Miss him? Bush's reputation might be ready for a rebound

[choie]

I AM GOING TO SCREAM!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!


By Steven Thomma, McClatchy Newspapers Steven Thomma, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Thu Apr 29, 5:49 pm ET

WASHINGTON — Is George W. Bush about to start a political comeback?

Written off as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history when he left office, the 63-year-old Bush has been keeping a low profile, fading from view as the country turned its attention to his successor, President Barack Obama .

Now, some events might be turning in Bush's favor just as he and his family emerge to tell their side of the story, first with the release this week of Laura Bush's memoir, "Spoken From the Heart," then in November with the release of his book, "Decision Points."

"The rehab's well under way," said Mark McKinnon , a Bush confidant who still bikes with the former president in Texas .

"His loyalists have always believed that history would be much kinder to the president than public opinion was during his term. We also believe that leaders who make tough decisions are rarely popular when they're president, but that history puts things into context."

Most notably, the war in Iraq may not turn out to be the political albatross it was while he was in office.

While problems persist there — and the weapons of mass destruction that Bush cited in ordering the invasion never were found — democracy does appear to be taking hold, the U.S. is on track to withdraw combat troops by August and even Democratic Vice President Joe Biden now calls the war in Iraq a success.

For more (if you dare):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/3491615
:grr: :grr: :grr:

[Captain Hilts]

1. Ugh. nt

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. Yes, we are a stupid stupid country. Nt

[rurallib]

3. well, had we had some investigations and convictions for all the crimes

done by Bushco, perhaps they would be less able to whitewash his disastrous years.

[The Hope Mobile]

27. My understanding is that there actually are a couple of investigations underway

I so hope that's true and that real consequences come from them!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Two things died on December 12, 2000.

Oldsmobile and the United States as a democracy. We'll never recover. Things have gone too far this time.

[Solly Mack]

5. It's what comes from protecting war criminals.

'History' - without prosecutions - just means so-called historians can write any narrative they choose....and all the screaming in the world about how unfair and wrong and inaccurate it all is won't make a rat's ass bit of difference.


Without prosecutions the war crimes of the Bush administration become a matter of debate instead of fact. (so and so only calls it war crimes to be 'political' & if Bush was so bad why wasn't he impeached or charged with crimes, kind of thing)

America coddles war criminals and other government thugs and then wonders why things are so bad.

[RandomThoughts]

6. It is just propaganda.

Interestingly even if Iraq ends up eventually stabilizing.

Bush is still responsible for what he thought winning a war is, his methods of trying to do that, and many other messed up things about that situation.

[howaboutme]

8. Don't listen to the media

The first thing I try not to do is form my opinions based upon corporate media opinions. WTF should I listen to Steven Thommas opinion? I believe in taking facts and then forming my own opinion. There is nothing now and never will be anything that GW BUsh did that was positive for the USA and the general good. Until we Americans understand that the US media's main agenda is more about manipulating opinions and little to do with reporting the news the better off we'll be. They are no longer the fourth estate intended as a counter balance to corrupt government and business interests, but in partnership with them.

[bemildred]

7. So they hired some PR flacks to re-brand them, big deal. nt

[Flipper999]

9. HAHAHAHA! No.

No we do not miss him. This story is either a puff piece by a reporter who happens to be a Bush fan, or he wrote this story to push people's buttons and get attention.

Yeah, there will be people who forget how wretched this man is. However, a lot of us will never forget. Just look at the massive quantity of anti-Bush and anti-conservative books, movies, and tv documentaries that were produced during his time in office. That kind of stain doesn't wash out.

Even people who think that historians will someday vindicate his administration are full of it. In a hundred years, after all of his cheerleaders and critics are dead, the evidence of his failure will remain. Louisiana is still a damaged mess. Our seemingly endless war in Afghanistan still has our soldiers and resources tied up supporting a corrupt government with little-to-no loyalty to the US. We'll be feeling the after effects of the Bush-era economic disaster for years to come. Lastly, I invite anyone who thinks that Iraq turned out alright to take a nice long vacation there.

We may eventually overcome these disasters, but historians aren't stupid. With even a cursory amount of research, it will be painfully obvious callous, greedy, and stupid this man was.

[deutsey]

10. The dead giveaway of the article's agenda is the comment on Iraq

"Most notably, the war in Iraq may not turn out to be the political albatross it was while he was in office."

Incredibly, in the next sentence the author glosses over the fact that "the weapons of mass destruction that Bush cited in ordering the invasion never were found", before moving on to put a positive spin on the debacle.

Unbelievable.

The fact remains: BUSH LIED. He intentionally deceived our country into invading Iraq and created a mess of epic proportions in terms of lost lives, squandered resources and opportunities, and perhaps a fatally damaged reputation for the US around the world.

Now, apparently, Bush has people like Steven Thomma and the people he cites in the article coming in to help clean up the mess he carelessly left behind, just as he's had people do all his spoiled, smirking, rich-boy life.

:puke:

And even if Thomma is right and some reality-challenged people may long for Bush, there are still people in Russia who long for the days of Stalin, too. :shrug:

PS: Earlier this month, Thomma wrote something on how the rightwing is re-writing history:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100401/wl_mcclatchy/3466905

[blm]

15. Thomma's always written puff reports on Bush. Galloway, Landay, Strobel are the REAL journalists

and there is no way Bush or Cheney would allow any of them to get close enough to his circle to ask a question.

