The history of democratic failure

JD Barleycorn's Avatar
2012: Libya; Barack Obama fails to even try to save the lives of his ambassador and staff members while watching in real time with assets availabe.

2008: Yeman; Bill Clinton fails to take any action after the attack on the USS Cole which resulted in the deaths of 17 sailors.

1979: Iran; Jimmy Carter micromanaged the aborted rescue of the Iranian hostages resulted in the deaths of eight servicemen and the humilation of the US.

1968: North Korea; Lyndon Johnson refused to allow in theater assets to go to the aid of the USS Pueblo being attacked by North Korean gun boats. Naval units were within range and F-105s sat on the runway in South Korea.

1950: South Korea; Harry Truman was forced to send underarmed troops to the Korean peninsula using civilian airline transports and civilian freighters since he has savagely slashed the US military down to minimum strength. The determination of US troops saved the day.

1941: Philippines; FDR did nothing to rescue the troops trapped at Corregidor. Roosevelt had had eight years to prepare and had failed to do his job.

1861: Fort Sumter; James Buchanan failed to take any action when the militia units of South Carolina surrounded and cut off the fort from the world.
2008 Bill Clinton? you gotta be shitting me...will you do one on the republican failures also?
markroxny's Avatar
2008 Bill Clinton? you gotta be shitting me...will you do one on the republican failures also? Originally Posted by ekim008
Oh I think you know.
JD Barleycorn's Avatar
Okay, if that is what you want. Here is my criteria; an attack or incident occurred that a sitting US president failed to respond to. That is not necessary military action.

2003: Riyadh; George Bush orders an FBI investigation of the bombing by muslim militants in which 31 people were killed. Since all the attackers killed themselves Bush was unable to exact revenge or justice.

2001: China; Communist Chinese fighter planes force down a US surveillance aircraft and detain the crew. Bush fails to blow up the plane or sending in Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris to affect a rescue of the crew.

1990: Kuwait; George HW Bush orders the US and a 24 nation coaltion to remove Saddam Hussein's army from Kuwait. Ground combat operations are completed in less than four days and Iraq loses over 100,000 soldiers.

1989: Panama; George HW Bush orders the US military to invade Panama and remove Manuel Noriega from office. 23 soldiers are killed and Noriega is captured.

1983: Lebanon; Ronald Reagan removes US troops from Lebanon after suicide bombers kill 241 servicemen. Congressional rules of engagement hampered efforts of troops to protect themselves. Rather than risk more lives with such rules Reagan gave up the mission.

1983: Grenada; Ronald Reagan orders US marines to liberate American college students being detained by communist Cuban soldiers after the elected leader of Grenda is murdered.

1981: Iran; The mere mention of Ronald Reagan's name is cause enough for the terrorists in Iran to release their hostages that they held for 444 days.

1975: Cambodia; Khmer Rouge pirates capture a US flagged civilian freighter and take it and the crew into port. Gerald Ford orders a military strike to recover the crew and ship just three days later.

1958: Lebanon: Dwight Eisenhower uses military force to intervene in Lebanon when the elected government fears attacks from Syria supplied with Soviet weapons.

1898: Philippines/Cuba: William McKinley orders Spain to leave Cuba under the Monroe Doctrine. Spain slaughters civilians in Cuba. American ground forces defeat the Spanish in Cuba and American naval forces defeat the Spanish in Manila.

It is very ironic that I think I forgot Mogadishu, Somalia and what the feckless Bill Clinton did (removed armor support from the local commander) and what he did not (order the armor back when things to a turn for the worst).

My mistake, I guess the GOP presidents tended to respond to provocations.
Yssup Rider's Avatar
That's horseshit!

And Clinton was not without feck! He got more fecking done in 8 successful years than you have in your whole life.

so go feck yourself!
JD Barleycorn's Avatar
You're just jealous that I can do that from memory. You should see the face of the highway patrol when I can name all presidents backwards. Try it sometime with vice presidents.
Quit texting and driving and they will quit stopping you,or is it alcohol related?
JD Barleycorn's Avatar
I don't drink. An over zealous state trooper, three naked Chinese women, and a misunderstanding.
You're just jealous that I can do that from memory. You should see the face of the highway patrol when I can name all presidents backwards. Try it sometime with vice presidents. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn

Not only did you BLOW the list of Republican FUCK-UPS and Democratic TRIUMPHS but you're so-called "memory" is totally crappy at remembering how to spell.
I don't drink. An over zealous state trooper, three naked Chinese women, and a misunderstanding. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn


