April 17, 2018

Goodbye to Barbara Bush.


ADDED: By giving this post a tag, I was able to click and see what I have said about Barbara Bush in the 14+ years of this blog.

First, January 23, 2016, I commented on this ad for Jeb Bush, which had Barbara Bush saying:
Jeb has been a very good father. A wonderful son. A hard worker; his heart is big.When push comes to shove people are going to realize Jeb has real solutions, rather than talking about how popular they are, how great they are. He's doing it because he sees a huge need and it's not being filled by anybody. Of all the people running, he seems to be the one who could solve the problems. I think he'll be a great president.


I said:
[This is] a pleasant enough ad for Jeb. Question who it works on. Trump's tweeted response is: "Just watched Jeb's ad where he desperately needed mommy to help him. Jeb --- mom can't help you with ISIS, the Chinese or with Putin." That will work on some people.
And, back in November 15, 2014, I had this:
From George W. Bush's book "41: A Portrait of My Father." George W., college age, driving drunk, hits a garbage can and zooms into his parents' driveway:
Mother had watched the scene unfold. She was furious.

“Your behavior is disgraceful,” she said. I stared at her blankly. “Go upstairs and see your father,” she said.

I defiantly charged upstairs and put my hands on my hips. “I understand you want to see me.”

Dad was reading a book. He lowered his book, calmly slid off his reading glasses, and stared right at me. Then he put his reading glasses back on and lifted up the book.

I felt like a fool. I slunk out of the room, chastened by the knowledge that I had disappointed my father so deeply that he would not speak to me.

That was as close as we got to an argument. Dad was not the kind of man who engaged in verbal fisticuffs. He would let my siblings and me know when we were out of line, and he expected us to correct the problem. Eventually, we did.
I think most parents don't realize how much discipline can be achieved through wordlessly conveying expectations.

163 comments:

RMc said...

Pure class.

RIP.

The Drill SGT said...

The Thread winner already

Anonymous said...

A grand lady and one that showed that the claim of hers as the "greatest generation" might, indeed, be true.

sinz52 said...

GHW Bush and his wife have always been a class act.

RIP, Barbara.

Drago said...

sinz52: "GHW Bush and his wife have always been a class act."

Which made the leftist labeling of GHWBush as a nazi racist misogynist idiot so difficult to comprehend.

The left, in fact, actually accused the Bush family of financing Hitler.

Unexpectedly.

Ann Althouse said...

Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?

Drago said...

Ann Althouse: "Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?"

No. Only LLR Chuck was sorely disappointed that Jeb didn't get the nomination in order to surrender and lose to the dems in a gentlemanly fashion.

Had Jeb won the nomination, he would have instantly been transformed into Hitler reincarnated and we were thankfully spared the sight of LLR Chuck and his lefty allies going after Jeb's "white hispanic" wife. Assuming Chuck's lefty allies would even concede that Jeb's wife was an actual woman, which is highly doubtful.

Leland said...

She wasn't that interested in seeing W ascend to the office of the presidency.

She's a great role model.

I remember seeing her and George at an Astros games several years ago. The kiss cam stopped on them. He tried, she denied, the crowd roared with laughter. They came back later to them, and she kissed him.

rehajm said...

We’ve had enough Bushes in The White House.

Her words.

bleh said...

“Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?”

No! Emphatically no!

Her husband and one of her sons ascended to the office during her lifetime. How could Jeb failing in his campaign really be though of as “sad”? That’s like saying it’s “sad” if Bezos fails to add another $100 billion to his fortune.

I admire Barbara Bush. She’s way too classy to let anyone feel sadness for her because her successful son Jeb failed to match the even more spectacular successes of her husband and son George.

Michael K said...

Ann Althouse: "Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?"

No. Only LLR Chuck was sorely disappointed that Jeb didn't get the nomination in order to surrender and lose to the dems in a gentlemanly fashion.


Agree. JEB was a pretty good governor but the days had passed when Bushes ere in style.

I was disappointed when Reagan chose Bush for VP. I preferred Kemp, although he later showed weakness.

Lydia said...

Also classy -- Chelsea Clinton's tweet yesterday:

"Keeping Barbara Bush and her family in my heart and prayers. I will never forget how kind she was to me on every occasion we met, and how fondly the White House staff always spoke of her."

Birches said...

My third grade teacher was a very vocal Republican. Barbara Bush was her icon. I always thought she seemed like such a nice grandmother.

rhhardin said...

It seems like sort of celebrity death thing, except she did nothing to encourage that.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Classy woman - from the Greatest Generation

Big Mike said...

Is it sad that she didn't get to see ...

No. I didn’t vote for Jeb in the Virginia primary because he never made the case that there was a reason to vote for him. Outside of people donating to his campaign, what was his reason to run?

langford peel said...

"Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency"

What a remarkably foolish thing to say. Jeb Bush would have been a disaster. Worse than Hillary if that is possible.

I am sure that Charles Manson's mother loved him too.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Ann Althouse said...
Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?"

No sadder than Rose Kennedy not getting to see Teddy ascend to the office of the presidency, although even low energy Jeb would have been preferable to Teddy.

I have come to detest the idea of political family dynasties. That goes for the Trumps as well.

Birkel said...

Echoing Michael K, I think Reagan made a mistake.

Still, Mrs. Bush seemed a fine lady and a devoted spouse and patriot. It is good to remember a First Lady well.

Ann Althouse said...

Lame as Jeb seemed, he’s exactly what I would have felt comfortable with in 2016.

langford peel said...

Reagan choosing Bush as his VP was one of the greatest mistakes ever made by a Presidental candidate. It saddled us with the Bush Dynasty, endless wars and the RHiNO establishment that is a cancer to this very day
.

What a colossal fuck up.

Spiros Pappas said...

Mrs. Bush was a well-behaved woman who made history. Her son, however, was a disgusting and worthless man (W. not Jeb).

langford peel said...

"Lame as Jeb seemed, he’s exactly what I would have felt comfortable with in 2016."

Whoop there it is.

Just goes to show that Bowe Bergdal Republican Chuck is your spirit animal.

James K said...

Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?"

"Sad" suggests that it's a reasonable expectation to have not just one but two sons get elected President. Or are we the ones who are supposed to be sad for ourselves? I'm certainly not. Jeb was a complete failure as a candidate and would have been a failure as President.

Drago said...

