April 25, 2013

"I will always believe: Our nation's best days lie ahead" — the line that makes George Bush cry.

Closing his speech today at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

123 comments:

Deb said...

I believe him.

Anonymous said...

Sweet man. Touching.

Sorun said...

I don't believe him. It's over. We're dying the death of a thousand cuts.

I Callahan said...

I'd like to agree with our ex-president, but I think Sorun's view is more correct.

Tank said...

I will always believe: Our nation's best days lie ahead"
.

Wrong again.

Nice guy.

Lousy President.

Our best days are behind us and he gets his share of the blame. He's not dead, so I don't have to pretend he did not greatly f up this country.

An he helped give us Zero, who is worse.

Methadras said...

Not as long as Urkel and his cadre are in charge.

Unknown said...

I will never blame Bush for Obama.
That is just not possible.

viator said...

Don't worry the Bushes have Common Core up their sleeve as a solution to our problems.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Our best days are ahead, but only if we can stop the corruptocrats from wasting all our money.

I Callahan said...

't worry the Bushes have Common Core up their sleeve as a solution to our problems.

Huh?

garage mahal said...

What is it with Republican men and crying all the time?

Matt Sablan said...

"What is it with Republican men and crying all the time?"

-- They're just more in touch with their feelings. Don't hate.

Birches said...

He's crying because he knows we've got to hit rock bottom before things will get better.

3 more years of rock bottom.

Seeing Red said...

Of course our best days are ahead, SSM, polygamy, free drugs, free BC, free abortions.

ndspinelli said...

You know Boehner was crying when he saw that.

ndspinelli said...

Inga must be blowing weed or taking klonopin. Maybe both?

John henry said...

Tank,

He did give us Obama and that is why I do believe that our best days lie ahead. We will have a tough patch to get through in the short term (5 years?) but the end result of Obama's stupendous incompetence is that we are getting people "wee-wee'd up" in Obie's words.

We will take back our country and we will heal those thousand cuts that someone else mentioned.

I can find a lot of fault with Bush but insincerity and cupidity are not among them.

John Henry

Nonapod said...

Bush is a Sensy.

Anonymous said...

Spinelli, I live cleanly. Here are my drugs, take note. They're good for diabetes, inflammation, BP and lipids.

1. Astaxanthin
2. Co Enzyme q 10
3. Pterostilbene and Resveratrol

John henry said...

Perhaps a bit off topic but yesterday I reread John D McDonald's Travis McGee novel "The Green Ripper"

I had read it in 1979 when it came out but not since then. It is about domestic terrorism, though organized and financed from abroad (Russia is implied)

Pretty good textbook for anyone wanting to wreak some havoc.

It is relevant to this thread because it begins with McGee's buddy Meyer coming back from some European economic conference. Meyer is explaining to Travis how completely hosed the world and the US is. Maybe 5 years to go to complete and utter collapse.

Didn't happen.

My point is that I have been hearing this gloominess for all my life. So far it is always in the future, never seems to happen in the present.

We got through Lyndon Johnson and other really shitty presidents. We'll get through Obama.

John Henry

Roger J. said...

I think President Bush said it very well. He's a good man. When we fail as a country to believe our best days do not lie ahead, we are truly fucked as a nation.

Mutaman said...

People are finally beginning to realize that Sonny Bush was a heck of a president. Why I bet by 2016 they'll even allow his name to mentioned at the Republican convention.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Roger J. said...

Inga--may I suggest that listing your meds on an open forum may not be particularly wise? I know you are a big girl, but.......

Tim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Roger J. said...

nn--well said. I love to read Tacitus and Gibbons. The history of Rome provides so very good object lessons if we pay attention.

Unknown said...

People cry when they are hurt or feel deeply about things.
Real men get emotional because they have feelings based on convictions. They love the things they believe in and it shows. If you can't tell real emotion from fake emotionalism you're the one with the problem.
Compare Obama and Bush or Clinton and Romney.

n.n said...

Birches:

That was my first thought, too. Is he crying with optimism or pessimism about our future. His words recall our potential, but his crying may recognize our fate.

I wonder if anyone knows how long the American dream will persist.

Has there ever been a civilization which escaped a dysfunctional convergence motivated by domestic corruption and/or alien invasion?

It seems the best we can expect is transformative change. Let's hope the character of progress is positive.

