Althouse: Jeb Bush on George Bush's successes: "Well, the successes clearly are protecting the homeland. We were under attack..."

May 31, 2015

Jeb Bush on George Bush's successes: "Well, the successes clearly are protecting the homeland. We were under attack..."

"... he unified the country and he showed dogged determination. And he kept us safe. And you can talk about a lot of stuff, but when you're president of the United States and you're confronted with that kind of event, to respond the way he did is admirable."

That was on "Face the Nation" this morning, after Jeb had said "I have learned from [my brother's] successes and his mistakes," and Bob Schieffer asked: "What do you think you learned from him, successes and mistakes?"

(It was Bob Schieffer's last show today. I'm going to miss that guy! He became my favorite of the Sunday morning hosts (in the years after the death of Tim Russert).)

47 comments:

chickelit said...: I just watched Shieffer's goodbye commentary. He seems like the last of generation of newscasters. His generation was more humble and less a part of the news itself. More and more, people are getting news from personalities.; 5/31/15, 4:51 PM
Gahrie said...: I used to watch MtP every Sunday. When Russert died, i switched to Fox News Sunday.; 5/31/15, 4:59 PM
American Liberal Elite said...: "Successes." I don't think that word means what he thinks it means.; 5/31/15, 5:02 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Another hack exits, stage left. Just to illustrate how clueless our media mavens are, check out this five year old quote about Brian Williams:

"With the speculation heating up about a CNN and CBS News combination, the individual most threatened would seem to be Brian Williams, the top-rated news anchor at 6:30 p.m.
But I can't see Williams falling from the top spot. He is too good -- and popular.
It may be too soon to anoint Williams as America's Most Trusted person. But it has become clear that the "NBC Nightly News" anchor has established himself as the Walter Cronkite of the 21st century."

Who wrote that? Jon Friedman, "writer and a lecturer in journalism at Stony Brook University."

Gak. Journalists are hacks because the people that teach journalism are hacks.; 5/31/15, 5:12 PM
Hagar said...: "Keeping us safe" is B.S. Can't be done. If there has not been a "9/11 style" attack since the 9/11 attack, it is because bin Laden, who was single-minded on the subject, was sidelined and then dead, and the ayatollahs and the Saudi princes for understandable reasons do not think this is a good time to finance such schemes for the time being.

The best way to "keep us safe" is to make sure any attackers learn to regret it - not just personally, but that whatever cause they were working also for suffer consequences.

And Jeb is talking through his hat. Obama has transformed the world, if not the USA, and the next president is going to have to cope with that, which is not W.'s world anymore.
Going by that interview, Jeb is not the candidate with "the vision thing" that we need.; 5/31/15, 5:35 PM
Hagar said...: And Bob Schieffer is what the progressives would consider a useful old fool.; 5/31/15, 5:58 PM
virgil xenophon said...: @chickenman/

Got to disagree. Although Bob is a member of my college fraternity, I hate to say he's part of the "squishy left" actually delusional enough to think they are centrist "neutrals". The guy sees everything thru a leftist prism. Always.; 5/31/15, 7:14 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Bob had good manners and a good old-fashioned temperament. I will miss that.

But at his substantive core, he was a pedestrian thinker (liberal), who could never challenge his own views or even grasp what his political "foes" believed.; 5/31/15, 7:53 PM
Mark Caplan said...: That's right: "He kept us safe." The 9/11 bloodbath was Bush's mulligan.; 5/31/15, 8:01 PM
Sebastian said...: "It was Bob Schieffer's last show today. I'm going to miss that guy! He became my favorite"

No more cruel neutrality, phew.; 5/31/15, 8:19 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Worst job in the world - having to describe the 'successes' of George W. Bush.; 5/31/15, 8:42 PM
Mountain Maven said...: "And Bob Schieffer is what the progressives would consider a useful old fool"
How can a pack of fools identify one one of their own?
An evil doer like Bill Ayers would think that.; 5/31/15, 8:43 PM
traditionalguy said...: Schieffer was classy and fearless to politely stand up to the many types of politicians the way he did. It figures that he is a TCU Horned Frog from Ft. Worth, Texas.; 5/31/15, 8:55 PM
Unknown said...: -----That's right: "He kept us safe." The 9/11 bloodbath was Bush's mulligan.

That’s why the Clinton’s moved heaven and earth to stomp out the Path to 911 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_9/11

and why you still can’t see it.

To date, ABC's $40 million miniseries has not been released on DVD.[citation needed] Writer and producer Cyrus Nowrasteh said that a stalled release is not due to lack of interest but rather political pressure, telling the Los Angeles Times in 2007 they were protecting Bill Clinton's presidential legacy and shielding Hillary Rodham Clinton from criticism for her 2008 presidential campaign.[68][69] According to the LA Times, an ABC spokeswoman reached September 4, 2007 said that the company "has no release date at this time," and she declined to comment further.[68]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_9/11; 5/31/15, 9:09 PM
The Godfather said...: In the first few years after 9/11, I asked myself what it would have been like if Gore had won the election. This led me to believe that God may indeed from time to time direct human activities.

