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The Prodigal Returns
Newsweek (by way of Drudge) ^ | November 12, 2006 | Jon Meacham

Posted on 11/12/2006 7:36:06 AM PST by taylorstreet

- George Herbert Walker Bush is a proud father; tears easily come to his eyes when he thinks of his children, all of them, and there is gracious deference in his tone when he talks about the son he calls, with emphasis, "The President." He is not given to boasting about or bragging on his family; he still hears his mother's voice warning him to avoid "the Great I Am," but several times over the past few years the 41st president has mentioned to visitors that the 43rd president has read the Bible in its entirety—not once, the father says, but twice, sticking two fingers in the air. If so, then the incumbent may recall the Song of Moses: "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee."

Ask thy father, and he will show thee: advice that, at long last, George W. Bush seems to be taking. Last week the president lost both houses of Congress and 16 more Americans died in Iraq, bringing the U.S. death toll to 2,844, with little discernible progress in sight. The war there has now lasted 44 months, the amount of time that elapsed between Pearl Harbor and VJ Day.

In a conference room filled with commemorative shotguns in his Houston offices last Wednesday, the father settled in to watch his son's post-election press conference on TV. Lunching on pizza, Bush Senior listened as George W. Bush said the loss of Congress was a "thumping," promised to "work with" a commission on Iraq chaired by James A. Baker III and Lee Hamilton, and announced that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was resigning.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 41; baker; bush; father

1 posted on 11/12/2006 7:36:07 AM PST by taylorstreet
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To: taylorstreet

What did Newsweak have to say when Slick Willie lost the Senate & the House in 1994?


2 posted on 11/12/2006 7:39:15 AM PST by petkus
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To: taylorstreet; LS
...the amount of time that elapsed between Pearl Harbor and VJ Day

...Which is a germane benchmark because, on VJ Day, everything was all finished and tidied up and finalized, and all American troops went home?

If VJ day is the terminus a quo, perhaps the better analogy would be the day Saddam was captured? What's the timeline comparison in that case? Hm, can't use that. It would make W look too good.

Dan

3 posted on 11/12/2006 7:43:31 AM PST by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: BibChr

>>...Which is a germane benchmark because, on VJ Day, everything was all finished and tidied up and finalized, and all American troops went home?

There were quite a bit more than less than 3000 killed in the 44 months between Pearl Harbor and VJ Day, too.


4 posted on 11/12/2006 7:51:24 AM PST by quikdrw (Life is tough....it's even tougher if you are stupid.)
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To: taylorstreet
As the war has gone badly and the years have ticked by—2003, 2004, 2005 and now much of 2006—the senior President Bush, the man who managed to capture just 37 percent of the vote in 1992, has grown in stature. Raising taxes and capping domestic spending in 1990, refusing to exceed the United Nations mandate after expelling Saddam from Kuwait, and deftly managing the end of the cold war and the reunification of Germany loom ever larger.

Of course Newsweak neglects to neglect they led the pack of those lambasting GHWB for these very things.
5 posted on 11/12/2006 7:56:35 AM PST by Heatseeker
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: quikdrw; LS

<< There were quite a bit more than less than 3000 killed in the 44 months between Pearl Harbor and VJ Day, too >>

Wait, you're not suggesting, are you, that our Objective Unbiased Press{tm} is distorting the news by selective reporting of the facts and failure to provide any context, are you?!

I'm shocked, I tell you! SHOCKED!


7 posted on 11/12/2006 8:08:02 AM PST by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: quikdrw

That is what I was saying earlier, that future presidents now know that any future war has to be won before th next election, no matter how many die and no matter how many are displaced. Turns out those dusty old thermonuclear weapons are going to be worth something after all...


9 posted on 11/12/2006 10:41:43 AM PST by wastoute
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To: petkus
What did Newsweak have to say when Slick Willie lost the Senate & the House in 1994?

I think that is when allegations of fraud, disenfranchised voters and voter temper tantrums began.

Now - this time around we get voter mandate, will of the people, condemnation of President Bush, etc.

Any allegations of media bias, however, is just more sour grapes from the right.

10 posted on 11/12/2006 10:51:50 AM PST by capydick (Better to fight for something than live for nothing.)
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To: petkus

I don't remember, but I suspect that blaming the electorate figured in there.


11 posted on 11/12/2006 11:05:55 AM PST by SuzyQue (Remember to think.)
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To: wastoute

Lincoln had problems with an election before the war was over. He had faith that the soldiers would support him. And he was right. I hope that future doesn't cause that to change.


12 posted on 11/12/2006 2:24:28 PM PST by quikdrw (Life is tough....it's even tougher if you are stupid.)
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To: petkus
What did Newsweak have to say when Slick Willie lost the Senate & the House in 1994?

The Republicans were liars and cheats. What else would they say, they don't know anything else.

13 posted on 11/12/2006 2:26:06 PM PST by SuziQ
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