The Bush administration was characterized by a remarkable lack of regard for civil liberties and simple honesty. In addition, the man was — and still is — an idiot, and his re-election in 2004 was a large part of why we started this site. Now that Bush's second term has ended, we can hopefully start to undo some of the damage he has done. But the impact of his legacy will linger for years — or even decades — to come. These Rants chronicle the exploits of the Idiot King, George W. Bush.
— • —
ACLU Gearing Up for Bush's Second Term
2004.11.19 (Fri) 17:26
Almost as soon as President Bush was re-elected for a second term, two things happened at the ACLU. First, they experienced an unprecedented surge in donations and membership requests, and second, the [»]
Senate Republicans Add Abortion Clause to Spending Bill
2004.11.21 (Sun) 14:29
This is exactly what we are ranting about on this site. It would be bad enough to try to pass this anti-abortion legislation on its own, but bundling it with the all but must pass spending bill should [»]
Sign the ACLU's "Refuse to Surrender" Pledge
2004.11.22 (Mon) 18:26
Today, the ACLU has asked all Americans to sign a simple pledge stating that we refuse to surrender our freedom. In the face of the Bush administration's history of disregard for civil rights, as well [»]
Preaching Abstinence Won't Help
2004.11.28 (Sun) 15:03
In a move that shocked nobody, President Bush's initiative to increase abstinence education for young people was funded at $131M in the omnibus spending bill passed last week. This represents an incre [»]
Leave it to Beaver
2004.12.04 (Sat) 12:12
A recent post by PZ Meyers entitled What women are supposed to want got us thinking about something we've touched on before — the apparent agenda of the Religious Right, and the Bush Administrat [»]
What Don't You Get About "No Ten Commandments"?
2004.12.17 (Fri) 20:59
By now, the news of an Alabama judge wearing the Ten Commandments on his judicial robes when presiding over trials has surely made its way to all corners of the political world. Apparently, Roy Moore' [»]
Armstrong Williams and the Media Whores
2005.01.08 (Sat) 14:01
Armstrong Williams is, apparently, a well-known conservative television and radio commentator and columnist. That was news to us, but then he does seem to be just another conservative shill, and we te [»]
Thoughts on Newdow - Why the Little Things Matter
2005.01.09 (Sun) 13:31
A few days ago, we reported that Michael Newdow had refiled his lawsuit seeking to have the words "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegience where Congress implanted them in 1954. We fully supp [»]
Planet of the Bushes
2005.01.16 (Sun) 23:00
A reader of ours, Steven, seems concerned about the direction Bush's America is taking — we share that concern wholeheartedly. Steven brought up Bush's recent statements regarding the public per [»]
Rice Under Fire - Alas, Only a Flesh Wound
2005.01.19 (Wed) 16:13
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart reported last night on the confirmation hearings aimed at installing Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State in the second Bush Administration. The committee voted 16-2 [»]
The Inaugural Address - Off the Cuff
2005.01.21 (Fri) 20:11
So Bush and his cohorts had a big party yesterday; and George got to make a big speech. His speeches are always impressive, in that it's truly amazing to see a man of his intellectual capacity string [»]
Urge Your Senators to Vote "No" on Gonzales
2005.01.26 (Wed) 20:20
A Senate vote to confirm Alberto Gonzales as the next Attorney General is fast approaching. It is inconceivable to us that this man could even be considered for the position of Attorney General given [»]
Senate Confirms Gonzales, Predictably
2005.02.04 (Fri) 19:31
No, it wasn't a surprise that Alberto Gonzales was confirmed by the Senate to be the next Attorney General, but that doesn't make it any less tragic, embarrassing, and horrific, and it doesn't make us [»]
Ten Commandments Cases to Begin This Week
2005.02.27 (Sun) 23:02
Two Ten Commandments cases — Van Orden v. Perry and McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky — are scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court beginning this Wednesday, March 2. For our part, we [»]
Gonzales Announces a List of Bad Ideas
2005.02.28 (Mon) 20:49
What do you get when you appoint an asshole who rubber stamps torture as your Attorney General? Shit like this, as reported on Yahoo News: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Monday he would move a [»]
Torture Lawsuit Against Rumsfeld to be Announced
2005.02.28 (Mon) 21:54
According to a press release found on Progressive Newswire, the ACLU and Human Rights First will hold a press conference tomorrow, March 1, at 10:30AM EST in Washington, DC to announce a lawsuit again [»]
Some Ten Commandments SCOTUS Links
2005.03.04 (Fri) 11:57
As we noted earlier this week (and as most people who visit this site no doubt knew), the Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday regarding government displays of the Ten Commandments. The post-gam [»]
Another Group That Wants It Both Ways
2005.03.12 (Sat) 17:47
It seems that the Salvation Army wants to have their discriminatory cake and eat it too. As reported via the Wall of Separation (the blog of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State): I [»]
Terri Schiavo: What's the Next Move?
