Gutless Firing of James Comey Pushes U.S. Into Constitutional Crisis

"You're fired, Comey! But I'm getting my bodyguard to do it for me by letter!"

Let's concede first that Donald Trump is an utter, loser coward. Rather than be man enough to face former FBI Director James Comey directly and explain his real reasons for his firing,  the prick used a surrogate (his bodyguard)  to deliver a signed letter to that effect. Before that, this weak- kneed character with the backbone of a jellyfish had his pawns in the DOJ including 'yes man' Rod Rosenstein (with supposedly "recused" Jeff Sessions' guidance) drafting a joke of a dismissal letter literally laden with diversionary balderdash.

The Trump firing letter read in part:

"While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau."

The reason, if you can believe it?  The dummies in the White House (including executive Dummy, Trump) claimed it was Comey's handling of Hillary Clinton's emails that caused them to "lose faith" in him, This was abetted by the DOJ letter from another human jellyfish, Rod Rosenstein. Those interested can read his letter in full here:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39866767


MSNBC  legal specialist Ari Melber last night observed the "entire process is clearly suspect" and none of it passes the most basic smell test. We're expected to buy that a greenhorn, deputy AG (Rod Rosenstein)  comes into office and within 13 days is looking for a mid -term firing of the FBI Director? (This happened only once before, in 1993, and only after a full review by the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility.)

And then, he conveys this missive - not in the typical DOJ format - e.g. through research memoranda with legal precedents cited, and formal citations but with a series of quotes from op-ed pieces and public remarks. In other words, invoking an amateurish style more apropos to a political campaign, indicating zero legal rigor or objective inquiry. The clumsy, superficial product could almost have been written by Steve Bannon or Jeff Sessions - who was Trump's numero uno cheerleader during the campaign.  In Melber's words, it "makes for concern because of the lack of separation of powers", i.e. as reflected in the modus operandi employed.   I agree. The whole thing smells like a set up, contrived through and through, to facilitate Trump's torpedoing of the FBI investigation into his Russian links.

So if you buy into the tripe that the reasons for Comey's firing truly were as stated by Trump, I have a plot of beach front land in Barbados to GIVE you for a Bajan buck. (Equal to $ 0.50  U.S.)

The reasons for further ultra-skepticism are not difficult to process:

1)  The timing. WHY NOW? Comey's ham-handed handling of HRC's emails has been known since July, then his October 28th fuckup too - which many believe cost Hillary the key votes to prevail - though this is up for some debate.  If Trump, Sessions etc. were so all -fired upset why not fire Comey right after his inauguration?  

The reason is simple: Comey hadn't yet stepped over the line to prove himself a dire threat to Trump. That occurred during Comey's appearance (on March 20) before the House Intelligence Committee.  Therein he dismissed Trump’s claim that he was wiretapped by his predecessor during the campaign.  Not only that, Comey  took the extraordinary step of announcing that the F.B.I. is investigating whether members of Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

Make no mistake that Comey’s  acknowledgement had created a treacherous political moment for Trump, who had insisted that “Russia is fake news” that was cooked up by his political opponents to undermine his presidency.   To be succinct then, the March 20 appearance put James Comey in Trump's rifle sights.

2)  The fig leaf DOJ dismissal basis letter and Session's endorsement of it (a violation of his supposed recusing himself from the FBI investigation Comey cited) was not needed in any case because an active Inspector General's investigation was underway. So why not wait for it instead of hitting the chicken switch? Well, because former deputy AG Sally Yates appearance on Monday, along with former DNI James Clapper's referencing of how much foreign intel has been collected (via phone intercepts) on the Trumpies, sent the WH into hair on fire panic mode.

3) The combination of factors alerted Trump's reptilian brain stem it had to act and fast. The easiest response - which killed the most "birds" with one stone-  would be firing Comey. That would amount to an instant act of decapitation, not only of Comey but the FBI's investigation into the Trump-Russkie ties.  Using the ruse of Comey's mishandling of the Hillary email server also would come off - to a dumb media - of casting the Donald as a latter day changeling. Who now would strike down Hillary's tormentor and give Trump "brownie points" in so doing.