Interesting will you do a review?
novacain's Avatar
Sort of funny and very telling that he failed to mention the pre 9-11 administration fuck up (were we had intel that could have stopped that but no one told anyone else about it, Bush Administration Fail) the Katrina disaster, you know the one after the hurricane (again Bush Administration Fail) or the search for WMD's in Iraq that turned up nothing ( yet another Bush Administration Fail) or the Wall Street/Bank bail out ( Ohhh look another Bush Administration Fail). I guess this is why Mitt flip flops on the issues, Repubs suffer from short term memory loss.......... If we fucked up recently, we forgot all about it. Or as Regan said: I do not recall that.
JD Barleycorn's Avatar
Well if you want to get into it I don't think of Katrina as a Bush fuck up. The Posse Comitatus Act prevented any involvement by the federal government until the governor requested it. Governor Blanco refused the requests of both President Bush and Mayor Nagan to officially ask for help. I would suggest that ask Rahm Emmanuel the next time you speak to him. You see, a few years ago a small town in Kansas was quite literally wiped out by a T-5 tornado (90% damage). The governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebilius, went on TV and blamed Bush for the tornado. She also said that all the National Guard equipment was in Iraq. It was found out very quickly that 85% of the equipment was in Kansas and standing by for an order from the governor to move. The governor confessed to Senator Pat Roberts that she didn't want to make that statement but she was told to make it by Rahm Emmanuel in order to blame Bush. The trick is not to buy into everything the press reported. Do some research on your own and study the timeline. Did I mention that Clinton took money from the levee fund and used it somewhere else?

So the failure to act by Bush was constitutional entanglements and democratic backstabbing. In 2007 Bush pushed for a change in the law which now allows for a president to use FEMA without permission.

I know why you call yourself Novacain (really spelled NOVOCAINE). You must use quite a bit of it.

There have been tacit admissions by members of the Obama administration that many of the chemical weapons that they fear in Syria originated in Iraq which backs up the story of an Iraqi Air Force general from 2003. These admissions come in the form of expressed fears of things to come.

The bailout??? You really don't get it do you? Bush asked both Obama and McCain if they wanted a bailout since it would be one of them that would have to dispense the money. The TARP? Bush asked president-elect Obama if he wanted that to go through as well. That wasn't Bush, that was Obama.

I intentionally avoided natural disastors or I would have to bring the flooding in Memphis (Obama), the wild fires in Texas (Obama), the wild fires in the west (Obama), the blizzard in Tennessee and Kentucky (Obama), the flooding along the Missouri river (Obama), and the drought in the midwest (Obama). Don't worry, it looks like Sandy is going to give Obama something to do...if he can get off the campaign trail.

and yes, the pre 9/11 intelligence report. Lets first point out that OBL declared war on the US in 1996 but Clinton forgot to tell us or that Sudan offered OBL on a silver platter but Clinton turned them down. On the advice of George Tennant, Clinton suggested that Sudan send OBL to Afghanistan where he wouldn't be able to do anything until sometime in 2001. Clinton forgot to pass that on. Clinton did pass on that there people out there looking for our scalps and OBL was even on the list with so many others. There was a report of using planes to attack buildings from years earlier (including the books of Tom Clancy). I also have to point out that Condaleeza Rice, the NSA, was scheduled to have a meeting on the topic on September 12th and that Clinton held up the transition for 42 days in 2000. Think of what may have been done if Bush has those 42 days back to get his ducks in a row. Why that meeting on terrorism might have happened in August.

You want to go another round or is one bloody nose enough for you?
joe bloe's Avatar
I don't drink. An over zealous state trooper, three naked Chinese women, and a misunderstanding. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn
I hate it when that happens!
WTF's Avatar
  • WTF
  • 10-27-2012, 07:00 PM
I don't drink. An over zealous state trooper, three naked Chinese women, and a misunderstanding. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn
Did you blow the trooper?



novacain's Avatar
Well if you want to get into it I don't think of Katrina as a Bush fuck up. The Posse Comitatus Act prevented any involvement by the federal government until the governor requested it. Governor Blanco refused the requests of both President Bush and Mayor Nagan to officially ask for help. I would suggest that ask Rahm Emmanuel the next time you speak to him. You see, a few years ago a small town in Kansas was quite literally wiped out by a T-5 tornado (90% damage). The governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebilius, went on TV and blamed Bush for the tornado. She also said that all the National Guard equipment was in Iraq. It was found out very quickly that 85% of the equipment was in Kansas and standing by for an order from the governor to move. The governor confessed to Senator Pat Roberts that she didn't want to make that statement but she was told to make it by Rahm Emmanuel in order to blame Bush. The trick is not to buy into everything the press reported. Do some research on your own and study the timeline. Did I mention that Clinton took money from the levee fund and used it somewhere else?