Althouse: "Lame as Jeb seemed, he’s exactly what I would have felt comfortable with in 2016"

Jeb would have gone the Full Kasich and basically apologized for being a republican and he would have lost every single midwest state, including Ohio.

And even though Jeb would have bent over backwards to proclaim the moral and intellectual superiority of the dems, he would have been dissected by the dems/left on live TV.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

I don’t think anyone could say a mean word about her. She was a strong woman, outspoken, no nonsense with a wry sense of humor, just lovely.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Jeb or Kasich would’ve been much preferable.

Gusty Winds said...

South Carolina GOP debate:

Jeb: My mother is a very strong woman.

Trump: Maybe she should run for President

Drago said...

langford peel: "Reagan choosing Bush as his VP was one of the greatest mistakes ever made by a Presidental candidate."

Indeed.

Reagan loved and wanted Kemp, which would have been fantastic.

Instead, Reagan went with the traditional ticket balancing BS LLR Chuck's heroes foist on republicans and instead got the guy who ended up caving to George Mitchell and that merry troupe of dem hacks (whom LLR Chuck will no doubt happily defend).

It wasn't enough that HW Bush was so stupid as to believe the dems who convinced him they would stand behind him in raising taxes. No no. It only got worse.

I'll never forget the smile and smirk on George Mitchell's face when asked by a reporter when the dems would be producing their budget after the HW Bush admin crafted their budget entry (per the verbal agreement between the dems and the HW Bush admin).

The Bushies, naturally, trusted the dems so the Bushies put their austerity budget together and George Mitchell just held it up, spouted a few future campaign slogans about Republicans wanting to basically kill the poor, and then announcing the dems would not be producing a budget.

The only thing missing was HW Bush asking Teddy Kennedy to produce the republican budget (a la GW Bush/Kennedy Education Bill) for the White House (though I shouldn't write that as it will give the GOPe'er's ideas).

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Jeb and Kasich, decent family men, not nationalists, what’s not to like? I would’ve voted for Kasich over Hillary if he had gotten the nomination.

Dave Begley said...

She had a great life. Great joy and great sadness. The death of Robin was surely the low point. Is it okay for me to say they are reunited in Heaven?

Drago said...

Inga: "I don’t think anyone could say a mean word about her."

LOL

The left insulted her and mocked her appearance.

Looks like history began anew today for Inga, again.

So, in Today's Revisionist Lefty/LLR History, the lefties stood up to Bill Clinton's attacks on women and never, ever, said a mean word about Barbara Bush.

The Soviets are envious of the dems. Never could the apparatchiks believe that the lefties in the west would revise history themselves! Thus saving time and effort on the part of the govt!

Drago said...

Inga: "I would’ve voted for Kasich over Hillary if he had gotten the nomination."

LOL

Too funny.

And LLR Chuck voted for Trump.

Just ask him.

roesch/voltaire said...

Classy and an example of service to the county in important causes like literacy—such a contrast to the present folks in the
Whitehouse

Chuck said...

"Just watched Jeb's ad where he desperately needed mommy to help him. Jeb --- mom can't help you with ISIS, the Chinese or with Putin."


Maybe Nikki Haley can help Trump with Putin.

Drago said...

roesch/voltaire: "Classy and an example of service to the county in important causes like literacy—such a contrast to the present folks in the Whitehouse"

Your side literally accused the Bushies of financing Hitler and being nazi's.

Literally.

Repeatedly.

Sebastian said...

I am not comfortable with lame.

Jeb was not a lame governor. He was a lame candidate. Dems would have destroyed him.

Much as I resisted clown logic at the time, hIs lameness was the first indication that the GOP would need sterner stuff in 2016.

The Bushes had the virtues and vices of their class.

Drago said...

"Bowe Bergdahl Republican" Chuck: "Maybe Nikki Haley can help Trump with Putin"

Why?

Would she recommend we whack a hundred or so Russian mercenaries in Syria?

Would she recommend we expand energy production to undercut the one real means of leverage the Russians have over our European allies?

Would she recommend that we greatly expand our military and military capabilities?

LOL

She almost certainly would. Which is why LLR Chuck's lefty allies attack her so much.

Drago said...

You know who would have done none of those things?

Jeb Bush.

Narayanan said...

Did Reagan have free choice for VP?

roesch/voltaire said...

Dragon I am not so,confined by politics or ideology as to make it impossible for me to recognize a good person from another viewpoint —-something called compassion you may consider.

Sally327 said...

Her life wasn't without sadness, she lost a daughter to leukemia for example, but I'm thinking Jeb not being elected President probably wouldn't qualify. Disappointed maybe but more as a parent who supports a child in whatever it is they're trying to do.

She came from a privileged background and married well but it never seemed like she took any of that for granted. Someone with a strong sense of noblesse oblige, I think, who lived an extraordinary life in a very matter-of-fact way. I admired Barbara Bush.

Narayanan said...

Suddenly all the love for wife and mother of RINO

Birkel said...

Royal ass Inga endorsing Kasich, whose dad was a mailman, is all I needed to know to reject Kasich, whose dad was a mailman.

Big government Republicans do not understand the problems this country faces.

mccullough said...

W didn’t get sober and grow up until he was 40 years old.

A better man would have listened to his mother telling him his conduct was disgraceful. That should have sunk in quickly.

Based on that story and his conduct, W had no respect for his mother and very little for his father. He knew the old man was a pushover who just didn’t want any public embarrassment. The old man staked W throughout his career, which is why he didn’t sober up or grow up until 40.





Birkel said...

R/V

You are not the first Leftist Collectivist to praise a dead Republican. In fact, dead Republicans are the favorites of Leftist Collectivists.

pacwest said...

I remember reading somewhere that HW and Barbara expected Jeb to be the Bush that would follow his father's footsteps to the Presidency. I guess GW screwed that up.

langford peel said...

Liberals like Roachy and Inga the She Wolf of the SS only praise Republcans when they are dead.

When they are alive they call them Nazi's and people who would kill your grandmother.

The fact that Inga would vote for lame ass Jeb is the exact reason why he would have been a horrible President. Not that there was a snowballs chance in hell that Jeb or that other Washington Generals douche Kasich could have been elected.

As someone so perceptively said....Jeb always bent over backwards. Like the rest of his family.

To take it up the ass from the Democrats.

James K said...

Did Reagan have free choice for VP?

