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Dec 6th, 2017
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,862 Likes: 1
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,862 Likes: 1 |
Matt Bai Yahoo News May 8, 2014 If you've just crash-landed from the planet known as Kepler-186f and have no experience with the human life form or its recent history, let me just clarify something for you: George W. Bush was a divisive and unsuccessful president. Economically, internationally, culturally — you name the category of leadership, and the results pretty much range from disappointment to disaster. A CBS News/New York Times poll clocked Bush's final approval rating at 22 percent, which is about as low as you can go in politics without needing a parole officer.
You may get confused about this, because lately Bush is enjoying a public restoration. The Bush you read about these days is the kind of inclusive conservative you can deal with, a guy who bikes with wounded veterans, a sensitive portraitist of world leaders. A graphic this week on FiveThirtyEight.com showed how fewer and fewer Americans blame Bush for the country's economic morass, even though his successor, Barack Obama, won two presidential campaigns based on precisely that premise.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 12,010
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 12,010 |
Thx golem
A well balanced reflection I think
While bush was in office I made a few post on this forum trying to reduce the hysteria of the time. These posts were not well received
I still feel that bush. And the people around him made some horrible decisions. Invading Iraq was very wrong. And the management of that war just made things worse
An administration is deeply impacted by personnel choices. My distain for Cheney and Rumsfeld has not moderated. And Karl rove was Machiavellian .political manipulator who seemed to have no moral compass outside his admittedly effective scheming
I personally am still waiting fir the day that jimmy carter gets the credit I think he deserves. It has been so convenient to turn him into an ineffectual whipping boy. But I think that he pursued sound policies that were not shaped by political expedience Who has contributed more to the thorny problem of peace. In the . Middle East though sheer detonation
"It's not a lie if you believe it." -- George Costanza
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. --Bertrand Russel
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,672
member
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,672 |
Sorry, your post did not prove to me that Bush was not a monster.
Sometimes idiots get a child a small pet "to teach the child responsibility." What happens? The pet dies of neglect.
Bush was 'given' the presidency. He never deserved the job and never grew up to it. The country did not enjoy being his pet rabbit and we barely survived it. We're still recovering.
My opinion of him has not changed. His paintings are stupid and done mostly by his teacher ... bet on it.
Just a Missouri school teacher ... stubborn as a mule and addicted to logic.
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 17,177 Likes: 254
It's the Despair Quotient! Carpal Tunnel
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It's the Despair Quotient! Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 17,177 Likes: 254 |
Why am I getting the impression that George W. Bush is being rehabilitated as "just some nice guy you would want to have a beer with" all over again?
What is it, did he screw up by listening to all the mean old Machiavellians but he "really meant to do the right thing?"
"The Best of the Leon Russell Festivals" DVD
deepfreezefilms.com
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 27,583
Administrator Bionic Scribe
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Administrator Bionic Scribe
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 27,583 |
He's an adult. He knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it. He is just as culpable.
"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke
milk and Girl Scout cookies ;-)
Save your breath-You may need it to blow up your date.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 12,010
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 12,010 |
It seems to me that neither i nor the article was trying to dismiss bush responsibility nor to endorse his presidency or capability for the officd
Was that unclear?
Imo decent people can make poor choices
Saying they are decent does not alter the evaluation of the choices
"It's not a lie if you believe it." -- George Costanza
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. --Bertrand Russel
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 27,583
Administrator Bionic Scribe
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Administrator Bionic Scribe
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 27,583 |
He is responsible, because he is of weak character.
milk and Girl Scout cookies ;-)
Save your breath-You may need it to blow up your date.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 12,010
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 12,010 |
Didnt say he is not responsible
Just that i do not consider him a monster
Like cheney. Rumsfeld or rove et al
"It's not a lie if you believe it." -- George Costanza
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. --Bertrand Russel
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,672
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,672 |
I consider him a monster. A really dumb little monster.
Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove ... predators.
Just a Missouri school teacher ... stubborn as a mule and addicted to logic.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 18,003 Likes: 191
Moderator Carpal Tunnel
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Moderator Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 18,003 Likes: 191 |
I don't excuse Bush's active participation in the atrocities that he perpetuated. He wasn't just unsuited for the presidency, he was a model of what a bad president is. And he wasn't ignorant of what he was doing, either. He was just arrogant, and believed all the right-wing tripe that they have been pedaling for years. He went into office to be a tool for that branch of his party, and he succeeded spectacularly. No, he was not ignorant, he was not a "dupe", he was a knowing participant and is fully culpable. He should not, and cannot, be rehabilitated. Nor, by the way, should Reagan. I forgave Ford, I understood Bush Sr., and even Nixon was not as bad as his press. Reagan, and Bush Jr. - no excuses.
A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.
Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich
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