I will not jump on the “Bush is stupid” bandwagon. I think we’re dealing more a Bush is Lazy and So Desperate to Pander to South America and So Disconnected from the American People That He Just Doesn’t Think Carefully Enough About What He Says situation.
Case in point: Last week Bush comparing President Washington with South American war-monger despot dictator Simon Bolivar.
Oh sure, Bolivar helped kick the Spanish out of a few South American countries. But then he immediately established himself as Dictator for Life. Riots, rebellions and assassination attempts ensued, forcing him to run for his life.
Yeah, just like President Washington. We offered president Washington the title of King. He refused, noting that wasn’t what we had all just fought for. Yeah, just like Bolivar.
Bolivar is so much like President Washington, that he’s also Hugo Chavez’s hero. It is Bolivar Chavez regularly invokes as he consolidates his dictatorship.
Yeah, I’m sure President Washington would be impressed and pleased.
UPDATE:
Pat’s very salient note in Comments is worthy of including here in the main post. You can take her on in Comments if you like 🙂
Unfortunately the Bushies are a mediocre team with a flash or two of the right stuff but no follow through. The MSM and the Dems launched a full-scale political war against them. Bush chose to endure rather than fight back. The administration is exhausted and collapsing.
The Democrats were meek after 9/11 until Howard Dean took a bite out of Bush and got away with it. They must have been astonished over how easy it was to draw blood. After that it was a blitzkrieg. When the Dems first started saying Bush lied to get us into war, they should have been slammed hard and fast with the facts. When Murtha first talked about “redeploying” it was a shock but the administration let it slide until the public got used to the idea through unchallenged repetition. When the post-Katrina accusations of racism were thrown around, the outrage over such a slander should have been immediate. Now it’s presumed fact. In all cases the reaction was late, timid and feeble.
Bush is a lazy man who is punch drunk and desperate. The administration is disjointed and confused. Unless there’s a dramatic change, the incoherence over the next two years will continue. We have a critically wounded, failing presidency and a field of hollow candidates. This is the worst moment for a crisis in leadership. The world is spiraling into madness and we are vulnerable.
He is neither stupid nor lazy. His problem is he lacks integrity. He does not have anything he believes in other than his own personal gain.
He says what he thinks his listeners want to hear.
Nothing that Geo. W says surprises me anymore that is unless it has some back bone and guts to it
and it is unpatronizing !
Usually he sounds like Condi wrote his script !
I am still amazed that he actually cut income taxes Capital gain taxes and taxes on dividends.
He is much more like his father then he had first seemed.
Poor Ronald Reagan he handed over his Conservative Legacy to people (The Bushes) who had no understanding or appreciation of what they inherited !
Bush II was better but not much
Yeah, Rod… and I DON’T want to hear that!
It’s horrible. I’m from Louisiana, live currently in New Orleans and I have a special file in my head for politicians that keeps me sane. It’s a place for when I hear something crazy that they have said or done, I will never be surprised.
I’ve just realized that I’ve created a new one. Sigh.
I give up Tammy, I really do. I back him in the fight on evil Islamofacists, but after that, I am running out of words to defend ‘his’ words and actions. He seems to be already consumed with life after the White House, what a shame and a waste. UGHhhhhhh. Maybe Laura should do a Mrs. Woodrow Wilson and speak for him at least until the end of his term; someone please..HELP..
And there are people who, after 20 years of whiffenpoofs, still want to put another Yalie in the White House.
I love Trinity’s idea – having Laura speak in place of W until the end of his term. She’s far more confident, articulate and inspiring.
I don’t know what is happening to GWB. He just does not appear or sound like the guy I voted for – twice. And his comparison of Washington and Bolivar – oh puh-lease! For someone who majored in history, he certainly has an incredibly skewed view. Maybe it’s revisionist history he studied.