The problem, as The Financial Times' Edward Luce has pointed out, is it makes zero sense. In Luce's words:

"Mr. Trump is asking the US public to believe he 'terminated and removed'  the FBI director for having treated Mrs. Clinton unfairly. This was the same opponent whom Mr. Trump said should be locked up for mishandling her emails."

Why on earth then would the guy who incessantly called for Hillary's head during the campaign (via his "Lock her up!" mantra) now suddenly have a change of heart and wish to excavate some kind of personal sanction on her behalf?  Well uh no, any dummy could see it was merely a transparent ploy  to throw the media off with a smoke screen, where the real reason was to squelch Comey's FBI investigation. Trump, like Nixon with his firing of Archibald Cox, wanted the investigation going no further.

As historian Michael Beschloss put it this a.m. on 'Morning Joe', yes, a new FBI director might be up to the task but he'd first have to earn the nation's trust and also the trust of the Bureau itself - many of whom are literally in mourning now in the wake of Trump's cowardly act.

Further, a new FBI director - even if he was a forthright and courageous as Comey - would be hamstrung without a fully independent commission similar to the 9/11 commission (in the opinion of Michael Beschloss). Also, we'd need a special prosecutor, someone like Archibald Cox in the case of Watergate, who Richard Nixon then had fired in the "Saturday Night Massacre".

(On a side note, I have to reprimand the imps - like Bob Woodward-  insisting "this is not the same because Nixon didn't fire an FBI Director".  Whether Archibald Cox was an FBI Director is not the point. The point is that both Trump and Tricky Dick fired the heads of  investigations looking into their respective  nefarious deeds.)

That Saturday Night Massacre tilted toward a Constitutional crisis but it was averted because ultimately, it triggered the release of a series of highly incriminating Watergate tapes (betraying Nixon's scheming with Bob Haldeman et al) and led 11 Republicans to side with House Democrats to move for impeachment. Those Republicans were to be commended for turning against their Republican President because they found his actions indefensible.

The situation is different now because no Republicans seem willing to move forward with a real investigation into the Trump-Russian collusion or Trump's firing of the man leading the investigation into it.  Not enough Republicans are prepared to find Trump's actions indefensible - especially the latest - on top of threatening the press, also threatening the judicial branch.  This means the normal checks and balances that should be operative, i.e. to keep a felonious executive in check, are not functioning.

This bespeaks a full Constitutional crisis for which the only way out will be House Dems and Republicans closing ranks - at least to set up a formal independent commission (following Beschloss' advice) and also enabling a Special Prosecutor.

Let's hope enough Republicans find their backbones soon, and are prepared to find a litany of Trump's actions indefensible, not just this latest acting out. If not, I fear the future of this country will not be secure or sustained.

Blogger Chris Floyd's words here are relevant:

"Trump has actually been pretty open about his desire to be such an autocratic figure, and of course his vizier Bannon is even more candid about his desire to "destroy the administrative state" and build a new, nationalist order. We're not just through the looking glass these days -- we've shattered it to pieces and are rocketing into the unknown at a thousand miles an hour."

That "unknown" marks a total fascist state and our Constitution becoming "just a piece of paper". Will it happen? We will have to do all in our power to ensure it doesn't but that also entails our representatives acting to uphold and defend the Constitution. If my Revolutionary War ancestor Conrad Brumbaugh were alive now, he'd enjoin them to place country over party and he'd implore the agents of the FBI to use James Comey's firing as motivation to push ever more aggressively forward in their ongoing investigation.


Update:

The news tonight that three days before his firing FBI Director James Comey had asked for more resources in his investigation of the Trump -Russia connections, instantly puts the kibosh on the lame BS spouted by Trump that Comey was fired for "not doing a good job".  In addition, well placed sources noted Trump was highly agitated that Comey continued to pursue the collusion aspect as opposed to focusing on leaks.  Like the fool he is Trump never foresaw the firestorm that would erupt by his impetuous action. Now, even his agenda and that of the GOP is derailed, which is a good thing for the rest of us. .

