Posted on 09/17/2020 9:18:33 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
he George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened seven years ago and anchors the southeastern corner of campus at Southern Methodist University, where I teach history. In late November 2016, I took a tour of the facility with five college friends who were visiting from the East Coast. The recent presidential election was much on our minds as we wandered through the building, contemplating various artifacts from Bush’s two terms in office. Although we were hardly fans of his presidency, one of my pals—fearful, like everyone in our group, of a Trump administration—got misty-eyed when reflecting upon Bush’s obvious love of country. After an hour or so, with a requisite stop for photos in the museum’s full-sized and perfectly appointed replica of the Oval Office, we left in glum moods.
(Excerpt) Read more at texasmonthly.com ...
“Sen. Laxalt should’ve been his running mate. Reagan and then Laxalt would’ve been President until 1997, and we could’ve stomped the left into the ground by then.”
One of the great missed opportunities in American history.
Not now, not ever!
The only accomplishment that George W. Bush can claim is that he prevented Al Gore and John Kerry from living in the White House.
Small potatoes, yes, but the only thing in Eight Years?
“Come on man!”
Good one, there, RR!
Hammer, meet nail!
“Back then, the Bush-bots were like today’s Q-bots.”
Hardly. The Bush gang held sway here and purged a lot of excellent posters. If you got in the crosshairs of howlin and her band of jackals your stay would be brief.
That’s very true. Larry Lindsey had a high reputation in the field of economics. Among other things he had been a major architect of Reagan’s tax program.
The Dubya administration was pressuring Lindsey to lowball the projected cost of the Iraq invasion. IIRC Lindsey estimated the cost at $300 billion vs the Bush party line of $50 billion.
Lindsey stepped down without comment, but I’m certain it was because he wasn’t willing to put his signature on something he knew was blatantly false. He’s that too rare bird in government service, an honest man. Dubya, like the neocons he filled his administration with, didn’t place a value on that virtue.
No. The entire family is scum.
For what it’s worth, Saddam Hussein was not going to rule Iraq forever. His sons would take over and that would spark a Shi’ite uprising. But yeah, at the same time, not our problem. But I do not really blame President Bush for taking out Saddam Hussein. Now we know he was bluffing because he did not want to look weak in front of his opponents in Iraq and of course, his next door neighbor Iran.
“Keeping the nation safe after attacks”
An attack that Dubya opened the door for by outlawing the profiling of airline passengers that even Clinton permitted. But at least Senator Spencer Abraham and his Arab lobby got their wish, American safety be damned.
“Removing Saddam”
Because Saddam, who failed to even defeat his next door neighbor Iran, somehow posed an existential threat to the United States. Trump of course strongly disagrees with Dubya’s Iraq War.
“Reducing the deficit.”
Fiscal years don’t align with calendar years. Bush’s fiscal years are 2002-2009. Deficit in FY 2002 = $158 billion. Deficit in FY 2009 = $1,413 billion. I’m pretty sure that’s an increase.
“Growing govt less than govt revenue”
If that was the case then there would have been no need to increase the national debt over his term. Tax revenues would have increased more than spending. In the real world Treasury debt rose from 6.2 Trillion to 11.9 Trillion from FY 2002 - FY 2009. That’s 5.7 Trillion dollars in excess of tax revenue.
“Forming a powerful alliance with India”
Really? And what has that “powerful alliance with India” been, other than increasing American unemployment by flooding the country with H1-B visas?
Taking out Saddam tipped the balance of power to Iran which is a much bigger threat, and bigger exporter of war and terrorism. Even worse is the 4,418 dead US soldiers, 31,994 wounded. Not a good trade for taking out Saddam. Plus it triggered the Arab spring, and creation of ISIS. Total disaster. And all premised on the claim of WMD, which was either completely wrong, or extremely thin depending on how you read the evidence.
Having survived the online years of those idiots, I didn’t know the Bush-bots ran the site and could kick people off.
The Adamses may have only gotten one term each, but they were far better than anything the Bushes ever did. If we had followed John Adams’ lead, we’d have gotten rid of slavery early on.
Multiple attack were stopped.
Only the Great Recession created by Democrats and bush reactionaries prevented the deficit from reaching zero in 2009
India is our key counterbalance to China
Saddam launched the first WTC attack in the 1990s. He also killed American soldiers
They were both men of strict principle, who didn’t bend with the wind. Such men are thin on the ground now. The HBO series based on David McCullough’s biography actually manages to convey that aspect of the Adamses very well, and I really loath HBO mostly.
Bwahaha!!!
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
There’s some formerly exiled freepers who can speak to this from personal experience.
“Only the Great Recession created by Democrats and bush reactionaries prevented the deficit from reaching zero in 2009”
It’s always entertaining to see Bush diehards bring up excuses larded with generous helpings of buck-passing.
The Great Recession was the result of the collapse of a massive mortgage and housing bubble. Some of us were warning about that bubble here at FR, as your clueless hero was throwing gasoline on the fire with his American Dream Downpayment Initiative that gave “free” downpayments to the subprime borrowers fueling the disaster.
“India is our key counterbalance to China”
Yeah, because they will march over the Himalayas or something. You must be from the Subcontinent to argue that India is vital to American security.
“Saddam launched the first WTC attack in the 1990s. He also killed American soldiers”
Another choice piece of fake history, probably done out of profound ignorance rather than knowing that you are doing it.
The 1993 WTC bombing was planned and executed by an Egyptian Islamic terrorist organization, Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, headed by Blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman.
They had absolutely no connection with Saddam or Iraq, which is why no one ever said anything of the sort when Dubya decided to invade Iraq.
If you opposed to amnesty or the Bush plan whatever you wanna call it back in 05 you were called a racist here
same stupid people are here Although in less numbers they can usually be found calling my southern ancestors Nazis
Howlin was an unhappy woman
To be fair RIP
No
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