It’s just very troubling that our president is so concerned with ‘making nice’ to everybody except, well, The American People (as has been pointed out). His comment should be treated with the same disdain we have when other politicians make stupid comments themselves. In fact, Bush’s comment should be even more upsetting due to the fact he’s our leader making a colossally stupid comparison. Though I’m sure he did not intend for this, what he said reeks of relativity – there is NO relation between our beloved first president, who led our country out of the pit of oppression and respected the public trust, and a dictatorial slime bucket who dragged people into that damning pit eager to be in control.
In fact, Bush’s comment/comparison is as wrong & stupid as the comparisons some of Bush’s detractors make between him and Hitler.
There is only 1 reason I’m not jumping on the ‘Bush Is Stupid’ bandwagon: I don’t think he’s stupid in the sense The Bandwagon believes. Unlike The Bandwagon, I don’t want or hope for ANY president to be a mess. Regardless of party affiliation, when one assumes office, they communicate things and make decisions affecting all of us – and I want that person to represent American ideas instead of watering down what makes us great to please a bunch of despotic control f(rea)ks and those trapped underneath their psychosis.
…And I don’t enjoy hearing our current president insult our first. I am getting more irritated as I think about it.
i don’t accept the stupid or lazy description.
Bush is a globalist. This fits too well with the minutemen are vigilantes. It fits too well with the hegalian; thesis–antithesis–synthesis and using the bully pulpit to further the cause.
i forgot to add, in spite of his stand on this issue i would have to stand by my votes for President Bush in the past two elections.
Three words will surfice: islamofascism, Roberts, and Alito. (and our choices are limited until we have a safe number of constructionists on the Court)
“Neither Washington nor Bolivar was destined to have children of their own, so that we Americans might call ourselves their children.” he said.
What the … ? Where is he getting this stuff?? Who in their right mind would write something like this for the President to say? And how could he actually choose to say it?
It has become the norm for me to just shake my head in slack-jawed disbelief when it comes to pretty much anything the President does these days. During the Clinton years, I got to the point where I wouldn’t watch anything he was on or read anything he said because he was such a dishonest, despicable embarrassment. I find I’m now avoiding President Bush in the same way, but for different reasons–I’m a little heartbroken and deeply disappointed because he has become a shell of the man that I once thought he was. I can’t make sense of him anymore.
I think he just tired. if you had to deal with people who don’t understand we are in a war. then you be tired too. plus condi rice i think just got her hands tied cause she can’t tell it like it is cause you might make people mad.
I guess I’m one of the few still supporting Bush (strange that an Okie is supporting a Texan) but I think he has been right on taxes and court appointments. I like his court appointments even better than Reagans. Reagan gave us Kennedy and O’Connor (a couple of swells). I don’t really have a problem with his foreign policy, he made France, Germany, and Russia mad at us but so what they’re not our friends anyway. When I look at the alternatives to Bush and think we almost had Gore and Kerry I get down on my knees and thank God.
Hey we support him.We just do not like some of the things he has been saying and doing lately.
I guess I should just speak for myself so I will
I support the Pres.
I’m with RAYGARB. I support my President and I know voting for him was the best thing for the country at the time. He has accomplished some great things. He has kept us safe since 9/11.
But–he has become increasingly placating instead of forceful and decisive, both here and abroad, and that is not the kind of leadership we need. Especially now. (And don’t get me started on the border… .)
Unfortunately the Bushies are a mediocre team with a flash or two of the right stuff but no follow through. The MSM and the Dems launched a full-scale political war against them. Bush chose to endure rather than fight back. The administration is exhausted and collapsing.
The Democrats were meek after 9/11 until Howard Dean took a bite out of Bush and got away with it. They must have been astonished over how easy it was to draw blood. After that it was a blitzkrieg. When the Dems first started saying Bush lied to get us into war, they should have been slammed hard and fast with the facts. When Murtha first talked about “redeploying” it was a shock but the administration let it slide until the public got used to the idea through unchallenged repetition. When the post-Katrina accusations of racism were thrown around, the outrage over such a slander should have been immediate. Now it’s presumed fact. In all cases the reaction was late, timid and feeble.