Roger J. said...

When we stop thinking about what can be done, nothing will done.

Anonymous said...

Oh sorry Spinelli, forgot this, EPA and DHA, powerful stuff, I'm trippin'.

Tim said...

Obama was brought to us by the unrelenting attacks on Bush /Republicans, war fatigue and the worthless McCain. At least Palin would fight.

n.n said...

Roger J.:

Thanks. I needed to delete my original comment in order to revise it; but, it did not materially change, so your response should remain valid.

Anonymous said...

Roger, it's really not a problem:)

Look them up.

Shanna said...

So it's open now (wait, checking the site say it opens May 1)?

I've been meaning to plan a trip to Dallas.

Tank said...

Mr. Henry

I hope you're right (about the future, we agree that Bush is not insincere or cupid).

OK, I had to go look up cupidity. Good word. Does not describe Bush though.

traditionalguy said...

Bush II lived through the Reagan boom years and rode the waive even after The New World Order his daddy liked and Clinton worked on so hard had eaten out our futures disguised by an intentionally created Housing/Real property Bubble that has not been helpful.

Sam L. said...

"wyo sis said...

I will never blame Bush for Obama.
That is just not possible. "

Still, Benghazi Barry does.

Æthelflæd said...

I want to believe him. I am having difficulty.

We have survived some awful things in the past. Can we survive our own attempted suicide? That remains to be seen. History suggests we won't.

Roger J. said...

The Roman Empire survived Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. Their demise ushered in the period of the five good emperors. Times change.

garage mahal said...

I will never blame Bush for Obama.

I do. Obama IS Bush. Just a little more well spoken.

sakredkow said...

Terrible President. Good guy. I don't think we can really know if our best days are behind or ahead of us, so I prefer his optimism.

Baron Zemo said...

George Bush was Mel Ott when we needed Billy Martin.

Roger J. said...

Garage my friend--I am starting to worry about you. You seem to be turning toward the libertarian side. As an aside, I am off to the Bahamas tomorrow to visit by bro on Lubbers quarter cay--He came in yesterday with a 50 pound yellow fin tuna. sushi all around. And Saturday nite I will be on the "the dock of de bay" with a gin and tonic, smoking a cigar and fishing for dock snapper as a full moon comes up over the sea of abaco. Life is good--and I do sincerely hope life is good for you as well.

Anonymous said...

Just a little more well spoken.

Pure myth, garage, maintained primarily by mental editing of lefties so desperate to think well of zero.

sakredkow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
campy said...

W is wrong. Things will never get better. We're in a irreversible decline.

Known Unknown said...

Unlike Boehner, Bush picks a more appropriate time to cry.

Æthelflæd said...

Roger J...
I think we are heading towards a Marius/Sulla kind of thing, which means the fall of the republic, and the paving of the way for Caesar. I don't want a Caesar.

Anonymous said...

America is dead. Gone. Over. Obama murdered the last of it.

Bush is sad, because at least he liked America and wanted to help it and other countries to be like America.

But the seeds of America's destruction were planted long ago, and the poisoned flower of President Stepin Fetchit killed it.

History will look at Bush II as a man, who, had he been president at any time before 1965, would have been regarded highly, since Presidents used to believe in the greatness of America and in helping it and other along.

But the rot of left-wingism has festered. We've gone septic.

Enjoy the decline (or, really, the decomposition)!

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Roger J. said...

Ethelred (I cant do that phonics thing)--Yes, if you take as your perspective the fall of the Roman republic as a snapshot, you are correct--but consider the longer view: Rome survived long afterward--as Gibbon's points out through the Byzantium. It lasted for another thousand years.

Methadras said...

garage mahal said...

What is it with Republican men and crying all the time?


They are emotionally fatigued from seeing leftards and mongoloids like you fuck everything up all the time. They perpetually have to clean up your messes.

Sorun said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

Roger J.:

It's a chaotic process with sinks (i.e. negative) and sources (i.e. positive), and random (or fluctuating) intermediate behavior, but there is always a conclusion or final convergence, right?

Sorun said...

The Boston bombings highlight two things that will be hard to undo: welfare culture and the militarization of police

Scott M said...

Doesn't much matter at the moment if our best days are ahead or behind us. We're living in interesting times in the Chinese sense of the curse.