Another Despicable - Andy Puzder-- Bites The Dust As Trumpies Go Ape Shit Over Leaks

Tens of thousands of actual hard working people rejoiced today as the second cabinet level pick in three days went down n flames: the despicable turd named Andy Puzder. This is the asshole Trump had named as Labor Secretary who was anything but friendly to labor, and who paid millions for cheesy ads with half clad chicks when he could have paid higher wages to his Carl's Jr. workers. He is also the character who said he'd rather have robots working for him because they never get sick, or take time off and you wouldn't have to pay overtime or benefits.

Puzder,  Donald Dump's controversial choice to run the Department of Labor, withdrew his nomination as questions about his byzantine business interests, details about his acrimonious divorce and revelations that he employed an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper mounted.

Interestingly it wasn't Dems who scuttled Puzder’s nomination (they didn't have the numbers)  but the Republicans, who grew increasingly concerned about his background and business record. Especially after a 27-year old tape from an Oprah show surfaced on Politico, featuring his wife at the time describing how Puzder dragged her around, beat her severely  (leaving her with two ruptured cervical discs) and warned if she got uppity he'd "see her in the gutter".  Jeez, maybe the son of a bitch was practicing for how he'd like to treat his future workers at Carl's Jr. Yuh think?  (Note: his ex wife recanted but the tape remains as fairly good evidence that what she was relating wasn't just made up. Readers ought to check it out for themselves.)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren had this to say after viewing the tape:

"I have watched the episode in which she appeared and I believe every Senator should. I found it extraordinarily troubling alongside his company's poor record of treatment of female employees, his highly explicit and sexualized ads and his snide comments about sex discrimination. There is ample evidence that Mr. Puzder is a terrible choice ."

Puzder, the chief executive of CKE Restaurants, the billion-dollar parent company of the fast food chains Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s, was due to appear before the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee on Thursday- after a series of delays.  However, in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon Puzder said he was withdrawing his nomination: “While I won’t be serving in this administration, I fully support the president and his highly qualified team.”  Right, a highly qualified team dedicated to destroying the agencies to which they've been appointed by president Dump.

Much of the basis for Pudzy's withdrawal can be traced to activist protests across the nation - featuring many workers from Hardee's and Carl's Jr, including some dressed up as robots. Others carried signs of protest that provided horrific optics for the putative backers in the Senate, e.g.
.
It also didn't hurt that cause that Sen. Elizabeth Warren  sent a blistering letter to Puzder Monday in which she charged him with "a sneering contempt for the workers in your stores and a vehement opposition to the laws you will be charged with enforcing." Indeed, workers say that wage theft, discrimination, and sexual harassment are rampant at Puzder's chains. Those allegations are backed up by publicly available data .  But again, it was his wife beating antics that got him to finally pull out, confirming he's as despicable as the two other female assaulters, Steve Bannon and pussy grabber Trump himself.

Incredibly even the conservative magazine the National Review published an editorial titled “No to Puzder”.  The magazine railed against Puzder’s support for “comprehensive immigration reform” and argued that in light of the series of unflattering revelations, “his case for confirmation had diminished to the point of disappearing."

Who'd have thought?

Meanwhile, Trump and his lackeys and media whores (like former BushCo toady Fran Townsend)  are now trying to portray the intel leakers as the criminals. The zany fake news Breitbart -style media are also spinning that Mike Flynn was some kind of upstanding citizen - as opposed to a felonious rat who violated the Logan Act- and blamed "leakers" for the whole fiasco.  Trump himself, now evidently suffering from Alzheimer's scale memory loss on top of his other mental deficits, also blamed "the intelligence agency leakers, the fake media, and Hillary supporters" for Flynn's demise. Evidently forgetting that only a day earlier he asserted Flynn had lost his trust and so was removed.

But let's understand that nearly all criminal administrations (like Nixon's) start out by laying the blame on the leakers, then go too far and end up snaring themselves in their pursuit of the leakers. As John Dean (fmr. Nixon attorney) pointed out last night on 'All In'

"Watergate itself was very much born in leaks. It was the setting up of the so-called plumbers unit that was investigating leaks for Nixon that had Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy - the two principal guys that organized it, that led to the eventual exposure.. The reason the White House was involved in Watergate was because of the things they were involved in while working at the White House, mainly breaking into Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office trying to find out if he was up to more leaks. 

