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A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency Hardcover – June 26, 2007
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On September 12, 2001, President Bush addressed the nation and presented a very clear view of what was to come—a view that can be said to define his entire presidency: “This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil.” Based on his own Christian faith and backed by biblical allusions, Bush’s worldview was basic and binary—and everyone was forced to choose a side. Riding high on public support, Bush sailed through the early “War on Terror,” easily defining our enemies and clearly setting an agenda for defeating them.
But once the war became murkier—its target unclear, its combatants no longer seen in black-and-white—support for Bush and his policies dropped precipitously. Glenn Greenwald brilliantly reveals the reasons behind the collapse of Bush’s power and approval, and argues that his greatest weakness is the same rhetoric that once propelled him so far forward. Facing issues that could not be turned into simple good versus evil choices—the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, his plans for Social Security “reform,” and, most ironic, the failed Dubai ports deal—Bush faltered and fell. Now, Greenwald argues, Bush is trapped by his own choices, unable to break out of the mold that once served him so well, and indifferent to the consequences.
A Tragic Legacy is the first true character study of one of the most controversial men ever to hold the office of president. Enlightening, powerful, and eye-opening, this is an in-depth look at the man whose incapability and cowboy logic have left America at risk.
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCrown
- Publication dateJune 26, 2007
- Dimensions6.35 x 1.13 x 9.46 inches
- ISBN-100307354199
- ISBN-13978-0307354198
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—Alan Colmes, Hannity & Colmes, Fox News
“Glenn Greenwald’s excoriating analysis of the Bush presidency goes much deeper than mere polemics. His layered interpretation of the Manichean mentality that defines the Bush White House describes a disastrously inappropriate mindset for a modern power in a time of global turmoil. This early portrait of the Bush presidency and the right wingers who cheered it on will be read and appreciated for many years to come.”
—Scott McConnell, editor of The American Conservative
“In the bare-knuckle cacophony of the blogosphere Glenn Greenwald has been a beacon of clarity chronicling President Bush’s unfolding war on the rule of law. No one is better placed to explain how the president’s embrace of extremism in the battle against extremism has put the country’s most sacred ideals, even the country itself, under the gravest threat.”
—Josh Marshall, editor of Talking Points Memo
“Glenn Greenwald has emerged as one of the nation’s most incisive and articulate exponents of the critique of the Bush Administration. In admirably clear prose and with the ferocity of a former litigator, he is day in and day out building a powerful case against an undeniably consequential and radical presidency.”
—Dan Froomkin, WashingtonPost.com White House Watch columnist
“A compelling examination of how moral beliefs can drive political decisions, with disastrous consequences.”
—Booklist
“In A Tragic Legacy, [Greenwald] wrestles with much more significant and amorphous material as he attempts to trace the dangerous, stark philosophy underlying the most pernicious policies of the current administration and to tease out their implications for the character of this nation. To say that he succeeds is a massive understatement. From every aspect—writing, clarity of thought and most importantly, structure of the book (often neglected in similar works)—he pounds his argument home about the utter bankruptcy of thought behind the president’s words and actions: This is extremism. This is immoral. This is, ultimately, un-American at its core.”
—Daily Kos
"[Greenwald] has constructed an impressive argument about the basic template of the Bush Administration, and how it has tried to permanently alter America and our relationship to the world. Anyone who wants to successfully challenge and change that legacy owes it to themselves to read this book as an indispensable guide to how to proceed."
—Paul Rosenberg, AltWeeklies.com
"Greenwald has crafted for us and the world a moving, cathartic, and insightful book that hopefully will give the non-blogging public a new level of comprehension as to the dangers we face under an unbridled chief executive whose view of the world is not much more nuanced nor a great deal less fanatical than that of, say, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who also just so happens to believe that he’s on a personal 'Mission from God'. Ignore this book at your peril."
