Title: The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush: 10 Common Sense Lessons from the Commander-in-Chief

Authors: Carolyn B. Thompson & James W. Ware

Rank: 540,896

Blurb: “‘We did it,’ says coauthor Carolyn Thompson, a leadership expert, ‘because he’s so widely underestimated and because everybody thinks he’s not what he really is.’ That would be Master Leader, she and James Ware conclude in their scholarly study.”

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As thus it came to pass that the Democrats went to the majority in the House and took controlish of the Senate.  And, therefore, all of the policies of the past would be reversed with a nice, loud WOOOSH. 

But, of course: no.  Displeasure at the Iraq War — ranging form between mild discomfort to outright rage — led the President to conclude that an escalation of troop levels was the best way to go.  The Democrats, in response, asked very nicely for timetables and then caved soon thereafter.  This would become a trend.

Meanwhile, Bush kept on pissing people off, with the minimum wage stall and the SCHIP fight.  You seemed to get the sense that Bush knew by the end of the year that he was not going to win anything by going to the middle, and thus doubled-down on Ronald Reagan On Crack.

Other nasty stuff got uncovered.  Mine safety became a full-blown scandal after a Utah mine — run by a guy who lobbied against increased protections in the wake of a 2006 West Virginia collapse — suffered a catastrophic failure.  And immigrants were the new gay.  (C’mon.  It was an off-off-year.  Gay would be the new gay, in time for Fall 2008.) 

This was also the year that we had confirmation of what we all knew: that Regent University School of Law is the bestest law school in the history of law since, like, ever.  (In related news, Alberto Gonzales hung up the skates.  So far as I know, he hasn’t found steady work since.  Stupid economy.)

via Instaputz:

Mark my words. He will leave office the most unpopular president in history.

Gore Vidal (July 11, 2002)

And, on January 16, 2009, we have this:

(CBS) President Bush will leave office as one of the most unpopular departing presidents in history, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll showing Mr. Bush’s final approval rating at 22 percent.

Gore Vidal must be with the terrorists.

• Blago Taint Spreads to ‘Jim Hendry Way’ (Sporting News, 1/8/09)
• Terror link taint on ex-naik (Calcutta Telegraph, 1/13/09)
• A place where bribery, graft taint much of life (Boston Globe, 1/4/09)
• U.S. Retail Sales Taint Europe (Forbes, 1/14/09)
• Safety act won’t taint thrift store shopping (Akron Beacon Journal, 1/14/09)
• Clinton’s Decisions Don’t Taint Holder’s Integrity (Hartford Courant, 1/4/09)

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We proudly present some randy highlights from a new study of butterfly mating habits:

• “During sex the males physically restrain the females for an entire day”
• “She then arranged for some female butterflies to receive a large deposit from a single male, and others to have a small deposit from three different males adding up to a similar volume.”

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This was the year of Ned Lamont, and of the very first Special Comment, and of others who made the rumblings of the previous year turn into a full-throated roar.  Dubya, not getting the message, hung onto the Iraq War (repeat after me: “the central front on the War on Terrah”) and Donald Rumsfeld like liferafts, for no real perceptible reason.  There’s a reason why they don’t make liferafts out of lead, of course; George, poor guy, never really understood that.  And thus the Republican Revolution of 1994 — at least in terms of pure numbers — was turned back.

Absurdity continued apace.  Dick Cheney shot somebody and wasn’t even arrested.  The government wanted to turn over port security to a bunch of guys from Dubai.  The government spying program mess began to escalate.  Mark Foley, it was discovered, was a proponent of children to a somewhat excessive degree.  John Kerry tried to tell a joke and damn near spoiled the election. And several federal prosecutors were shown the door in December, on account of no particular reason that people knew about.  Yet.

Liquidated.

Anybody need a cheap flatscreen?