So the failure to act by Bush was constitutional entanglements and democratic backstabbing. In 2007 Bush pushed for a change in the law which now allows for a president to use FEMA without permission.

I love how you gloss over the fact that once FEMA was given the go ahead, they were in no position to render the aid, both in people and supply's they were in charge of. Bush appointed Michael Brown to head FEMA, this man had zero experience heading this type of of an organization, no knowledge of emergency management or how best to apply the tools at his command. Beyond that if you research it you'll find that FEMA was gutted. Brown's top deputy, Patrick Rhode, had the same experience in Emergency Management as Brown. Rhode worked for Bush's 2000 campaign and for the White House doing advance operations. Another senior FEMA manager, Daniel Craig, had been a lobbyist for electric cooperatives. This is a clear fail of the Bush administration, they were in charge of this agency and failed to make sure they were able to the task of the job. No matter how you wanna spin it or explain it, it's still a fail at Bush's feet.


I know why you call yourself Novacain (really spelled NOVOCAINE). You must use quite a bit of it.

There have been tacit admissions by members of the Obama administration that many of the chemical weapons that they fear in Syria originated in Iraq which backs up the story of an Iraqi Air Force general from 2003. These admissions come in the form of expressed fears of things to come.

That's not what Bush told both Congress, American citizens and the rest of the world to get the backing to go into Iraq. Wasn't that the mission, remove the WMD's from the hands of Sadam? After all that has come out about this, if you still truly believe this was the reason, you're very deluded. And it's still a Bush Administration fail, as he got neither the WMD's or OBL, lots of lies, lots of money spent, lots of American lives lost with nothing gained.

The bailout??? You really don't get it do you? Bush asked both Obama and McCain if they wanted a bailout since it would be one of them that would have to dispense the money. The TARP? Bush asked president-elect Obama if he wanted that to go through as well. That wasn't Bush, that was Obama.

If Bush's administration had their eyes on America rather than those hidden WMD's, the bail out might not have been needed. Paulson knew what was happening on Wall Street, it had been his job to know as head of Goldan Sachs before being appointed Treasury Secretary in 2006. He was in a position to both know the disaster to come and lobby for the regulations to prevent it, neither happened.............. again Bush Admin FAIL.

I intentionally avoided natural disastors or I would have to bring the flooding in Memphis (Obama), the wild fires in Texas (Obama), the wild fires in the west (Obama), the blizzard in Tennessee and Kentucky (Obama), the flooding along the Missouri river (Obama), and the drought in the midwest (Obama). Don't worry, it looks like Sandy is going to give Obama something to do...if he can get off the campaign trail.

I never once in my original post or this defended the Obama Administration fails, I called out your omissions of the Bush Admin's fails. Yes, I can admit Obama has failed on my fronts, it's just too bad you and the republican party can't admit you're failures, some of us might respect you more if you did, rather than try to take the stance that you never have, never do and never will fail.

and yes, the pre 9/11 intelligence report. Lets first point out that OBL declared war on the US in 1996 but Clinton forgot to tell us or that Sudan offered OBL on a silver platter but Clinton turned them down. On the advice of George Tennant, Clinton suggested that Sudan send OBL to Afghanistan where he wouldn't be able to do anything until sometime in 2001. Clinton forgot to pass that on. Clinton did pass on that there people out there looking for our scalps and OBL was even on the list with so many others. There was a report of using planes to attack buildings from years earlier (including the books of Tom Clancy). I also have to point out that Condaleeza Rice, the NSA, was scheduled to have a meeting on the topic on September 12th and that Clinton held up the transition for 42 days in 2000. Think of what may have been done if Bush has those 42 days back to get his ducks in a row. Why that meeting on terrorism might have happened in August.

42 days, is that the best you have to toss out there, 42 missing days? You state that Clinton held up the transition for 42 days during 2000, Bush took office Jan 20, 2001. Even if the start of those 42 days was on Jan 20, 2001, that still leaves 5 whole months before the attack happened. Are you saying that the Bush Admin was so inept that they couldn't find this info in 5 whole months, and that the first attack on the World Trade Center by OBL was lost on everyone that he might strike again on our soil or that the WTC was a target sought after by terrorists. Yet again it's still an attack on US soil under the watch of Bush and his administration............... and it still spells FAIL. You're calling Obama on the carpet for his FAIL in Benghazi, but in rebuttal post as to a list of Republican Fails, no mention of the 9-11 attack. I guess you don't see it as the fail most of America does.

You want to go another round or is one bloody nose enough for you? Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn
JD, attacking my handle and claiming you bloodied my nose are all things done by someone in a position they feel is weak, you notice I've used neither of those tactics, you sully yourself by dropping to that level.