Of course he did, but few anticipated that he'd deliver such a thwacking to Jimmuh that it wouldn't have mattered who he chose. Instead he was persuaded to try to unite the party, as Drago said, by the squishes who were afraid of Reagan.

Jupiter said...

Inga said...
"I don’t think anyone could say a mean word about her. She was a strong woman, outspoken, no nonsense with a wry sense of humor, just lovely."

If her son had won the Presidency as a Republican, you'd be calling her a cheap gutter whore. Or anything else your boss told you to call her.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“The left insulted her and mocked her appearance.”

That’s bullshit. The left loved her because she herself told W not to run for President.

Drago said...

R/V: "Dragon I am not so,confined by politics or ideology as to make it impossible for me to recognize a good person from another viewpoint —-something called compassion you may consider."

LOL

I dont blame you lefties from running away from your labeling the Bushies nazis.

Its not a good look.

But to pretend it never hapoened and then lecturing others about compassion is simply too ironic.

That is literally LLR Chuck-level lack of awareness and hypocrisy.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“...anything else your boss told you to call her.”

My boss? George Soros?

Drago said...

Inga: "That’s bullshit. The left loved her because she herself told W not to run for President."

Just click your heels 3 times and the decades worth if lefty attacks on the Bushies, including Barbara, will all magically disappear....

MayBee said...

Goodbye, Mrs. Bush. I fear for HW now.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

My boss during the Bush years was the largest hospital in Milwaukee, BTW, lol.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

No way in hell George W. Bush wrote that passage.

I realize no one would know her were it not for politics but it seems kind of crass nonetheless to jump immediately to a political ad she did for Jeb as your first frame of reference. If she wasn't important to you then why even post this pseudo-obit?

tcrosse said...

Robin Williams said that the first thing George W. Bush did was to put his Mom's picture on the dollar bill.

Bay Area Guy said...

Nice First Lady, she had a real good life. Godspeed, Barbara.

Birkel said...

Yes, of course. The Left mocked Barbara Bush and treated her husband and boys to Nazi allegations.

Preston Bush served a plastic turkey to Hitler on July 4th, or something. Evil. Something something. Evil. Bush.

M Jordan said...

The Bushes aren’t bad people. They’re just privileged people. And their privilege hurts them.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ali G had some goofy bits on Babs.

I realize 92 is old but until today had no idea she was actually near death. She always cut an overwhelmingly powerful visage. Could scare the scowl off of Winston Churchill.

Birkel said...

M. Jordan,
The Bush family members were legitimately privileged. As were the Kennedys and Rockefellers.

How every man or white person is privileged in an equivalent way is humorous. And stupid.

langford peel said...

"The Bushes aren’t bad people. They’re just privileged people. And their privilege hurts them."

That's not right. They are bad people.

In fact I think they might be the ones behind Rittenhouse.

roesch/voltaire said...

Many people were sympathetic to nazi Germany from Joe Kennedy to Preston Bush and Shell oil but what has that to do with Barbra Bush.

Drago said...

TTR: "I realize 92 is old but until today had no idea she was actually near death"

I think most have focused on HW's health.

Now, picture this: HW will probably not survive Trumps first term....State funeral..Trump and family walking in the procession either with or near the Bush family.

I hope Jeb will have the energy to finish the walk.

Birkel said...

Almost there, R/V.
Every Republican is stupid, a Nazi, or a stupid Nazi.
What has that to do with Bush?
/sarc

Drago said...

R/V: "Many people were sympathetic to nazi Germany from Joe Kennedy to Preston Bush and Shell oil but what has that to do with Barbra Bush."

A question better directed at your pals on the left.

I doubt they will provide a satisfactory rationale.

todd galle said...

I can remember when we traveled during (i think) the Thanksgiving holidays with our wee ones in the back of the mini van, that Mrs. Bush recorded hours of appropriate story telling tales for the radio. Our whole clan traveled across Pennsylvania while she told story after story. Kids were asleep and/or happy the entire time. Must have been part of her literacy program. My wife and I were always glad for her effort.

chickelit said...

She was a class act even to the end, refusing mere life-extending care and treatment. I hope she went painlessly. May God bless her.

Should Jeb have been President? Emphatically, no. He was too beholdered to previous administrations and to social interests.

chickelit said...

I meant “Special interests” not “social interests”

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Lol. Social interests.

Republicans need to be anti-social! Society is a lost cause! Keeping Trump's tax rate lower than yours is a national priority!

Bilwick said...

A friend of mine is an elderly woman who loves JEOPARDY. Our relationship consists largely of me helping her with physical stuff (opening jars, lifting heavy bags of groceries, etc.) and watching JEOPARDY together.
Tonight we were getting set for Final Jeopardy when the show was interrupted by "An NBC Special Report." What the--? Had Rocket Boy attacked San Diego, causing Trump to incinerate North Korea. Nope. Barbara Bush had died.
This was a "Slowly I turned. . . " moment for my friend. Not only had Babs Bush caused her to miss Final Jeopardy; but she had long nursed a grudge against the former First Lady. Seems that when BB was on her literacy campaign, she visited a school where my friend was teaching and was supposed to do a video at the school off herself teaching kids to read alongside my friend. BB never showed. My friend was steamed, and was able to work up quite a rant about it even now, decades later.

David said...

She earned her white privilege. Retroactively of course but that's the best she had available.

rcocean said...

Nice people the Bushes.

George HW Bush would've been a good moderate Senator from New England or a great CIA Director or Secretary of State.

Bush II should've stayed in Texas and been Governor.

Jeb was a nice Moderate Florida Governor - and should never be POTUS.

That all these people - life long Republicans - voted for Hillary in 2016, shows that "Nice" is irrelevant when your countries future is at stake.

readering said...

It's sad we didn't get to see Jeb ascend to the White House instead of Trump. Or Kasich. Or Rubio. Or Carson. Or Cruz. Or Paul. Or Christie. Or Huckabee. Or Fiorina. Or Gilmore. Or Santorum. Or Perry. Or Jindal. Or Walker. Or Graham. Or Pataki.

Did I leave anybody out?

rcocean said...

Politicians are like Surgeons or Stock brokers.

I don't care if my Surgeon is a "Nice Guy" - I want him to successfully operate on me. I want my Stockbroker to make me money. I don't care that his wife hates him.

