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You are here: Home / WPE

WPE

by Tim F|  March 16, 200610:03 pm| 32 Comments

This post is in: Blogospheric Navel-Gazing

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John Aravosis had the brainfart that he could fit everything that went wrong with this administration into one comments section. Good luck, John. It seems more likely that the comments code will quit before the list gets half done.

Some years back I had a similar idea that involved a wiki. The application seems clear – Bushies go wrong on so many levels that no single field of expertise is enough to fully grasp it. A wikipedia model seems like the perfect junction of mass enthusiasm and the technological advantages of the internet. Call it the Worst President Ever (WPE) project and invite everybody who has a problem with Bush to contribute. It seems like the basic architecture shouldn’t be that hard to set up, although I’m saying that from a position of total obliviousness as far as web coding goes. If you have an idea how that sort of thing can be practically done let me know about it in the comments.

Of course the corollary would spring up right away just like RedState followed Kos. That’s fine with me, as far as I’m concerned a set of competing publically-accessible knowledge databases is an improvement over the model we have now, where we keep our partisan databases in our heads and away from scrutiny.

***Update***

Of course similar databases exist, for example here and here. I’m not disregarding the value of existing models, rather John’s post made me think more about the value of a wiki with a narrow focus on the foibles of a single president. Also, it’s a given that the exercise would amount to a partisan circle-jerk. Why not, that’s what the blogoshere largely does. Half of our energy goes into catalogueing the atrocities of our political enemies. It seems to me that there’s nothing lost in having a central place to deposit that stuff.

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32Comments

  1. 1.

    Pb

    March 16, 2006 at 10:17 pm

    Well there are already several political wikis that you could check out. I know of at least dKosopedia and SourceWatch, offhand.

  2. 2.

    Speedkill

    March 16, 2006 at 10:22 pm

    Something like phpWiki or MediaWiki would work as far as software for setting up your own.

  3. 3.

    MN Politics Guru

    March 16, 2006 at 10:40 pm

    After I read the post at Americablog, I had the exact same thought. A wiki is perfect for this.

  4. 4.

    scarshapedstar

    March 16, 2006 at 10:45 pm

    A database of every Bush fuckup would certainly test the limits of magnetic storage.

  5. 5.

    Pb

    March 16, 2006 at 10:46 pm

    Tim F.,

    I guess my point was, either (or both) of those two wikis likely already have a ton of source material already entered in–and additionally, you could probably add or link what you like together on either of those wikis, and they’d be happy for the contribution. Although in that case, I suppose the partisan circle-jerkiness would be a given as well. :)

  6. 6.

    srv

    March 16, 2006 at 10:52 pm

    Paging DougJ, paging DougJ…

    Wiki Best President Ever (BPE) page needed!

  7. 7.

    srv

    March 16, 2006 at 10:57 pm

    I’ve been wondering, is there a DougJ Bat-Signal, or do I just post on Scrutator?

  8. 8.

    Mac Buckets

    March 16, 2006 at 11:01 pm

    Half of our energy goes into catalogueing the atrocities of our political enemies.

    Actually, if you crunch the numbers on all political blogs, the content breaks down to 68% partisan fingerpointing and namecalling, 14% witless “attaboys” to the blogger or previous commenters, 6% useful analysis of policy and/or history, and 12% pictures of cats.

    Let’s see if, working together, we can all grow up a little and push up that cat percentage.

  9. 9.

    Tim F.

    March 16, 2006 at 11:05 pm

    Let’s see if, working together, we can all grow up a little and push up that cat percentage.

    As long as by ‘cat’ you mean ‘beer,’ I’m on it.

  10. 10.

    ppGaz

    March 16, 2006 at 11:22 pm

    Let’s see if, working together

    That’s right, Mac. People far and wide are just itching to hook up with folks like you who want to defend the policies of what is probably going to go down as the worst failed presidency in the history of the country.

    I knew it: You’re a uniter, not a diviner. I mean, derider. I mean, decider. I mean, cab driver. I mean, wave rider. I mean, insider. I mean, hang glider.

  11. 11.

    Bruce Moomaw

    March 17, 2006 at 12:06 am

    What do you mean “HALF our energy”? More like 98% of it, judging from the political blogs I’ve seen. Far from being Intellectual Discussion Groups, most political blogs instantly turn into centers for people with identical views to congregate and stroke each other’s egos by agreeing with each other, in much the same way that troops of chimpanzees cement their social ties by grooming each other. Occasionally a member of a rival political troop comes over to challenge the group, at which point there is much screaming and jumping up and down and throwing of sticks before the intruder retreats again.

