Let's Play Rate the Best War Criminal President

I saw this poll on CNN this morning. It asked people to select the best president out of the last four:

-Bill Clinton
-George W. Bush
-Barack Obama
-Donald Trump

Can I get a WTF from the choir?

Sometimes when I see polls like that on the internet I'll go ahead and select one just to see the results of the poll. I'm sure plenty of other people do that also so the poll results, as with about everything nowadays, should be taken with a large grain of salt.

But I couldn't, would not, choose any of those humans as the "best" president over the last quarter century. It would be a hit to my soul, an affront to my humanity, a slap in the face to my moral fiber, whatever that is. Whatever good is inside me would be slowly eaten away by acceding to such a inane question.

All four of those presidents are war criminals. Sure, Trump is new at it and barely registers so far compared to his predecessors, but he's got the blood of innocent children on his hands already. Clinton, among other crimes against humanity, has the half million children killed in Iraq legacy ("we think it was worth it"). Bush, among other things, has the million killed in his illegal war on Iraq. Obama, among other things, has the Libya and Syria wars and resulting deaths of hundreds of thousands and displacement of millions.

So ya, which one is best? Answer that, American people.

[video:https://youtu.be/V-pUlN0bc58]

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

Azazello's picture

Trump shouldn't even be in there since he is just getting started. I rate George W. and Bill Clinton as the worst and second worst, respectively, presidents in my lifetime.

up
0 users have voted.

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

mimi's picture

@Azazello
so you say Obama was the best of the worst war criminal Presidents?

Who was then the worst of the best war criminal Presidents?

Who has the best of the worst constitutional democracies? Another game not to play?

I'll take a break and get in the kitchen where I belong and bake cookies. All the cookies I can buy are produced by the worst corporate criminal war supporting corporations and sold to those only, who can pay with credit cards from major banks online.

up
0 users have voted.
Bisbonian's picture

@mimi , it's hard to get any better than that!

up
0 users have voted.

"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

GreyWolf's picture

@Bisbonian but i agree, O has slaughtered the most people, so that's really good, for a "war president," right?

up
0 users have voted.
QMS's picture

Brains blended with bleach could maybe come up with the right answer on this one. Guess who!

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@QMS @QMS
but "mir ist alles Wurscht" by now, which google translate to "Me is all sausage". heh, that's AI not AL, artificial something.
Help * Dash 1

up
0 users have voted.
QMS's picture

@mimi @mimi Thanks for the chuckle mimi. Artificial sausage, hot dogs or wurst... Lol

edited to change subjected text

up
0 users have voted.
CB's picture

@mimi

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@CB
to see this video. Wurschtige conspiracy theory, here. Or may be Eric Schmidt has googled and bamboozled the BDN and messed up all my video watching pleasures. Tired.

up
0 users have voted.
CB's picture

@mimi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2RTaUd7u6o

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@CB
I think they ate a few too many sausages though, but who wouldn't fall in love with a dutchman of that kind of engineering caliber that he could make tasty sausages out of cats and dogs that you can enjoy.
Clapping
I understand that the German Wurst Song isn't up to standard. Hard to enjoy, but you can give it a try.:
[video:https://youtu.be/xAWzDeeXvoE]
With apologies to this site's owners. I won't do it again.

up
0 users have voted.

@mimi as bratworst champion. Worst brat to reside at the WH. He definitely kicked the P out of the office of President.

up
0 users have voted.

There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

ggersh's picture

I don't reckon there is a correlation but these golden years
ain't all they were cracked up to be.

Maybe the question should be, which president shouldn't be
behind iron bars? enablers like the one below should be included.

and just when you thought it was safe to venture out, Frankenstein returns..

http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/02/21/firestarter-the-unwelcome-return-...

up
0 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Big Al's picture

@ggersh government criminals to prison, Blair and Bush were/are it. At least Bush only shows up to baseball games.

up
0 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

@Big Al

up
0 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

riverlover's picture

Who was best: Chester V Arthur or Millard Fillmore? How's that?

up
0 users have voted.