Roger J. said...

nn--agree entirely that life is chaotic--and I have no belief that there is an end point. There is an end point in our lives, our four score and ten, but the process goes on and we will not be privy to it.

Nonapod said...

Our best days are still ahead of us. I believe that mostly thanks to the continued advance of technology rather than a change in political trajectory. I believe technology will ultimately free us from the shackles of an overwhelming, expensive, intrusive government by making government itself obsolete in many ways by reducing the costs and increasing the quality of just about everything (healthcare, food, cars, houses, education, communication, energy, ect)

sakredkow said...

It lasted for another thousand years.

Of course a thousand years isn't what it used to be.

sakredkow said...

Doesn't much matter at the moment if our best days are ahead or behind us. We're living in interesting times in the Chinese sense of the curse.

There are no curses, there are no blessings. There's just another challenge.

Æthelflæd said...

Well our federal bureaucracies are getting a head start towards the Byzantine, aren't they? It's like they just can't wait. This would be a lot more fun if we had Blues and Greens and chariot races. If only Laura had been more like Theodora! "Fight back, George! 'Kingship makes a good burial shroud'".

Roger J. said...

nn--we play the hand we are dealt in life--after that we have cashed in our chips. Who knows what will happen.

Roger J. said...

Ethelred (again apologies for the lack of font expertise). You are clearly not Ethelred the Unready, but you clearly know your ancient history. As to your point about bureaucracy, you are indeed correct (IMO). The praetorian guard were an early bureaucracy that shaped the early empire for 200 years. They, as I think you suggest, are a good model for understanding. Well done, my lady.

Æthelflæd said...

You can spell it Athelfled, who was King Alfred's daughter and de facto ruler of the Mercians.

Roger J. said...

Athelfled (thanks BTW)--you are totally out of my knowledge base if you are going into early Anglo-Saxon/English history. But now you will drive me to the internet to find out who the hell you are talking about. :) I love a challenge.

garage mahal said...

@Roger
Sounds awesome. I'm jealous. Maybe next year I'll join you.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

“It’s the honor of a lifetime to lead a country as brave and as noble as the United States.”

A president gets a unique chance to see, hear and sometimes experience a bigger snapshot, if you will, of some of the things the people of this nation do together for one another, here and abroad.

It’s the much derided ‘thousand points of lights’ his father tried, as best he could, to express, that he saw, that he heard and got to experience.

When you see the best of people, it cannot help but stay with you. And it appears that it has stayed with Bush 43. And so it is, that, it is not in the realm of impossibility for him, not only to imagine, but to believe to the core of his being, with “unshakable faith in the future of our country”.

furious_a said...

Obama IS Bush. Just a little more well spoken.

Puh-lease. Obama needs a teleprompter to appear articulate, and straw men by the bushel to appear reasonable.

Cody Jarrett said...

Maybe garage could offer us some examples of Barry being better spoken than W?

Funny thing about W.--he knew people were making fun of him and he got a kick out of it. He knew sometimes he got it wrong, and could laugh at himself. When was the last time Barry laughed at himself?

Take "nuclear" for example. I've actually heard W. say it correctly. I've also seen him say it "nuke-u-lar" with a tiny wink.

Completely different from "corpse-man" as an example.

Æthelflæd said...

It is to his credit, Lem, because he surely saw the worst of people , too. I think he is a man of great character.

ricpic said...

What are our great noble full of love of America leaders of both parties going to do about the gangs of black thugs that roam through the centers of ALL our cities wilding and playing the knockout game? Nothing, NOTHING, NOTHING! And you want to know why? Because that would be UGLY. Just ask the beautiful person who runs this site. And as long as the beautiful ones run the show, which for all practical purposes will be in perpetuity, there will be NO BEST DAYS AHEAD.

furious_a said...

Rome survived long afterward--as Gibbon's points out through the Byzantium. It lasted for another thousand years.

The Eastern Empire was on life support after Manzikert -- it just took the Turks another 400 years to put it out of its misery.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The most of I can say about a president, while in office, is my judgment of his actions matched to his words.

That's why this blog, and others like Insta, have been so good for me, in that they allow me the luxury of finding out what Obama says w/o having to listen to him.

What a relief.