Bush's record is certainly flawed. He should have started the Surge sooner. He should have built up American forces in Iraq faster. But his critics all said, Cut and run, and they were even more wrong than Bush.

Jeb shouldn't have to carry this baggage.; 5/31/15, 10:04 PM
jr565 said...: Godfather, thanks for the eminently reasonable words; 5/31/15, 10:46 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: I'm sorry that few can see their way to a supportive defense of GWB. He deserves one. He had the vision that the status quo cannot continue in the ME, and that he would have to be a change agent.; 5/31/15, 10:53 PM
Æthelflæd said...: Of all the after effects of 9/11, I think describing our country as "the homeland" might be the most annoying.; 5/31/15, 11:07 PM
chickelit said...: Æthelflæd said...
Of all the after effects of 9/11, I think describing our country as "the homeland" might be the most annoying.

Too Anglo-Saxon sounding? That would be rich, coming from you! :); 5/31/15, 11:29 PM
Æthelflæd said...: Too Pravda.; 5/31/15, 11:38 PM
chickelit said...: Æthelflæd said...
Too Pravda.

Wait until Hillary gets power--it will be renamed "Motherland Security," comrade.; 5/31/15, 11:47 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/1/15, 6:29 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "I'm sorry that few can see their way to a supportive defense of GWB. He deserves one."

I'm sorry Bush was unable or unwilling to defend himself.

I'm sorry Bush was afraid of Ted Cruz's intelligence.

I'm sorry Bush thinks almost 3000 dead Americans is "keeping us safe." Seriously, why start keeping track on 9/12? Because nobody could have know that 9/11 was coming? If true, that doesn't change the fact we weren't safe. Bush didn't keep us safe, and that is partially why almost 3000 Americans were killed. If Bush had indeed "kept us safe" (like Obama has using your own "logic" you pieces of low-grade moron) almost 3000 more Americans would be alive.; 6/1/15, 6:33 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Bush has seemingly mastered an art of the opposite of noblesse oblige. Bush has unprivileged people go out of their way to defend and prop up this would be Bush American dynasty while Bush gives Teddy everything he wants as far as our schools and immigration (though immigration didn't pass congress Bush still fought for Teddy's will to be enforced).

It is remarkable, and shows humans in general long for a king to rule them. Americans used to be exceptional.; 6/1/15, 6:37 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Bush American Dynasty = BAD.

You can buy the rights to this bumper sticker for $2.4 million dollars American.; 6/1/15, 6:40 AM
damikesc said...: The 9/11 bloodbath was Bush's mulligan.

I'll ask what I've asked Progs for over a decade now.

What, exactly, could he have done?

The intel was that AQ wanted to attack the US, planned to use planes, and was scoping out federal buildings in NYC.

Go ahead and develop a way to stop it (and note no federal buildings in NYC were touched).

Throw in that the measures that might be needed to stop it were protested heavily after 9/11, so they were not plausible ideas before.; 6/1/15, 6:42 AM
damikesc said...: Bush American Dynasty = BAD.

You can buy the rights to this bumper sticker for $2.4 million dollars American.

Given the ALTERNATIVES at the time, who was better than Bush?

McCain? Nope.
Gore? Hell no.
Kerry? Hell fucking no.

You can only elect the person running.

Was Bush great? No. Was he better than the alternatives? Easily yes.; 6/1/15, 6:44 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: The fact is Clinton is almost certainly more to blame for 9/11 than Bush, but when Bush toady's run around bellowing how safe Bush kept us it is too Orwellian to let slide.

Ask yourself how many dead Americans it would have taken on 9/11 for you to think to yourself "hey, Bush didn't keep us safe on 9/11." And ask how long before it was Bush's responsibility and not Clinton's. Would September of 2002 been enough time for George to get acclimated and then actually, in reality not rhetoric, kept us safe? 2003?

Second term?; 6/1/15, 6:45 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "What, exactly, could he have done?"

He could have stopped the attack. You agree that would have been possible, right? Are you asking me to know every detail the president knew on September 10th, 2001, and then name the names I would have had waiting on the airports to kill the 19 or 20 hijackers? Why put the onus on me, I didn't run and wasn't elected to the *^%%&%$ office. I don't fly in Airforce One or meet the world's rich and powerful or have my meals prepared by my private chef's either. You see, I was not POTUS and therefore it is not my responsibility to be Commander in Chief.

