Bush, Clinton visit Utah, issue call for civility in politics

[Newsjock]

Source: Deseret News

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton sounded more like old friends than former political opponents during their visit to Utah on Monday, sharing a few laughs and praising each other's accomplishments while in office.

"I like him, and I love his father," Clinton told a packed ballroom at the Grand America Hotel, referring to the 43rd and 41st presidents of the United States.

... Those kinds to playful exchanges were sprinkled throughout the former presidents' comments during a moderated discussion at the Outlook Leadership Conference, an annual gathering of executives in the convenience and petroleum retailing industry.

... One place to start, Bush said, is for voters to "elect people who will not denigrate their offices by engaging in personal attacks and mudslinging."

Read more: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865560628/Bush-Clinton-visit-Utah-issue-call-for-civility-in-politics.html

[DonCoquixote]

1. OH PLEASE!

Bill, do you realize that if Bush had his way, you would either be in Jail or getting a needle ala "dead man walking?"

[Missycim]

25. I dislike bush as much as the next person

but I never heard bush wanting to kill him?

[Lint Head]

2. This is one thing I do not like about Bill Clinton.

He admires a torturing murderer.

[2pooped2pop]

27. yeah, it puts up a blocker for me

I get back to forgiving him for this, and he does it again. It sickens me. To stand there and praise these rabid mother fuckers makes me lose a lot of respect for Clinton.

I know they like to get along with formers, but jeese get the shit off your nose there Bill.

[sofa king]

32. I think you are missing an important point.

Governor Clinton is exploiting something called the "backfire effect." He is in an almost unique position to use it in a slightly different way.

The way the backfire effect usually works is that when conservatives are presented with disinformation and then that disinformation is disputed by a liberal, they become more likely to believe the disinformation. Because they are deeply stupid, are somewhat aware of that, which frightens them, and so they place their trust in conservative authorities because they cannot think for themselves.

But I think it can be exploited to place good information in the minds of conservatives, too, if one has a very special "liberal" in place to reinforce the message.

Former President Clinton has been vilified for so long and so ruthlessly by the right wing that anything that comes out of his mouth sounds to conservatives like the opposite of what a trusted authority says.

So when Lennie Small comes out and says "we need civility," the crowd grumbles and wonders what to think. Then when Governor Clinton comes out and says the exact same thing, they hear him saying the opposite of that, and believe what Shrub said more.

Governor Clinton is trying to drag conservatives kicking and screaming toward a more reasonable approach to politics.

Shrub, no doubt, is in it for the money.

[Lint Head]

33. Bush should be in prison for treachery, plundering the national treasury and murder.

The backfire effect is in interesting concept. Time is on the torturing murderer's side.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

35. "Governor Clinton"???

Not to pick nits -- or a fight -- or a fight with nits -- but you might want to offer him a promotion.

[sofa king]

43. Perhaps times have changed.

It used to be that there could be only one President and former Presidents were to be addressed as either "Mr.," or by their former highest honorific. Same for the Vice President, and the Speaker of the House. So Bill Clinton was "Governor Clinton," Al Gore was "Senator Gore," Dwight Eisenhower was "General Eisenhower," Newt Gingrich is "that son-of-a-bitch," and so on.

It would appear as if the National Governor's Association got to Emily Post, so now former governors cannot now be addressed as "Governor X," either.

Because there can be only fifty, or something.

http://www.emilypost.com/forms-of-address/titles/777-official-forms-of-address

But on the other hand, former Presidents can now be greeted as "Mr. President," according to Emily, which is total bullshit if you ask me.

Anyway, it has all changed since I last asked. At least ten years ago, former President Clinton (or his 'bot) told me via email that he preferred, "The Honorable." So perhaps you are correct.

[stockholmer]

36. "Governor Clinton is trying to drag conservatives kicking and screaming toward a more reasonable..."

Occam's razor says Clinton is a corporate, oligarchic shill, same as he always was. NAFTA, the repeal of Glass-Steagall, and the horrific Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000 are his true legacies. The only things 'progressive' about him are the progressive rates of increase in his wealth, the progressive increases of his fees to speak to the equestrian classes, and his ability to sell the great unwashed masses of well-meaning lemmings the...........

[lumpy]

37. Do you ever have anything good to say about Bill Clinton?

Just curious, seems like your only posts consist of ridiculing Clinton.

[stockholmer]

39. not much, he (along with the other POTUS's since Kennedy) is an example of the corrupted,

broken two-party system that the USA toils under. The best of that bad lot was Carter (who has had by far the best post-presidency), but his 4 years were middling at best. Red Team/Blue Team, faux-progressive, faux-conservative, it has not mattered. The empiric wars keep coming, the US dollar is further debased, the debts (both public and private) have exploded, the manufacturing base of the nation has been utterly gutted, civil rights have been fundamentally eroded, and the wealth has been funneled upward to an every smaller number of plutocrats. Good politicians like Bernie Sanders are marginalised (yet given just enough spotlight to hold out hope), whilst hollow men like Clinton, along with the rest of the systemically-controlled puppets, all march to the beat of their bankster masters.

Btw, it is not ridicule, it is contempt.

[samsingh]

34. agreed

[Drunken Irishman]

3. This is why people buy into the idea of there being an Illuminati or something similar...

Not that I agree, but yeesh. I'm all for civility, but let's not pretend Bush was a civil campaigner.

I'd be surprised if, in twelve years, Obama is this buddy buddy with Bush or a potential Republican successor.