Whatever we may say about him... Most of the time, Bush did what he said he was going to do.

twinsdaddy said...

just imagining here-
BO standing amid the rubble, holding his bullhorn and someone yells "we can't hear you", and after explaining how we can't be sure what happened and for all we know this could have been a pilots union action against their evil corporate masters. Plus going on and on about "my administration", "I have ordered" I...me ...mine...I've..before finally ending with "and make no mistake" about 8 minutes later..or "they'll be hearing from all of us soon" sans teleprompter..

or just throwing out the first pitch for game one at Yankee Stadium 6 weeks later, how do you think that would have played out.

Unknown said...

"I believe technology will ultimately free us from the shackles of an overwhelming, expensive, intrusive government by making government itself obsolete in many ways by reducing the costs and increasing the quality of just about everything (healthcare, food, cars, houses, education, communication, energy, ect)"

No doubt, but technology depends on freedom. Something we are having less and less of.

Tom said...

He got some things right and got some things wrong. But he always struck me as a tremendously intelligent, caring man and leader.

His strength and unification of the country after 9/11 and his work on poverty and AIDS in Africa set him apart from many presidents. He'll also always be remembered for the missing WMD in Iraq -- which probably overshadows that taking out Saddam Hussein was the correct decision.

Unfortunately, what I think he may be remembered most for is the authorization of torture. I'm not naive to believe that the prior to Bush, the US never tortured anyone. But Bush publically authorized and supported it. And it was morally and legally wrong -- and beneath his character. That said, after 9/11, I have no idea what I would have done in his position. I have no idea what he saw in his briefings or the true size of the threat. Someday, history will sort all that out.

Browndog said...

It's almost a shock to the system to see a high ranking government official, present or retired, publicly and passionately espouse their love of country.

Aside: Bush didn't say our best days lie ahead. He didn't say you or I believe it. He said he will always believe it. Are some of you saying "Wrong! You don't believe that!"?

garage mahal said...

Neither Bush or Obama are "kind" or "good" men. They're both flaming assholes.

Baron Zemo said...

We know exactly what Obama would have said if he were President after 911 and was standing on top of the rubble with a bullhorn:
"The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam."

edutcher said...

Dubya may well be right, but we've got some rough times ahead.

Tank said...

I will always believe: Our nation's best days lie ahead
.

Wrong again.


I love how easily the haters of socialism give up.

Nice guy.

Lousy President.


No, very mixed, but not bad.

Our best days are behind us and he gets his share of the blame. He's not dead, so I don't have to pretend he did not greatly f up this country.

An he helped give us Zero, who is worse.


no, he didn't. In fact, he tried to stop the forces Zero rode. What gave us Zero was the kind of people that gave (Godwin Alert) to Germany, Lenion to Russia, Mussolini to Italy, and Mao to China.

garage mahal said...

Neither Bush or Obama are "kind" or "good" men. They're both flaming assholes.

Speaks the expert.

gbarto said...

I'm not a hundred percent sure about the "United States," but I think the American people have something left in them.

Here is San Jose, a couple idiot teenagers were drag racing, cracked up their cars and one went through a house. The next door neighbors, retired cops, had the kids out and were working on the mom before the "first responders" arrived. Just as all sorts of off-duty people leaped into action at the Boston Marathon and, going back, for 9/11.

When I was a kid, I knew a girl from Slovakia who was asked what she found most surprising about America. She said, "Everybody works so hard!" What struck her most is how much people work on their homes, their hobbies, their associations and their sports.

We are the nation of McDonald's - so you can get a quick bite on the way to the next thing - and of Home Depot - and of the Sears catalog and K-Mart before. And while we've backslid a lot, that spirit is still there, a spirit of striving where we make our own lives, not live the lives our class and family history have given us.

At the top, of course, we've got some plutocratic and oligarchic rot, an elite that ain't. But let's face it: we've had some pretty crappy leaders well before now. James Buchanan watched us stumble into war and sat on his hands. But we stumbled through and out the other side and moved forward. And there is our true genius: we are not our leaders, we are a free people. And so, when things get bad enough that we can't coast anymore, we'll get it back together, as we have many times before, with the spirit that led to the Magna Charta and the Declaration still within.

It is worth remembering the sage words of Winston Churchill: You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing... after they've tried everything else.

We'll give up and do the right thing again, sooner or later. Our best days are indeed still ahead.

Æthelflæd said...

You've cheered me up, gbarto.

traditionalguy said...

Maybe W was referring to Texas.

Anonymous said...