It all started with the White House obsession with stopping leaks. Now we have another President who seems equally obsessed. Hopefully he's learned something from history if he's old enough to remember Watergate, and he'll avoid the kind of leak cures used by Nixon."

He added:

"Presidents have to be very open about what they are going to do. They can't have secret squads looking for leakers, or have enemies that they want to punish because of their leaks. It's part of the territory. With Trump it was inevitable because of the way he's been approaching his presidency. He was planning to shake things up, but there are going to be bureaucracies in the White House, National Security Council, permanent staff, Office of Management and Budget. Those people aren't going to like it so this is going to be a very leak-prone presidency. Not to mention what will happen out in those departments and agencies with these cabinet members who want to take apart the agencies they're going to be running. So it's going to be a leak prone presidency. If there's anything that Nixon has taught it is just let it flow."

But, of course, Trump and his minions are too stupid to do that - so they will likely overreach in trying to plug the inevitable leaks like Nixon did.  Hell, they can't even adopt which reality they will accept - with Trump blaming "fake media and unfair leaks"  when merely 30 hours earlier he laid the blame on Flynn's own untrustworthiness. WTF can't this ass wit make up his mind? Oh wait, he doesn't have one!  It's easier to blame the "conspiracy theories" on the intelligence community - the guys watching his back - when HE is the one who has plenty of 'splainin to do.  After all, Donald Jr. stated flatly in 2008 to a real estate conference that "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of our a lot of our assets...We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia".  So why not  keep the Russians happy including with collusion to ensure a friendly guy is elected who can keep the dollars pouring in?

Now with the report Trump campaign  aides were cozying up to the Russians over the campaign, there's not only smoke, but some hints of fire.   After all the Steele dossier exposed a well developed conspiracy managed on the Trump side by Paul Manaforte and  Carter Page.   To quote Peter Wahner,  Senior Fellow at the conservative  Ethics and Public Policy Center :

"There's smoke here and there's fire, we just don't know the nature of the fire. If there was collusion going on it could lead to the ruination of the Trump presidency"

Hence can only hope that those patriot intelligence officers doing the leaks will continue  - placing country over cynical laws, like Snowden did.

Make no mistake those of us who want to get to the bottom of the Trumpian snake pit that passes for a White House, want the leaks to continue unabated - to press further investigation as occurred in Watergate.  A recent column in the Columbia Journalism Review was even titled 'Flynn Resignation Shows Leaks Under Trump Are Working - Keep 'Em Coming"  The author argued, and I totally agree - as does John Dean- that "leaks to the press are vital to democracy".  Indeed they have the same import and value as whistle blowing on the power mongers, especially when they are acting without any transparency.

Even conservative Joe Scarborough on his show commended whoever leaked the information, He said:

"The only reason we're finding out about it now is because a patriot did leak this to the Washington Post. Did get this information out there or else we wouldn't even have known about it."

Of course, the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee - careful to keep his aide in Trump;s favor to further a despicable agenda - says he will ask the FBI to investigate "the recent rash of leaks". Well, good luck, buddy! But there are some in this land who remain true patriots and will not be deterred by the threats.  These leakers, whether from the intel agencies or Trump's own NSC, are freaking PATRIOTS and deserve as many medals as Edward Snowden.

Lastly, the Senate Intelligence Committee led by Sens. Charles Grassley and Dianne Feinstsin have sent a formal letter to the Dept. of Justice requesting transcripts of all of Flynn's Russian  communications  the FBI has in its possession. The problem? The FBI is now under control of Jess Sessions who used to work in the Trump campaign. The bastard has failed to recuse himself and it is quite evident any guy who worked in the Trumpy campaign is not going to go after it now. I doubt this Johnny Reb from Alabama can be an independent voice for the law - as most of us feared when he was approved.

Fortunately, European Intelligence services have transcripts of all Trump campaign communications dating from August last year. This according to Kurt Eichenwald speaking last night on MSNBC. Thus, even if Sessions' DOJ tries to destroy the key evidence showing collusion, it is bound to turn up from other venues, agencies and still sink the Trump Imperium.

All the signs now point to the need for a totally independent Special Prosecutor, such as we had in the Watergate case. We simply cannot trust Jess Sessions to be independent.