  12. 12.

    BlogReeder

    March 17, 2006 at 12:41 am

    Tim F, you read AmericaBlog???… Sorry, cognizant dissonance set in… I just can’t imagine. I guess that’s not really fair, I’ve read it. But to think it has any useful ideas??? I thought you were above that what with the beer blogging and all.

  13. 13.

    publius

    March 17, 2006 at 12:48 am

    That’s right, Mac. People far and wide are just itching to hook up with folks like you who want to defend the policies of what is probably going to go down as the worst failed presidency in the history of the country.

    Hyperbole ? Consider Buchanan, LBJ, or Carter. Surely they would count as worse than Bush II.

  14. 14.

    scarshapedstar

    March 17, 2006 at 3:46 am

    Yeah, c’mon, it’s a blog possessed by Mindless Bush Hatred. We want a blog with ideas.

    Like privatizing Social Security. Or privatizing pollution controls. Or privatizing X. Or, even, privatizing Y!

    You got a problem, I got a one-size-fits-all conservative “idea”. Er, I mean, ideas. It’s totally different each time I suggest privatization. Go party of ideas!

  15. 15.

    Pb

    March 17, 2006 at 4:11 am

    scarshapedstar,

    I don’t see why we even let the government privatize things in the first place. Couldn’t a corporation do it much more efficiently? Privatize privatization!

  16. 16.

    Tim F.

    March 17, 2006 at 9:11 am

    BlogReeder,

    I think the same thing about Aravosis as I do about Hewitt. Americablog is bitterly partisan and a bit strident for my tastes but they regularly get scoops on important stories which earns them a spot on my RSS reader. In this case his post just served as a convenient jumping-off point for something I had been meaning to bring up anyway.

    Look at it this way, once in a while John breaks protocol and sends some love in Malkin’s direction. It might make me want to pull my hair out, but in all honesty once in a while she earns it.

  17. 17.

    Mac Buckets

    March 17, 2006 at 9:24 am

    That’s right, Mac. People far and wide are just itching to hook up with folks like you who want to defend the policies of what is probably going to go down as the worst failed presidency in the history of the country.

    Great, now the partisan drivel %age is up to 68.000001%. Ppg always willing to do his part.

  18. 18.

    ppGaz

    March 17, 2006 at 9:49 am

    That’s right, Mac, I’m responsible for the partisan tone, and you have no responsibility for it.

    Go away. Seriously, what are you doing here? Just go away.

  19. 19.

    Mac Buckets

    March 17, 2006 at 10:20 am

    Go away. Seriously, what are you doing here? Just go away.

    I could say the same to you — I mean, if I was a whiny jagoff longing for the safety of an echo chamber, I could. I will say this, though: Please, unless you have something interesting to say, just save the bandwidth. And whining at people to go away because you don’t agree with them is infantile, not interesting.

  20. 20.

    BlogReeder

    March 17, 2006 at 10:32 am

    Tim F, I see your point. I’ll have to look a little closer at the bylines. Like Huffington Post isn’t so bad if you just read Greg Gutfeld.

  21. 21.

    Otto Man

    March 17, 2006 at 11:06 am

    Consider Buchanan, LBJ, or Carter. Surely they would count as worse than Bush II.

    Well, Buchanan is certainly in the running. Having the country dissolve into civil war on your watch as you sit on your hands is certainly going to put you at the bottom of the well.

    LBJ had a horrible foreign policy record with the escalation in Vietnam, but he paired that with a pretty impressive domestic record on civil rights, immigration reform, Medicare/Medicaid, higher education funding, and the war on poverty. Yes, I know conservatives believe that was a failure, but the numbers don’t lie — poverty fell from 17% to 10% during his five year watch, the sharpest decline ever, and to a point lower than it would stand in the 1980s (13%) and even today (11%).

    Carter dithered and didn’t get much done, but he was largely crippled by problems inherited from his predecessors — stagflation and the energy crisis, both of which took root in the early ’70s. The Simpsons may have dubbed him “history’s greatest monster” but I doubt that’s how he’ll be remembered.

    I think the real rivals for Worst President Ever, along with Buchanan and Bush II, would be Harding and Grant (massive corruption) or Andrew Johnson (incompetence). Nixon’s criminality puts him close, but his foreign policy successes will likely keep him just above the fray.

    Hmmm. Bush II really is one of the few to manage the trifecta of corruption, incompetence, and criminality. Maybe he will edge Buchanan out for the bottom spot.

  22. 22.

    ppGaz

    March 17, 2006 at 12:18 pm

    That’s right, Mac. Iraq war fucked up? Blame the Dems. Politics too partisan? Blame the Dems.