And I want my POTUS' to make the right decisions for the country and ME. Give me a vulgarian like Trump over Bush - any day of the week.

roesch/voltaire said...

Dragon my pals have probably read the Harriman papers have you.

rcocean said...

One of the best - if not the best - man ever to be POTUS was Herbert Hoover. As a MAN he was 10x better than FDR.

But we needed FDR as POTUS in 1933.

FWBuff said...

A great lady and a great Texan.

Michael K said...


Blogger roesch/voltaire said...
Many people were sympathetic to nazi Germany from Joe Kennedy to Preston Bush and Shell oil but what has that to do with Barbra Bush.


Your hero Marshall Stalin was also a contributing member of the Nazi fan club,

Birkel said...

I like it when Leftist Collectivists pretend they wouldn't have called any Republican candidate a Nazi.

Romney was a Nazi.
Paul Ryan pushed grandma off a cliff.

What will the Leftist Collectivists do when the devil spins 'round on them, having burned everything to the ground?

Gahrie said...

A wonderful woman who will be sadly missed. R.I.P.

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, Jeb might have made you comfortable, but (though you didn’t know it) Trump was what you needed.

Gahrie said...

Did I leave anybody out?

My first choice was John Bolton.

But I'm more than happy with Trump's performance.

Gahrie said...

Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?

Absolutely not.

William said...

She lives in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood. You might, just on principle, want to say something snarky about her, but the words do not come. She was born with wealth and privilege, but she did the right things in the right way when maybe sometimes it would have been just as easy to do the wrong thing in the wrong way. I think all her kids had successful lives and marriages. Some of that must be due to her. If you want a president with an admirable domestic life, elect a Bush.

Bilwick said...

"But we needed FDR as POTUS in 1933."

I used to think that. Then I started studying economics.

buwaya said...

Barbara Bush, and most likely also her son Jeb, I'm not sure of her husband and other son, were remnants of a dead world. Both lived through and past the height of this civilization.

Its as if people like this don't see whats going on around them, assuming things are, fundamentally, as they were decades ago. Its a comforting illusion. Its an easy illusion to hold to if you live in the right sort of bubble.

Her death should be mourned, also, along with so much that she represented that is also gone. Among them an elite that was worthy of its status.

readering said...

Bolton didn't run but I still consider his name a friendly amendment.

Drago said...

R/V: "Dragon my pals have probably read the Harriman papers have you."

LOL

Just because the Bush family held shares in stocks and Prescott Bush was involved in global companies in no way made him a financier of Hitler.

I would think anyone with a modicum of intelligence would understand the absurdity of your coy assertion.

So, in a thread where some lefties like Inga are denying that the left accused the Bushies of being nazi's and financing Hitler, along comes self-described "compassionate" dude R/V to double down!

LOL

Again, that is a performance worthy of LLR Chuck!

buwaya said...

Jeb was never going to make a good politician. He has his families' geniality and good manners, but did not have his fathers air of command, or his brothers everyman charisma, "a man you could have a beer with".
Jeb was always an awkward, impractical nerd

And unlike his dad and brother, he was too naive not to get taken by a horde of political consultants who raised piles of cash on his behalf, kept what they could, and squandered the rest. In an industry full of charlatans and hucksters I think he was the second-biggest mark (Hillary of course was the biggest, by far).

Ralph L said...

They expected Jeb to win in 1994 and W to lose.

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

Barbara Bush was kinda before my time, but she seems like she was a nice lady and all that. When I first saw her she was already, like grandma old, and grandmas are usually pretty cool and shit. Like, my grandmother would always have my favorite ice cream in the freezer at their house when we came to visit, and I remember that sometimes she would fall asleep in her recliner with an open book on her lap.

But it's weird when you only know people as old people. Because she was young once, too, pretty much every old person was at sometime or another. And things were probably a lot different for a young chick back then: I mean, even if they had the internet when she was young I can't really picture Barbara Bush posting pictures of herself spreading her ass cheeks and showing her asshole, that just doesn't seem like her, as far as I know.

Like, I bet if she ever did anal it was only after she was married, and probably on a special occasion, like an anniversary or shit. But now you can go on Pornhub and watch old white grandmas sucking young black cocks, some people like that shit I guess.

I don't think I would ever want to see Barbara Bush old and naked and sucking a young black cock, it would be like me watching my own grandma sucking some black dude's cock, and I don't think she would do that, not my grandma.

And I don't mean that she wouldn't suck a black dude's cock because she was racist, because she wasn't, it's just that the only cock she probably ever sucked was my grandpa's cock, and he was white, that's all.

And even then I'm not sure she ever even sucked my grandpa's cock, I don't think a lot of chicks did that back then. I mean, maybe they did, but it's like I really don't want to know, either.

But I don't want to think about my grandma or Barbara Bush sucking cock, and especially not them doing anal, even if they were all married and shit. I like to think of them as nice old ladies who maybe only ever had sex to get pregnant. And on anniversaries.

I post my shit here.

David Begley said...

Just watched some Fox reports about her wildly successful efforts on literacy. Also she was huge on family.

Further report that Barbara enjoyed some bourbon at the end.

A great American.

Drago said...

So, to summarize the lefties over time: Prescott Bush financed and supported Hitler, Reagan and HW Bush colluded with the Iranians in 1980 to keep American's hostage through the election and up to Inauguration day (by sending HW Bush "secretly" to Paris in an SR-71!), W Bush stole Florida AND conspired with the Saudi's to either make 9-11 happen or let it happen, knowingly, W then worked with Cheney to create a war for oil in the Middle East, then W stole Ohio from Kerry in 2004, then Trump colluded with the Russians.

And the democrats and their LLR allies really, really. really, want you to show proper respect to Barbara Bush AND cease with your conspiracy-mongering!!

LOL

buwaya said...

Prescott Bush was working those accounts for Harrimann well before the Nazis were in power - in fact these relationships with German industrial firms began when Germany was a democracy and Hitler was in prison.

There were any number of American contacts with German industry, as the US was the great global source of credit after WWI. The US bought everyones paper, and thereby helped everyone recover from the war. This excess lending and equity participation in foreign assets is often pointed to as one of the causes of the Great Depression in fact.

Any important international banker would have and did do business with Germany in the 1920s and 30s, and then been left holding these assets after Hitler took over.

The whole thing about Prescott Bush was an evil smear by evil people.

