The Bu$h maladministration has three more years to run (technically.) Yet, in the eyes of many on the left and center, and for quite a few moderates on the right, it’s basically over. Beset by high prices in energy, which in turn will drive other consumer prices higher, stagnant wages (actually, expressed in constant dollars of 2000, there is a negative wage growth for the middle class and poor,) George Bush can only point at one domestic success: he managed to lower his own taxes. And I’m sure that if one could examine the deep, dark, spiderweb-encrusted inner recesses of his mind one would discover that was all he cared about, anyway.

Conservatives like to brag about their financial acumen, about how they favor small government, market-driven economies, low taxes and of course, the famous global marketplace. George Bush, “their guy” has increased the size of the US Government by about 20% and can take credit for such erosion of civil rights, and trashing of the Constitution, that many true conservatives look askance at what has been done to the country. The global marketplace has driven down wages in a horrendous spiral; China has become the manufacturing center for the US, and now holds over 25% of our national debt. Things will continue in this vein until we do something the Chinese don’t like, and then they’ll cut off our allowance, bringing on the crash. We do have low taxes, however – for the wealthy. But that advantage for less than 1% of America comes at the cost of a terrible degradation of lifestyle for the other 99%. Things like railroads, highways, bridges don’t work right anymore, and aren’t getting fixed. But George Bush managed to get the estate Tax killed which means he’ll become wealthier when his daddy dies.

And then there’s the “right war” – Afghanistan, which Mr Bush ignored in order to pursue the “wrong war” – Iraq.

Conservatives – real conservatives, not the bug-eyed, drooling sex police of the Evangelical right – are not happy. They’ve probably not been happy for quite some time, but something, party loyalty, or fear of reprisal, a growing realization of the looming catastrophe, has spurred them to start speaking out.

Crooks & Liars points us to a winger radio talk host, Doug McIntyre at KABC-AM in Los Angeles, who’s tolling the bell on his mistake.

There’s nothing harder in public life than admitting you’re wrong. By the way, admitting you’re wrong can be even tougher in private life. If you don’t believe me, just ask Bill Clinton or Charlie Sheen. But when you go out on the limb in public, it’s out there where everyone can see it, or in my case, hear it. So, I’m saying today, I was wrong to have voted for George W. Bush. In historic terms, I believe George W. Bush is the worst two-term President in the history of the country. Worse than Grant. I also believe a case can be made that he’s the worst President, period. In 2000, I was a McCain guy. I wasn’t sure about the Texas Governor. He had name recognition and a lot of money behind him, but other than that? What? Still, I was sick of all the Clinton shenanigans and the thought of President Gore was… unthinkable. So, GWB became my guy. For the first few months he was just flubbing along like most new Presidents, no great shakes, but no disasters either. He cut taxes and I like tax cuts.

And then 9/11 happened.

And we did for the blink of an eye. I believed the President when he said we were going to hunt down Bin Laden and all those responsible for the 9-11 murders. I believed President Bush when he said we would go after the terrorists and the nations that harbored them. I supported the President when he sent our troops into Afghanistan, after all, that’s where the Taliban was, that’s where al-Qaida trained the killers, that’s where Bin Laden was. And I cheered when we quickly toppled the Taliban government, but winced when we let Bin Laden escape from Tora-Bora. Then, the talk turned to Iraq and I winced again.

Doug, if you didn’t like the idea, where were you when millions of people all around the world adamantly protested? Did you match in protest? No. Did you write your Congress sockpuppets to complain? Of course you didn’t.

But in the months and years since shock and awe I have been shocked repeatedly by a consistent litany of excuses, alibis, double-talk, inaccuracies, bogus predictions, and flat out lies. I have watched as the President and his administration changed the goals, redefined the reasons for going into Iraq, and fumbled the good will of the world and the focus necessary to catch the real killers of September 11th. [em added] I have watched the President say the commanders on the ground will make the battlefield decisions, and the war won’t be run from Washington. Yet, politics has consistently determined what the troops can and can’t do on the ground and any commander who did not go along with the administration was sacked, and in some cases, maligned.

After five years of carefully watching George W. Bush I’ve reached the conclusion he’s either grossly incompetent, or a hand puppet for a gaggle of detached theorists with their own private view of how the world works. Or both.

No, Doug, he’s just a incredibly malformed human with no sense of commitment or loyalty to anyone but himself.

Presidential failures. James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, Jimmy Carter, Warren Harding-— the competition is fierce for the worst of the worst. Still, the damage this President has done is enormous. It will take decades to undo, and that’s assuming we do everything right from now on. His mistakes have global implications, while the other failed Presidents mostly authored domestic embarrassments.

Gee, Doug, those of us who breathe oxygen, over here on the left, have been saying this for five years, while you were happily touting the winger party line. You’re late to the game.

Katrina, Harriet Myers, The Dubai Port Deal, skyrocketing gas prices, shrinking wages for working people, staggering debt, astronomical foreign debt, outsourcing, open borders, contempt for the opinion of the American people, the war on science, media manipulation, faith based initiatives, a cavalier attitude toward fundamental freedoms-- this President has run the most arrogant and out-of-touch administration in my lifetime, perhaps, in any American’s lifetime.

A winger grows up, and joins the adults.