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

He gave good parties. Though Carricalla and Nero had a hostile press. (lots of fake news like that fiddle thing)

up
0 users have voted.

On to Biden since 1973

detroitmechworks's picture

I'd rate Clinton at the absolute bottom, because he made corruption cool.
Bush 2nd because he showed that the MSM will defend you as long as you push for war.
Obama 3rd worst, because he didn't start any of it, just discovered that you can do everything exactly the same, as long you claim you can't do anything.
And Trump Best just because he hasn't done that much damage personally in one month.

Not that the MSM would let you ever accept stating that you don't hate Trump as much as other people. Apparently you have to think of him as SATAN. Course, I think of satan a little differently.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkQrOugHOo8]

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Maybe Trump by default, because he hasn't had time to do as many horrible things yet? I dunno. It's hard for me to separate Clinton 1, Bush, and Obama, because in retrospect it's so clear that they're all taking us farther and farther on the same path. Clinton was a set-up man. He put the economy and the financial sector and the press in the right condition, then George came behind him to destroy what civil liberties and rule of law we had and to institute a permanent state of endless war and low taxes for the wealthy. Then Obama came behind him to lend the moral credibility of the first Black president to this state of affairs. He was essentially a propaganda man, and it was his job to make sure the American tradition of questioning authority died. That's why his Admins were so obsessed with messaging and throwing people in jail for asking the wrong questions, publishing the wrong articles, etc.

I think Trump is something the establishment didn't expect, but they've got a trap door in the person of Mike Pence. Trump's a bastard, but not the right kind of bastard, exactly, and they're very exacting.

up
0 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

When and where has the US been under imminent threat of military force from another country? We have had no ethical justification for the use military force since WWII. Yet we continue to kill people around the world, with enormous blow-back. Congratulations Donald, you have now joined the club. Perhaps now the establishment will accept you.

The answer to the question is President Jimmy Carter, the only one to not use military force. On Presidents' day I tell people that on this day I celebrate Jimmy Carter day.

I wonder about the concept of conscientious objection to paying taxes that finance wars. We have that concept for serving in the military but we can't escape paying taxes to finance those same wars. I would separate out those funds that pay for war. I would then allow that an individual tax payer may opt to have that portion of his taxes go to a recognized charity. Your tax dollars are going to kill people just as sure as you point a rifle at someone and pull the trigger. After all who is more guilty, the thug that carries out the hit or the mobster who pays for it?

up
0 users have voted.

Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

@The Wizard about

the concept of conscientious objection to paying taxes that finance wars

is where most of our focus should be, especially about illegal wars. That, and filing criminal complaints against our government, or individuals in our government, for committing crimes.

up
0 users have voted.
earthling1's picture

@Linda Wood Filing grievances against those that are above the law is useless. Complaining to your congresscritter laughable. The courts, the congress, and the White House are allied against us.
As a people, we have to do this without them.
Credexit. Deal in cash only. Stop borrowing money from them. Save save save.
Not for Christs sake, but for the sake of all humankind, STOP CONSUMING!

up
0 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

@earthling1 I do understand that not paying taxes is prosecutable. But why is it NOT prosecutable to invade and bomb a country that hasn't attacked us, where there is no declaration of war, and where misleading statements were used to panic the country into war?

I agree with your description of the situation, but I believe the American people should be actively, legally challenging this state of affairs. If I pay taxes to support war crimes, I am guilty of war crimes. I must have the right to refuse to support illegal war.

up
0 users have voted.
gulfgal98's picture

Overall, Bill Clinton could be rated the best or the worst, depending upon the criteria. Clinton got a lot of things done, which could possibly rate him the best of the bunch. But to me, he was the worst because the things he got done in his eight years were the wrong things that we the people are still trying to undo. IMHO, Obama was the worst war criminal. His legacy has left the Middle East in ruins with now seven countries in which we are illegally bombing.

up
0 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

At this point, I'd pick W.

up
0 users have voted.