David Begley said...

4chan guy

Really uncalled for. Dial it back.

Michael said...

the interest in the Harriman papers amazingky coincided with GWB 's run for reelection. As these things happen. A very thin connection was found between Brown Brothers Harriman and their dealings with Thyssen between the wars. Prescott Bush was a partner at Brown Bripothers. See? Nazi.

buwaya said...

The smear about Prescott Bush is an example of the blindness of the Bushes. They assumed that they were doing normal politics in a normal world against normal opponents. But in fact they were dealing, more and more, with demons from the pit, or alien entities unsympathetic to humanity.

Reading William Hope Hodgsons' "The House on the Borderland" (a decent version on Amazon Kindle, $1.99).

Good analogy there.

Be said...

God Bless her. I loved those pearls. Incorporated them in my dress whenever posssible.

Literacy ran in that First Lady Family.

Etienne said...

Jeb's problem was that his last name was Bush.

We don't need a Clinton dynasty, nor a Bush one.

Otherwise, may she rest in peace, and we should all be cautious going forward, as G.H.W. now has no adult supervision.

Kirk Parker said...

buwaya @ 9:45pm,

Your words here put me in mind of the opening pages of The Guns Of August.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Drago, you left out the rumor-mongering about GH Bush supposedly having an affair with his appointments secretary, Jennifer Fitzgerald. The Dems spread that unfounded rumor around during the '92 campaign to counter the very real stories which were circulating about Clinton's philandering.
In fact, some Dems claimed (without evidence) that Bush had had affairs with 7 women. They were not very solicitous of Barbara's feelings at the time.

rcocean said...

I used to think that. Then I started studying economics.

Too bad you didn't study History or Politics.

Which is what we're talking about.

readering said...

Folks here weird. Retailing old unconnected rumors on post on death of a person.

rcocean said...

Nazis, Nazis, Nazis.

Why everyone is a Nazi until proven otherwise.

Or a racist/antisemite/bigot/homophobe.

Its hilarious that the white-bread Bushes, who've accused of being "Nazis" and "racists" and having "white privilage" attacked Trump for being a "racist".

Just like White Bread Romney did

Stupidity - they name is Republican.

glenn said...

The last grownups.

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

"Really uncalled for. Dial it back."

Sorry, I guess.

I just thought that a young married chick having a fulfilling sexual life with her husband was a good thing. Like, it was a part of her life and shit.

I don't know, maybe you're not supposed to talk about old people and sex, especially if they're, like, dead, and aren't having sex anymore.

But that just seems like being, like, racist about old people.

I mean, I'm not talking about racist in the way of being racist about race, I'm just talking about the racism that is people being insensitive to others, no matter what color they are.

Because being sensitive to a chick's emotional needs is a lot harder than it looks, especially when she's all old and shit.

I post my shit here.

Trumpit said...

Barbara Bush relegated herself to being a second class citizen with her putrid, pustular, & patriarchal pusillanimity in favor of her husband and male children. Because of that, she set back women's (and girl's) liberation at least two or three decades. She will be condemned by history for being a hatcheck girl, a yes-girl, a cheerleader and a wallflower while her husband and son were power-tripping as prick presidents. She lived way too long to the detriment of the country and world. She said a horrid example by being a most horrible first lady.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

buwaya said: But in fact they were dealing, more and more, with demons from the pit, or alien entities unsympathetic to humanity.

Like this Fresno State professor, who is small potatoes, but her type is found on almost every campus in America these days:


Randa Jarrar
‏Verified account @randajarrar

Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. Fuck outta here with your nice words.


Randa Jarrar

@randajarrar

PSA: either you are against these pieces of shit and their genocidal ways or you're part of the problem. that's actually how simple this is. I'm happy the witch is dead. can't wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million iraqis have. byyyeeeeeeee.
7:38 PM - Apr 17, 2018


Randa Jarrar

@randajarrar

All the hate I'm getting ALMOST made me forget how happy I am that George W Bush is probably really sad right now 😊 https://twitter.com/randajarrar/status/986400776472932352 …
8:45 PM - Apr 17, 2018

This darling teaches English.

She then bragged about how much money she makes and how she'll never get fired (and she's probably correct about that):


Randa Jarrar

@randajarrar

sweetie i work as a tenured professor. I make 100K a year doing that. i will never be fired. i will always have people wanting to hear what i have to say. even you are one of them! <3 https://twitter.com/July041776/status/986416183413915648 …
8:33 PM - Apr 17, 2018

Someone needs to tell this charmer that 100K in California isn't really anything to boast about.

And readering thinks we're weird because we point out how much hatred comes from his side.





Trumpit said...

I knew that her doctors would kill her with a morphine overdose once it was reported in the news that she was being put on Comfort Care. What a hack profession medicine is in this country.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Trumpit seems to be a little . . . confused tonight.
Trumpit at 11:11:"She lived way too long to the detriment of the country and world."
Trumpit at 11:12 (just a minute later!): "I knew that her doctors would kill her with a morphine overdose once it was reported in the news that she was being put on Comfort Care. What a hack profession medicine is in this country."
Can we get new liberal commenters, please? The current batch seems to be broken.

Balfegor said...

RE: Althouse:

Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?

I don't see how. Her husband was President, as was her firstborn son. If seeing a second son accede to the Presidency had really been one of her deepest wishes, that would suggest a flaw in her character -- a lust for family power -- that I don't think she had.

Jeb himself is a nice enough fellow, and would have made a decent President -- sort of a discount Mitt Romney. But he dug his grave by signalling that illegal immigrants are better than legal immigrants are better than natives, when most of the voters are natives. Trust is important in politics -- and especially so as the polity becomes more diverse. Not "trust" as in "this person won't lie" (they're politicians, so of course they will). But "trust" as in "this person understands my interests and will defend them." I don't see how he could get enough voters to trust him given his stance on illegal immigration.

She was probably disappointed that he crashed and burned so badly in 2016, but I can't imagine it was the kind of disappointment that should give us a pang. If anything, it spared her having to see her son get denounced as racist and sexist every night on TV, in the last years of her life. Instead, she had her children, and her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren. And her family has accumulated enough honours to satisfy any reasonable woman.

Achilles said...

The democrats are out in force on Twitter.

I love how the leftists here are pretending they didn’t call Barbara hitlers mom.

I don’t need to rag on the Bush clan or their failures tonight.

eddie willers said...

