What moves people to be this sour about something so basically nice? If you click to the other picture that Andrew Sullivan is sneering at, you'll see it depicts what is described this way at the first link:
“Mr. President, want to?” said Misty May-Treanor, half of the dominant American beach volleyball, turning her backside toward the president for the sport’s traditional method of encouragement: a slap.How better could he have handled that situation? You're really just demonstrating that you'd slam him for anything.
Mr. Bush complied, though with a discrete flick of the back of his hand on her lower back.
Why not mention his visit to the women's softball team?
“It’s good for the world to have girls playing softball,” Mr. Bush said, his back marked by a chalk handprint, a prank of the centerfielder, Laura Berg, “and these women are going to show girls how to win.”There's no reason to portray him as disrespecting women.
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138 comments:
Yes, yes.
We get it, Andrew.
You hate President Bush.
Alot.
Occasionally, I try to anthropomorphize Mr. Sullivan, but the recurrent gradeschool-level witticisms only remind me of Beavis and Butthead, so I am tempted to think that the caricature on his blog is all that there is to him.
What moves people to be this sour about something so basically nice?
Desperation. A good deal of what democrats do and say just reeks of desperation, ever since the 2000 election. It has made a lot of them sour and joyless people.
You know, it's possible that, 20 years from now, a lot of people will feel guilty about how they treated this basically decent man. That's always been my opinion.
Oh it gets better (worse). I'm not a fan of the Bush presidency, but, my God, how inane is this?
PS. Laura Berg is a Fresno softball player, (I'm an alum) and was on the team during the last Olympics.
Bob -- I agree completely. I think that history will judge GWB much more favorably than anyone might currently guess.
On this beach volleyball: I never thought much of it, and thought that it was just an excuse to put bikini-clad women on TV, but my wife and I watched it the other night, and this Misty May was the most impressive athlete I've seen at these games so far.
It's not a very entertaining sport to watch, mainly because of the short rallies, but the athleticism required to make a diving dig, fall in the sand, spring back up and get into position while your partner sets it, and then spike -- they must burn about 50 calories every time they do this, in about 5 seconds.
There is so much hatred of this president that no matter what he does, even if it is totally and culturally appropriate, the haters will slam him. It is not just because of the war. From day one of his presidency they have hated. I guess hate IS a family value.
OK, here's the obligatory "But if Bush had been slapping a member of the men's beach volleyball team on the butt, Andrew would have been more excited," post.
If Iraq has a happy ending, Bush's reputation will go up. If not, not...In any event, he is a good man. He has no eloquence in his spoken words, and some of his facial expressions are clumsy. But for all that, he is able to communicate a sense of decency and good will. His detractors not so much.
Ha ha...he called them "girls."
There's no reason to portray him as disrespecting women.
Yes, it would be more appropriate to portray him as disrespecting the human race, every day, in all that he does.
I don't go out of my way to criticize this disaster of a president because it's a waste of time...just as writing up a post defending him is an equal waste of time.
I guess this post is for the 30% of Americans who approve of him. It's nice to, for once, not be in a minority!
ZPS has BDS
"Yes, it would be more appropriate to portray him as disrespecting the human race, every day, in all that he does."
Funny, I feel that way about you.
"I don't go out of my way to criticize this disaster of a president because it's a waste of time..."
Yet you feel compelled to write about this "disaster of a president" anyway.
I love that he's not just an ineffective President or a "bad" President, he's a DISASTER!
I'm starting to think you're actually one of Andrew Sullivan's beagles.
Dinner party last night ended poorly. Completely unprovoked, utterly non sequitur, the host slipped into full blown BDS, foolishly reiterating the index of grievances. "WHY INVADE IRAQ? THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH 9-11!!!!" Then storms off. Then returns. "HE'S THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY !!!!" Complete with dramatic arm motions suitable for the stage. He's an actor. Storms off again. Returns again, apologizes citing grief to explain his behavior.
Didn't know a mere two Newcastles and a single glass of cabinet sauvignon could do that to a person, but it did.
I just listened, eager to leave. The unsurprising resolute refusal to allow anything at all that runs counter to predeterminations splayed for livid vivid vivisection. In those uncomfortable moments I arrived at a conclusion, one I intend to spring on people for the purpose of making them uncomfortable for bringing up their politics with me.
Identity politics is childishly myopic, and I cannot be engaged, so squirm, Bitches, and seethe in the hate you've created for yourselves. Homey don't play dat.
Up in P'town they rock out with their cocks out.
"Keep your kids at home breeders!"
Chip,
Sounds like some form of the question "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" is warranted about the dinner party.
Weird. Not only out of line, but makes the speaker look completely looney tunes; not unlike a street person ranting to his voices.
My brother-in-law did something similar a few months back. Staring straight ahead seems the only useful response. Eye rolling to one's spouse is also helpful.
My darling husband has a mild case of BDS, so we have agreed to disagree on that subject.
What strikes me as so two-faced about many of those against the Iraq war is not that they think we were wrong to invade, but that they think the Iraqi people (Arabs in general?) are incapable of self-rule and self-control. Incapable of being free.
I think that is the essence of the "we can't win" argument.
So call me an idealist, but I think people, cultures, and religions can change if given the chance.
"Ha ha...he called them "girls.""
He did not. He called them women as he praised them for inspiring girls to play softball.
Good advice Chip.
A bizarre scene huh? out of the blue outburst.
I enjoy reminding BDSers that while they may believe GWB is the dumbest man walking the earth, he was smart enough to beat those outstanding Democrat intellectuals Al Gore and John Kerry.
Shoot has been raining here all day just about. Heavy too. Wanted to take a bike ride but have a fear of lightning especially when touching metal with my groin.
Good mix of topics today Ann. So helped make for a pleasant day indoors.
Discussing Bush in an objective fashion with people like Sully is like criticising how much tin foil the guys you run into at the laundramat are wearing. It just leads to a larger litiany of insanity.
It's like the guys in the 90's with the "black helicopters". Or the UN taking over the US. Same level of craziness.
I mean, do you think Buddy *really* got run over in traffic? Fight the future!!!
(go ask Socks!)
Prediction:
Bush leaves office with a minimum approval rating in the high 40's.