Bush is a lazy man who is punch drunk and desperate. The administration is disjointed and confused. Unless there’s a dramatic change, the incoherence over the next two years will continue. We have a critically wounded, failing presidency and a field of hollow candidates. This is the worst moment for a crisis in leadership. The world is spiraling into madness and we are vulnerable.
Thanks Pat,
I was concerned for a while .
You people (Anti-President Bush) kill me…you’re so brilliant…I bet you’ve never said a stupid thing in your whole life….or something that you wish you hadn’t said. What this sounds like is a bunch of Libs (especially Pat) who have no respect for PRESIDENT Bush and are just looking for anything to hold out as an example of how dumb he is…or how he lacks integrity…or how desperate he is…or how lazy and punch DRUNK he is…if you’re a thinking person, you’ll see how ridiculous all of those statements are. I don’t agree with some of PRESIDENT Bush’s positions, but I don’t feel the need to disparage the man or his office. Pat seems to think that the sky is falling, typical Lib outook on life…you people need to get a grip and realize that your enemy is not George Bush, it’s the people with the mind set of the 9-11 perps…they WILL kill us…understand that. Semper Fi.
I voted for Bush twice. I say stupid stuff daily…however…I’m not the leader of the free world! Good grief! Has this man lost his mind? Liberal Republicans are sure fun to watch once in office…sigh…
Pat_S Excellent posting! I hadn’t considered the Howie Dean factor but you are either on to something or you’re on something…LOL
Kevin, like Slabbott I voted for Bush twice. I am not a “lib” by any stretch of the imagination. But I do think we are now practically rudderless at a time we can least afford it. If that makes me “anti-Bush,” then so be it. If that draws accusations of saying the sky is falling, then that’s fine, too, because the sky IS falling.
My, looks like I stirred the pot (if I may say POT).
I’ve stood up for Bush against real liberals for six years. I continue to support him in most of his policies. My frustration isn’t that he says stupid things from time to time. It’s that he says nothing at critical moments and that plays into the hands of his political enemies.
After 9/11 he was in a very strong position with the country behind him, his party was running Congress and the Democrats were nervous about going against him. Instead of holding that position, he signaled weakness at the first challenge and the hounds were unleashed as a consequence. He didn’t adapt in the face of the political reality. He’s now a lame duck with a hostile Congress and low popularity. In my estimation he and his administration are complicit in getting to this point through mismanagement and a lack of leadership.
This is a pivotal time in history. The fate of this country is inextricably linked to the fate of this administration. I see failure coming and I’m heartsick over it. If I’m too pessimistic, I’d be relieved to be convinced otherwise. Demanding trite praise for a nice man in a respected office seems petty to me in context of the geopolitical consequences of failure.
Wow, Pat! You nailed it with your comments on what could have been (and initially was) HISTORIC strength for an Administration. 9/11 was a horrific illustration of where all the components of liberalism had taken us. Then suddenly conservative principles were bouyed and conservatives were emboldened, and there stood the opportunity to truly, SUBSTANTIALLY, revive the nation on all levels. But, well, Pat, you told the story, and today we are again on life support. Look, just as Tammy says, “I love us!” I’m not a crybaby. But right now I’m starting to feel like a lover who is mourning us.
I don’t see what keeps the President from just switching parties.
He would solve a lot of problems at once, it would clarify to conservatives that he isn’t really camping in the park with us, the press would suddenly fall in love with him, and the war in Iraq would finally be shown to be improving.
Other than the little tax relief that caused the economy to jumpstart and the war on Islamic Terror, most everything else President Bush has promoted or enacted would make LBJ proud.
Just change the [R] to a [D] George, and feel the love.
I’m just saying.