‘Incompetent’ is the top word that Americans associate with President Bush.
By on Dec 18th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
‘Incompetent’ is the top word that Americans associate with President Bush.
In a Pew survey released today, “just 11% said Bush will be remembered as an outstanding or above average president,” which is “by far the lowest positive end-of-term rating for any of the past four presidents.” Sixty-four percent of respondents said that the Bush administration “will be remembered more for its failures than its accomplishments.” The poll also asked people to describe Bush in a word. The top word that came to mind for 56 respondents was “incompetent“:
Update This post originally stated that "56 percent" of respondents called Bush "incompetent." It has been edited to correctly say "56 respondents." Apologies for not initially updating after the change was made.
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hmmmm… sometimes surveys ARE right….
December 18th, 2008 at 4:57 pm“‘Incompetent’ is the top word that Americans associate with President Bush.”
– - Really? That word that comes to my mind is douchenozzle.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:00 pmThe top word that came to mind for 56 percent was “incompetent“
56 respondents, NOT 56 percent. Come on, guys. It says so on the chart itself!
I’m amazed even 31 persons considered him “honest”.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:01 pmInteresting that those who see him as “Christian” went from 14 in ‘04 to 0 now. Did he denounce God or something?
December 18th, 2008 at 5:03 pmYeah, I guess it would have been inappropriate and in bad taste for Pew to include “major league *sshole”.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:03 pmWhat’s also interesting is that people considered less a “Liar” or “Dishonest”. I guess they’re blaming his failures on being incompetent, not evil (because that’s Cheney’s job).
December 18th, 2008 at 5:06 pm“Incompetent” better be on its toes. “Idiot” is in second place with a bullet.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:07 pmStupid Git said, “Interesting that those who see him as “Christian” went from 14 in ‘04 to 0 now. Did he denounce God or something?”
Yet, many people felt he wasn’t as dishonest in ‘08 than in ‘04.
What gives?
December 18th, 2008 at 5:09 pmWell, as a sign of competence of his so-called administration, TP earlier ran a report on Cond. Rice saying that there was no fraud in Iraq.
On CNN’s web page today is a report that American FBI Agents in Iraq chalked up overtime for activities such as going to see a movie and cocktail parties.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/18/fbi.iraq.overtime/index.html
December 18th, 2008 at 5:09 pmSure but then again the word “dicktard” wasn’t on the list…
December 18th, 2008 at 5:10 pmI can think of a few more words, although I am not sure they are fit to print…
December 18th, 2008 at 5:10 pmActually that chart is kinda funny. In 2004, when thinking of Bush, “Christian” was the first thing that came to mind to 14 out of 1,000 people. In 2008 zero people thought of “Christian” when they thought of ole Georgie. Merry Christmas George.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:13 pmNotice, integrity went from 16 to 9, yet dishonest went from 9 to 1?
Apparently some contradiction.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:14 pmcriminal comes to mind, I don’t see it on the list..
December 18th, 2008 at 5:15 pmEven if 11% thought of him as “outstanding or above average”, how could they even possibly think that he’d be remembered that way?
December 18th, 2008 at 5:18 pmGeorge The Simple
December 18th, 2008 at 5:19 pmWhere’s “war criminal”, “tyrant”, “despot”, and “disaster”?
December 18th, 2008 at 5:23 pm“Pretzel strangler”
December 18th, 2008 at 5:26 pmWhat a long, strange trip it’s been.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:28 pmLessee, from the menu, I’d like ….
Incompetent, ignorant idiot, stupid, arrogant, ass liar.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:29 pmI was gonna suggest “turd” be added to the list, but then it occurred to me that the guy ain’t worth a shit.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:35 pmshoe target
December 18th, 2008 at 5:39 pmdraft & shoe dodger
Bush lost in the “liar” and “dishonest” class, but more than made up for it in the “idiot”, “ignorant”, and “incompetent” categories.
Where are you, Bush supporters? Will you stand by your failure of a Leader?