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@dkmich It would take some months of Trumpy for me to rank him as worse than W. But the whole question is absurd. The only response that doesn't play the establishment's stupid game would go something like this:

"Well, go on," Wolfe murmured. "I never answer a question containing two or more unsupported assumptions."

up
0 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

My rank for worst to best and why....

Obama - he knew better
Trump - he knows nothing, but that's no excuse
Clinton - he didn't give a shit
W. - he had little control

up
0 users have voted.

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Alligator Ed's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal Answer me that--and I'll tell you where the wild goose goes.

up
0 users have voted.
Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Alligator Ed Apparently, Wolfe will answer a question containing only one unsupported assumption--probably because if he didn't, he'd rarely answer questions. Smile

up
0 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

There is no right answer, kinda like the ones some employers use to rate you on their job apps. but I always keep in mind whatever you say can and will be used against you.

up
0 users have voted.

Maybe the defensenews site is a bunch of crap propaganda, but I don't think so.
The warrior-thinker Trump picked for national security adviser

...
McMaster has also proved over time that he’s not scared to criticize the Army. He’s often said the service moves too slowly to replace aging capabilities -- such as armored combat vehicles -- and has offered up creative strategies to get around the sluggish pace of acquisition and tight budgets that have plagued the Army for many years.

The general has recently advocated strongly to prioritize close-combat capability, to find new ways to increase armor and protection for vehicles, and to develop capability to counter the rising drone threat.

Close combat means body bags, and thanks Bloody Obama for the drone war escalation. It never ends.

McMaster has also said the current fight against the Islamic State and other conflicts in the region cannot be won simply by throwing ground troops at the problem but will require local governments and coalition partners to stabilize these countries and eradicate terrorist activity.

Ding ding ding! ~doink!~

Thanks for the space to voice anti-war, anti-violence, pro-peace opinions. Thanks a lot.

up
0 users have voted.
riverlover's picture

@eyo and body bags home. You are correct.

up
0 users have voted.

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

CB's picture

From worst to least worst (take note there is no best)

Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama was the absolute worst by far.
Here's Mr. Hopey Changy's legacy:

  • Sent 3,500 U.S. troops and tanks to Russia's doorstep in one of his final decisions as president.
  • Obama ordered ten times more drone strikes than Bush.
  • In 2016 alone Obama dropped 26,171 bombs (an average of 72 bombs every day).
  • Put boots on the ground in Syria , despite 16 times saying "no boots on the ground".
  • Despite campaign pledges, planned a $1 trillion progam to add more nuclear weapons to the US arsenal in the next 30 years.
  • Dropped bombs in 7 Muslim countries; and then bragged about it .
  • Said, “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.”
  • Bragged about his use of drones - I'm "really good at killing people".
  • Deported a modern-record 2 million immigrants.
  • Signed the Monsanto Protection Act into law.
  • Started a new war in Iraq .
  • Initiated, and personally oversees a 'Secret Kill List'.
  • Pushed for war on Syria while siding with al-Qaeda .
  • Backed neo-Nazis in Ukraine.
  • Supported Israel's wars and occupation of Palestine.
  • Deployed Special Ops to 134 countries - compared to 60 under Bush.
  • Did a TV commercial promoting "clean coal".
  • Drastically escalated the NSA spying program .
  • Signed the NDAA into law - making it legal to assassinate Americans w/o charge or trial.
  • Given Bush absolute immunity for everything.
  • Pushed for a TPP Trade Pact .
  • Started a new war on terror - this one on ISIS .
  • Signed more executive memoranda than any other president in history.
  • Transferred more than $100 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, more than any other administration in history.
  • Signed an agreement for 7 military bases in Colombia .
  • Opened a military base in Chile.
  • Touted nuclear power, even after the disaster in Japan.
  • Opened up deep water oil drilling, even after the BP disaster.
  • Mandated the Insider Threat Program which orders federal employees to report suspicious actions of their colleagues.
  • Defended body scans and pat-downs at airports.
  • Signed the Patriot Act extension into law.
  • Launched 20,000 Airstrikes in his first term.
  • Continued Bush's rendition program.
  • Said the U.S. is the "one indispensable nation" in the world.
  • Waged war on Libya without congressional approval.
  • Started a covert, drone war in Yemen.
  • Escalated the proxy war in Somalia.
  • Escalated the CIA drone warin Pakistan.
  • Sharply escalated the war in Afghanistan.
  • Repealed the Propaganda ban, making it legal to spread government propaganda via news outlets.
  • Assassinated 4 US citizens with drone strikes.