—FireDogLake.com
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Product details
- Publisher : Crown; 1st edition (June 26, 2007)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0307354199
- ISBN-13 : 978-0307354198
- Item Weight : 1.25 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.35 x 1.13 x 9.46 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,041,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,210 in United States Executive Government
- #5,570 in Public Affairs & Policy Politics Books
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Glenn Greenwald is the author of several bestsellers, including How Would a Patriot Act? and With Liberty and Justice for Some. His most recent book is No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State. Acclaimed as one of the 25 most influential political commentators by The Atlantic, one of America's top 10 opinion writers by Newsweek, and one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers for 2013 by Foreign Policy, Greenwald is a former constitutional law and civil rights litigator. He was a columnist for The Guardian until October 2013 and is now a founding editor of a new media outlet, The Intercept. He is a frequent guest on CNN, MSNBC, and various other television and radio outlets. He has won numerous awards for his NSA reporting, including the 2013 Polk Award for national security reporting, the top 2013 investigative journalism award from the Online News Association, the Esso Award for Excellence in Reporting (the Brazilian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), and the 2013 Pioneer Award from Electronic Frontier Foundation. He also received the first annual I. F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism in 2009 and a 2010 Online Journalism Award for his investigative work on the arrest and detention of Chelsea Manning. In 2013, Greenwald led the Guardian reporting that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service.
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His subtitle is "How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency." This is exactly what he explains in six chapters. It is frightening because it is predictable just as a parent may be able to predict the behavior of her child, or a husband predicts his spouse's.
The first facts we are given is the steady decline in Bush's popularity. Since 2002, those who strongly disapproved of him have increased and those who have strongly approved, decreased rendering the 43rd president the most unpopular president in our history. He proceeds to tell us why and how.
Bush sees himself as a Manichean warrior. A belief started by a Persian prophet in the 3rd century, it is a view that there are two forces in the world--good and evil. The forces of good may use whatever is necessary as long as it serves the good and works against evil. (Anyone who can recall anything George Bush has said in the past seven years will recognize the theme in his speeches.) This also precludes him from making errors or being wrong. The only people who are mistaken or wrong are those who think he has and is. And since he can use any tool at his disposal to fight evil, such as rendition, torture, or detention, it is not evil.
By defining himself in terms of good vs. evil may explain his lethargic approach to domestic issues and needs. There are no dragons to slay even if it is a hurricane that swallows an American city. George Bush was prepared to defend Americans against terrorism, but not against an attack from weather, or through our ports, or through our infrastructure, particularly if it means raising taxes.
For those who believe that George Bush is fighting the forces of evil, the people who challenge his actions are "terrorist lovers" who believe in "terrorist rights," and do not support our troops. For them, the charge of terrorism is as good as proof of terrorism because the Man has declared it so.
Here's the irony and the contradiction: By feeling that any strategy or weapon is at his disposal he has come to be seen by the world as the same evil he decries. By denying the rights of our citizens and those even of our allies, he has come to be hated as much as others have hated terrorism.
The second irony is that in detaining our citizens as enemy combatants, authorizing kidnappings and renditions to provide us with security, our security and our constitutional rights are being destroyed in the process. Detaining American citizens without charges, counsel, or communication with the outside world would have been considered unthinkable only a few short years ago.
Millions of people have been born since our invasion of a sovereign nation and have seen the tortures and degridation at abu-Ghraib. They only see the United States as evil. All that George Bush has tried to do has had the opposite effect.
And now, George Bush is concerned about his legacy, how people will see him. He has compared himself to Harry Truman, Abraham Lincoln, Lyndon Johnson, and FDR but falls woefully short in each comparison. Like most wartime presidents, he will be remembered as one, and one who has lost, and one who has disabled his own military, left a mountain of debt, with no singular domestic or foreign achievement.
Greenwald's arguments are backed up with a mountain of evidence. His writing is interesting, provocative, and persuasive. His message is very profound.
When you read this book, and I hope you do, maybe you will do the same thing I did at the end. You will exhale deeply and just think, and think some more about what our president has done, and what kind of legacy he leaves behind.
02 29 08: 325 days and a wake-up until the Forces of Evil leave office.
Also Recommended:
More About Bush:
Waldman, Paul, "Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You."
Dean, John, "Worse than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George Bush."
Frank, Justin A. M.D., "Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President."
Greenwald, Glenn "How Would a Patriot Act: Defending America's Values from a President Run Amok."
More About his Constitutional Violations:
Center for Constitutional Rights, "Articles of Impeachment Against George Bush."
