The precise point where the wheels came off the Bush Administration

When he went after Social Security.

Folks work hard their entire livves contributing to the Social Security system and they expect it to be there when they retire.

What Bush did was to scare the Dickens out of anybody who's paid into that system for more than about ten years. For most Americans, that's anybody who is in their mid to late twenties (I know I started paying into the system at the age of 15)!

There's a reason it's called the "Sacred Cow". You don't go trying to sell out the family jewels, and that's what Bush did.

If you go back and look, it all started going down when he decided to start down this road. That was the turning point, everything after that was just further dumping on the American People.

about Bush's social security plan.

He said, "Next thing Bush wants to take from us is our Social Security. That's going too far."


I think you're right--it was the tipping point in many ways.

They saw first hand what the results of putting those evil idiots in charge.

SS didn't hurt get the mood started though.

Even hard-core Bushies turned on him after that one. A real 'patriot' doesn't let his fellow Americans die in the street, George. You lost your country after that stunt. Now it's time for your country to lose YOU.

a man who gobbles cake and clowns around with a guitar while thousands drown.

off for months.

His attack on Social Security took the wheels off.

The Iraq casualties building up incessantly kept them off.

Cindy Sheehan caused the transmission to drop.

Katrina was the engine blowing up.

True.. all those things were making the masses weary. But unfortunately, the absolutely disgusting conditions in N.O. made it hit home HARD.

It's like everyone is a visual learner that has to SEE it to get it. Also, the hurricane issue was the most shameful, horrendous thing ever allowed to occur in this country. We were no better than a 3rd world country in our response.

and they had no choice BUT to do their jobs for a change.

good point

thing people really believed about Bush (that would be R's and some I's) was that he was a strong leader who would "protect us."

Katrina finally convinced them that he was not the leader they thought he was.

People saw the lies with their very own eyes.

he is, after all, a fake. This was bound to happen.

That's when his poll numbers started going down the crapper. Even before the inauguration.

Serves the fucker right. He dug too far into his hole and it collapsed around him.

I remember reading, how Bush was going to go to "90 cities in 90 days" to push his lunatic idea on the American public. Very soon, I noticed public support started dropping for the hare-brained scheme, every time he went out.

It seemed that every time Bush went out, his support dropped! I loved it.

I also agree with you, "he dug too far in his hole". The stupid idiot was MUCH too successful, for FAR too long. He though his winning streak would last indefinitely.

It didn't, thank God.

the little dictatortot in his broken wagon.

well he didn't expect Katrina so he couldn't add it to his axis of evil plan

They were mid-Soc.Sec. implosion when the churned up the holier than thou machine and Schiavo* brought both down.

*I mean this story/issue of their own creation with no actuall opposition exposed their entire M.O. and everyone saw the real Bush administration.

for those parents who lost their kids and the kids who lost their parents in Iraq.

She put "A FACE" on the suffering and showed Bush for the insensitive, cruel, uncaring person he is. Riding by the "encampment" in Texas on the way to another of his fundraisers showed the lying "Little Emperor" up for what he is.

Cindy's sincerity was too much for their Bullying Cynicism and Fake Patriotism which they used to browbeat anyone in their path who spoke up. They just couldn't beat her down.

It took that poor brain-dead woman to wake the sleeping masses, she made them sit up and take notice of the other crap the Bushies were trying to pull - mainly the dismantling od social security. Once you suspect someone is not acting in YOUR best interest (meddling in private life/death situations) you tend to become more suspicious of everything else they do (social security). Schiavo was the first wheel spinning off into the gutter.

I remember how enraged and shocked I was these repukes would even consider it. I also remember how the American people recoiled from their interference.

This was the beginning of the end.

Good observation!

The sheeple finally woke up at that one. And now they continue to see how the bushCo is trying to destroy things that they took for granted. Katrina reinforced that thinking. Who doesn't expect the government to help them out if there is a disaster? And everyone knows he is tight with the oil industry so that one wasn't a great leap either.

The average Joe doesn't really get the right-wing agenda. They just assume all of the government services they get will always be there.

Everything had an impact after that. EVERYTHING!

Shiavo, Sheehan, Iraq, Katrina, Libby, Rove, and on it goes.

Prior to his attack on Social Security, those would have all been seperate incidents and had minimal effect. After the attack on Social Security it's like piling another straw on the camel's back.

all of a sudden there was a more imminent and tangible threat to people's security than the outside chance that a terr-ist was gonna git 'em.

"The average Joe doesn't really get the right-wing agenda." I've thought this for some time (never actually put it into words, though). The average citizen only sees the fight and hears the screams. He/she then chooses sides based upon their "gut feel" reaction to the screaming and fighting. However, if someone reaches out and slaps their grandma, then it all crystallizes for them real quick. And that's what Bush's SS plan, Sciavo stunt, Katrina reaction, gas prices, and the growing death tole in Iraq has done to the American people. The Republicans stopped slapping at "Democrats" and started slapping at the average Joe and Jane. Folks are starting to get real pissed...

1,873 deaths later. . .

It's all been downhill since, as each of the lies leading up to the war in iraq have been disproved.

when he landed on the A/C carrier. He won the election because Americans are basically gullible and bought the "Terra alert" nonsense.

Social Security was the first punch - it did scare the bejeebus our of a lot of people. The Terri Schiavo fiasco was the second punch - that ripped the mask off of the Talibornigan lunatic wing of the Repuke party and let the masses see them for what they are - bugfuck theocrat crazies. After getting softened up by those two blows, and the low-impact but constant punch in the guts from Cindy Sheehan, Katrina was the roundhouse right that knocked Chimpco out on its feet. The Scootypuff indictment and torture allegations boom in and this misadministration is stumbling around like a wino on a weeklong bender. It WILL fall down, the only question is when.

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teetering when Katrina knocked him off his feet. The fact that he continued his vacation during a national emergency was bad enough, but the news coverage of American citizens, in distressing circumstances in an American city, looked too much like coverage we see of catastrophes in third world countries. I think that's when people really saw Bush for what he is - a sick, twisted empty shell of a man whose concern for his "fellow 'Muricans" is nothing but window dressing.

he bragged about the whole 'third rail' thing in the 2000 campaign. and he set about it as a policy matter in ernest very shortly after getting "re-elected".

granted, he got no traction with it, but it wasn't much of a decline until katrina. that was pretty much a "wheels coming off" event. the whole social security thing probably was an important backdrop to this -- it made the masses suspicious that he wasn't looking after the common man, then the katrina debacle proved it.

but i don't think the social security mess was in and of itself something he couldn't have easily recovered from. he could have abandoned it like clinton abandoned health care reform, or he could have settled for some innocuous tweaks that allowed him to claim victory.

since they stole the election in 2000

rate with the 'Puke Congress and a 1% success rate for the American people.

to hear kkkarl´s response to this post.

though contemporaneously we had #2000 and it may have been overshadowed somewhat.

I suppose it depends. for us here at DU, his failure began when he stole the election (he is not a legitimate president). But for the masses, IMHO, it was Katrina. Regardless this has been a long string of payback, but its happening finally. Lets hope that last night was an indication of good things to come. The emperor has no clothes.

this was the first chink in their armour, in my opinion.

lots of people are finally waking up to the Medicare Part D bait & switch.

I don't have a propblem with the new medicare part D plan. I've been looking serveral sites - aarp, medicare.gov, and various blogs and i have found that it looks like a good plan. There are a lot of options out there. What about it don't you like?