Randa Jarrar
‏Verified account @randajarrar


I thought you were making that up. You were not.

Just how powerful is tenure? This woman should pay a price

Lewis Wetzel said...

They probably gave her tenure because they wanted her to be like that, eddie willers.

Bilwick said...

Rcocean: I did major in history, specifically in American history; which brought me into contact with American economic history. Funny story: a history teacher who was a big FDR fan totally bought the party line that the New Deal brought the US out of the depression. As he taught this mumbo-jumbo, he used one of those projectors they used to use to show us the yearly GNP during each year of the Depression. We pointed out to him how his own figures showed the New Deal having no effect on the Depression, except maybe lengthening or prolonging it. The guy was so brainwashed he couldn't see what his own statistics were screaming at the rest of us. Later on when I came to see that "liberalism" was essentially a secular religion, a branch of the age-old Cult of the State, upheld by faith rather than facts or logic, that the poor sap's mental myopia made a kind of sense to me.

And if you're something of a historian, and you believe in spite of all experience that the State is our best buddy, and the more power and money it acquires the better off we all are, the lessons of both history and economics have been lost to you.

gadfly said...

Barbara Bush's passing brings attention to other recent celebrity deaths.

Harry Anderson of "Night Court" died in Asheville. He was 65.

Hal Greer, the Philadelphia 76ers all-time leading scorer died in Arizona after a short illness at the age of 81. I watched Greer play college basketball at Marshall in the late '50s.

Art Bell, the all-night paranormal radio broadcaster now rests - he was 72.

gadfly said...

Hmm, so DubYa was supposedly a war criminal but he never got lost and spent Christmas in Cambodia aboard a Swift Boat.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"Art Bell, the all-night paranormal radio broadcaster now rests - he was 72."
Are you sure about the "rests" part?
In some part of the afterlife, he may broadcasting from a small concrete building in the Nevada desert, smoking Luckies while he takes a call from Eddie, a truck driver who has just experienced lost time.

Douglas B. Levene said...

RIP to a wonderful lady. We miss you already.

Douglas B. Levene said...

buwaya wrote up above: "Jeb was never going to make a good politician." Actually he was a damn good politician and an excellent and highly successful governor of Florida. He would have been a better president than W. However, no one wanted another Bush in the WH in 2016, no matter who he was.

Darrell said...

Hmm, so DubYa was supposedly a war criminal but he never got lost and spent Christmas in Cambodia aboard a Swift Boat

Sent by Nixon, who hadn't even been inaugurated yet. That was still a month into the future.

Eleanor said...

Did the left criticize Barbara Bush? The snots at Wellesley went as far as to demand she be "uninvited" to give the commencement address because she was a woman "with no accomplishments of her own". Inviting Mrs. Gorbachev to come, too, pacified the commies. Babs showed up, gave a speech, and got a standing ovation. She was a woman off grace, dignity, and a fine sense of humor. If you've never heard her speech, you should take a few minutes to listen or read. It wasn't that long. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbarabushwellesleycommencement.htm

Humperdink said...

@gadfly. I loved Hal Greer.

Curious George said...

"roesch/voltaire said...
Dragon I am not so,confined by politics or ideology as to make it impossible for me to recognize a good person from another viewpoint —-something called compassion you may consider."

Fuck you r/v, you just used BB to take a swipe at the Trumps.

J. Farmer said...

Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?

Perhaps. But remember that during a Today show interview with Laura, Barbara, and the two Bush daughters, Matt Lauer asked Ms. Bush if she would like to see Jeb run, and while she prefaced it with seeing she believed he was "by far the most qualified candidate," she did not wish for him to run, and believed that America had "had enough Bushes." She seemed to have an instinctual disaster for the sense of dynastic political families, whether it was the Bushes, the Kennedys, or the Clintons. It was a refreshing statement from a woman who always seemed to have a patrician aura about her.

Big Mike said...

Hmm, so DubYa was supposedly a war criminal but he never got lost and spent Christmas in Cambodia aboard a Swift Boat.

And neither did Kerry.

Clyde said...

92 years is a good long life. I suspect that her husband will probably pass fairly soon as well. It happens often with those long-married couples; one goes and the other one soon follows.

Clyde said...

Ann Althouse said...
Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?


No. I liked Jeb when he was our governor, but I really didn't feel that we needed a choice between another Bush and another Clinton. Our nation does not need political dynasties.

Clyde said...

Inga said...
I don’t think anyone could say a mean word about her. She was a strong woman, outspoken, no nonsense with a wry sense of humor, just lovely.


Think again:

Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. Fuck outta here with your nice words.
— Randa Jarrar (@randajarrar) April 18, 2018

PSA: either you are against these pieces of shit and their genocidal ways or you're part of the problem. that's actually how simple this is. I'm happy the witch is dead. can't wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million iraqis have. byyyeeeeeeee.
— Randa Jarrar (@randajarrar) April 18, 2018

sweetie i work as a tenured professor. I make 100K a year doing that. i will never be fired. i will always have people wanting to hear what i have to say. even you are one of them!
— Randa Jarrar (@randajarrar) April 18, 2018


That's a professor from Fresno State, btw.

Via Twitchy

Clyde said...

roesch/voltaire said...
Classy and an example of service to the county in important causes like literacy—such a contrast to the present folks in the Whitehouse


That's exactly what the Democrats were saying about Eisenhower when Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43 were in the White House. Probably what they were saying about Hoover when Eisenhower was in the White House, too. They always find a strange, new respect for the previous Republicans when the current monster comes along.

Hagar said...

Talk about "dynasty" is BS.
The "Little Brown One" is a natural born politician (with no snark intended) from the looks of it, and we may well hear from him in the future.
Qui vivra, verra. Que sera, sera.

Bruce Hayden said...

Ann Althouse said...
"Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?"

No more sad than that my mother didn't get to see me in that office, or you by yours. Your question somehow implies some sort of entitlement, which most here reject.

Yesterday, the Bush family always believed that JEB would have been the better candidate, or the better President. But he lost his election in, I believe, 1994, and GW won his. Both were close, but that was the critical event. In 2000, GW had been a governor 6 years, and JEB 2. Thing is, that there is really no evidence that JEB could have won that election, or done as well as President. Too ethereal, and not enough of a fighter. His brother has some of the common touch. JEB seemingly less.