[stockholmer]

17. "I'd be surprised if, in twelve years, Obama is this buddy buddy with Bush....."

Yes, 12 years is MUCH too long

[Drunken Irishman]

18. Yup...

Because inviting a former president to the White House means they're buddy-buddy.

[KansDem]

29. Is that Jeb on the left?

[stockholmer]

31. yes

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101437315

Unbeknownst to the press, President Obama met this evening with former president George H.W. Bush and his son, former Florida governor Jeb Bush in the Oval Office.

White House officials did not list the meeting on the president's schedule but released a photo through Flickr and Twitter.

According to the date and time stamp on the photo, it was taken shortly after 5 p.m. That's about the time Obama returned to the White House from a fundraiser at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

White House officials did not immediately respond to questions about the subject of the meeting and its exclusion from Obama's public schedule.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/01/obama-hosts-george-hw-and-jeb-bush-at-white-house-112638.html

[lumpy]

38. OOOOWWWW a conspiracy !

[Crunchy Frog]

4. Yuck! Just yuck.

[limpyhobbler]

13. +1 yuck

[marasinghe]

5. fuck Bush.

[DCKit]

6. In other words "Please stop telling the truth about Romney and Ryan in campaign commercials and...

speeches, but we won't guarantee they won't continue to lie about your record, accomplishments and agenda."

[Angry Dragon]

7. I wisj Clinton would keep his mouth shut if all he is going to do is suck up to the bushs

[Proletariatprincess]

8. Maybe Dubya and Bubba should just join the Corporate party....

...oh wait......

[DallasNE]

9. How Can This Discussion

Not have a reference to the toxic impact of Citizens United? This is a bigger reason for the current lack of discourse than the impact of blogs, though they do share considerable blame too.

[LibDemAlways]

10. This is vomit inducing. n/t

[Tom Ripley]

11. Fuck both of them

[Lasher]

12. The more I learn about Bill Clinton, the less I like him.

[heaven05]

21. yep

my feeling exactly. the guy is there for a paycheck.

[grahamhgreen]

14. How bout civility in TORTURING PEOPLE AND BOMBING CIVILIANS??? WTF

[choie]

42. exactly.

Clinton is becoming repugnant to me - I wonder how much he got for speaking in front of "executives in the convenience and petroleum retailing industry."? Fucker

[limpyhobbler]

15. I bet they both got a big ass paycheck for speaking fees too. A legal bribe.

Did that really happen what I just said? Is that legal? Does Bill get speaking fees from oil companies while Hillary is Sec. Of State? I hope I'm full of shit on that because if it's true it's a pretty serious conflict of interest. Or I guess if it looks better they could always make the check out to The Clinton Foundation or something like that. I really hope that's not what happens.

[SoDesuKa]

16. Bush Calls for Civility: What Chutzpah

I remember the Bush presidency - there wasn't much about it that you could call civil.

[Seniorcousin]

19. NOW they want to be civil?

I've been listening to hateful religious and racial slander about our president since the 2008 campaign from compassionate conservatives and the religious right. Another decade or 2 at the most and they'll be extinct and they know it. Our society will be like Europe and they'll be an embarrassing part of our history. There is no place for civility in this fight.

[heaven05]

20. what!

what BS. They are trying to look civil in a very UNcivilized and mean political season. Photo op for world consumption, I'm not fooled for a minute!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

22. And you guys jump on me for questioning Bill Clinton's loyalty?

I simply do not trust this man. Never have!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021110446

[Frustratedlady]

23. I seem to recall a bit of mudslinging when Clinton ran...

But maybe someone else did the slinging...like Carville?

I think Obama has been pretty easy on Romney and if he's crying that Obama has been "mean" then, so be it. After all, it isn't as if Obama hasn't been covered with mud, and it hasn't been just during the campaigns...they haven't let up throughout his term. He's lucky to be alive.

Where is Clinton coming from. I'm VERY disappointed in him.

[sofa king]

24. Want civility? Destroy the GOP.

We can do it over the next two years. It is time to wreck them, and then when their old boys' network is dismantled and they can't protect themselves, we can start jailing them for crimes going back to the October Surprise.

[Enrique]

26. don't listen to him!

civility is the last thing I want. I'm pissed off. I think I'm not alone. "Playful exchanges" among the elites just pisses us off more.

[Enrique]

28. speaking of "denigrating the office"

maybe they could look at how Jimmy Carter spent his ex-presidency, he didn't dedicate the rest of his life whoring himself out to every two-bit industry group that waved some cash in his face.

How much did this gas station group give them to sit there an suck each other off for a half hour?

... Those kinds to playful exchanges were sprinkled throughout the former presidents' comments during a moderated discussion at the Outlook Leadership Conference, an annual gathering of executives in the convenience and petroleum retailing industry.

[hifiguy]

30. This is really barf-inducing.

And it is the kind of transparent bullshit that makes it so easy to believe the fix is in no matter who is elected. How else could Clinton stand there on stage with a known war criminal and torturer unless he was, in essence, a member of the same little club?

[Brother Buzz]

40. George, "Dad always liked you best"

[Solly Mack]

41. Because a war criminal knows all about being civil.

Perhaps he defines civility as being allowed to get away with your war crimes.


"...Bush said, is for voters to "elect people who will not denigrate their offices by engaging in personal attacks and mudslinging.""

Because torture never denigrates "their offices".


How does anyone "like" someone who tortured people?