First proof? Read the comments immediately following the New York Times article referenced at the top of this post.
Democrats at this point are scared shitless about two things:
1) Obama might not win.
2) Obama might win, and then f*** up so bad with Pelosi and Reid that there will be no hope of a permanent Demo majority. I've been hearing such comments from died-in-the-wool Demos for over 2 weeks now.
Amazing how the fear of what the future might bring can be so clarifying.
More than few died in the wool Dems have told me they will not vote for Obama.
They said they don't think he has enough experience.
A McCain landslide is more likely than an Obama slim victory.
Pogo said "I am tempted to think that the caricature on his blog is all that there is to him"
That's the one where he seems to be saying "Goatse my ear"
"It's nice to, for once, not be in a minority!"
But suppose 51% of Americans feel about President Bush the same way you do. If that majority in which you seem to find yourself is incapable of functioning normally and safely, as Chip's host seemed to be, how is that nice?
History, though pitiless, will smile on George Bush in the end. Anyone with a sense of humor might want to read the latest bout of conventional wisdom from Fareed Zakaria in this week's Newsweak.
It was filled with the usual preparatory condemnations of Bush, of course, but one got the feeling from reading the Zakaria piece that Fareed is a liberal who actually understands that Bush will end up like Truman after all, and his political opponents less so.
The criticisms of Bush since his Presidency began were always colored by the Recount in 2000. That loss, and the fact that he failed to win the popular vote that year, would always color the Democratic attitude towards him. War or no war, Democratic activists hated him, and the results of a contested election would leave Democrats feeling robbed of the State Power that liberals have always felt was rightfully theirs.
If Obama loses this year, I wonder what they will do with themselves. It would be very, very difficult for them to gin up yet another "Enemy of the People" campaign against John McCain. Keith Olbermann can only come up with so much manufactured rage.
This nonsense from Sullivan and others about Bush and the Volleyball Girls brings into relief what I've always understood about the relationship between Bush and the Left: he is desperately needed by them.
Bush is their Emmanuel Goldstein. He is their modern day hate figure around which they assign the sins of the world. It is Obama's misfortune that most rank and file voters, while unhappy with Bush, don't suffer from the desperate need to hate this man.
For the Left, try as they might to deny it, their greatest misfortune will occur when Bush is finally gone. Then the only people they will have left to lie to is themselves.
section9 said...
Keith Olbermann can only come up with so much manufactured rage.
Keith Olbermann suffers from rabies. His brain is so infected that there is no limit to his manufactured rage. What do you expect from a grown man who collects baseball cards. The only reason he is a pundit is because he was such a lousy sportscaster.
The only reason he is a pundit is because he was such a lousy sportscaster.
Actually, he was a brilliant sportscaster, if used properly.
But the rest of your post is, however, accurate.
I think Bush has been a disaster, and I don't have any reason to assume he's a "good man," but no, even I don't have anything nasty to say about his interaction at the Olympics. I'm happy for the athletes that have had their moment in the sun and received their president's praise.
He shoulda hit it like the fist of an angry God.
There is no reason to read Andrew sullivan.
He did not. He called them women as he praised them for inspiring girls to play softball.
You're right, but the way the first sentence reads to me indicated that he was talking about the women's softball team, and perhaps I was overwhelmed with the profundity of the statement, "It’s good for the world to have girls playing softball."
I've never exploded about how awful Bush has been as a president in the comments here (cue Palladian searching the comments archives), and what he's doing in China, to me, is like, a big "whatever." Let him have his moment, or whatever he wants this to be.
But what "moves people to be this sour" is a long standing resentment towards a man who has undeniably tarnished this great country's reputation around the world (for reasons you may or may not agree with) and who has failed this county domestically with policies and (in)actions that will have long detrimental effects. I think that's what moves people to be "sour," even if it is on the occasion of some awkward photo-op in China.
I stopped reading Sullivan when it became apparent that he had lost his mind on Bush, whom he seemed to regard as a father-figure until Bush came out against gay marriage, whereupon everything changed. He is, on the subject of Bush, completely irrational, like many others. I don't bother reading them either.
You don't have to love Bush, but too many people can't even be FAIR about him. Althouse is very fair. The guy is no misogynist, and he's no man who takes women lightly. Just once it would be nice to see the press and the left give Bush some props where they are deserved, but they're incapable of it.
Bush respects women, and he is on women's side. He is helping "women of cover" in lands where they are debased and abused. Supposedly, feminists wanted a president who would do that. But in the end, all they really want is a heroic democrat who will offend women and use and abuse them, but keep abortion legal.
Sully and the feminists deserve each other and they don't deserve Bush. But they don't realize how lucky they have been to have him.
As a number of observers have agreed (easily researched), Presdient Bush and his Administration has done more to alleviate poverty and suffering in Africa than any other president in history.
Millions of Africans are alive today or are living happier lives because of the efforts of this President to mitigate the ravages of AIDs.
But remember: he cares not a bit about humanity.
Because three terrorists had water poured on their faces. Or dozens more were forced to stay awake and listen to loud music.
Millions saved versus dozens roughly treated.
Yeah, that works out.
Hatred, like love, is indeed blind.
Beth-
Why would you have any reason to assume that Pres. Bush is NOT a good man? As Mary Matalin says about her husband Mr. Carville, "James is the most decent man I have ever known. In matters of politics he is just wrong."
I still picture the tears running down his face at the memorial service following 9-11 with his father putting his hand over his. At least he cares.
"and what he's doing in China, to me, is like, a big "whatever." Let him have his moment, or whatever he wants this to be. "
Actually, you don't know why he is in China, because the press isn't telling you much about it. He was there to open and dedicate the new US embassy there - something he certainly should be on board for. He also made a speech in Asia about China opening up its country and stopping its human rights abuse, and at the Embassy ceremony he made a point of saying - again - that CHina should "allow people the freedom to speak what they think."
The guy has consistently spoken out for freedom of speech. Homelessness is down 30%. Unemployment levels were below CLinton's levels for much of his presidency, until recently, when gas prices affected employment a great deal. Congress has a hand in all of that, for good and for bad.
Bush is no "disaster"; he's been a fairly good president, with weaknesses like any other. But some people just refuse to look at realities where he is concerned.