And, no, I don't think that he could have won in 2016, nor done a credible job as President. Way too GOPe, at a time when dismantling the mess that Obama caused in eight years in office was critical. Crooked Hillary has always been a nasty piece of work, and a milquetoast like JEB would likely have been chewed up and spit out, with great ease by her and her many surrogates. And the problem of governing coalition s that GOPe might trim things around the edges, but are mostly go along, get along. The Obama Adminstration was radical, making NY radical changes in many areas. Much, of course, brain dead, where progressive, if not socialist, ideology drove the policy making, and not pragmatism or reality. We didn't need go along, get along, low energy JEB to clean up after Obama, because he wouldn't have. But he likely wouldn't have won, because his low energy wouldn't have generated the enthusiasm to break down Clinton's Blue Wall, and win those critical Midwestern states that Trump did.

J. Farmer said...

@Bruce Hayden:

The Obama Adminstration was radical, making NY radical changes in many areas. Much, of course, brain dead, where progressive, if not socialist, ideology drove the policy making, and not pragmatism or reality.

I have to admit that I find formulations like this bizarre. Obama a radical? Perhaps in his earlier years he had some radical affectations. But as President, he was a completely centrist, corporatist, internationalist just like his predecessors. Between Clinton, Bush, and Obama, there was significant continuity in governance. All were in favor of "free trade," all were in favor of loose immigration into the country, and all conducted massively destructive interventionist foreign policies.

Ralph L said...

all conducted massively destructive interventionist foreign policies
O Intervened with an often intentionally limp dick.

Trumpit said...

Barbara Bush was a public figure so to speak having been a First Lady and a "First Mother" during Dubya's presidency. So, there must be an autopsy and toxicology report to rule out foul play, malpractice, or lawlessness on her doctors part by euthanizing under the guise of "Comfort Care." Millions of mostly elderly people are being euthanized for the sake of convenience or because family members are anxious to get their filthy paws on an inheritance. What killed Barbara Bush? Who ordered her suspicious "Comfort Care," i.e., an intentional morphine overdose? And what were their evil motives? We must put a stop to the DNR's, Health Care Directives, euthanasias, and murders.

BudBrown said...

I'm glad somebody recalled Mz. Bush saying the country didn't need another Bush as President.
I was worried I'd been a victim of fake news. I thought that was pretty funny and wondered how long before Jeb got his mom back on script. I didn't like the Bush guys but I think
Jeb was a pretty good governor. I liked Barbara Bush, though. My mom didn't like her at all
and I could never understand why. The beads? Naw, my mom's mom wore beads like that. Maybe
it was because she didn't dye her hair. Or maybe she reminded my mom of her friends. Tampa
was pretty solid democrat in the sixties but people started crossing over so that about 15 years ago my mom was lamenting about how all her friends were Republicans.

Professional lady said...

Hits me close to home because my Mom is 92 and my Dad is 95. In May they will have been married 74 years. They got married in 1944 right before my Dad was sent overseas. Like GHWB my Dad was shot down, although he was Army Air Force and taken prisoner by the Germans. We owe a lot to the greatest generation. RIP Barbara Bush and may God bless and comfort your husband.

J. Farmer said...

@Ralph L:

O Intervened with an often intentionally limp dick.

That's actually a talk radio/cable news caricature completely at odds with the empirical record. Let's review: Obama took Bush's kill-or-capture program and whited out the capture part, greatly increasing the use of drone assassinations in numerous countries. Essentially. if the US thought you might have been involved in terrorism, they murdered you. Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan, adding thousands of troops to the conflict and expanding airstrikes. He pursued a regime change operation in Libya. He supported the Saudi-led war on Yemen. In other words, he continued the exact foreign policy of his predecessor and his predecessor's predecessor.

William said...

The comments about her on the morning shows, including CNN and MSNBC, were surprisingly kind and heartfelt. The liberals used her domestic tranquillity to take a swipe at the Trumps, but beyond that their affection seemed genuine.......Mrs. Bush truly did seem above a lot of petty concerns. I liked the way she wore her wrinkles. She knew how to get old.

Birkel said...

Smug is here to tell you that your opinions are wrong.
Smug exists to be smug.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

That Fresno state land Palestinian Land Whale should be harpooned. Instead the administration puts out a mealy mouthed nothing statement.

J. Farmer said...

@Birkel:

Smug exists to be smug.

And Birkel exists to demonstrate what shitty human beings is mother and father must be. But hey, we all play our part.

J. Farmer said...

@President-Mom-Jeans:

That Fresno state land Palestinian Land Whale should be harpooned. Instead the administration puts out a mealy mouthed nothing statement.

The tweets were certainly odious and obnoxious, but who cares. Her right to say what she thinks is the same right as people who say things you agree with.

jimbino said...

Barbara Bush is contributing to illiteracy and bad English if she wrote, "When push comes to shove people are going to realize Jeb has real solutions, rather than talking about how popular they are, how great they are. He's doing it because he sees a huge need and it's not being filled by anybody." It shows incoherence in its fractured syntax and confusion of "they" and "he."

Birkel said...

Smug,
You just cannot stand that another person has a reasoned opinion that differs from your own. And I'm sure somehow that reflects poorly on my parents. Solid logic, there, as always.

It's never just "my opinion is different" it's always some variant of your view is "completely at odds with the empirical record." You seem to think your opinion, weighing one set of empirical data points according to your methodology is somehow the only logical conclusion. The assumptions built into your presentation could be unpacked, but why bother?

I'll just continue to call you Smug because you have earned the honorific.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

J. Farmer going to bat for a morbidly obese terrorist cheerleader, can't say I'm surprised. He always did have a thing for all things anti-semitic. Even when coming in the form of inevitable diabetes related amputations waiting to happen cheesehogs.

J. Farmer said...

@Birkel:

You just cannot stand that another person has a reasoned opinion that differs from your own.

Right. That is precisely why I participate in comments sections where the majority of the commenters do not agree with what I say, because I "cannot stand that another person has a reasoned opinion that differs" from mine. Perhaps you think, "O Intervened with an often intentionally limp dick," is a "reasoned opinion. I don't; I thought it was nonsense and said why I thought it was nonsense. If someone made an actual argument as to why that statement is valid, I would read their argument and give my response to it.

