Image 01 Image 03

George W. Bush Tag

We all remember how when George W. Bush was president he was ruthlessly treated by his political opposition. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), in particular, stood second to no one in expressing his utter disdain and contempt for "43" every chance he got. But in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash that aired this week, the former leader of the US Senate is now singing a different tune:

President Donald Trump has pardoned former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby, who received a conviction of lying to the FBI and obstruction of justice in 2007.

Is the party—the Republican party, that is—over? That's what Joe Scarborough is predicting. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough surmised that "Donald Trump, by the end, will blow apart the Republican party" and that people are "going to look at George W. Bush as the last Republican president." Scarborough depicted Trump as "in a sense, the first independent president." Joe also suggested that Bernie Sanders might have the same party-demolishing impact on the Democrats.

Donald Trump said at the debate that he would consider whether to accept the election results at a later date. The media and Democrats (but I repeat myself) are pretending to be apoplectic, as if Trump had violated a core principle of our democracy that no election result could be contested. The NY Times hyperventilated, Donald Trump’s Contempt for Democracy, while WaPo called it Trump’s breathtaking repudiation of American democracy. In fact, Trump "threatens" to do only what Democrats have done in the past when it comes to disputed elections:

Donald Trump is claiming in his recent speeches that the election is "rigged." It's unclear what he means by "rigged" -- is it physical tampering (for which there is no proof) or a bias in the media to unfairly sway public opinion (for which there is plenty of proof), or both. Regardless, the claim of "rigging" is being treated as one of the worst threats to our democracy ever! https://twitter.com/RyanLizza/status/787303407312838656 I did some searching, and it seems that presidential election fraud claims were made against George W. Bush in 2000 (mostly related to the Florida recount) and 2004.

Thirteen years in the making and the National Museum of African American History and Culture is now open to visitors. The bill, created by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and then Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), now Kansas Governor, was authorized by President George W. Bush. Saturday, the museum held its Grand Opening Ceremony attended by President Bush and President Obama. "I was honored to sign the bill authorizing construction of this national treasure and I'm pleased it now stands where it's always belonged -- on the National Mall," said former President Bush at the opening ceremony. "A great nation does not hide its history. It faces its flaw and corrects them. This museum tells the truth that a country founded on the promise of liberty held millions in chains. That the price of our union was America's original sin."

During the presidency of George W. Bush, a left wing theater group called "Billionaires for Bush" would show up at political events dressed in tuxedos and top hats while chomping cigars. The whole point was to make it look like wealthy people in America supported Bush and by extension, all Republican policies because after all, only rich people support Republicans, right?

President George W. Bush spoke at the memorial service for the fallen Dallas officers killed in last week's attack. His remarks were a welcome departure from the current narrative and a reminder that principled leadership can still be found in this country. Speaking of American values and our common bond, President Bush said, "we have never been held together by blood or background. We are bound by things of the spirit, by shared commitments to common ideals." "Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions," he observed.

Twelve years ago President George W. Bush delivered a two-page letter to the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The exchange took place at a White House press conference on April 14, 2004. [caption id="attachment_168208" align="alignnone" width="595"]President George W. Bush and PM Ariel Sharon, Cross Hall, White House press conference, April 14, 2004 | credit: White House archives President George W. Bush and PM Ariel Sharon, Cross Hall, White House press conference, April 14, 2004 | credit: White House archives[/caption]

When you think back to the presidency of George W. Bush and try to recall things that were said about him by celebrities, you're likely to think only of the negative. Bush was regularly lampooned as an idiot on Saturday Night Live and Kanye West stupidly declared after Hurricane Katrina that "Bush doesn't care about black people." The truth is that no president, including his successor, has done more for victims of AIDS in Africa than George W. Bush, a fact that's routinely ignored by his critics.

At the South Carolina Debate, Donald Trump accused George W. Bush of lying us into the Iraq War by knowningly claiming there were WMD in Iraq when he knew there were none. While Trump has backed away from that statement slightly saying it might have just been a mistake, though not admitting he has backed away, his debate accusations were clear: Trump further has claimed that he was against the Iraq War before it started, though no one has been able to find any record of Trump saying so prior to the War starting.

Following Trump's eye-brow raising assertions that President Bush was not only responsible for 9/11 but purposefully and intentionally lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he faced a barrage of criticism from the right. Those on the right argued that he was not only wrong but that he sounded a bit too much like the "Bush lied, people died" sputterings of the fringe left (and of left-leaning "journalists" like Ron Fournier). Indeed, Dick Cheney noted on Monday that Trump's comments make him seem like a "liberal Democrat." The Blaze reports:

The DNC recently took the extraordinary step of making an ad that included a clip of President Bush saying "We do not fight against Islam." In the video, the Democratic Party was using Bush to convey the idea that he was more in line with their own denials about Islamic terrorism than today's Republicans are. But, unlike today's Democrats, Bush never denied the existence of any connection between Islam and the terrorists. By distinguishing between radical (or "extremist") Islam and Islam, Bush made a distinction that was politically correct at the time and for years to come---until the Obama administration decided that Bush's formulation was unacceptable, and it was forbidden to draw the obvious connection between Islam and terrorists who said they were acting in the name of Islam. In the immediate post-9/11 weeks and months, Bush faced a very different situation than today: he was dealing with a country and a Congress playing catch-up in learning about the menace of Islamist terrorism and what it really was capable of, a need to rally together all Americans in the wake of a terrorist attack that has still never been surpassed in magnitude and daring, the very real fear of a major backlash against innocent Muslims in the US, and the goal of gaining worldwide allies (including many Muslim countries) in fighting the country that had harbored Bin Laden---Afghanistan---as well as fighting Islamic terrorists as a whole.

It's fairly clear that there's no love lost between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. Trump's recent criticism of George W. Bush in relation to 9/11 has been largely seen as a way to needle Jeb and keep the friction going between them. And it's certainly accomplished just that. Although that's undoubtedly part of Trump's motivation for his recent remarks, it doesn't even begin to explain Trump's long history of extremely critical and incendiary comments about GWB, which date back to many years before Trump or Jeb ever ran for president and most definitely were not sparked by their rivalry for the presidency in 2016. On Wednesday I wrote about the subject in this article for the Weekly Standard. Here's an excerpt:

Liberals have so convinced themselves that George W. Bush is to blame for 9/11 that any suggestion Bill Clinton shares responsibility for the attack is inconceivable to them. Donald Trump recently pointed out that 9/11 happened on George W. Bush's watch which turned into a narrative of Trump blaming Bush for 9/11. Marco Rubio appeared on Newsmax TV this week and pointed out that Bush inherited a difficult situation from Bill Clinton. BuzzFeed reported:
Rubio: Trump Lacks Basic “Understanding” Of 9/11, Clinton Not Bush Deserves Blame Florida Sen. Marco Rubio says his opponent Donald Trump is wrong to suggest President George W. Bush bears responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, arguing that the majority of the failures that led to the deadly attacks should be attributed to President Bill Clinton’s administration instead.