THe coolest thing about Bush is that he doesn't seem to give a crap about your hate. WHich is probably the thing that makes you hate him the most.
"...who has undeniably tarnished this great country's reputation..."
This is not even close to "undeniable."
I know it's like beating my head on a brick wall but does NO ONE remember that during the Clinton years the United States of America was routinely vilified in the World for callously causing the death of no less than 650,000 innocent Iraqi children? American tourists did not start claiming to be Canadian in the last 8 years!
Egad.
Andrew Sullivan: Just another sad old silver daddy without a twink unless there's room on the credit card.
A certain group of Americans are driven ccccrrrrraaazzzzzy by the Olympics.
Americans waving the flag.
The national anthem-
Chanting of-
U. S. A.!
U. S. A.!
Patriotism-they loathe it.
The Olympics with President Bush there is going to drive them over the edge.
What are you going to do?
Post this picture and pass it on-
President Bush-
America's Number One Fan-and not afraid to show it-
Link
"The Olympics with President Bush there is going to drive them over the edge.
What are you going to do?
Post this picture and pass it on-"
Bush is amusing, but I am actually alarmed by the sullen, dun-colored head of Henry Kissinger looming in the foreground. Egads.
Andrew has the BDS. Bad.
And if Bush "undeniably" hurts our reputation so much, why do nations keep electing US supporters like Merkel and Sarkozy? Bush hurts our reputation among the media and artists, academia and anti-war crazies. That's a small portion of the population of the world.
In Paris I found nothing but warmth for Americans, and not a word about Bush. In China, I don't know, those Protestants looked pretty happy with him today. Any other leaders do anything positive like that at the Olympics?
It's good for the world to have girls playing softball.
Poor guy. It would be easy to make fun of Bush for having said that but what would you (if you were president) come up with if you were asked for an instant statement about anything and everything under the sun?
Despite all the bad things they say about him now, the history books are going to treat Bush very good. Or, at least the history books in Nuevo Aztlan and Mexico; the history books in the former remaining territory that used to belong to the U.S. will concentrate on Chinese heros.
Search for his name at my site to see why I'm not a fan, although you'll get a lot of hits so try another word like immigration, corrupt, quisling, banks, etc.
P.S. I don't much like Sully, Insty, or Althouse either, but thankfully their power is much more limited than Bush's.
It's kind of pathetic that The Atlantic sees fit to pay actual money to Andrew Sullivan for what a thousand anonymous Bush-haters do for free.
Sophomoric, lacking wit and inventiveness, having no more insight than a Code Pink true believer camped out in front of a Marine recruiting center, his posts are blander than a Wonder bread and tofu sandwich.
I mean sheeee-hit, dudes, what gives?
The Atlantic magazine
James Bennet, Editor
Scott Stossel, Managing Editor
The Atlantic.com
Sage Stossel, Executive Editor (nepotism! it's Scott's sister, and she is a cartoonist so go figure)
Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, Senior Editor
Seriously, I'll write this crap for half price, and my crap will be a better grade of crap than Mr. Sullivan is currently shoveling.
Pogo:
Writers like Sullivan must have no-cut guaranteed deals like baseball and basketball players. Cause he just phones it in anymore.
Suggest mags start using non-guaranteed deals like the NFL.
You'd think some smart idiotor would start reading blogs to find real talent. Just think he could start a trend by using only the blogger "usernames" instead of real names on the mag's masthead.
Palladian-
Well it's Hennnery...
He's getting on in years...
There was a picture of him crackin' a smile...somewhere.
What's interesting is I think it was Hennery that decided to warm US-Sino relations to balance out the bear....
Prof. Althouse-
When I first saw the pictures of the President with Kerri Walsh I thought-
Now that's going to drive the Jihadis nuts!
I'm almost surprised it bothers Andrew Sullivan-
Sad.
By the way..
if people who criticize Bush are "deranged," what does that make the people who defend him?
Talk amongst yourselves.
"What moves people to be this sour about something so basically nice?
For the love of god, why the hell do people still pay attention to Sullivan? The guy is a grade-A asshole, I'm still trying to figure out just who the hell exactly decided this idiot had something worthwhile to say.
Not all the people who criticise Mr. Bush are deranged.
Only those who are deranged are deranged.
For example. I am very disappointed in his treatment of polar bears, but I am not deranged.
The US has freed two nations under thrall of corrupt terrorist cliques, while the US economy has grown by the size of the economy of China. I regret every casualty paid for Iraq and Afghanistan, and am angered at every American murdered by terrorists, but the price has been low compared to, say the US operations to take in North Africa or Sicily.
Sure, President Bush got some things wrong. All presidents have, and all presidents will. All in all, he has done very well. Perhaps it was necessary for the Republicans to learn that we didn't elect them to become a slightly less corrupt version of the Democrats.
I hope that John McCAin has some inkling on Immigration, but will note that was also one of President Reagan's errors.
At this point, the laughably obsessive Bush Derangement Syndrome on display by many of the left says far more about them than about Bush.
It won't be too long before the left cements their reputation as the home of bitter and humorless, with all the hypocritical joylessness of a puritanical scold.
My brother-in-law did something similar a few months back. Staring straight ahead seems the only useful response. Eye rolling to one's spouse is also helpful
Something similar happened at a family gathering as well, where myself and my husband were outnumbered by the slavering liberals in the family. God love them because they are my relatives, and I do love them....However, we calmly got up and left, leaving dinner on the table, and said if you ever want us to visit you again we suggest you refrain from discussing politics. PERIOD. The End.
I just had an argument with my fiance over this. She was appalled at news clip about him attending a church service stating that "God is Love".
I was also appalled at her sourness. Chinese christians have been persecuted by the regime. Bush's attentance and comments offer some protection to these powerless people. All she could do was express disgust.
I am not comfortable with his open religiousity either but that is far outweighted by the fact he was drawing attention to people who have been persecuted.
"What strikes me as so two-faced about many of those against the Iraq war is not that they think we were wrong to invade, but that they think the Iraqi people (Arabs in general?) are incapable of self-rule and self-control. Incapable of being free."
This is a dishonest argument.