See also :'Let's Consider the Evidence Trump Is A Traitor'

Excerpt:

"Trump’s presidency has many of the traits of a criminal enterprise and a financial shakedown operation, masquerading as a democratically elected government."

http://www.salon.com/2017/02/16/none-dare-call-it-treason-in-the-wake-of-the-flynn-scandal-what-more-proof-do-we-need-that-donald-trump-is-a-traitor/

A Right Rough Week For The Righties So Far

Two of the right wing clowns who've been involved in an armed standoff at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Well, it's been a rough week for the Right wing nuts so far. It started with a Texas grand jury - if you can believe it - issuing  a decision Monday to clear Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing and instead indict two wacko activists associated with the loopy bunch known as the "Center for Medical Progress" - which ought to actually be known as the "Center for Medical Regression".

To remind readers, these assholes entered a California PP clinic under false pretenses and with fake IDs (California fake drivers' licenses - a felony), as well as using the fake licenses to steal a woman's identity (ID theft -another felony) to get access into closed medical conferences. They then made assorted videos which they submitted to fictitious editing and released them to try to prove fetal tissue from abortions was being sold by Planned Parenthood.   The TX grand jury wasn't buying their appeal to righteousness and instead indicted the pair.

The worst thing is that this foul play not only angered the usual hysterics in the Repuke Party but also likely incited a right wing terrorist to kill three here in Colorado Springs, in an attack on Planned Parenthood, e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2015/11/five-hours-of-terror-in-colorado-springs.html

The grand jury basically agreed with Planned Parenthood that it broke no laws and that the illegally obtained videos were edited to be deliberately misleading. Worse, for the activists of the Right, they face even more challenges and lawsuits according to a WSJ piece ('Group Behind Videos Faces Challenges', Jan. 27, p. A3). These include a lawsuit filed in San Francisco by Planned Parenthood which mirrors the charges made in the Texas grand jury case - including violating non-disclosure agreements by secretly videotaping conversations at PP sites.

Then, in Oregon,  the fake wackadoodle patriots led by the spawn of Cliven Bundy - Ammon and Ryan- had their little occupation of Malheur Wildlife Refuge disrupted after they were busted by local cops - ending in a shootout. The Oregon cops had orders to grab these miscreants, on their way to a community event,  but the 'reckless militiamen' (including one woman) decided to try to fight their way out and paid with 2 getting shot,  one killed (Lavoy Finicum). To hear the Repuke candidates (like Marco Rubio) screeching you'd think it was a bunch of actual patriots getting whacked as opposed to poseurs and pretenders.

As Bill Maher noted in his last 'Real Time' episode:

"How tough can you rugged individualists be when the first thing you did after storming the rest stop was to post an appeal online for supplies? A shopping list, really, that included such items as throw rugs, shampoo, foot warmers, and French vanilla coffee creamer. What, no scrunchies so you can braid each other’s hair?”

As the audience howled, Maher went on with another jab at these mock patriots:

"The reality is,  if these idiots were all that “ready to die, we’ve had a few wars they could choose from. You can go fight ISIS, ’cause what you’re doing isn’t saving the republic, It’s more like when you’re a kid and you run away from home by hiding in the backyard.”

Meanwhile, after the altercation, 40 or so high tailed it back to their digs, despite Ammon telling them to give it up. But these knuckleheads are too dumb for that and probably now will await the FBI, ATF and even National Guard dragging their sorry asses out.  In any case, they're squatting on  native American land. It's not theirs.  As The Economist also put it in a recent piece ('They the People', January 9, p. 24):

"Any private claim to personify the 'We' in the constitution's 'We the People' is ominous. In the case of the Bundys and their sort, it is also spurious an not only because locals in Oregon want to be rid of them. Other citizens - including hikers and tourists - also have claims to the public domain. So, for all the ranchers' rage, do other species ...

Gung -ho individualism is only compatible with egalitarianism when resources are infinite and the individuals are few."

A good point also - that last line - for the economist morons who keep chirping how we need "more people" for economic growth and life quality.

In the end, Martin Wolf - in his article in The Financial Times ('The Economic Losers Are In Revolt Against The Elites') may be correct when he attributes all this nativist fanaticism of the Right to phony (e.g. elitist) populists like Trump. Those who seek political advantage by stirring the embers of grievance and victimization, because 'them furriners got more than us'.

