign to return to Washington to "Save America" sitting at the right hand of Bush.

Well guess what.

Top Down, stimulants are not working.
The Bailout has failed to produce movement.
Credit is still suffering from severe constipation.
Stuffing more money down the throats of Wall Street, only seems to exacerbate the problem.

Indelicate at is may sound,,, Bush and his "Supply Siders" are working on the wrong END of things, and with the wrong set of preconceptions.

It is rather simple. As long as the A**holes of Banking remain blocked in their thinking, feeding them more money will have no effect and the Economy will remain, poisoned from within.

What Obama alternatives propose, is NOT to abandon "Free Enterprise" or principles of market competition, but to FEED a youthful, but deprived side of our economy with an infusion of GREEN.

Moral of the story:

Wall Street should eat more GREENS.

All the best

Knute

[strangerinthenight]

Thanks Knute.

[Durango]

That is an even better idea than John Olivers on the Daily Show:

That we increase the rotation of the earth to make time speed up and get those criminal fools out of office faster.

[pokemon]

Actually kinda dangerous due to the Numerous HSPD's signed by BUSH. That would basically allow any president to stop any transition of power. So anyone but Obama is a very bad idea. Remember these are law, look them up, all someone has to due is declare a state of emergency and the transition is a no go. So lets leave the Bush in office, you can bet that behind the scenes Obama is already speaking with other leaders.. He is just professional enough to make it look like he is respecting the current president.

You people worry to much:)

[vippy]

Don't let the door hit them in the back on the way out. Good riddance. The looting of the treasury
from 2000 to 2008. And those poor two million Iraqis who had to bite the dust.

[WHATISTHIS]

I WILL SIGN THAT PLEDGE!!

COME ON GIVE IT TO ME!!!!

TIME FOR THESE TWO CROOK TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!

[Axlotl]

Are you kidding? These two will hang onto power until the last possible second.

[nirek]

Too bad they don't just go to jail and save this country any more heart ache , the problem is Pelosi would become president till Jan. 20.

[pokemon]

Big problem. HSPD's would basically give her the power to cancel the transition of power to Obama, and you can believe that she will try her best to make that happen. I voted for Obama.... Pelosi scares me.

[rosalala]

LOSERS...is how history will remember them.

[bellabeach]

I had this conversation with a friend and he said in 10 years how do you think people will remember this administration....my comment was "good riddance"... name me one positive thing we have accomplished in the 8 years of this presidency!!

[gloweybabe]

Since Republicans ONLY think with their wallets, TAKE away everything from them(homes, cars, boats, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, etc.) They will feel DEFLATED. Have a huge garage sale and give all the procedes to the Katrina victims.

I am counting the moments until BOZO ONE and BOZO TWO are out of the White House but they can still do so much damage. I am also waiting for CHENEY to have some major health problems to prevent him from legally following through on his indictment in TEXAS. The GOP always pulls some shanigans (health problems) when they are being indicted.

[munki]

CORRECTION:

Since Republicans ONLY think with their wallets,

actually is

Since Republicans ONLY think with their constituents and their wallets...

:) lol what can we say...

[BushSunkOurShip]

Why would Bush and Cheney resign??? None of their criminal activies has effected them yet...
Beside they have a lot more of deceitful and destruction they are planning for the corporate friends before they leave the office they have stolen 2 times.
They still have more jobs they wish to send overseas , Laws to make so they can let their corporate friends pump more pollutents into our air , water and land..

When Bush stole office in 2001 he block the completion or implementation of 254 regulations former-Pres. Bill Clinton enacted and ones that did make it were modified to meet Republican standards.

What Bush stop regulations like airline safety, indoor air pollutants, clean waterways, protecting pristine forests from over exhaustion, and tougher standards for arsenic levels in drinking water.

[Doofus]

If there is some likelihood of prosecution after the end
of their terms, then there are reasons that the offer of
pardons is a good deal for both GWB & Cheney.

If there's no such likelihood, or no such offer, then
there's no point to resigning. I expect they will be allowed
to slink off, retaining whatever vestiges of prestige, if not honor
that they can pilfer from their offices.

[BushSunkOurShip]

Bush has more destruction in store for American and their country before he leaves...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/22/nyt-columnist-bush-and-ch_n_145742.html
Bush opened up some 800,000 hectares (2m acres) of land in Rocky Mountain states for the development of oil shale, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet. The law goes into effect on January 17, three days before Obama takes office.
The last-minute rules passed during the "midnight hours" of the George Bush presidency differ from his predecessors because they are basically a project of deregulation - not regulation. Among the most far-reaching:
Industrial-size pig, cow and chicken farms can disregard the Clean Water Act and air pollution controls.
The interior department can approve development such as mining or logging without consulting wildlife managers about their impact.
Restrictions will be eased so power plants can operate near national parks and wilderness areas.
Pollution controls on new power plants will be downgraded.
Mountain-top mine operators could dump waste into rivers and streams.
2m acres of land in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado opened to development of oil shales, the dirtiest fuel on Earth.

[billysviez]

there is just no end to what bush and cheney will do harm us before they leave. it's just hard to believe that there is nothing the Democrats can do to stop them.

[Jesster]

I know I should be sentenced to a lifetime of "Hail Marys'" for this, but lately I keep remembering that Saturday Night Live sketch with Dana Carvey playing Bush Senior out on a hunting trip with Junior... and momentarily thinks about the unthinkable, putting genuine patriotism above paternity/parenthood?

And to think at the time I had no idea that Bush/Cheney could do nearly as much damage and harm as they have done - with 59 days left to go...

[Jesster]

I know it will require extraordinary patience to get through the next 59 Days - I know I have been "chomping at the bit" ever since the day the Supremes selected Bush to be our POTUS...