AP, Nov. 13, 2002
http://www.newsday.com/
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — President Bush characterized Islam as a peaceful faith Wednesday, seeking to distance himself from controversial remarks by conservative Christian leaders Pat Robertson and the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

“Some of the comments that have been uttered about Islam do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans,” Bush told reporters as he met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. “Islam, as practiced by the vast majority of people, is a peaceful religion, a religion that respects others.”

“Ours is a country based upon tolerance, Mr. Secretary General,” Bush said. “And we respect the faith and we welcome people of all faiths in America, and we’re not going to let the war on terror or terrorists cause us to change our values.”

Though Bush never mentioned their names, his remarks came in response to recent comments by Robertson and Falwell, the administration said.

Robertson, on his Christian Broadcasting Network, said Jews in the United States should “wake up, open their eyes and read what is being said about them.”

“This is worse than the Nazis,” Robertson said Monday. “Adolf Hitler was bad, but what the Muslims want to do to the Jews is worse.”

Falwell, in a recent interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” said he had concluded from reading Muslim and non-Muslim writers that the Prophet Muhammad “was a violent man, a man of war.” “I think Muhammad was a terrorist,” the conservative Baptist minister said.

Muslims were outraged. An Iranian cleric called for his death while a general strike called to protest his comments in Bombay, India, turned into a riot, and five people were killed. Falwell later apologized.

A senior official said the administration recognized that such comments had angered Muslims abroad and caused them to question whether they represent the opinions of the White House and of the American people.

Bush has often said he believes Islam is a peaceful religion and has reached out to Muslims repeatedly since Sept. 11.

Bush’s remarks came on the same day the Council on American-Islamic Relations urged Bush to repudiate anti-Islamic rhetoric, citing comments by Falwell and others.

Seeing Red said...

ricpic, read the article Insty linked to.

LCB said...

Some of the things Bush gave us will haunt his legacy. I can't hear Dept. of Homeland Security without hearing whispers of "Siege Heil" from the corridors of history, for example. Today’s HSA may become tomorrow's American Gestapo.

But to everyone that says Bush was a "terrible" president...based on WHAT? I think history will place him in the middle...maybe even in the lower top 30%.

Read up on some of the things that happened during the Madison admin (war with G. Britain)...Jackson admin (Trail of Tears anyone)...Buchanan (set the stage for the Civil War)...Grant (corruption galore)...Wilson (just...UHG)...FDR (for prolonging the depression)...

And I'm only picking what I remember. Only time...say 50 or 60 years...will tell us if Bush was a good president (good...not great)...or "terrible".

Sofa King said...

It wouldn't be much of a statement of hope if you rationally believed it was true. That's what, I think, made it so emotionally hard to say.

I Callahan said...

I think history will place him in the middle...maybe even in the lower top 30%.

Does he belong there? Sure. Will history place him there? No way. You proceed from a false assumption - that the people who write history (today) have an ounce of fairness in them.

History professors (and writers) are overwhelmingly lefty. And today, the left has openly embraced the "ends justify the means" doctrine when it comes to writing history.

I'm not so positive Bush has any chance of history showing him in a positive light.

Unknown said...

The people who write history today won't be writing it years from now when the consequences are known. History sorts itself out, and right actions are always right even when current events don't seem to indicate they are.

I have to believe that doing the right thing ultimately gets the right result. History and the gods of the copybook headings have never been proven wrong.

dc said...

For eight years I defended Bush whenever a lefty called him a moron.
Not any more.

Mitch H. said...

What is it with Republican men and crying all the time?

They know your heart, and know it for the septic rot that it is. That is well worth tears, to know that the country's fate lies in the hands of worthless scum is to know sadness. If I were a Christian man, perhaps I could stave off despair in the face of the ruin you and yours have brought to the country of my forefathers, but I am neither Christian nor Stoic enough to view the prospect with even Bush the Younger's equanimity.

Seeing Red said...

Barry pushed immigration reform, seriously?

jr565 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jr565 said...

A president will authorize a drone strike even one that kills innocents who get caught in the blast, will authorize seal teams to go to kill OBL. But he can't do something that a SERE trainer does to people in OUR military just to get them to graduate , if American lives are at stake?

