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So long George. We're going to miss you.

Submitted by Tonguetied on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 18:13
in

Well the TV stations have been engaging in an orgy of celebration of the inauguaration.   I read a short article describing the departure of George W. Bush from the White House but most everything else has been Barack, Barack, Barack.

It is Barack's Obama's day and more power to him but I felt more like wearing a black armband of mourning.  People will eventually learn the President Obama is just as human as the next guy and I feel sorry for them for the inevitable disappointment they will feel when they find out their Messiah has feet of clay.

I have never regarded President Bush as more than human but I have always had the greatest respect for him.  He was too slow to use his veto and fiscally could have done better to rein in the budgets that the REPUBLICAN congress sent to him.  But on the big issues he was in the right.   He is a decent and honorable man.  History should treat him far kinder he is being treated today.  I wish him God's blessings and comfort in knowing that he did the right thing.

 

(Slightly edited to mention the fiscal shortcomings of the Bush presidency.)

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Comments

I'm with you.

Submitted by chemjeff on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 18:29.

Bush is a fundamentally decent human being who got unfairly savaged by his opponents and insufficiently praised by his supporters.  I'll miss his self-deprecating humor, his casual demeanor, heck even his creative linguistics.  I'll take a guy who says "nucular" and "misunderestimated" any day over self-righteous self-absorbed elitist liberals.

Bush was an ideologue. His

Submitted by In between on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 18:51.

Bush was an ideologue. His ideology failed. It ran up deficits and debt. He listened to the neocons and did not listen to others. And that war was failing and had to be bailed out with the Iraq Study Group, Bob Gates, and General Petraeus. Bush looks at things one way. And there is no other way with him. He is leaving the country in a total mess.

Bruce Bartlett, deputy assistant treasury secretary for Reagan and Bush 41, was on C-span and he calls Bush the worst Republican president.

I am sure Bush is a nice guy personally and he will live close to where my brother lives in Dallas. May see him some day. But the wrong people controlled him, and he had this sense of righteousness that went awry. And he never saw the problems of the day. 

An ideologue? Hardly.

Submitted by noufa on Thu, 01/22/2009 - 20:36.

Bruce Bartlett would point out that Ron Paul was easily able to outflank Bush from the right. In fact, Bartlett complains that Bush was opportunistic & unprincipled. He has a point. Bush was undeniably a moderate on education, immigration & affirmative action.

Noam Chomsky has called Nixon the "last liberal president". How long it will take leftists to likewise realize that their hatred for Bush has nothing to do with ideology?

I'm not one to argue that Bush's sole problem was a lack of ideological purity. But conservatism is an ancient political philosophy. It will be around for a lot longer than George Bush.

 

<<ideology>> Supply side

Submitted by In between on Thu, 01/22/2009 - 21:08.

<<ideology>>

Supply side economics as deficits and debt went up

stay the course as the war got worse, as deficits, debt, and everything else got worse

free trade as the factories close

a failed private social security program

neoconism

 

 

Bush has hurt the Republican Party more than any Democrat could

Submitted by MiddleClassSqueeze on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 19:56.

It would be best for everyone if he spent atleast the next 5-10 years laying low.  Then, after the Republicans have moved on and new leaders emerge, he can take a humanitarian route.  Maybe fundraising for AIDS research.  Increasing awareness and prevention of different diseases in Africa.  He can try to be like Jimmy Carter, just without the Israel bashing.  Either way, he is a failed president.  His respectability is next to nil.  His options for future projects are pretty limited, for an ex-president anyways.

Greetings from Midland

Submitted by Cahnman on Wed, 01/21/2009 - 01:41.

I was here welcoming President Bush back to Texas today.  God Bless Him!

Who damaged the Republican Party

Submitted by Tonguetied on Thu, 01/22/2009 - 18:42.

It was the Republican party that kept sending Bush the insane budgets that he (foolishly) refused to veto.  The people most responsible for hurting the Republican party are the Republican party.