"... such as the pledge to end 'the soft bigotry of low expectations' in the education of low-income and minority students and the description of democracy — in Bush’s first inaugural address — as a 'seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.' As a Bush confidant and head of the speechwriting team, he also encouraged such memorable turns of phrase as 'axis of evil,' which Bush used to explain the administration’s hawkish posture as it started long and costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.In the chaotic months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Mr. Gerson became the key craftsman articulating what became known as the 'Bush Doctrine' — which advocated preemptive strikes against potential terrorists and other perceived threats. With his team of writers, he began shaping Bush’s tone and tenor... 'It is a real mistake to try to secularize American political discourse,' Mr. Gerson told NPR in 2006. 'It removes one of the primary sources of visions of justice in American history.'"
From "Michael Gerson, Post columnist and Bush speechwriter on 9/11, dies at 58/Mr. Gerson helped shape President George W. Bush’s messaging after the 9/11 attacks and then moved to The Washington Post, where he wrote about politics and faith" (The Washington Post).
Speechwriter David Frum said he came up with “axis of hatred” to describe Iraq, North Korea and Iran (even though Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was a foe of leaders in Tehran). Mr. Gerson tweaked it to “axis of evil” to make it sound more “theological” — a battle between good and evil — Frum wrote in his 2003 book on Bush, “The Right Man.”...
Mr. Gerson also had a hand in pushing the Bush White House’s false assertions about Iraq — including debunked allegations of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction — that would seek to justify the 2003 invasion....
Mr. Gerson never publicly expressed regrets for having helped sell the Iraq War....
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Couldn't resist the swipe at Bush, could they.
Possibly he was one of the founding fathers of Conservative, Inc?
Serious Question
How many Iraqi Civilians died during the Iraq War? How many have died in the Ukraine War?
Many people misunderestimated the strategy of the Iraq war. It wasn't just Chemical weapons (ask the gassed Iraqis about thase), it was also the nukular aspirations of Saddam that were timely to stop.
We're trying a different path in Iran, letting insanely theocratic autocratic get nukes there. Let's see which way worked better in a few years.
the Bush White House’s false assertions about Iraq
Oh right, Bush "lied."
If not where it all began, with regard to the wholesale injection of anti-Republican propaganda into news, then certainly where it really took off.
This is not a comment on the Iraq War, which I supported at the time; just the media.
gilbar said...How many Iraqi Civilians died during the Iraq War?
Far fewer than would have been executed by Saddam Hussein if his usual pattern continued. He typically whacked about 50,000 politically inconvenient people a year, including the genocide of the marsh peoples.
An overdose of Squish?
If you’re defending that bullshit after all this time, you need to do a little reading. We’re the big swinging world dick and we have used it horribly. Empires used to last hundreds, thousands of years. We’re gonna get the whole world blown up in under a hundred. Embarrassing. All that education and progress have meant nothing.
biden is the most awful gaffe prone person to ever fill the seat - and NOTHING from the Hack-D press..
Nothing.
You think he fucked up on the Iraq War, look at this:
Why Anthony Fauci is the greatest public servant I have known
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/10/anthony-fauci-retirement-public-service/
Bush-Cheney's brain?
Lied about damn near everything, but he was a fine religious and spiritual fellow dontcha know.
There was no reason for us to invade and occupy Iraq. Containment works, but some people are always in a hurry.
The "Saddam Was Worse" trope is just asinine. No clear accounting of the numbers of his victim's or Bush-Cheney's will ever be made. Not in our lifetimes anyway.
Bush did lie us into Iraq.
He didn't lie about the WMD's. We found all of that shit including labs, tons of uranium, and watched it drive into Syria where they promptly used it on their people.
Bush lied about what we were doing in Iraq and our goals and our strategy.It was all bullshit from the start.
Bush was just about making his supporters rich. He didn't give a shit about Iraqi's and his kind words to service members was all bullshit.
He stabbed us in the back. And now he is on a global tour to fight disinformation with Barrack Obama.
Fuck Bush.
'It is a real mistake to try to secularize American political discourse'
Progs can do without religion, though they're happy to invoke Jesus once in a while to justify their next welfare program.
But no one cares anymore, not really. Trump? It is to laugh. Biden? Pro-abortion "Catholic." The Althouses of America? Forget it. Mormons? Voting for SSM as of this week.
If you want power, it's now a mistake to religionize American political discourse.
Bush, Jr. ended the Iraq war after an administrative leave that fomented collateral damage. Obama launched and funded the second Iraq War in the World War Spring series.
the Bush White House’s false assertions about Iraq
He was right about WMD and development, one of several reasons beside to bring Hussein to trial and end the war in Iraq.
Couldn't resist the swipe at Bush, could they.
