This does not say everyone hates him. It says a certain hate-filled, mob mentality has consumed the Left and the Media. I would add that some conservatives also hate him, but for different reasons.
In 2000 the Left and Media had not yet coallesced against him (from an old political family but a new national personality - everyone thought it would be Jeb but George surprised them) yet clearly wanted Al Gore. When they did not get Al Gore and could seize upon the Florida recount confusion and Bush’s popular vote loss but electoral vote win, they came at him with a vengeance.
By 2004 they had the death toll in Iraq and no weapons of mass destruction found to use against him. But John Kerry and his wife helped Bush by being who they are. The Swift Boat Vets advertising helped, too. Rove engineered a magnificent campaign outreach into the blurbs - beyond the suburbs and found new voters with conservative values to turn out -
Even with all of that and a strong popular vote margin, Bush is President by only 100,000 votes in Ohio. Flip Ohio and Kerry would have won.
The economy thanks to the tax cuts held Bush up. The insurgency in Iraq and war mismanagement almost sank him. Then the Surge allowed him some breathing room. Then the economy tanked, for which the Dems rejoiced - appropriately, since they engineered the collapse and always rejoice in bad news for America.
Returning to the point - the Left and Media’s behavior (NOT most Americans) after the Shoe Incident is beyond reprehensible and is driven by Bush hatred and mob mentality. So, although low in polls and ungratefully shoved aside by the American people, Bush isn’t (and this doesn’t claim) hated by most of us.
Rush said this several times. He said Bush is an unpopular President but most Americans don’t hate Bush the man. The two things aren’t one and the same.
However, there is dripping, smoldering hatred for him expressed on this conservative site. By people who can’t disagree on some issues without becoming consumed by hatred and wishing that we had had Al Gore/John Kerry all these years just so Bush could retroactively lose two elections in their minds.
Most of the conservatives I know, don’t hate GWB. They just don’t think he was a very good president and certainly was no conservative.
Are we back to the "Conservatives stayed home" mantra?
I would expect that conservatives voted overwhelmingly for Bush and again, overwhelmingly, for McCain...and I do truly dislike McCain!
For my part, I strongly disagree with both McC and GWB on immigration; totally and without condition. I also disagree with both in their compulsion to get along with those who would bury them in an instant - and pretty much did bury McCain.
However; remember that the people, not politicians and certainly not the media, turned back the late administration/McCain amnesty scheme and that the same people would have done it again even under a McCain presidency. None of my disagreements are adequate to define as "dripping, smoldering hatred".
Since the election I have sensed a growing undercurrent of remorse(?) from "middle of the road" Obama voters - not conservatives - and in each case their vote for Obama, or failure to vote at all, was attributed to "everyone I know hated Bush so much..."
When I tell them I wasn't overfond of him either, but didn't use that to pi%% away a vote, they get a whipped puppy look and go all quiet.
The true believers, in contrast, go directly to comparisons of Obama-magic versus (conservatives') envy, ignorance, evil intent, racism, bestiality, and imminent ruin.
If a few in this forum actually do hate the man or his policies, so be It!
And, note that I reserve the right never to drink designer label tequila with the same smoldering fervor.
In the meantime, get over the blame-a-conservative thing because without (Sarah Palin and) a bunch of conservatives who did go out and vote, McCain would be road kill instead of just an embarrassment.