KSM was a unique target. He was the logistical coordinator of Al,Qaeda. He was not innocent. We KNEW his role, and if anyone would know about imminent attacks or people who would carry out those attacks it would be him.
Tts not just a ticking time bomb scenario, that's potentially a hundred ticking time bomb scenarios.
And what do you do if you have him in custody and he refuses to cooperate?

victoria said...

Dang he looks old.

Vicki from Pasadena

jr565 said...

Tom wrote:
"Unfortunately, what I think he may be remembered most for is the authorization of torture. I'm not naive to believe that the prior to Bush, the US never tortured anyone. But Bush publically authorized and supported it. And it was morally and legally wrong -- and beneath his character. That said, after 9/11, I have no idea what I would have done in his position. I have no idea what he saw in his briefings or the true size of the threat. Someday, history will sort all that out. "

bull crap. He endorsed something we use on our troops for training purposes as the absolute limit as to where we'd go when it came to enhanced interrogations of very specific targets who had information that could prevent attacks on the country that would have
Potentially killed thousands.

If we knew that Nick Berg was going to have his head chopped off while he squealed like a pig, and had to waterboard a high level target to get that information but was able to save him because of it, I'd allow for waterboarding (assuming we knew his killing was imminent and that the person we were interrogating had such info) . And nick berg was just one guy and not even in the military.

What about when its a potentially imminent attack on the country that is the equivalent of 9/11 part 2. And you have the very person who plans those attacks for Al Qaeda in your clutches? And he's not cooperative.

tiger said...

As someone who didn't want as the Rep nominee and as someone who didn't agree with him or his policies many many times I don't care what any one says:

He is the most decent man we've had as President in the past 50 years.

tiger said...

I just read the first 20-30 comments and for people to say that 'Bush gave us Obama' is ass-hattery of the highest order.

1) A nation tires of a political party being in the WH for 8 years.

2) McCain was a shiatty candidate and shiatty campaigner.

2a)Romney was a much better but didn't make his case well enough.

3) Obama had the political winds at his back.

4) The people who gave us Obama are all around you; every self-centered special interest group out there - starting with Blacks who vote Dem at a rate of 90%.

Bush didn't give us Obama - those groups did.

So STFU and stop acting like ninnies.

Browndog said...

Thank-you for remembering Nick Berg.

Remember Daniel Pearl.

Yet, if historians read press reports, Sandra Fluke is the victim of our time.

Luckily, the history of Stalin was not reserved for Soviet historians, and George W. Bush's history is not reserve for Doris Kearns Goodman.

Phil 314 said...

Always liked the guy.

Kelly said...

You're a good man, George Bush.

For my children's sake, I have to believe our best days lie ahead.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Can you please find the drug that Republicans take that would make anyone care at all about this?

Matt said...

tiger

So, self-centered special interest groups only vote in large numbers when they feel a Democrat can win? But the rest of the time they sit on their hands? Is that the 'logic'?

Your comment is also borderline racist. "Oh it's the blacks...." Goodness sakes. It no wonder you guys have a tough time getting anything but the white guy [woe is me] vote.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

dc said...
For eight years I defended Bush whenever a lefty called him a moron.
Not any more.


And so the scales fall from his eyes.

Unknown said...

"Can you please find the drug that Republicans take that would make anyone care at all about this?"

You will never get it. It's a spiritual thing. Totally not comprehensible by the crass.

Kansas City said...

I was curious about the comments, to see if there was Bush hatred. I was pleased to see virtually none, reflecting very well on Ann's readers. Not over the top in either direction, but a nice collection of mostly measured views of George. Personally, I like him very much and think he was a pretty good president. The Iraq war decision obviously is of extreme importance in judging his presidency. But it cannot be judged for years. There is a big plus in getting rid of Saddam, and the evil he and his sons would have done for 50 years, which is seldom considered in assessing the decision (at least by persons wanting to rip Bush). And a very classy ex-president. Nice to see him get some love.

MPH said...

I think he cried because he isn't certain that is true.

MPH said...

I think he cried because he isn't certain that is true.

Anonymous said...

Barack Obama's Vagina does not comprehend Truth.

Barack Obama's Vagina will never Lubricate Freedom.

George Bush's Vagina accepted America.

God Bless America's Vagina.




Matt Sablan said...

"Can you please find the drug that Republicans take that would make anyone care at all about this?"