It is not that Arabs (a race) are incapable of self-rule, it is that Muslims - Islam being a religion that delineates a very specific way of life and political system - are forbidden by their religious doctrine to adopt alien political ideologies that run counter to sharia law (also known as Islamic law).
So while everyone knows that Islamic terrorists murdered 3,000 Americans, your feeble protest about the stereotyping of "Arabs" as a two-faced attempt to mislead people is a lie.
This very clever tactic (i.e. lie) originated within the Bush Administration in 2003 at the start of the Iraq war. It was sophistry then and its sophistry now.
Try reading the Koran (what Muslms believe to be the literal word of Allah) for clarification.
Z.P. Sire said, "I guess this post is for the 30% of Americans who approve of him. It's nice to, for once, not be in a minority!"
I assume Mr. Sire is also a proud member of the 9% that hold Pelosi and Reid to be accomplished leaders.
On the other hand, I'm still part of that 80% who approved of George Bush when they thought this war was going to be easy; the 80% that enthusiastically agreed with the guy who yelled to the President from the WTC rubble, "Go get 'em George!"
And George went and "got 'em" like we commanded and it turned out to be harder than a neatly packaged episode of Law and Order, and we turned on him like we had a national case of attention deficit syndrome, and demanded fun new episodes of American Idol and wished it would all go away in a cloud of Obamahopeandchange.
But George prevailed against all odds.
That's why history will remember him as a great President and Bill Clinton will be remembered for a stained blue dress.
Don Meaker fails to note that, given the same conditions, Prez Kerry would have had no choice but to do what Bush tried to do in Afghanistan. However, absent Bush's handlers, he wouldn't have gone in to Iraq and - with GOP pressure - would have made sure to do a good job (i.e., a non-Bush job) in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Bush has presided over a dramatic increase in the number of Mexican citizens who live in the U.S.; currently 14% of that entire country's workforce lives here. Bush has no only given their activist government almost everything they've asked for (or at least tried), he made a personal pledge to that government. No previous president would have done something like that.
And, he's allowed and encouraged massive corporate welfare and has allowed banks to profit from illegal activity.
I thought the people who still defend Bush after eight years of abject failure had all retreated to the RedState compound, but I guess there are some living outside.
"if people who criticize Bush are "deranged," what does that make the people who defend him?"
There is a difference between criticism and what you BDS types put out, so there is a difference between criticism and "deranged criticism."
For instance, I challenge you to point out a single instance where you believe Bush did a good thing. If you have difficulty, I believe you are deranged on the subject of Bush.
I sincerely dislike Clinton, but I could still find several things on which I thought he was right and others on which I could merely compliment him for his behavior, whether it was what I wantted or not.
I have seen zero evidence, ZPS, that you have ever done the same. Give it a shot, it might save your sanity.
At the risk of sounding ignorant or naive, can somebody explain this to me? "But he gave up golf." What does this sentence have to do with the photograph? Why is this sentence considered immature or juvenile? Why is it interpreted as meaning Andrew thinks Bush disrespects women?
I'm being 100% serious here -- I do not understand this headline. Thanks to anyone who can break it down for me.
You'd have plenty of reasons to question my sanity on any number of points!, but not on my opinion of Bush.
To play your game, I think it's good that Bush has directed so much aid to Africa, the most of any sitting president if I'm not mistaken. I also think it's good that he turned his life around after being a total alcoholic coke-head loser...it takes a lot of courage and willpower to pull that off, so the guy obviously has some major strength.
Dear Andrew,
No one likes a catty bitch.
:::applause::: Koblog:BRAVO!
Dust Bunny Queen: I've been cornered, numerous times, by my far-left relatives in Madistan, WI, while they attempted to re-educate me.
I've listened, politely. When they're done and ask me what my thoughts are, I tell them that I value family and friendships over politics, and so I do not have anything to say regarding politics.
That usually elicits an apology and a subject change.
It does require tons of self-control, though.
Just loved the way that President Clinton handled his defense of those terrible accusation back in 1998 when that terrible woman made those unfounded accusations against a sitting president. You'd never see that terrible G. W. Bush fellow handle himself that way now would we!
Also, that wonderful Presidential Candidate Kerry was so great in showing how terrible our forces were during Vietnam when they followed the way of that ugly Genghis Khan person. Disgusting. Well Kerry showed how lucky the USA was back then to have the path of righteousness down which we were then led by Senator E. Kennedy and again currently by that Senator Reid fellow who showed us that defeat is our natural goal.
Now we can just swoon over that great new emotional leader BHO who'll show us how to avoid the path of the Bushes and go down the path of the "O" singing hosanna whatever. My goodness, swatting someone on the fanny, how disgusting. He should have followed President Clinton's example and stood up for it, making her kneel.
At the risk of sounding ignorant or naive, can somebody explain this to me? "But he gave up golf."
Recently, when asked what he was doing to show solidarity with families of the troops, Bush said he had given up golf because being photographed on a golf course would look insensitive to those in mourning.
I know.
I guess Sullivan would rather President Kerry be in China now, babbling about "Jen-jis" Khan.
President Bush will go down in history as a great president. All the Monday morning generals... piss be upon them.
GW is a man who loves, fears, cherishes, and respects women—he's got two daughters who are the apple of his eye. His interactions with the athletes reflect his very positive attitude to women.
A man like that, we have had him for 8 years, and the feministas have aided Dems in demonizing him because they value baby-killing more than freedom for women.
Just when I thought the Sunday night Olympics coverage couldn't get any better, what with President Bush making even the humourless geek Bob Costas laugh and showing what a totally great guy he is, personally, comes one of the greatest Olympic victories I've ever watched live.
Congrats to 4x100m relay swimming race champs! GO USA!!!
Cheers,
Victoria
Andrew Sullivan still has a blog?
I like Andrew Sullivan's blog. Sure, he annoys the hell out of me a lot, but still it's a good blog.
One of the things I dislike about his blog is that he almost never replies to criticisms of his posts. I'm not saying he's obligated to post replies to every criticism of him in the blogosphere, but I'd like to see him reply to some of them. His blog has a hundred posts per day; surely he could acknowledge that people are commenting on something he posted and engage them.
ZPS --
Thanks. I thought I was going crazy there, unable to get the point. Such as it is.
Congrats to 4x100m relay swimming race champs! GO USA!!!