As Wolf reminds us, most of this white male (mainly) grievance commenced with the 'Southern strategy' of Richard Nixon, who deliberately fed the fires of hatred by exploiting lower middle class and working class white "rage over racial, gender and cultural rage"  - now bearing a bitter fruit.

Speaking of Trump, the final element of the Right's misery trifecta  this week was his refusing to appear on the Republican FOX debate stage tonight. Evidently, it's true that the ferocity of FOX moderator Megyn Kelly  really does terrify the Donna. I mean, after she hosed him good in the original debate, one could understand why the Donna would not wish to go toe to toe with Megyn again.

Meanwhile, the WSJ's Holman W. Jenkins in his column yesterday pointedly asked:

"Why vote for Trump? He's adopted positions on abortion and gun control that nobody believes."

But one wonders, if the Donna can't face Megyn Kelly how would be able to stand up to Hillary if she's the Dem candidate, or Vladimir Putin if (god forbid) he somehow gets enough morons to vote for him? And why would anyone waste a vote on 'Donna' if no one believes his positions? Inquiring minds want to know!

Time will tell.

Obama the "Worst President" Since WWII? Are Americans Freakin' STUPID?

On the eve of Independence Day, modern day Americans have proven they're the stupidest, most historically uninformed, ignorant bunch of mutts ever. According to  a new Quinnipiac University Poll, 33% named Obama the worst president since World War II, and 28% put Bush at the bottom of post-war presidents.  What are these morons drinking, or more appropriately how did their brains end up in their asses? Have these fools NO recollection of history at all? Are their memories truly competitive with those of gnats? It seems so, especially if they rank Ronnie Raygun at the top.

According to Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll:

"Over the span of 69 years of American history and 12 presidencies, President Barack Obama finds himself with President George W. Bush at the bottom of the popularity barrel"

REALLY? On what basis? Feelings? You got it from FOX news? That doesn't count. Even more preposterous, the Quinnipiac poll also reports that 45% believe the nation would be better off had Mitt Romney defeated Obama in the 2012 presidential election. Which makes me wonder what brand of historical imbecile we are now producing with our education system.

The worst insult? Ronald Reagan topped the poll as "the best president" since World War II, with 35%. He is followed by presidents Bill Clinton (18%) and John F. Kennedy (15%).

Which proves to me that the voters polled ought to have their voting credentials revoked and sent back to kindergarten.

Look, let's clear up the bullshit and nonsense one time. As I noted before I've got lots of bones to pick with Obama, including endorsing the NSA overreach, ramping up a new surge in Afghanistan after he received the Nobel Peace Prize, actually proposing a "Debt commission" and a chained CPI to cut Social Security, I have also complained about Obama's tendency to not stand on principles and have the courage to act on them, thereby failing to become the transformative President he might have been e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2014/03/why-obama-failed-to-become.html

But failing to become a transformative President isn't the same as being the worst! Gimme a break!

The preponderance of these voters claim that Reagan is "the best President". Let me try to clear their heads. Reagan, recall, is the character who once opined that in an emergency, “submarine-fired missiles could be recalled”.

This is the guy who single-handedly destroyed the Trade Union movement (and back bone of the Democratic party) by firing 12,000 air traffic controllers, a move that's taken that industry the better part of two decades to compensate for, with hundreds of “near misses” along the way.

Reagan is also the shameless cretin who pulled critical social spending as he sliced taxes to their lowest levels in history (also helping to fire up the deficit) – leading to more than a half million mentally ill patients being tossed out of their hospital beds. Where did they end up? Most found themselves on the street, while the lucky few managed to somehow survive.

He also -while slicing taxes  - ran up a $2,2 TRILLION dollar defense budget debt (think $3,500 apiece toilets,  $150 hammers) that in fact turned the country into a DEBTOR nation for the first time in modern history.   Reagan's economic policies, bottom line, paved the way for the continuing debt crisis in which this nation finds itself.