-- People hate him enough to remind me that they hate him almost daily. Frankly, the people who hate Bush talk more about him than the people ambivalent or approving of his actions. The thing you have to remember: Hating is a kind of a caring.

Matt Sablan said...

"I'm not so positive Bush has any chance of history showing him in a positive light."

-- Even John Adams of the Alien and Sedition Act has gotten a fair hearing in recent years. So, you know, in time.

Robert Cook said...

"I was curious about the comments, to see if there was Bush hatred. I was pleased to see virtually none, reflecting very well on Ann's readers."

Why would you expect to see much Bush hatred here? Most of this blog's active readers, (i.e., those who comment rather than just lurk) must be inferred from their commentary over time to be ardent Bush supporters.

Which doesn't reflect well on them.

Kansas City said...

I did not "expect" to see Bush hatred here. I was "curious" about whether there would be any Bush hatred.

I was happy to see very little, because it confirmed my impression that Ann has a pretty bright group of readers. I have no problem with fair criticism or disagreement with Bush, but the Bush hatred folks are largely either stupid or highly partisan.

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

The great thing about the Bush presidency is that he did see the Iraq war through. The narrative of the left is that the Republicans became the party of Southern racists after LBJ led the Democratic party away from that position. For myself, I recall Jeanne Kirkpatrick at the Republican Convention characterizing the Democrats as the 'blame America first' party; it became the party, turning from Johnson, that abandoned Vietnam. And the real policy that bitterly divides the parties is the critique of American power in the world.

Robert Cook said...

"The narrative of the left is that the Republicans became the party of Southern racists after LBJ led the Democratic party away from that position."

That's not what happened. The south was always predominantly Democratic because the Republicans were the party of Lincoln and because the Democratic Party had defended slavery in the 19th Century. The southern dems were--many of them--racists and yahoos. These racists and yahoos fled the Democratic party and joined the Republican party after LBJ ushered through the Civil Rights act and after Nixon capitalized on their grievances about this, (his "Southern Strategy"). (This change in party membership had begun earlier, as a result of the civil rights plank of the Democrats in 1948.)

Robert Cook said...

"The great thing about the Bush presidency is that he did see the Iraq war through."

Hmmm...talk about damning with faint praise.

One might as well praise any criminal for seeing through his particular criminal enterprises.

Rusty said...

Robert Cook said...
"I was curious about the comments, to see if there was Bush hatred. I was pleased to see virtually none, reflecting very well on Ann's readers."

Why would you expect to see much Bush hatred here? Most of this blog's active readers, (i.e., those who comment rather than just lurk) must be inferred from their commentary over time to be ardent Bush supporters.

Which doesn't reflect well on them.

No, comrade Bob. They just have more class than you do.

Robert Cook said...

It's "classy" to pretend a war criminal and mass murderer is not these things, that he is a respectable member of society, that--more--he is an esteemed member of society?

Just because he is opening a library whose purpose is to promulgate lies?

I'll happily join the child in the crowd who witnessed the emperor with no clothes as being among the low of class.

Real American said...

and the first day of those best days starts January 20, 2017.

Amartel said...

Cookie Puss and Cindy Sheehan answer to the same dog whistle.
BOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHH.

Robert Cook said...

Amartel,

I'm sure Cindy Sheehan would agree with me: it's not just Bush; Obama is as much a war criminal and murderer as Bush, and--unless a paradigm shift occurs such that our next president is not another carefully-vetted corporate/military whore--our next president, Democrat or Republican, will likewise also be a war criminal and mass murderer to the degree he or she continues our present policies.

Rusty said...

Robert Cook said...
It's "classy" to pretend a war criminal and mass murderer is not these things, that he is a respectable member of society, that--more--he is an esteemed member of society?

Just because he is opening a library whose purpose is to promulgate lies?

I'll happily join the child in the crowd who witnessed the emperor with no clothes as being among the low of class.

Bless your heart.

Amartel said...

Please. I'm SURE she keeps up the nonpartisan façade by saying she opposes wars, death, greed, hunger, sorrow, murder, badness, and other things exclusively caused by Republicans.

But she SHOWS UP to protest at the Bush Library.

Because BOOOOOOSSSSHHHH.

She should be a Bush Derangement Syndrome exhibit at the Bush library. I'm picturing an interactive exhibit, where you could pull a string and various deranged statements about "mass murderer," "Halliburton conspiracy," and "war criminal" would come out.