Heh…
December 18th, 2008 at 5:48 pmWhile “incompetent” and “idiot” easily head up the list, I would bet that if given the choice, “buttwipe” and “prick” would not be that far behind.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:52 pmWatching David Letterman’s clips of Presidential Speeches makes it clear we allow a true idiot to be President for 8 years. Embarrassment isn’t a strong enough word to say what Americans look like to the World. Yes Cheney is Satan but Bush is the poster for Child Left Behind.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:54 pmI’m not so sure, rhf. There is a chance that Chimpy actually believes his crap and, under that assumption, he’s “honest” in a twisted way. Though that in no way detracts from the conclusion that he’s bat-scat crazy, and incompetent, and a criminal, etc.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:58 pmDo we have to limit it to just ONE choice? Maybe we should have the ability to pick the top 5 or 10…EH?
December 18th, 2008 at 6:00 pmThief Criminal Puppet Fraud Scoundrel Oblivious Creepy Crook
December 18th, 2008 at 6:09 pmaccording to the graph dummya also gained 15 idiots points over four years. go figure…this assclown gets dumber by the breath.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:27 pmthe neocons word for him
zoolander
December 18th, 2008 at 6:36 pmrepublicans hate facts Says:
Wow, 31% think Bush is HONEST?
31 people, not 31%. So… it’s like only 3.1%
That’s the problem with letting the respondents choose whatever word they want, the individual percentages of the words chosen are small. Anyone care to add up the “pro” / “neutral” / “con” numbers on those words?
December 18th, 2008 at 6:40 pmIncompetent is too kind. I’d say catastrophic.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:54 pmNo surprises there.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:18 pmWow — the president must be surprised to note that the word “popular” is nowhere to be found — positively or negatively.
Wish there was a snowball’s chance he would look at the qualities/lack thereof on which he’s being judge.
Read my lips, Mr. Bush: IT’S NOT ABOUT “POPULARITY.” It’s about intelligence, thoughtfulness and honor.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:28 pm… “on which he’s being judged.”
December 18th, 2008 at 7:30 pmYeah, seriously. That’s 5.6%, not 56%. Read the charts right, please.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:49 pmWhat is worrisome is that 16% thought of “honor” or “honorable”.
Further evidence you cannot fix stupid.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:00 pmWhere are the words Retarded, Lush, Dumbass, Anti-Christ, Polluter, Neophyte, Uneducated, War Criminal and Traitor in all of this?
December 18th, 2008 at 8:47 pmtwo words i associate with bush:
rapture ready.
:)
December 18th, 2008 at 11:12 pmDon’t the Mormons sell special underwear under that label? LOL
December 18th, 2008 at 11:22 pmYes, folks (especially the fine folks at TP), these are NOT percentages, they are the number of respondents. Also, remember that the respondents were asked to sum up George Bush in one word. Just because a word like “liar” or “Christian” fell on the list, it isn’t because fewer people think of him that way. It’s because they were asked to give one, and only one, word. And, frankly, “Incompetent” should have jumped to people’s minds first.
TP, you must do a better job of proofreading your posts. In recent months, I have noticed a huge increase in the number of factual, spelling and grammatical errors in your posts. And they aren’t just coming from one person, either. Your status as a pre-eminent liberal website will only diminish if these errors continue. Please. Pay. More. Attention. Thank you. Spanking’s over.
December 18th, 2008 at 11:53 pmLuis M Says: “Anyone care to add up the pro/ neutral / con numbers on those words?”
Interesting question. I’ll have a go at it.
I counted 15 Positive words, 8 Negative words and one I call neutral (Okay).
In 2004 the shrubs Positive words totaled 215 and those same words in 2008 totaled 123. With 123, the Positive words decreased 42.79% from 2004.
In 2004 the shrub’s Negative words totaled 92 and those same words in 2008 totaled 159. With 159, the Negative words increased 72.83% from 2004.
Clearly, between these two samples there has been a large swing in the feeling of the respondents towards the Negative.
I believe that most people have come to realize that the Negative words describe the shrub better than the Positive words do.
For myself, a single word does not describe what I feel about this man and the people that were pulling his strings. But I’ll go with “hand puppet” for the shrub and “fascists” for the puppetmasters.
December 19th, 2008 at 12:01 am“Shoeworthy”
December 19th, 2008 at 12:26 amIt’s not 56 PERCENT… it’s 56 PEOPLE out of 1,000 (5.6%).
December 19th, 2008 at 9:45 amThe forgot “decider”
December 20th, 2008 at 2:14 am