Excusing failures is partially how nearly 3000 Americans ended up dead. You can accept as inevitable these failures, even with 20/20 hindsight, but I don't.; 6/1/15, 6:54 AM
Rusty said...: Æthelflæd said...
Of all the after effects of 9/11, I think describing our country as "the homeland" might be the most annoying.

Agree.; 6/1/15, 7:01 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Sorry for my tone I have problems controlling my emotions.

My logic is simple, hopefully not wrong.

Bush's job was to keep us safe. He didn't.

There are reasons he wasn't able to keep us safe, I understand that, but those reasons don't excuse the failures and the deaths. Nothing excuses the deaths. They are unacceptable, meaning I don't accept Jeb or anyone saying "he kept us safe" or "what could he have done" or "what would you do."

That said, I did vote both times for W. because he was the least-worst option. I believe he kept us safer than Kerry would have for instance.; 6/1/15, 7:02 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Of all the after effects of 9/11, I think describing our country as "the homeland" might be the most annoying."

It's more than annoying, it is disturbing in its similarity to "the Fatherland." But it wouldn't be so disturbing if it did not reveal a truth about us: we have become as mystical, worshipful, sentimental, and deluded about ourselves and our nation as the Nazis were about themselves and their nation.; 6/1/15, 7:21 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Robert you asshole, I suppose the Russian Rodina, or Motherland, escapes your gimlet eye? The German anyway is Heimat-Homeland.

Frankly I agree it is distasteful but could you possibly, just by accident, let go an occasional opportunity to compare the United States to history's worst tyrannies?; 6/1/15, 10:01 AM
Robert Cook said...: Unknown:

When the comparisons are apt, one would be remiss not to make them.; 6/1/15, 11:52 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: No, in fact, Cook, it is possible to think of things that you then don't say. They don't teach this in ginger school? Maybe that's why y'all keep getting burned alive.; 6/1/15, 1:04 PM
lgv said...: I like Virgil and Bay Area Guy described Shieffer best.

I also agree with ARM, "Worst job in the world - having to describe the 'successes' of George W. Bush" and I'm not a liberal or Democrat either. I like George W. Bush. I can describe his character in glowing terms and it would take more paper than actually listing his successes.

Then the comments started going downhill until we reached Robert Cook's Nazi comparison. Oh, well.

So, the standard MO is to focus on asking Jeb about George W. rather than treating him as a stand alone candidate. Excellent strategy to make sure he isn't elected. Will Hillary be accorded the same treatment? Will she even be asked about her numerous successes as Sec State? (less paper than GWB's list); 6/1/15, 1:10 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Maybe that's why y'all keep getting burned alive."

????????; 6/1/15, 3:14 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Oh, that got your attention did it? I thought you were a redhead. Surely I don't have to tell *you*...; 6/1/15, 4:24 PM
Robert Cook said...: I am a redhead, as I have mentioned here before, but I have no clue what you're referring to in your comment about "y'all...getting burned alive."; 6/1/15, 5:11 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Geez, Cooky, Google it. I'm so tired of telling you things that everybody else knows, when you spend the rest of your time being of superior knowledge to all us troglodytes. You mean to say you've really never heard of redheads being sought after, since medieval and probably prehistoric times, as torture victims and human sacrifices?; 6/1/15, 6:53 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Why do you think you're so rare?; 6/1/15, 6:54 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: http://www.themythsandhistoryofredhair.co.uk/theancientworld.html

http://facts.randomhistory.com/redhead-facts.html; 6/1/15, 7:02 PM
Robert Cook said...: "You mean to say you've really never heard of redheads being sought after, since medieval and probably prehistoric times, as torture victims and human sacrifices?"

No...this is news to me. I've always assumed that, to the extent people noticed my red hair at all, they were envious, as red hair is that beauty rare, the shining glory of hair color, next to which blonde and brunette hair is drab and common. I've never bothered to look into attitudes toward red hair in history.; 6/1/15, 9:25 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Yeah I like redheaded pussy too, the finest of the flavors. (Would you happen to have daughters?) The insanity part however has no such compensation in the copper-topped male.

But talk about incurious! I think you should stop opining here with your crackpot views and go research gingerism for a while. Get in touch with your, ahem, roots.; 6/2/15, 7:04 AM
Robert Cook said...: "But talk about incurious!"

Yeah, I've never cared overmuch about my ancestry, either. (Unlike my father, who spent much time researching his family tree...none of which I ever bothered to look at.) I don't have the vanity to care much about who my ancestors were, or to look into redheads in history.; 6/2/15, 9:03 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: let me get this straight. You have the temerity to dictate (or wish to) how the world should be run but in essence you don't even know who you are? How does this make sense to you?; 6/2/15, 9:36 AM
Robert Cook said...: I know who I am. I'm just not particularly interested in who my long-dead ancestors were.; 6/2/15, 10:44 AM