Just like that liberal who followed the progressed path from Texas to the sanctuary state of California in order to abort their unwanted child. Yeah, California is a sanctuary state. Bring out your babies... fetal-babies.
Why are people still defending the War in Iraq? Why are you still defending Bush?
They told us they were there to bring freedom to the Iraqi people. I believed in that enough to join the Army and go into combat with the people that were denying that freedom.
But it has to be obvious at this point the freedom for the Iraqi people was never the goal.
The only goal was to keep the war going for as long as possible and avoid doing the things that would end it.
We could have ended it in a month.
And Afghanistan was even worse. We caught the same people and released them over and over and over. If someone ended up in Gitmo they were a complete evil shithead. Some of the people we just released after 2 weeks were murderers and bomb makers. It was insane.
Fuck Bush and his lies.
Jamie,
"... which I supported at the time..."
I'll go you one better: I'm still supportive of the notion that we needed a strong response in Afghanistan, think that the initial special forces targeting bin Laden/punitive raid concept was the right one, and that if we had conducted those operations under WWII standards where the commanders on the field weren't waiting on JAGs and politicians to approve their actions they might well have succeeded.
Similarly, I still support the notion that Sadaam needed to go, and was too prominent for us to have done it covertly. But it should have been fight until he was dead or apprehended, whack the most odious of his immediate lieutenants, find a plausible successor among the remaining ones, and told him, "You're in charge now; just don't threaten your neighbors or the world oil supply, or you'll be next. Oh, and no more stuff like what Sadaam did with the Marsh Arabs--a lot of eyes are on you, and for some inexplicable reason they care about that shit like that."
But the occupation? Of either place? The whole preposterous notion of "nation building"? That ghastly clanking machinery run by our questionable State Department? Hell no, a thousand times hell no.
I'm literally waiting on my wife to begin our drive to KC, but is there any evidence that Saddam or Assad used nukes/uranium on anyone? I remain suspicious of WMD claims when the reality seems to be that both of those guys were virtually without delivery means--crap missiles, and barrel bombs from helicopters?
Deaths in the few thousands range, over years? That's WMD?
Frum & Gerson.
W sure could pick them.
The axis of idiocy
WaPo says he dies of "complications of cancer" at age 58.
Maybe I'm more sensitive to stories like this as I get older, or more cynical/suspicious, but there seems to be more and more stories about people dying early. Athletes, politicians, all kinds of people.
Is it me? Is it the "vax"? Is it nothing?
We have all the time more data, and seemingly less information.
The world is better off without an Iraq led by Uday or Qusay. It was generally worth getting rid of that family.
The world is better off without an Iraq led by Uday or Qusay. It was generally worth getting rid of that family.
The world is better off without an Iraq led by Uday or Qusay. It was generally worth getting rid of that family.
The world is better off without an Iraq led by Uday or Qusay. It was generally worth getting rid of that family.
The world is better off without an Iraq led by Uday or Qusay. It was generally worth getting rid of that family.
I never would have supported any Middle Eastern conflicts if I knew how Wokism was going to take advantage of our distraction over the last two decades.
How can we say "Bush sucks" while saying nice things about our former co-worker?
That WaPo style guide is really something. Cannot EVER introduce a Republican president in a story without the obligatory “who did X we disapprove of or like this one, who is dumb because X” formula. Stale fucking formula at that. Can you imagine Biden’s descriptor if they treated both parties the same?
Biden who never met a little girl he didn’t try to sniff…
Or Biden, known for potentially catastrophic gaffes…
Or Biden, best remembered for his blatant lies about involvement in Hunter’s shady foreign shakedowns…
Man it would be fun to write for Opposite World WaPo!
The world is better off without an Iraq led by Uday or Qusay. It was generally worth getting rid of that family.
Perhaps, if only by their self-conviction. It was generally worth ending the first Iraq war after an administrative leave of absence, and certainly better than a premature evacuation, or abandoning people to political progress.
I have to say it, and I know its cruel, but this obit made me laugh. The Wapo columnist, the Bush lackey who trashed Trump and his supporters and joined in with the liberals calling them every name in the book, gets....
Trashed by his leftwing friends. At the WaPo.
I'm sorta sad to see people at Althouse upset at this. Gerson wouldn't be. The Bush Republican line was "We don't care if the Press attacks us. We don't care if they lie about us". Bush's SUPPORTERS were always more upset than he was. Bush liked the MSM and Democrats more then his conservative voters, and he didn't care that the Left lied and called him "Bush Hitler". Bush wanted to be friends with them. And so did Gerson. Which is why he was working for the Wapo.
Gerson was responsible for that bat-shit crazy 2nd Bush inaugeral speech. Y'know the one where the USA was going to bring Democracy to the whole world at the point of a gun, cause Jesus wanted it, or something. Thank God, those days are over.
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