2008.11.19
Give President Bush his props
Sure, I've called the President "Dubya," a slang moniker that doesn't bestow on the man the respect his title deserves. But for purposes of this blog, just call him "Gentleman George."
From his congratulatory words after Barack Obama's historic win to extending a White House invitation to his successor so soon after the election, Bush has handled this transition with grace.
Remember the childishness of the Clinton crew? Before exiting 1600 Penn., a few numbskulls went through the White House and removed the "W's" from keyboards. Even my 10-year-old little sister would call that lame -- and certainly not funny.
But the Bushes have acted with a graciousness that serves as an example for all of us to leave behind the divisiveness. I've always liked Laura, and during the "60 Minutes"
interview the other night, Michelle Obama confirmed the First Lady's warmth and congeniality during the White House visit.
I've not cared for Bush's policies, publicly noting in a 2004 column that the man wouldn't get my vote. But Bush has shown, as Texas columnist Bob Ray Sanders has eloquently captured, how the passing of power should be done.
The presidential election of 2008 was brutal. But if the gentleman from Texas can get over it, maybe the rest of us should, too.
Yes.....so nice of Bush to be cordial....I mean lets see..He lied to get us in a war..killed as many as a million people because of that lie,rolled back the clean air act,spied on Americans,took away our rights through the Patriot Act,started Real ID..which will have us all investigated..is leaving the Country in economic disaster..He literally destroyed the Country..but hey hes being nice about it!!..the only props he should get is a Military trial for War crimes!!
Comment by Jake — November 19, 2008 @ 8:14 am
To Jake,
Bush acted upon the same information that was prepared under the Clinton terms, presented that to a Congress that had it's fair share of democrats that supported the war overwhelmingly. What did Bush have to do with the economy? Did he approve the loans to allow a person purchase a $250,000 house and think they should only have to pay $500/month mortgage. If you looked at the facts, before ranting, you'd know that the economy is a cycle, just like the seasons. After a boom, we have a recession, and after a recession we have a boom. Look at the history of the economy, you'll see this is true. Oh, you forgot to mention that there has not been an attack on American soil since 9-11-01. Unlike football, when it comes to war, it's better to play on the other team's soil. Where did the million killed come from? Oh, I guess you were counting the ones that died at the hands of Saddam Hussein, and his "non-existant" WMD. Be proud of your party Jake, but at least do you homework.
Comment by Jerry — November 19, 2008 @ 10:41 am
Hey Jerry, i was going to reply to Jake but you did it all for me, or for us, i know there are people who didn't like President Bush but as for me i stand with him, bashing him does no one any good just shows how ignorant you are, o0r in this case how ignorant Jake is.
Comment by Mike T. — November 19, 2008 @ 11:05 am
Jerry
Well done.
Comment by Static Lines — November 19, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
If you read the numbers online,the US has killed between 250,000 and 1,000,000 Iraqis(much more than Saddam)..Combatants as well as civilians.People keep saying there hasnt been attack since 911.What attack happened before 911?All I remember is one rather week attack on The trade Center..more smoke than anything,and the attack on the federal building by Tim McVeigh,an American.got to agree with jake..Bush really messed up the Country.Its amazing how many people still take up for Bush.Thank God hes outta there!
Comment by Larry — November 19, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
I was just there today. The place is already turning into a circus. Media trailers everywhere.
Comment by Ed S. — November 19, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
Bush can certainly afford to be gracious, at this point, because of his world wide dislike factor. Bush is a good ole boy, a Texan, who contstantly blundered on camera, so one can only guess what he did off camera.
Yes, Bush did exactly as "programed" to do, and divide, and plunder, this country, leaving most of us very much alert, fully awake, understanding the who what where and when. Clinton's people took the W's, Woo WOO, In light of what Bush is leaving, take all the keys and china, please.
Only December of 07 Bush said the ecomoy was in no trouble, with so many people seeing it, could he not?
Time will tell, and yes, Laura Bush is a nice womam, what the full impact the Bush Legacy will leave, but all signs are, it will not be a "good thing".
Comment by Dona Wheeler — November 19, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
George W. Bush has been the sorriest piece of NOTHING that ever occupied the White House. If he was juxtaposed with a cloud of bovine methane flatulence you couldn't tell which was which. The aroma would be the same. And both would have the same purpose and use.
Comment by Percy Kution — November 19, 2008 @ 6:39 pm
And as sorry a piece of NOTHING as Bush is and has been, putting B. Hussein Obama in the White House is like taking the new kid at Jiffy Lube and telling him he's now in charge of brain surgery at Duke.
Comment by Percy Kution — November 19, 2008 @ 6:42 pm
Bush played pick and choose with the intell to support his personal agenda and manipulated the american people through fear by using a national tragedy. He is a disgrace and I'm happy to see him gone under any circumstances. How nice of him to be cordial. let's reward him with a giant library were he can learn to read.
Comment by Eric — November 19, 2008 @ 6:47 pm
Do your homework, Shanna. The keyboard story was a farce, like many of the other disinformation campaigns that litter his Presidency. His legacy will be the debacles of Iraq and Katrina.
Comment by Freddy Bartholomew — November 19, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
Freddy:
Shanna doesn't need to do homework, but it looks like you've been skipping a few too many classes over at the intermediate school. Percy, your analogies are unequaled on these threads.