Yeah, that was a fantastic race! It made up for Hoff kind of choking in the swiming finals that preceded it.
I don't know why the French team was so dumb as to talk smack BEFORE they took care of business. That gave Team USA the extra motivation to pull off the upset. Athletes never learn. Don't talk trash on the eve of the showdown!!!!
I'm glad they didn't cut our national anthem short this time, too, btw.
Historical rankings of the Presidents
He's already beaten Carter (#34 of 43) AND Nixon (#32 of 43), and usually the last year of any US President's term affects their rankings very negatively.
However, in "Dead Certain", one of the best bios so far on GW Bush, he himself told the author that there is no way you will be able to judge him or his Presidency...until he's dead.
And he's absolutely right.
Thank God he has a little perspective, and ENORMOUS funds of self-belief to keep him going.
That's what people reacted to in 2004, and that's what the BDSers will NEVER understand.
Cheers,
Victoria
Yeah, that was a fantastic race! It made up for Hoff kind of choking in the swiming finals that preceded it.
I know, right? I was really down when Hoff got the silver, but since NBC had concentrated on the whole Laure Manaudou revenge saga, it sorta snuck up on me.
I don't know why the French team was so dumb as to talk smack BEFORE they took care of business.
STUPIDE.
But the French taunting also reminded me of Gary Hall, Jr.'s ridiculous boasts of "smashing the Australians like a guitar".
It didn't help that he has a face which screams "asshole", too.
Cheers,
Victoria
Hmm, well, I think Bush's presidency has been mostly a failure (probably because he surrounds himself with the wrong people), but I don't hate him. I think it's obvious he means well and is not an evil person, but you don't get much credit for meaning well when your administration is rather incompetent. I will never condemn him for taking out Saddam, who I think needed to be taken out long before he was. But unfortunately the invasion/liberation was not executed well at all.
Victoria, did you watch the awards ceremony? The Muslim woman hanging the silver medals on the French team was wearing the most vulgar stretch pants I've ever in my life seen. She might as well have been naked. I was shocked, shocked.
Wow, no I didn't catch the stretch pants, Christy. I did see the beige chador getup she was wearing, which was unusual to say the least.
I also liked how, through no prompting of anyone else, Michael Phelps took it on himself to jump off the podium, and shake the hands of the arrogant French team.
(To their credit, the French didn't scowl at their silver, but held up their medals with grins. Good on them)
BTW, someone has to tap Mrs. Bush on the shoulder and tell her if Mr. Bush can dress down at sporting events, so can she.
She should give her pantsuits a rest.
Did you catch that 5 of the relay teams broke the previous world record?
Was I the only one who felt that, when the NBC commentator kept setting up the race by saying he's analyzed it every which way and he sees almost no hope for USA, that that meant Team USA would somehow do it? But I did lose hope during the final leg and thought the commentator was BSing me that USA had a shot in the middle of the last lap. And then USA won! And I stood up and started screaming "USA! USA!"
My wife's cousin was in a business where he often bid as part of a group for government and large business contracts in many parts of the world. He was part of a group that won a contract with the State of Texas when Bush was Governor. They won the bid, and Cousin X and the other members of the group held a meeting with then-Gov. Bush to go over the details of the contract before the final version was accepted.
Cousin X said that Bush was the sharpest, most perceptive and no-nonsense politician or government employee he had ever done business with, and that included people from quite a few State governments in the US, as well as their foreign equivalents all over the world. He was also extremely impressed by Bush's friendly demeanor, and the fact that Bush remembered him and details about their conversation when he ran into him some time later in the VIP lounge at the Dallas Airport. Of course those are skills Bush would have as a politician, but Cousin X was impressed by his hail-fellow-well-met good nature that seemed quite sincere, and Bush's genuine good sense.
I recall Cousin X telling everybody at a family gathering some time before the public thought of Bush as a candidate that, "That guy outta run for President! He'd be the best thing that ever happened, and the cure for that slimeball Clinton."
Well, it didn't quite work out that way, but I think I learned three things about George Bush:
1. Bush was a popular and fairly effective Governor of Texas. Partly that was possible because everybody in Texas, regardless of party, seems to be a moderate conservative. Both Bush's approach to government and his personal style worked in that environment. He had friends across the aisle, and people liked him.
2. George Bush is an illustration of the Peter Principle: Being a tolerably successful Governor does not mean a person would make a good President. Bush was promoted to his level of incompetence.
3. George Bush may be, according to Cousin X, a "good guy," but that doesn't prevent him from fatally lacking two qualities needed in a President: He "wants Wisdom," as Sir Archy would say; and he is a dreadful communicator. He may be great with small groups, witness Cousin X, but as a mass communicator, he is the worst since Calvin Coolidge. At least Coolidge had the advantage of being perceived as an interesting "character," not a doofus.
A little wisdom would have either kept Bush from a near-fiasco such as Iraq, or, if the war was really necessary, that same wisdom would have taught him something about the conduct of a war.
So, personally, I don't hate Bush. I don't even dislike him. That still doesn't keep me from thinking he has been a disaster as a President. And that is not because of his missteps, not so much worse than many another President, but because of his manifest incompetence as a communicator, and so a leader. Being a leader is what we hire a President to do, and George Bush has failed.
I've read Sullivan on/off over the years. He definitely hasn't been consistent in his approach to issues. When he recently said McCain was "whoring out his wife to bikers", I thought he had gone too far. For the first time in my life I contributed to a political campaign. $200 to "McSame"
Did you catch that 5 of the relay teams broke the previous world record?
Totally.
I confess it also crossed my mind, when the world record line was SO totally crushed by teams which had never previously even been in medal contention (like Sweden), that these guys were all juiced.
God, I pray that nothing marrs this victory and that NONE of the swimmers, not even the French, were Balco'ed up. This was a very special race indeed.
Was I the only one who felt that, when the NBC commentator kept setting up the race by saying he's analyzed it every which way and he sees almost no hope for USA, that that meant Team USA would somehow do it?
That was Rowdy Gaines with the colour commentating, and I'm glad you thought that, Loafing, since I kept thinking why is he so down on the US' chances, just shut up already.
And then USA won! And I stood up and started screaming "USA! USA!"