Byrd, Robert C., "Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency."
Miles, Steven, M.D., "Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity, and the War on Terror"
When Bush ordered U.S. forces into Afghanistan after 9/11 I nodded my assent like so many. I didn't fully understand the strategy as, my knowledge of terrorism leads me to believe it can't be fought by conventional tactics only by intelligence. But, I let that one go, as, again, what do I know? I'm not in charge.
Then came tax cuts, then came Iraq, at this point I couldn't stand it anymore. I started to learn about Bush the draft dodger, Bush the Governor, Bush the 43rd president. Cheney, and the other cabinet members, were all chicken hawks, steeped in religion and blind allegiance to Israel which, again, comes from religious beliefs that have no place in the politics of the world. Honestly, I'm disgusted. Bush displayed no capability to make a rational decision and take into account ALL factors. His only parameters are, do they fit his version of Good or Evil?
Bush ushered in a new wave of Neo-Con thinking and authoritarian rule. His style is almost dictatorial and, thank goodness we have mid term elections so we can isolate a president via the senate and the congress.
Glenn Greenwald's book is extremely well researched and laid out in a fashion that keeps you interested. The tag line of the book is "How a good VS. Evil mentality destroyed the Bush Presidency". That could be expanded with ".. and the reputation of America".
Bush climbed off the 9/11 rubble into a 90% favorable rating. He left office with a 32% favorable rating, highlighting another thing he managed to destroy. His legacy lives on in the shape of policies that bankrupt, Wars that are almost forgotten and no longer reported on, but, he also leaves behind the die-hards who defend this man to their last breath.
Cheny is now doing the talk show circuit plugging his memoir "In my time". To watch this man give his opinion and deny his policies enacted during his term hurt this country makes my blood boil. Yes, this is opinion but it's opinion born of lots of research and personal experience of time spent under this clandestine, corrupt excuse for an administration.
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What Mr.Greenwald really means is that Mr. Bush sees things in stark black and white, with himself as white. There are no subtle shades of grey. If you're not with him, you're against him. This is the view of the fanatic, be s/he religious or political. These are terrifying creatures, completely blind to reason and logic, determined only to force their view on others. In this, George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden are well-matched.
However, it is frankly terrifying that such a person can be President of the USA, the world's only superpower and possessor of its mightiest arsenal. It's like letting children with a box of matches loose in a fireworks factory. But then, the USA is a religious country, the official religion being the USA itself, a belief in its essential goodness and rightness and its destiny to spread this to other less enlightened places, whether they like it or not. Mr. Bush, a not very bright scion of East Coast privilege who got religion, has, in the aftermath of the 9/11 atrocity, used this official religion to take the USA down a perilous road to aggressive war on a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and to threaten to go to war with another. Saddam Hussein was indeed a most unpleasant individual, but then so are many of the US's current allies. And by removing Saddam, the Arab world's counterweight to non-Arab, nearly 100% Shi'ite Iran, Bush strengthened Iran enormously and enriched it at the same time with high oil prices. Not bad going.
Mr. Greenwald makes his case in vast, indeed overwhelming, detail and he lays it on thick and fast. He makes it again and again - and again and again and again. Sometimes one feels like crying, "Enough! No more!" as example succeeds example, each more outrageous than the last. While this is all very well for committed Bush bashers, some of us would prefer a more measured discourse, such as, where does the US go from here? But of course Mr. Greenwald appears to be at heart a polemicist, a Democratic version of the Rush Limbaughs and Ann Coulters of the Republican side, but being somewhat of an improvement over their 100% fact-free vituperative ravings.
Can facts, measured debate and mature reasoning win in the USA against soundbites and rabble-rousing? I'd like to think so. As things currently stand, the USA represents the greatest danger to world peace on the planet. We can only hope that the US electorate comes to its senses in November and votes out the catastrophe called the Republican Party, and that the Party spends a long time in the wilderness recovering from its self-inflicted wounds and learning how to be sensible again. The tragedy of the Bush years is that the Republican Party has turned from a responsible party into a collection of assorted loonies. I wish it a speedy recovery, so that it can again become the party of that greatest of US Presidents, Abraham Lincoln.