As is probably well known by now, I think Obama was far too interventionist. There are those who think he was not interventionist enough. I vehemently disagree with that argument and am prepared to have it anytime. And if people want to have it, fine. I have had numerous fruitful discussions on this forum with people arguing from the other side. So, I'm afraid your notion that I "just cannot stand that another person has a reasoned opinion that differs from" my own is, in fact, at odds with empirical reality.

J. Farmer said...

President-Mom-Jeans:

J. Farmer going to bat for a morbidly obese terrorist cheerleader, can't say I'm surprised. He always did have a thing for all things anti-semitic. Even when coming in the form of inevitable diabetes related amputations waiting to happen cheesehogs.

I also can't say that I am surprised you fail to understand an elementary argument. You don't have to agree with a scintilla of what someone says to defend their right to say it, and I referred to her statements as "odious and obnoxious." You write a fair amount of odious and obnoxious things yourself, and I would defend equally your right to say it. Again, so what? If anything, the whole fracas has probably given that woman what she wanted most of all: attention.

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

"Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?"

Well, he missed his chance when he lost his race for governor of Florida while George W won his race in Texas. That loss cost him his time and it's probably bad it happened that way.

Jim at said...

Is it sad that she didn't get to see — that we didn't get to see — Jeb ascend to the office of the presidency?

No.

Jim at said...

Jeb or Kasich would’ve been much preferable. - a Jill Stein voter

Thanks for making our point as to why Trump is President.

Jim at said...

I am not so,confined by politics or ideology as to make it impossible for me to recognize a good person from another viewpoint —-something called compassion you may consider. - R/V

Uh-huh. That's why you couldn't even pencil a few nice words about Bush without taking a shot at Trump.

Jim at said...

She said (sic) a horrid example by being a most horrible first lady.

Don't you ever change, Trumpit.
Ever.

Birkel said...

Smug:
I will note that you expressed your opinion as fact again.
Smug cannot avoid smug.
It's a tautology.

J. Farmer said...

@Birkel:

I will note that you expressed your opinion as fact again.

Yep. I did the exact thing you did in your next sentence. In fact, the very next comment to mine was by commenter dreams saying: "Well, he missed his chance when he lost his race for governor of Florida while George W won his race in Texas." My god, that commenter stated an opinion as if it was fact. And earlier, another commenter, clyde, wrote "Our nation does not need political dynasties." My god! Another opinion stated as fact. It's almost as if that is how humans communicate.

Birkel said...

Smug,
No. Those opinions are opinions and are presented as such. Your complete smuggy smugness allows you to see very little. It's a shame for you. I remain indifferent.

Keep smugging away. Perhaps you'll smug people to death.

J. Farmer said...

@Birkel:

Those opinions are opinions and are presented as such.

Oh, Birkel, reduced to pathetically grasping at straws as usual. Perhaps you can explain to us how saying Jeb "missed his chance when he lost his race for governor of Florida" is presented as an opinion rather than a fact. But I won't hold my breath. I supposed I should be flattered by your seemingly unhealthy personal obsession with everything I write. You're obviously an anonymous internet douche pathetically trolling for the attention that your shit mother and shit father didn't give you. So I guess you need a daddy to rebel against. I'm happy to play that part. It's really kind of sad and pathetic, but I don't mind being charitable to those less than me. But really, Birkel, the attention you crave from anonymous internet sources will never make up from what you didn't get from your parents.

friscoda said...

Reagan ended up choosing GHWB as VP by default. Reagan and his staff spend substantial time trying to set up a ticket with Ford in order to have Reagan more acceptable given some of the arguments made against him. When it was clear that Ford's people wanted a co-presidency (Bill Simon who was working for Ford said that he would not have even discussed some of the terms were he on the other (Reagan) side), Reagan had to choose and as it has been described was running out of time and needed someone already vetted. Given the GHWB had been running against him, GHWB had been vetted, had won one or two primaries (none of the others running had) and thus a choice was made. The Gipper let us down on that one. Story by Reagan adviser that ran in NYT many years ago attached. I worked on that campaign and did not know these details (or at least this version of them) until about 20 years ago.

https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/30/magazine/george-herbert-walker-bush-the-accidental-vice-president.html

Bruce Hayden said...

"I have to admit that I find formulations like this bizarre. Obama a radical? Perhaps in his earlier years he had some radical affectations. But as President, he was a completely centrist, corporatist, internationalist just like his predecessors. Between Clinton, Bush, and Obama, there was significant continuity in governance. All were in favor of "free trade," all were in favor of loose immigration into the country, and all conducted massively destructive interventionist foreign policies."

I don't see that at all. I can see the argument that Clinton and Bush had some simularities, but Obama? Yes, he, himself, sat in the White House filling out his brackets and shooting hoops, when he wasn't playing golf somewhere. But the people he put at the top of departments were either incompetent (Clinton, Kerry, whomever he had at Defense, etc), or highly politized ideologues. And the legislation that he helped push through his first two years was far from mainstream.
-DoJ Civil Right Division turned over to SJWs and racists. National Security Division corrupted and weaponized into a political arm of the DNC, where FISA surveillance capabilities were used to spy on Congress and generate opposition research for Croojed Hillary.
- Education: implemented Disparate Impact in school discipline under Title VII (resulting in the recent Florida school shooting). Removed due process for sexual assault allegations under Title IX. Wonen no longer had agency, when going up to guys' rooms in college, and could now have them prosecuted by their colleges years later, based on little more than regret. All done with extra-legal guidance letters.
- EPA - War on Coal. War on Oil. Signed up for Pais Accords w/o bothering to run the treaty through Congress. Significantly tightened gas Milagros requirements for autos.
- Added almost a billion dollars a year to the budget baseline, much of which went to fund liberal groups or enrich cronies of the Dem leadership, while effectively cutting military spending at a time when we were had troops fighting around the world. Readiness went to pieces as a result.
- DoJ, FTC, CPFB settlements structured to fund progressive ibterest groups.
- NASA - put Muslim outreach ahead of manned space flight.

One noticeable innovation of the Obama Administration was all the ways that they bypassed existing law. We all have seen how DACA was implemented. But also note the guidance and Dear Colleague letters from Education, adoption of the Paris Accords without submission to the Senate, and how FISA requirements and safeguards were completely gutted by a series of small steps that ultimately ended up with > 30 people seeing politically collected electronic surveillance of American citizenry by including it in Obama's PDBs.

The list goes on.