Bush humiliated critics of his wars. He called him traitors and incited his supporters to shame his critics. You could say that it's not as bad as arresting his opponents, but this is still how dictatorships begin. Bush also implemented mass surveillance so that he could spy on Americans. That's what dictators do.

France and Britian are certainly not functioning democracies. You can go to prison for stating controversial opinions on social media. A veteran in Britain got arrested by the police for posting a meme mocking the LGBT pride flag earlier this year. Again, I don't see how those two shit holes are freer than Russia.