We've been abused and screwed six ways till Sunday by Obama. But only because we have yet to see his legacy for Sunday.

Excuse me. I feel dirty. I'll be back after an enema and hot shower.

OK, I'm back. Who's next?

I put Clinton as second worst. He designed and set up the stage for the Kabuki performances by the following two presidents.

  • Prison-loving president
  • Punitive welfare reform
  • Wall Street’s Deregulator-in-Chief
  • Gutted manufacturing via trade agreements
  • No LGBT equality: Defense of Marriage Act
  • Expanded the war on drugs
  • Expanded the death penalty
  • Returned to Cold War priorities
  • Joycelyn Elders and the culture war
  • Turning Lincoln Bedroom into fundraising condo
  • Bombed Sudanese pharmaceutical plant
  • Doubled down on Iraq sanctions
  • Political smears: Sistah Souljah
  • Knew about coming Rwandan genocide
  • Escalated America's foreign drug wars

Bush third worst - mainly because you knew what you were buying. He was upfront with his lies. If you didn't know this, then it was because your eyes were wide shut.

Trump fourth worst, mainly because he has not 'accomplished'. anything yet. But it is apparent he is attempting to reverse some of the abuses set up by his three predecessors by kicking the gigantic shit pot located in DC. It remains to be seen if he will be successful or if Obama's shit is too sticky.

Trump’s Foreign Policy: Retreat or Rout?
With President Trump’s foreign-policy team sounding a lot like President Obama’s, the new question is whether Trump has caved in to Official Washington’s powers-that-be or is biding his time for a big move, asks Gilbert Doctorow.

Damn. I feel dirty again. Going for another hot shower.

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@CB
and don't feel dirty anymore. What's next? What does it help? Venting your frustrations (for which I have a lot of sympathy and I do value all the info in your list as well) can't be the end of all, no? Those Presidents are gone. The current one will have to be "evaluated" for his future "accomplishments".

Is there a way to try to find a method to prevent future "accomplisments" from being military activities on foreign territories? I just wonder where to direct my "activism" activities to. Tired.

up
0 users have voted.
CB's picture

@mimi
It has turned into the disease. It wants to destroy the world to 'save' the country. It's added neo-McCarthyism to its neoliberal and neocon bonifides.

Maybe we can go back in time. Here's some music to take you there.

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@CB
"eins plus" (EinsPlus was a digital television channel from the German broadcaster ARD and managed by ARD regional broadcaster SWR.) closed down due to financial troubles. I just learned of their existence through your post. Like the music a lot. Smile

up
0 users have voted.

@CB
But about President Obama, don't forget the continued bailout of banks:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikecollins/2015/07/14/the-big-bank-bailout/...

Forbes JUL 14, 2015
The Big Bank Bailout
Mike Collins

Most people think that the big bank bailout was the $700 billion that the treasury department used to save the banks during the financial crash in September of 2008. But this is a long way from the truth because the bailout is still ongoing. The Special Inspector General for TARP summary of the bailout says that the total commitment of government is $16.8 trillion dollars with the $4.6 trillion already paid out. Yes, it was trillions not billions and the banks are now larger and still too big to fail. But it isn’t just the government bailout money that tells the story of the bailout. This is a story about lies, cheating, and a multi-faceted corruption which was often criminal...

up
0 users have voted.