But as seriously bad as all that was it still wasn't as bad as GeeDumbya Bush, who:

- Stole the Presidency in 2000 thanks to his brother Jeb and Kathleen Harris placing 40% of black democratic voters in Duval County on Felon's lists - so they couldn't vote. (See Chapter 1 of Greg Palast's expose, 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy')

- Ignored a security brief in August, 2001, warning of a likely strike by bin Laden using hijacked airliners.  Within weeks 9/11 followed.

- Used the ploy of 9/11 to pose as the "security President" while attacking Afghanistan then demanding Saddam be linked to that terror attack despite no evidence whatsoever.

- Launched the Iraq invasion and occupation thereby emulating Hitler's invasion and occupation of Poland in October, 1939. Thereby he also became the first president ever to violate the Nuremberg statutes against pre-emptive wars.

- Was responsible for an estimated 600,000 dead Iraqis (according to the World Health Organization) and over 4,400 Americans while running up $4 TRILLION in debt and not implementing higher taxes to pay for his adventures. (He actually CUT taxes, the first time ever in so-called "war time" and told Americans to "go shopping")

And you're going to tell me this bozo isn't the worst ever?

As for the Mittster, Americans really do prove they have the memories of gnats if they believe he'd have been better.  Here are a few things for the morons to cogitate on:

- By the end of his first term Romney - an elitist asshole of the one percent - would have cut taxes for the wealthiest, vastly increasing existing inequality. To pay for these cuts, he would have -with the cooperation of the Reeptard House- cut food stamps even more than they already have, and raised taxes on the poorest (those earning $20,000/year or less) in response to the then popular Repuke outcry that "the poor pay no income taxes!"

- Romney, again along with his Reepo House, would have cut Social Security - probably via the chained CPI and also by increasing Medicare premiums.

-In league with his chosen VP (Paul Ryan) Romney likely would also have ushered Ryan's Medicare voucher plan through. That would have meant seniors getting maybe $10,000 a year (if that) to purchase all their health care- whether operations, or preventive care - like colonoscopies.

- Romney, in line with his vows in the national security Presidential debate in Oct. 2012, would have attacked both Syria and Iran, likely embroiling the U.S. in two new conflicts that would have sucked even more precious treasure - while allowing the country to fall into rack and ruin.

So how should the Presidents be rated since World War II? Based on my own grasp and understanding of recent American history - the top three Presidents would be as follows::

1) John F. Kennedy (Irrespective of what assorted nitwit pundits have blathered, Kennedy did more positively for this nation than all the Reepos together - but most importantly - had he not acted with courage against the Joint Chiefs we'd all have been destroyed in a nuclear war (during the October Missile crisis) and we wouldn't even be having this conversation. See also:

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/10/thanks-to-jfk-we-still-have-civilization.html

2) Jimmy Carter: Started no wars nor did he launch invasions. Attempted to get Americans to focus on energy conservation for the future.

3) Barack Obama: He implemented the nation's first broad-based health care system which despite its flaws has given the less fortunate access that didn't exist before other than via costly emergency room visits. He collaborated with Vladimir Putin to avoid being ensnared in a Syrian war, and also refused to bomb Iran - as Romney would have done. Let me also remind my forgetful peers that Obama's 2009 economic stimulus - though it likely wasn't enough - saved this country from descending into another Depression after the 2008 credit crisis.  Despite his flaws, Obama merits position as 3rd best President, not the worst.

Now the three worst:

12) George W. Bush: For all the reasons given earlier.

11) Ronald Reagan: For all the reasons given earlier.

10) Richard Nixon:  Think 'Watergate' and bombing Cambodia while ramping up the Vietnam War.  Think having thugs break into Daniel Ellsberg's  psychiatrist's office and using the IRS as a weapon against political enemies. (For those wondering, Nixon's "saving grace - why he's 10th and not 11th) is that he gets credit for increasing Social Security COLAs to extend the life of the program.)

As for the Quinnipiac University Poll, it's worthless if based on responses from people who are either brainwashed Fox-ites or who know little or nothing of recent American history.

See also:
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/05/ronald_reagan_stuck_it_to_millennials_a_college_debt_history_lesson_no_one_tells/

and:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/09/1053088/-An-open-letter-to-the-people-who-hate-Obama-more-than-they-love-America?detail=email#