2005.03.22 (Tue) 12:03
Let's recap the recent events in the Terri Schiavo debacle. Despite the proper findings of the Florida courts, Congress decided to stick their noses into the personal lives of a group of people who ar [»]
Terri Schiavo: The Next Moves (and Daddy Jeb)
2005.03.23 (Wed) 19:56
In a very short span of time, Terri Schiavo's parents seem to have run through their options. Again. But boy howdy did lots of politicians get lots of press out of it! Let's recap the activity of the [»]
Terri Schiavo: What We Learned
2005.03.31 (Thu) 23:28
Earlier today, what was left of Terri Schiavo died in a Florida hospice room. Her feeding tube had been out for two weeks. While we have repeatedly argued for the government to allow this day to come, [»]
So, When Does the Backlash Come?
2005.04.13 (Wed) 21:27
We've been wondering lately when the backlash against the growing Christian theocracy in the United States is going to come. Of course, it isn't a foregone conclusion that any backlash will happen, bu [»]
Abuse of the Recess Appointments Clause
2005.08.07 (Sun) 16:13
So as we expect most of you already know, Bush gave John Bolton an "interim" appointment to the United Nations as soon as the congressional adjournment was called. We can't say that this was a shock t [»]
Catching Up: On Katrina, William, John, John and Jon
2005.09.14 (Wed) 21:35
...and we're back. Most of the general craziness we've been dealing with lately has begun to subside, and we should be back to Ranting (as opposed to just barely keeping up with comments on our existi [»]
Brown Sees His Own Stupidity, and Raises
2005.09.28 (Wed) 21:07
We saw a few more quotes from Michael Brown's testimony regarding the Katrina debacle, and we just wanted to respond to them. We picked these up from an AP story carried by ABC News: "I've overseen ov [»]
Stay the Course...Yeah, Right Over a Cliff
2005.10.13 (Thu) 16:33
We have had it with the political catchphrase, "stay the course." It is, in all sincerity, the most shortsighted, pigheaded, blatantly psychotic message that politicians can convey, particularly at th [»]
Submitted Without Comment
2005.11.03 (Thu) 23:54
We've been reading the ongoing coverage of Michael Brown's complete and total incompetence, and we wanted to throw a few of the more choice tidbits on the table, on the off chance that someone might n [»]
Dubya Has a Sense of Humor!
2006.01.28 (Sat) 02:11
Oh, wow. We never knew that Bush could joke about himself like this! We have to say, it's pretty cool of him, and we tip our hats to the man.
From an Oh, wow. We never knew that Bush could joke about himself like this! We have to say, it's pretty cool of him, and we tip our hats to the man.
From an [»]
State of the Union: Graphical Cliffs Notes
2006.01.31 (Tue) 23:06
For the kids, who might not have understood everything our illustrious president was babbling on about — a translation: [»]
State of the Union: There's Nothing to See Here
2006.02.03 (Fri) 23:20
Enough folks have taken issue with what George W. said on Tuesday (or, more to the point, the lack thereof). (If you want read about the content, go check out Enough folks have taken issue with what George W. said on Tuesday (or, more to the point, the lack thereof). (If you want read about the content, go check out [»]
Alito and the Future of Abortion Rights
2006.03.03 (Fri) 21:53
When that Alito guy was confirmed to the Supreme Court, we were pretty concerned. We didn't much like the guy, and in the arena of toadying to the religious right, he was a much bigger concern to us t [»]
The Talking Monkey
2006.07.19 (Wed) 15:59
Does it bother anyone else that George W. Bush has absolutely no clue how to behave in international diplomatic circumstances? Or even, more simply, how to behave as an adult?
Yes, he ?
Yes, he [»]
Illegal Warrantless Wiretapping Deemed Illegal
2006.08.18 (Fri) 14:36
Can we get a "Duh!" on that one, brothers and sisters?
A Federal District Court Judge Can we get a "Duh!" on that one, brothers and sisters?
A Federal District Court Judge [»]
Go Vote*
2006.11.07 (Tue) 12:05
[* Unless you're an idiot. Then please stay home and just pray for your candidates to win. We're sure that will work out just as well for you.]
Of course, to our overseas readers, feel [»]
Election Day Recap
2006.11.08 (Wed) 16:04
As we've said many times before, we don't love the Democrats, but we openly admit that we supported them through this past election — if only to get the Republican asshats out of power. So, with [»]
The End of an Error
2009.01.20 (Tue) 15:58
A little over four years ago, we launched the Two Percent Company. We did so in order to confront a host of disturbing trends that seemed — to us, anyway — to be sweeping like a wave of ra [»]