ME TOO. Hugs. :)
It's still about the 2000 election.
All the slams on this president spring from that original source of irritation. Everything else, including his response to the unprecedented attacks of 9/11, is irrelevant.
It's still about the 2000 election.
Oh boy. Little Miss Sullivan is all up in a tizzy once more. Seriously, this stretches the level of credulity to new heights with this guy. You are a humorless dick just like your little blessed black boy Mr. Barely. We get it okay?
Sullivan - and he will admit as much - had a major crush of President Bush in 1999 - 2002, to the extent that he even described Bush's mannerisms in loving detail, as proof of the the man's great virtue. Then love turned to hate, as it often does with a jilted lover.
And now, the pattern is repeating with Obama. He doesn't merely like Obama's positions, and think Obama has a basically good character. No, Sully has fully bought into the messiah-ism of the Obama movement, much like a 17-year old involved in his 1st campaign. If Obama becomes president - and proves himself to be a politician - a jilted Sullivan will pour out the hate, starting around 2011.
The person I feel bad for is Andrew Sullivan -- so clearly uncomfortable in his own skin -- so obviously a miserable human being.
it was brilliant vbspurs, but you didn't see it live - you saw it NBC "live" i.e. 3 hours after it happened.
That poor girl, jilted by the President like that in front of all those people. If *I* were President, I'd give her a good reassuring smack on the ass.
Quixotic wrote:
a jilted Sullivan will pour out the hate, starting around 2011.
Sullivan's politics are hard to decipher, but his personality pattern isn't. I think you'll be proved right, Quixotic -- especially since I hear through the grapevine that Obama feels irritation by and has a personal dislike towards gay males.
Cheers,
Victoria
Gosh, ex-Democrat. Thank God I and so many other Americans didn't peek at the results!
If the lefties hate Bush so much, then why do they put all their faith in a guy, Barry, who has all the qualities that they absolutely despise in that strawman they created in the likeness of GW Bush?
Fecklessness, grandiosity, religiosity, using mass media for thought control, inarticulateness, lack of GRAVITAS and grasp on foreign affairs, allusions to Christ in speeches, cockiness, claiming he's a uniter then not being one, Gentleman C's at Harvard, incurious about worldly affairs, linkage to awful churches, corruption, inability to understand the costs of war (Iran, that's just a small country, we could kick it's ass), dishonesty...etc....
Karma is a bitch. LOL
When people say that Iraq had "absolutely nothing" do do with 911, I ask them why the Iraqi secret police met with Attah once for certain, and possibly (probably) twice. It's in the 911 report.
Usually they have an overwhelming fit of BDS and never answer the question, directly or indirectly.
But you will notice that any official statement on Iraq and 911 says that they found no evidence of "operational support" for the hijackers. Why the weasel words? Why not just say they found no evidence of any support or contact? Because it wouldn't be true, that's why.
You may now resume to your daily bout of BDS.
"Died in the wool dems" - one can only hope.
Sullivan's blog has a quote by George Orwell beneath the masthead reading "To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."
I encourage him to read the entire essay however, rather than just the quote. it might prove illuminating. Orwell was talking about the human propensity toward self-delusion.
"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle. One thing that helps toward it is to keep a diary, or, at any rate, to keep some kind of record of one's opinions about important events. Otherwise, when some particularly absurd belief is exploded by events, one may simply forget that one ever held it. Political predictions are usually wrong. But even when one makes a correct one, to discover why one was right can be very illuminating. In general, one is only right when either wish or fear coincides with reality. If one recognizes this, one cannot, of course, get rid of one's subjective feelings, but one can to some extent insulate them from one's thinking and make predictions cold-bloodedly, by the book of arithmetic.
In private life most people are fairly realistic. When one is making out one's weekly budget, two and two invariably make four. Politics, on the other hand, is a sort of sub-atomic or non-Euclidean word where it is quite easy for the part to be greater than the whole or for two objects to be in the same place simultaneously. Hence the contradictions and absurdities I have chronicled above, all finally traceable to a secret belief that one's political opinions, unlike the weekly budget, will not have to be tested against solid reality."
George Orwell: ‘In Front of Your Nose’
First published: Tribune. — GB, London. — March 22, 1946.
For friends and family members suffering BDS: a way out.
there will be no hope of a permanent Demo majority.
No party will ever have a permanent Demo majority. I see no evidence that the Democrats will be any better at ensuring that than the Republicans, who fouled up a golden opportunity post 9/11.
I thought Bush's interview with the NBC Olympics guy last night went very well. Bush seemed actually to stay on message, and he conveyed how thrilled he was to see some Olympic venues. He did butcher the Russian President's name, but who doesn't?
Well, start with a heaping tablespoon of gay. To that add a healthy measure of the desire to be famous. Along with that a couple of cups of laziness and lack of originality, so the only way you can get people to notice you is to write something outrageous.
Sullivan is the typical "Look at Me" kid who never made it beyond 5 years old.
Oh and it helps to have the morals of a slithering Komodo.
I know Victoria is keeping track -- but I saw 1 political ad last night -- the McCain one, and I wasn't really paying attention -- chatting with the daughter -- and as the ad ended it struck me that I didn't know who it was for (well, except it said This is John McCain and I approved this message). So I guess that's not a very good ad.
It looked like Bush had a big gash on his arm when the camera cut to him during the swimming. Or maybe we need a new Telly -- that's what the kids tell me. I really enjoyed the 4x100 race -- who would've thought the french would fold like a cheap card table?
Recently, when asked what he was doing to show solidarity with families of the troops, Bush said he had given up golf because being photographed on a golf course would look insensitive to those in mourning.
No, that's incorrect.
During an interview, a reporter asked him why he no longer played golf. It was the reporter who raised the matter.
Bush replied that he had given it up because he would appear to look insensitive playing golf to the families of soldier so out of respect for their feelings he stopped playing.
Yes, it would be more appropriate to portray him as disrespecting the human race, every day, in all that he does.
Then, when someone (okay, it was me) points out the efforts by the President and his Administration to mitigate poverty and AIDs problems in Africa, he responds:
To play your game, I think it's good that Bush has directed so much aid to Africa, the most of any sitting president if I'm not mistaken.
