It is just plain silly to say of GWB that he is the "worst president since World War II." It underrates him. He is surely the best American president of the 21st Century, so far!

As for competing in the other direction, he has to be the very worst president since before the Civil War. At the very least. Probably the worst in the history of the Republic. Most of those other guys are guilty at most of falling asleep at the switch. Or like poor old Grant, just being elected at the wrong time.

A point I am v. curious about. This is the only on-line discussion group I ever joined, and I have not been around much in the last couple years. Is Guest Woody's tactic of dumping a ton of s..., so you cannot wade through it and have no desire to respond, a common one in on-line discussions?

Surely Woody is right about one thing. Sadaam Hussein is a bastard. He is also a bastard that was put into power by U.S. meddling and fostered and sustained by Donald Rumsfeld and others in the Regan administration. And whoever ends up in power in Iraq after our adventure there is over (if it ever is) is likely to be equally bad. One might think the moral is, meddling can have unintended bad consequences and should be indulged in with restraint.