[peace frog]

11. I'm surprised at McClatchy

for publishing this stinking pile of poo. My respect for that news orgnaiation has just plummeted into the abyss.

[Uncle Joe]

12. That's what they did with Nixon and the "rebranding" worked for a period of time, this helped the

corporate supremacist Reagan to attain power, they used to say "Nixon didn't do anything other Presidents have done, he just got caught."

The Reagen Administration in turn served as a spawning ground for many of the chief players in one of the most corrupt, immoral and incompetent administrations aka; Cheney/Bush in U.S. history to rule and the Republican Party veered strongly to the radical Reich Wing.

If the American People aren't constantly reminded of what a total disaster Bush was in everyway, the Republicans are likely to produce something worse for the future.

The Republicans and their corporate media propaganda machine are banking on the American People having a short memory again and they will keep posting these polls looking for the slightest uptick as evidence.

Thanks for the thread, choie.

[HughBeaumont]

13. "One OF"????

This guy wasn't good enough to suck.

This asshole wasn't fit to wipe Dick Nixon's ass.

A million revisionists in a room couldn't begin to conjure up enough bullshit that would mold The Failure Fuhrer into the Second Coming of The Perceived Notion of Ronald Reagan. I think their piss-take is going to be tripped up slightly when asked what he did for the average middle/working/poor American.

He lied us into tax-wasting conflicts with two sovereign nations. A complicit media, a weak-kneed congress, a crime boss VP and a drooling pile of idiots known as Republican voters are the only reasons this mafia isn't in prison right now.

[peace frog]

14. HB, have we told you lately that we love you?

Your posts are always worth a read, and so very right on. Thanks for that.

[skyounkin]

20. Don't forget- a complicit following president

who wants to "look forward" instead of doing his consitutuional duty to prosecute war criminals.

[thesquanderer]

16. The price of democracy

re: " democracy does appear to be taking hold "

That's his positive spin.

But who were we to say that democracy in Iraq was worth perhaps a million or more innocent Iraqi civilian's lives? They didn't *ask* for democracy, and "giving" it to them was not a decision for us to make. It's certainly not up to us to decide if it was "worth it."

This is like burning down someone's house and saying "you should thank us, look at all the cleared land you have now!"

[yellowcanine]

17. Sounds like wishful thinking by Bushbots to me. The consensus on Iraq is that it was a mistake,

regardless of whether it is better now than a couple of years ago. Big deal. It was still an unnecessary war. Nothing is going to change that.

[Demeter]

18. No, I Don't Think So

Just spin and wishful thinking. Can't imagine who would want to rehab W anyway--he doesn't give a fuck, and neither does anyone in his entourage....

[h9socialist]

19. I miss Dubya like I miss my last hemorrhoidal flare up!

The only people who want to rehab W. are the same clowns at the Tea Party rallies -- Republican party-hacks and old, well-to-do white folks with too much time on their hands.

[freesqueeze]

21. how about that first term

when he created less than zero jobs.

I think history will see him for what he was...

[Alcibiades]

22. McClatchy sucks balls

The comments on this article are priceless, though:

"President Bush, was a good and descent man who did what he felt was the best for the Country. He was not an idealog, and he was a Man of conviction and moral clarity. He did not hide his past, nor did he bow to polls and political pressure. So yes, I sure miss president Bush. I also cannot wait to get this comy we have now out of our house, before he does more damage to our country, that we cannot fix!"

Folks like this give the retarded a bad name.

[HughBeaumont]

23. What's a "comy"?

Do "Men of conviction and moral clarity" bomb the Bejeezuz out of sovereign nations that had nothing to do with attacking America personally?

"our house" . . . stupid AND a veiled racist. All the stops.

[Alcibiades]

25. It's "commie"

OMG! I had thought that was a typo, but now it strikes me that that's how he spells "commie."

[baldguy]

24. "A CBS-New York Times poll this month, for example..."

"...found that 27 percent of Americans had favorable opinions of Bush and 58 percent had unfavorable opinions. That was essentially unchanged since the week he left office."

So, basically they're saying that their headline is a complete lie.

[otohara]

26. 33% American's Prefer POTUS Who Does NOTHING

my prediction of those who miss Dubya - always 33%

[Cobalt-60]

28. Bush = Fascist Usurper

Bush is a sniveling liar appointed over the victor in the 2000 election by a fascist court.
Bush is a faux religious fanatic that played sock puppet to a 21st century Boorman.
Bush fiddled while New Orleans drowned.
If he falls into my hands for even a minute I'll grant him a place next to Mussolini : hanging from the telephone wires.
How's that for rehabilitation?

[mwb970]

29. Not as long as stories like this keep coming out.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/pelosi-bush-administration-barred-officials-from-asking-congress-for-financial-sector-bailouts.php

[deacon_sephiroth]

30. history WILL shine a favorable light on him

Since the history most of our children are taught in schools is hand-picked by conservative jack-offs in Texas school boards, I'm sure the outrageous disastrous flop of the Bush administration mk II will be fade. You know what they say, those who do not learn from history... are Americans