So, Bush "disrespects" the human race every day and, at the same time, does "good" things for people in Africa.
BDS means you never have to make sense. Just smear.
Zachary Paul Sire:
How, pray tell, does GW 'disrespect the human race'? By not being the pusillanimous milksop you adore in the likes of B. Hussein Obama? By not kowtowing to the Eurotrash?
Get over it.
Bubba (Chinagate, FBIFilegate, Travelgate, Whitewatergate) Clinton and Jimmy (I nevah met a dictator I didn't like)Carter, were the bigest disasters in recent American history.
We all know how difficult it is for you socialist “democrats” with your post-election trauma and the weekly trips to your therapist, but the rest of America is getting sick and tired of your pissing, moaning, and imbecilic regurgitations about “BOOSHITLER".
You’re comprised of pseudo-anarchists, nihilists, and spineless MoveOn.org sycophants who would never let the facts get in the way of a good Bush bashing. The adults, thank God, are still in charge of the country. Remove the nose rings and grow up.
SFC MAC
I hadn't tuned in to this site for a long time, and it appears I haven't missed much. Is this where the 29% that approve Bush hang out?
I wanted to see the right-wing reaction to the Georgia/Russia conflict. Alas, I see no post about it (maybe there is one, but I slogged through as much of this drivel as I could stomach before I gave up).
Hope you all enjoy your right-wing echo chamber.
"if people who criticize Bush are "deranged," what does that make the people who defend him?"
What does it make the people who defend him from the criticisms of the deranged?
I'll take a wild stab at "what is 'not deranged'," Alex.
/Is this some sort of trick question or something?
If it had been me who declined that opportunity, I would regret it on my deathbed.
I wanted to see the right-wing reaction to the Georgia/Russia conflict. Alas, I see no post about it
I'm waiting for the left-wing reaction to it also. I suspect either yawning indifference or cheerleading for the Russians along with condemnations of the US as world warmonger.
Oh and Misty has a great ass.
Mojave Joe said "Hope you all enjoy your right-wing echo chamber."
Gosh, that cuts deep. Deep. I shall probably cry for days.
You and Sullivan sure have wicked rapier-like witticisms. I mean, compared to what I remember of seventh grade lunchrooms anyway.
I remember Andrew Sullivan writing, some time ago, that he rubs a testosterone cream into his chest on a daily basis. Apparently, it started as a treatment for the 'Slim' but has morphed into a more general aid to hyper-sexuality. I wonder if it's now disturbing his thought processes?
Hoosier Daddy said...
"Oh and Misty has a great ass."
From a medical perspective, that is an accurate finding.
We all know how difficult it is for you socialist “democrats”
LOL
Hoosier,
You will be waiting for a long time to get the Left's reaction to Russian imperialistic aggression in Georgia. They only hate wars if the US is involved. Russia could invade and ethniclly cleanse the Georgians Soviet style and the Left would have nothing to say. Of course if the US went to war to save the Georgians, you would immediately hear cries of "stop this illegal war!!" For the Left the US and only the US must be wrong in all circumstances. It must be terrible to loath your country and thus in some ways your self that much. I really feel sorry for them sometimes.
Golf is not kind to presidents.
Ford, a superior athlete, had a bad slice. Or hook. Depended on the day. Every time he pegged a voter it added to the perception that he was a klutz.
GHW Bush was criticized for making executive decisions from the golf course. It's okay to direct military operations from a bowling alley. Bowling alleys are gritty, realistic places. But not from a golf cart.
Clinton hung out with professional golfer Greg Norman for one day and lost a knee.
Even talking about golf is a bad idea for presidents, as W has discovered.
Henry, it's too bad, really, because golf, much like other sports, reveals important personality defects in ways not obvious by other methods.
"Bill Clinton cheats at golf. Chicago author Carol Felsenthal says so in her latest bombshell biography, "Clinton in Exile: A President Out of the White House," released this month by William Morrow/Harper Collins.
But don't take Felsenthal's word for it. She says that she interviewed "about 20 people who still golf with Bill Clinton. They all said he cheats at golf." One of those golfers is Leon Panetta, who was the Clinton's chief of staff from 1994 to 1996. Panetta still swings a club now and then with Clinton, and Felsenthal recalls Panetta telling her that "Bill Clinton always ends up with a good score," no matter how well-or poorly-he actually plays."
NO! You FOOLS! Don't you SEE?! This is bigger than John Edwards! It's bigger than Chappquiddick! Why, it's almost bigger than Larry Craig.
And you just know John McCain wanted to smack the other cheek! BUSH AND McCAIN, ONE AND THE SAME! NO BLOOD FOR GEORGIA! DON'T IRAQ IRAN!
mschaff said...
It's still about the 2000 election.
All the slams on this president spring from that original source of irritation. Everything else, including his response to the unprecedented attacks of 9/11, is irrelevant.
It's still about the 2000 election.
The most truthful, logical, and cogent comment on this post and this President.
George Bush came to the Presidency with the reputation and the background of working across party lines in Texas to do what was right for the State. Something that the leftist say they "love" about Obama the Uniter, who has absolutely no record of ever having done anything bi-partisan.
The biggest mistake Bush made was believing that the liberals in Texas who are Democrats but still ultimately love Texas were anything like the "liberals" on the national stage who , like Obama, come from the marxist school and absolutely despise America, its founders, its history, its traditions and its standing in the world as a detriment to their stuggle for a marxist world utopia with them in charge.
That is how you get Democrats comparing Bush to Hitler and Cheney to Stalin in Congress and the MSM reporting that it is George Bush who has divided the country.
Luckily for all Americans, even the idiot leftist here, George Bush usually does the right thing for the country and takes the heat.
Republicans were deranged about Bill Clinton, then Democrats were deranged about George Bush, now Republicans are deranged about Obama...lather, rinse, repeat...
the whole hyper-partisan derangement is really getting sad and pathetic.
If you think most liberals hate America because they can criticize things done in America's name, then you are a right-wing lunatic.
If you think most conservatives are evil because they have a hard time feeling sorry for a top al-Qaeda leader being tortured, then you are a left-wing lunatic.
If you're going to criticize Bush for what he's doing or saying in China, perhaps you should criticize his toothless protest of Russia's invasion of Georgia and the laughable irony of his statement about Russia's violation of Georgian sovereignty.
