I was on the train the other day and overheard a bit of a conversation about Washington State's governor Christine Gregoire. The gist of what little I heard focused on how the Democratic governor was far, far worse than George W. Bush. The man speaking was about 30, overweight, and African-American, so I am pretty sure that he wasn't a typical member of the Tea Party, but the rhetoric from his mouth was just as bad.

My mouth fell open when I heard this:

"George Bush starting a war is better than Christine Gregoire letting 1,300 sexual offenders out of prison and nobody knows who they are because they are allowed to register as homeless."

Let's look at this closely and try and determine first if his claims about Gregoire are even accurate and second, if there is indeed a basis for comparison between the two leaders.

The information about Gregoire and the sexual offenders does in fact have a basis in fact and was touted in ad after ad by her opponent. While she was governor, a report found that 1,300 sexual offenders had not registered their whereabouts with the state government because they were homeless. As I understand it, in addition to lacking shelter, food, and clothing, homeless people don't have an address either, which is probably the main reason. The ads failed to mention the fact that the number of sexual offenders "missing" has actually decreased since Gregoire took office probably because of a program that she initiated  to trace Level III sexual offenders with ankle bracelets in addition to 24 other pieces of legislation to address the problem.The program is not perfect, but her drive and initiative clearly demonstrates her leadership and problem-solving abilities.

Contrast that to George W. Bush's leadership abilities and problem-solving skills. While president, he started not one, but two foreign wars, including the war in Iraq, which has since been shown to have been started under false pretenses. By some estimates, up to as many as 100,000 lives have been lost as a result of the greed of the Bush administration.  The human cost of his administrations lies can easily be measured in terms of the fatalities during the wars.

There is absolutely no basis for comparison between the two situations, but because of the right-wing rhetoric that is spewed from the mouths of conservative talk show hosts and the national FOX broadcasting network, people are repeating what they hear without taking the time to think for themselves. The comment I overheard is far from unique, and much of the criticism to the Obama administration falls along the same lines.

While I can appreciate the current anger towards the government, people need to take a step back and put the situation into perspective. The animosity that the Tea Party has towards the Obama administration is similar and again, I fail to see the comparison. George Bush has cost the country billions of dollars and American lives. Those who are angry at the cost of health care reform should consider the number of American lives that will be saved as a result of the legislation.