    When do you lying weasels EVER take responsibility for anything? You’re pathetic, man. You suck.

    Your craphead party has control of every lever and instrument of governmental power in Washington DC. Stand up and take some goddam responsibility.

    Your piece of shit president had a slogan: Uniter, not a divider.

    You should be ashamed of standing up for that lying sack of shit. You have a lot of balls coming around here and acting like somebody ELSE is responsible for the sorry state of affairs we face now. Screw you, and I’m serious, just go away.

  23. 23.

    SeesThroughIt

    March 17, 2006 at 12:44 pm

    The Simpsons may have dubbed him “history’s greatest monster” but I doubt that’s how he’ll be remembered.

    Well, I think they had Homer call him “history’s greatest monster” as a joke on the tireless right-wing efforts to have Carter portrayed as such. The joke is that Homer believes it.

  24. 24.

    Otto Man

    March 17, 2006 at 12:46 pm

    Oh, I know that, SeesThroughIt, but irony is lost on conservatives. Witness how they appropriated “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” as a real term of derision for the French.

  25. 25.

    ppGaz

    March 17, 2006 at 1:00 pm

    irony is lost on conservatives

    The hell you say!

  26. 26.

    SeesThroughIt

    March 17, 2006 at 1:11 pm

    Witness how they appropriated “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” as a real term of derision for the French.

    Hahaha–I had forgotten about that one. I think the crown jewel of the “irony is lost on conservatives” collection is Reagan using “Born in the USA” as his campaign theme song. Yeesh.

  27. 27.

    Otto Man

    March 17, 2006 at 3:20 pm

    I think the crown jewel of the “irony is lost on conservatives” collection is Reagan using “Born in the USA” as his campaign theme song. Yeesh.

    Actually, that just proves that conservatives don’t listen to music past the chorus. They’re not really detail-oriented people, you know.

    I loved that when Springsteen told them to stop using the song, they tried to adopt a John Cougar song instead. He shot them down too, but they found a welcome home in Lee Greenwood.

  28. 28.

    Steve

    March 17, 2006 at 5:27 pm

    We want a blog with ideas. Like privatizing Social Security.

    Actually, today’s attempt by the Republicans to privatize Social Security, or more accurately to begin phasing it out, is probably worth a blog post. It seems to have flown somewhat beneath the radar.

    The Republican plan, to put it charitably, is based on a lie. They claim they want to “stop the raid on Social Security,” by which they mean, stop the Social Security Trust Fund from buying Treasury Bonds (as if it would make sense to leave the surplus sitting around in cash instead of putting it in an interest-bearing investment).

    So what is the Republican solution? Instead of putting the surplus in the Trust Fund, where it will be used to buy Treasury Bonds, instead we’ll put it into private accounts, where it will be used to buy Treasury Bonds! Instead of raiding the Trust Fund, we’ll put the money somewhere else and then raid that instead.

    The dishonesty is simply amazing.

  29. 29.

    BlogReeder

    March 17, 2006 at 6:17 pm

    but irony is lost on conservatives

    Isn’t it ironic that you should say that? :)

  30. 30.

    Digital Amish

    March 18, 2006 at 10:35 am

    What a daunting task. Jesse Berney made a valiant attempt during the first 2 1/2 years of this disaster but, being mortal, succumbed to the overwhelming torrent of malfeasance. It would be nice is someone could take his list and bring it up to date but I think you would end up being spiritually crushed by the attempt.

  31. 31.

    Paul Wartenberg

    March 19, 2006 at 6:35 pm

    That’s right, Mac. People far and wide are just itching to hook up with folks like you who want to defend the policies of what is probably going to go down as the worst failed presidency in the history of the country.

    I wouldn’t say it’s the worst *failed*. I mean the Bushies did get some successes such as cutting taxes for the rich and giving pharmaceuticals truckloads of money and giving their friends in the energy markets fun and exciting ways of ripping off the taxpayers. And don’t forget their success in enlarging federal government to a bureaucratic size that even LBJ or FDR could envy. And of course their greatest success in making Congress irrelevant (sp?). Lots of success stories there, Bob…

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  1. Balloon Juice says:
    September 1, 2006 at 8:53 am

    […] To me the scope of Bush’s awfulness is simply too cinematic to fit into a blog post, or even a single-volume reference text. As I have pointed out before we need something more like a wiki where we can squeeze everything from the gutting of congressional comity rules to the underpants gnome planning for postwar Iraq (1. Defeat Saddam. 2. ??? 3. Profit!). […]

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