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George H.W. Bush Given Courage Award For 1990 Tax Hikes
NPOR ^ | 5/6

Posted on 05/05/2014 11:25:26 AM PDT by nickcarraway

During his campaign for president in 1988, George H.W. Bush made what's arguably one of the most memorable campaign promises: "Read my lips," he said. "No new taxes."

But as 1990 came around, with the economy still sluggish, he agreed to a bipartisan budget deal that reneged on that promise by raising taxes.

For that politically costly decision, Bush was honored on Sunday with the John F. Kennedy Profile In Courage Award.

The Boston Globe reports:

" 'George Bush did the right thing for the country, and it's nice to see people are beginning to appreciate it,' John H. Sununu, who was Bush's chief of staff, said at the ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Dorchester. "Andrew H. Card Jr., who was deputy chief of staff, said the former president's willingness to break his no-new-taxes pledge should serve as a beacon for current members of Congress who refuse to negotiate. " 'We have to be careful with absolutes,' Card said. 'People who are stuck with an absolute view of the world fail to recognize certain realities in the world. We want our government to work well.' " Jack Schlossberg, son of Caroline Kennedy, presented the award.

"America's gain was President Bush's loss, and his decision to put country above party and political prospects makes him an example of a modern profile in courage that is all too rare," Schlossberg said, according to The Associated Press.

During the ceremony, Paul W. Bridges, the former mayor of Uvalda, Ga., was also honored for "risking his mayoral career with his decision to publicly oppose a controversial immigration law in Georgia."

Correction at 10:44 a.m. ET. An earlier version of this post referred to Caroline Kennedy as "the late Caroline Kennedy." She is, in fact, alive and the U.S. ambassador to Japan.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush; taxes
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Pretty pathetic, considering Kennedy was responsible for the biggest tax cut in U.S. history.
1 posted on 05/05/2014 11:25:26 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Lying does not take courage. Quite the opposite.


2 posted on 05/05/2014 11:26:05 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: nickcarraway

Like Rush said, Liberalism is the most gutless choice you can make.


3 posted on 05/05/2014 11:28:34 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: nickcarraway

BS! Real courage would have meant not deviating from his principles.


4 posted on 05/05/2014 11:31:54 AM PDT by Codeflier (Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama - 4 democrat presidents in a row and counting...)
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To: nickcarraway

Bush had so much courage that the Democrats spent the entire campaign beating him up for going back on his pledge.


5 posted on 05/05/2014 11:33:25 AM PDT by fhayek
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To: nickcarraway
Nonsense. That tax hike was not needed — at all. So there really was no urgency or courage required. But Bush did manage to hand Democrats the bullets they needed to shoot him dead politically. And they gladly obliged him.
6 posted on 05/05/2014 11:33:52 AM PDT by Obadiah (I like Krabby Patties.)
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To: fhayek
Typical RINO. All the Democrats and the media kept whispering “bipartisanship” into Bush's ear. Bush, eager to appear bipartisan, bought it hook, line, and sinker, and then the Democrats circled around and politically knifed him in the back over and over again. Poor bush never understood what happened to him. And that's how we got Clinton.
7 posted on 05/05/2014 11:36:47 AM PDT by Obadiah (I like Krabby Patties.)
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To: nickcarraway
Pretty pathetic, considering Kennedy was responsible for the biggest tax cut in U.S. history.

Bingo. He was more conservative than either bush or Nixon and Ford for that matter. Reagan beats him handily but you gotta love what some of the democrats were and what Marxists they almost ALL have become.

8 posted on 05/05/2014 11:36:53 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: nickcarraway
As I understand it, the congressional Democrats made a deal with President G.H.W. Bush to cut spending if he would raise some taxes. He agreed. Of course, the Democrats reneged on the spending cuts but not until Bush had committed to the tax hikes.

Then, in '92, the Democrats pilloried Bush for 'lying' (in the '88 campaign) when he had stated 'read my lips, no new taxes'. Bush lost his re-election bid.

Now, a quarter-century later, the former president, 90 next month, is given an 'award' for 'courage' by the left. In effect, President Bush is being mocked and the concept of a Republican raising your taxes celebrated.

Too bad the always-polite Bush didn't tell them where they could put their 'award'.

9 posted on 05/05/2014 11:42:51 AM PDT by Jim Scott
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To: Jim Scott
In effect, President Bush is being mocked and the concept of a Republican raising your taxes celebrated.

Bingo. Moreover, now they get to claim bipartisanship in giving out these awards.

10 posted on 05/05/2014 11:54:07 AM PDT by Obadiah (I like Krabby Patties.)
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To: nickcarraway

Giving in to the rotten establishment is cowardice rather than courage. Don’t words actually mean anything anymore?


11 posted on 05/05/2014 11:55:10 AM PDT by all the best (sat`~!)
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To: Obadiah
Mr. Bush may have been ill. If not, then he was much stupider than I thought.
Or, while a physically brave man, he may have been a political coward.
His decision to unnecessarily raise taxes was the first move in the reactionary policies away from the success of Reagan.
Like most Mainstream Republicans, he may have understood and believed in a fundamentally flawed economic policy.
He should have been awarded the Daffy D. Duck Award for Political Ineptitude.
TWB
12 posted on 05/05/2014 12:01:05 PM PDT by TWhiteBear (Sarah Palin, the Flame of the North)
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To: Jim Scott

Bump


13 posted on 05/05/2014 12:01:52 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans!)
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To: nickcarraway

I note another recipient won as a mayor who resisted a state law on illegal immigrants. Yeah. Let’s praise and reward this type of traitorous skullduggery.

The award should be called....

“JFK Profiles for Elitist Betrayers of the American Dream.”

Bushie I also tore up his NRA life membership card because the NRA fought the bans of what the old moron called “....semi-automated assault rifles and high capacity bullet clips...” The 1989 Stockton CA slaughter of children by a doped up welfare fed liberal in a gun free zone started the dance to which we are still twirling.

Bushie I guns and taxes gaffes are what split the party and brought Reformer Perot in to garner 18.5% of the 1992 vote. The Bushie I split party also enabled draft dodging, friend fracking, and intern buggering, Bill Clinton to snake his way into the White House with only 43% of the popular vote vs Bushie’s 37.5%.

Bushie I....among the best Democrat Presidents we ever had.


14 posted on 05/05/2014 12:43:02 PM PDT by Lowell1775
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To: dfwgator

Yeah, well at least he got a consolation prize for losing his office to the Grifter. Sickening.


15 posted on 05/05/2014 12:49:31 PM PDT by the anti-mahdi
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To: nickcarraway

He always thought he was smarter and more sophisticated than Reagan. He had his chance to do it his way—and look where we are now.


16 posted on 05/05/2014 12:56:50 PM PDT by SC_Pete
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To: nickcarraway

Bush actually accepted this farce and his representative some family member blabbed about compromise!

This tells one all one needs to know about the Bush’s, they’ll sacrifice Conservativism to advance Marxism.


17 posted on 05/05/2014 12:58:41 PM PDT by RginTN
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To: RginTN

Fyi, this same Bush passed the Luxury tax which cost jobs and drove businesses overseas. It was repelled.


18 posted on 05/05/2014 1:03:07 PM PDT by RginTN
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To: nickcarraway

If history doesn’t support the liberal agenda they will just re-write it!


19 posted on 05/05/2014 1:12:14 PM PDT by logic101.net (How many more children must die on the altar of gun control?)
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To: nickcarraway

I hope he gives it back...


20 posted on 05/05/2014 1:13:14 PM PDT by EBH (And the head wound was healed, and Gog became man.)
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