@Linda Wood

Thanks for yet another essential must-read!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikecollins/2015/07/14/the-big-bank-bailout...

Forbes JUL 14, 2015
The Big Bank Bailout
Mike Collins

... In an article Secrets and Lies of the Bailout, Matt Taibbi says “It was all a lie – one of the biggest and most elaborate falsehoods ever sold to the American people. We were told that the taxpayer was stepping in – only temporarily, mind you – to prop up the economy and save the world from financial catastrophe. What we actually ended up doing was the exact opposite: committing American taxpayers to permanent, blind support of an ungovernable, unregulatable, hyper concentrated new financial system that exacerbates the greed and inequality that caused the crash, and forces Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to increase risk rather than reduce it.

After the original $700 billion bailout, the ongoing bailout was kept very secret because Chairman Ben Bernanke, argued that revealing borrower details would create a stigma — investors and counterparties would shun firms that used the central bank as lender of last resort. In fact, $7.7 trillion of the secret emergency lending was only disclosed to the public after Congress forced a one-time audit of the Federal Reserve in November of 2011. After the audit the public found out the bailout was in trillions not billions; and that there were no requirements attached to the bailout money - the banks could use it for any purpose. ...

Even if you knew at least some of this before, it kinda makes you want to spit nails and criminal charges at all concerned, doesn't it?

Bernie was, if I recall correctly, the one who got that one-time audit of the Fed through. Guessing that'll never happen again...

up
0 users have voted.

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Creosote.'s picture

@CB
Then there's that election video where he talks about disagreement, then says, "I'll crush them."
Everyone laughed.

up
0 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

cause they all are horrid. I'll not rank one turd over the other.

up
0 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

The invasion of Iraq probably had the highest ratings, especially after the tax cuts.

up
0 users have voted.
Socialprogressive's picture

There is no best in the group listed. They are/were all bad for the American people.

up
0 users have voted.

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

divineorder's picture

Losing my religion!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ2yXWi0ppw

Over there. Yah. That's me in the corner...

up
0 users have voted.

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

riverlover's picture

@divineorder It always makes me sigh. ...just a dream.

up
0 users have voted.

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Alligator Ed's picture

First: Big Al, why did you pick the Guess Who singing American Woman? Medusa didn't win.

First of the worst: Slick Willie who started us on the slide into pay for play, making all the wrongs so much easier for those who followed. I think he knew exactly what he was doing.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkXIYgsvO0c]

My next vote goes to W, whom I usually call President Stupid (but who knew damn well what he was doing):

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMmsoxoDC1E]

In third place, chronologically at least, comes Barry the Bomber Obama:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk7V70W0F-I]

In fourth place, only because he's been in office only two months and there is still a glimmer of hope, the Hairball:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZhnG7-WWF8]

up
0 users have voted.

Obama did much more drone killing than Bush the Lesser and they both had people tortured outside the US, but Obama was more hypocritical and vague about his role in torture. Clinton (and Poppy) offshored torture, too. Trump has done the least, but only because he has barely begun his term. I give him no props for that. He may be the worst before he's done.

The correct answer is "All of the above" plus others.

up
0 users have voted.

Bill Clinton set a high bar with the Balkan Intervention and the Iraq sanctions, but Darth Cheney easily surpassed that with the wars in Afghanistan (for the over $3 TRILLION in recoverable mineral wealth) and Iraq (need I say more than oil?). Obama is a mere poser in comparison, and Trump so far is all talk.

up
0 users have voted.

Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.

If the field were expanded to include Nixon and Johnson, W. would have some serious competition.

up
0 users have voted.

Beware the bullshit factories.