This is the real problem with the Bush foreign policy disasters- the complete lack of moral authority we have to protest such a violation.
Anyone who says bad things about President Bush is anti-american.
You can't be a real American and not love President Bush.
From time to time my wife asks me why the Dems hate Bush so much and all I can tell her is that it started with the 2000 election. They never could accept the outcome. It is still amusing to see the faded bumperstickers imploring the true believers to not elect Bush (in 2004) or "selected not elected".
Of course, they get pretty worked up about Cheney and Rove, too.
This whole situation is a Rovian plan, which will result in crowning him as King Karl the Great, ruler of all mankind, womankind too, also!
He'll then overthrow the Winsor Usurpers in the UK and his dominion over all English speaking peoples, the major ones of course, will be complete!
Democrats, and all Hollywood, will all be banished to the Soviet Gulags forever.
Regarding Georgia/Russia, isn't this like Poland 1939 or Prague 1968? Why aren't we (the US) in there defending liberty?
Old Grouchy, sarcasm aside (funny sarcasm I grant you), you have to admit Karl Rove is a sleezebag. Mind you, most political fixers of his ilk are on both sides of the aisle. I find it so odd that those who seem to embrace John McCain now, at the same time they worship Karl Rove, seem to forget it was Rove who was behind the disgusting South Carolina character assasination of McCain in 2000.
Rove is slime and the sooner he is off the public stage the better.
r.s.a-
Re: McCain and Bush 2000: what is your evidence?
Regarding Georgia/Russia, isn't this like Poland 1939 or Prague 1968? Why aren't we (the US) in there defending liberty?
I've been waiting for "this is just like every other war in history except the first Gulf war" as well.
Republicans were deranged about Bill Clinton, then Democrats were deranged about George Bush, now Republicans are deranged about Obama...lather, rinse, repeat...
That is the irony isn't it. Well, at least Bush got about a year of reprieve, the same people claiming BDS think Obama is already a Marxist/Fahrakan-loving/Racist/Flag-hater/Anarchist and he isn't even President yet. Because either your political opponent is evil or you're just not trying.
Sully is little more than yer average 15-year old girl, constantly trying to be one of the Popular Kids. Though he was one of the most articulate of the Iraq war's defenders, he turned to the other side right after Bush endorsed the DOMA. That's how utterly self-absorbed Sully is.
Regarding Georgia/Russia, isn't this like Poland 1939 or Prague 1968?
More like the Sudetenland.
Why aren't we (the US) in there defending liberty?
The three most obvious reasons are (a) we're busy defending liberty in Iraq and Afghanistan, (b) Congress is controlled by a resolutely "antiwar" party, and (c) it really isn't a good idea for world's two major nuclear powers to fight a war with each other.
Madison Man, so far, according to my obsessive viewing of the Olympics, on NBC Channel 6:
10 McCain
2 Obama
Since it's the national feed, I'm wondering if the usual targetting of certain States is in force with these ads or not? IOW, if we in Florida are getting saturated with McCain ads, but those in Pennsylvania are getting more Obama.
The three most obvious reasons are (a) we're busy defending liberty in Iraq and Afghanistan, (b) Congress is controlled by a resolutely "antiwar" party, and (c) it really isn't a good idea for world's two major nuclear powers to fight a war with each other.
Well said.
There's also a policy which we have followed since President Clinton, that Russia's problems with her breakaway republics are Russia's problem. It's a historical problem (remember Stalin came from Georgia), and our national security is not affected.
That's quite different from the tinderbox that was the ex-country of Yugoslavia, a region which contributed to two World Wars.
Cheers,
Victoria
Has Andrew "gloryhole" Sullivan suddenly become a prude? Doubtful. In all likelihood, Andrew thinks that Bush should be curled up in the fetal position, praying that the rest of us forgive him for the "death and destruction" unleashed on the civilized world. In short, "war criminal" Bush is no longer allowed to enjoy life's simple pleasures, like goofing around with athletes, eating ice cream cones, or dancing with his daughter at her wedding. Why? Because Andrews says so.
But what "moves people to be this sour" is a long standing resentment towards a man who has undeniably tarnished this great country's reputation around the world
I deny that. I think it's laughably absurd and demonstrative of very short sighted, insular, historically illiterate thinking.
When people say 'Bush has made the world hate us' what they really mean is "among the corrupt crooks and liars in the UN, and the finger wagging bureaucrats in Brussels"
And I think anything that annoys such groups is a positive good.
Often I think people use 'the world' as shorthand for 'socialists in Europe' but it's not even the case that Europe is virulently anti-American right now, or we wouldn't be seeing the 'pro American' candidate/party winning in country after country.
The thing that would *actually* undeniably tarnish our image across the entire world is to flee Iraq and leave the people who have stood against AQ to be barbarically butchered, just like we did in Vietnam. Interestingly enough, Obama is in full support for such a mad scheme.
RSA: No, I do not agree with your biased and ignorant view of Mr. Rove.
Your unfounded accusation of Mr. Rove is another example of the blatant BDS syndrome of you Socialist Democrats. Guess you nutcases would have been happy if the Constitution had been overthrown in the 2000 election and Gore had succeeded in stealing that election.
However, thank you for recognizing that my previous comment was a feeble attempt at sarcasm!
Now, are you ready to salute your new leader, the Big O, in the manner which he demands, from you, one of his loyal followers?
"Is this where the 29% that approve Bush hang out?"
No, this is where KosKid-types come to throw spitballs at anyone who talks about politics from a rational perspective.
And maybe we haven't sent troops to Georgia yet is that we are, you know, tryng diplomacy first.
The campaign ads I've seen as of 1:16 AM 12 Aug on NBC Channel 6 (SoFla), since Friday:
12 McCain
3 Obama
Are they all the same ad?
As I said upthread, I think the McCain ad I saw isn't a good ad. It starts looking like an Obama ad, and unless you're really paying attention (during an ad?), you're not going to carry away an anti-Obama vibe. I recall a story from 1984 (!) when one of the networks ran a piece they thought was critical of Reagan, but it was all images that -- with no sound -- looked like a very good political ad. McCain's team just does not have a handle on imagery.
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