Comment by Mike — November 20, 2008 @ 2:11 am
Bush's downfall was that he tried to work with Democrats rather than simply defeat them. McCain does / would have done the same thing. They are like Charlie Brown trying to "play fair", and the Democrats keep pulling the football away. Democrats need to be defeated and destroyed. It is they who have wrecked the country, bankrupted us, and continue to benefit from an unquestioning, intellectually lazy media.
Comment by james — November 20, 2008 @ 7:12 am
Okay, we herewith invite all those who still insist that Republicans are the only group that strives for patriotic fairness in the American polity to respond to james' declaration that Democrats need to be "destroyed". He clearly agrees with the recent GOP belief that only Republicans are, to use one notably anti-intellectual recent GOP candidate's words, "real" Americans. With striking irony, he even uses the word "unquestioning" to indict the media. What a vivid chance he presents for those in the progressive majority to sit back and observe as his fellow strident neo-onservatives demonstrate whether they agree with him, or feel that his rhetoric is unrepresentative of the type of big tent, multi-racial, equality granting, dogma-free party that so many voters failed to notice on Nov. 4th. Over to you, dittoheads......
Comment by PJ — November 20, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
Mike: Thank you. I just try to get it to where some of the neanderthal throwbacks on here MIGHT understand it. Unlike yourself, BackLash, sometimes Lo and 1 or 2 others, some of these people let somebody convince them the 5th grade was their senior year.
Comment by Percy Kution — November 20, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
Let it be known that hell has frozen over, and today I found myself nodding in agreement with Shanna's column. Just wanted you to know, Shanna, that today we found common ground and I'm woman enough to admit it
Nice job.
Comment by Working Mom — November 20, 2008 @ 7:04 pm
Good for you, working mom. I believe you and I share many of the same views, and if you continue to read Shanna's columns, you may not always find yourself in agreement with her, but she's fair and always has her facts in a row.
Comment by Mike — November 21, 2008 @ 3:17 am
I think Bush's greatest failure as President is that he was far to disengaged from the policy decisions and major directives of his administration. When you read some of the coverage of occupation of Iraq it is amazing how many filters he put between himself and the civilian/military commanders. His statement of "Brownie you’re doing a great job" during the Katrina disaster was a public glimpse at how out of touch he could be at times. Additionally, the amount of power that Dick Cheney was allowed to have (at times making decisions on behalf of the president) in the build up to the Iraq invasion was astounding.
In many ways he seems to me to be the "anti" Jimmy Carter. Carter never found a detail he did not want to be involved including the scheduling of the White House tennis courts!
Both Carter and Bush lost direction in their administrations; Carter because he was involved with everything and Bush because he was to often uninvolved. And both of them seemed to be shocked at times with the results. Carter could not grasp the situation in Iran and Bush never quite seemed to be able to handle the fact that the war in Iraq had been started on a false premise and never unfolded according to plan.
Comment by Enkidu — November 22, 2008 @ 6:40 am
One thing is for certain, he didn't turn the White House into a Presidential Brothel as Bill Clinton.
CNN-Bill Clinton says he'll stay out of the way
This will only make it easier to slump around, it's not like Hillary ever could stop him, there goes the country.
Comment by Static Lines — December 3, 2008 @ 9:07 am
Don't blame Bill. And if Hilliary was all I could find to get in the bed with, I'd be interviewing other candidates for the position too. Bill's a smart, smart, man. Wish he was President again, but, some people just didn't like peace and prosperity I guess.
Comment by Percy Kution — December 3, 2008 @ 1:04 pm
At what price?
'Hundreds of thousands' could have been saved
In 1993, Romeo Dallaire was full of hope for Rwanda before
having watched more than 800,000 people perish despite his pleas for more troops to stop the genocide. "We could have actually saved hundreds of thousands," of people.
Bill Clinton sat in the oval office after giving orders to Security forces arbitrarily arrest and detained persons of a Private Mercenaries Force that kept the peace in Rwanda.
1)What about Waco?
2)What about Elian Gonzalez?
3)What about the first attack on the World Trade Center Building?
4)What about enforcing the No Fly Zone when Saddam own try to over throw his Government.
5)What about turning down the apprehension of Osama Bin Laden by Sudanese Government?
6)What about NAFTA?
7)What about his deregulation of Derivative betting law of 1907 that led to the Low Interest Loans Failure, were his personal Broker made $3 Billion Dollars and Hillary ex-Law Partner made $890 Million dollars?
8)What about Johnny Chung giving $50,000 Dollars in cash to Hillary at The White House that some how vanish?
9)What about the selling sell ICBM or satellite technology to China. (Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles)
10) What about Monica Lewinsky? Wait, he answered for that.
1 out 10 ain't bad.
Comment by Static Lines — December 3, 2008 @ 4:52 pm
Although I didn't really agree with Clinton's politics, he is a likable character (emphasis character). Just ask Bush, Sr. But I could never forgive him for lying under oath before Congress. That's a touchy subject for me, as a person's word under oath should be absolute. I do have to agree with Percy's assessment of Hilary, bed or no bed (preferably the latter). She is one of the most disgusting individuals I have ever seen. How she can possibly do ANYthing to bring about world harmony is beyond comprehension.
Comment by Mike — December 4, 2008 @ 3:54 am