From the comments, regarding the Bush response to the 2004 tsunami:
According to a BBC poll, almost 70% of the people in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation, viewed our country with hostility before the tsunami. Today, according to a poll released by the Heritage Foundation, almost 70% think more favorably of us.
Another portion of the world where President Bush really improved the American image was in Africa:
WHEN PRESIDENT BUSH traveled to sub-Sahara Africa in February he was greeted by large and tumultuous crowds of admirers – which mystified many of his critics, who believe that the animosity toward his administration abroad is universal. But polling data from the Pew Foundation shows something different: Approval ratings for the United States exceed 80 percent in many African countries, some with large Muslim populations. In Darfur, many families name their newborn sons George Bush.
***The Bush administration doubled foreign aid worldwide over the past eight years, the largest increase since the Truman administration, and used it to encourage poor countries to undertake political and economic reform. Total US government development aid to Africa alone has quadrupled from $1.3 billion in 2001 to more than $5 billion in 2008, and is scheduled to go to $8.7 billion in 2010, principally for education (primary school enrollment in Africa is up 36 percent since 1999), healthcare, building civil society, and protecting fragile environments.
It almost seems like providing food and financial aid is more constructive than bombing people. Hoocoodanode?
AhabTRuler
Yeah, but it’s easy to be a good guy when distributing humanitarian aid.
Prattlehorn
Yeah. Too bad about all those dead kids in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Oh well.
Bygones.
Midnight Marauder
Hilarious.
SGEW
Since we’re on a “George W. Bush Was Not A Total Failure” kick, my obligatory “Human Beings And Fish Can Coexist Peacefully” mention:
He actually liked fish. For real.
General Winfield Stuck
Whatever few good things the Bushies did over eight years barely registers on the scale of death and destruction they wrought. Fuck George W Bush and his minions of reepers till the end of motherfucking time. And a week after that.
geg6
I’ll give him props for the tsunami (though I think Daddy and Bubba were just as responsible for the good will), but I have major problems with the Africa thing. Yes, he made sure more aid and AIDS drugs got to those who needed them (though the Gateses and Bubba were instrumental in those efforts, too). But his insistence on abstinence only and no birth control with US dollars created millions more AIDS cases there. I will, however, give Bush a kudo for not pardoning Scooter Libby. That was a nice parting fuck you to his puppet master.
arguingwithsignposts
Well, there’s no oil in either of those places (excepting Nigeria) so no reason to bomb the living shit out of them. Q.E.D.
Paula
Yes, indeedy. Our response to the tsunami was quite swift, so the fact that the administration could later be so boneheaded about Katrina implies something … seriously sucky.
To steal from Jon Stewart & co, the fact that Bush could do good if he wanted to makes him even more frustrating.
Mnemosyne
@SGEW:
Rumor had it that Bush was left alone for a few minutes, flipped through the channels, and stumbled across the documentary. After watching it he ordered the sanctuary to be created. Cheney was pissed off that the president had been unattended but it was too late.
Apropos of nothing, he signed that on my birthday. Funny.
Mike Kay
That’s a fascinating point.
General Winfield Stuck
deleted for wrongness
Lyle4
Sending lots of money to Africa doesn’t really mean much when you only send that money in return for some really shitty and harmful sexual health policies that did way more bad than good.
calipygian
Yeah, but you can’t rock out with your cock out distributing 50kg bags of rice like you can dropping 500kg of HE.
Peace keeps your penis small.
John Cole
@General Winfield Stuck: the tsunami was in Xmas 04, Katrina was Aug-Sept 05.
General Winfield Stuck
@John Cole: Yea, I know, was why I deleted it. But thanks for correction.
DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio
@General Winfield Stuck:
Yeah, but one thing you could say about Bush was that he could ….
..uh ….
…he could really …..
..er…
…um …..
………
I got nothing.
Never mind.
John Cole
@Midnight Marauder: No more posting. I’ve got Leverage on, a dog on my lap, some ice cream in the freezer, and I’m wading through the bankster testimony to the FCIC today.
SGEW
@Mnemosyne: Actually, George and Laura invited Cousteau to the White House for a screening of his film; there is also some indication that Laura Bush was the impetus behind it (as well as two other Pacific preserves), and that Cheney did, indeed, oppose her repeated environmental stances. But George was the “decider,” after all, so I give him credit for it.
Midnight Marauder
@John Cole:
I look forward to posting this quote in Thread #4 for the evening, most likely about 10:45 in the PM. Oh, John Cole, what would we do without your predictably hilarious antics?
Mnemosyne
@SGEW:
I know, but I still think my story is funnier. ;-)
clone12
Let’s call foreign aids “money bombs” and make NeoCons happy. I mean, it’s not like they read the fine prints anyway.
danimal
@John Cole:
Cue bankster post in 3…2…1….
MikeJ
Can’t take the fifth if you’ve been pardoned, there’s no self incrimination. Do you think he let Scooter rot because he cares about the rule of law or because he wants to keep Scooter’s trap shut?
S. cerevisiae
Got a dog on my lap as well, plus a Labatt Blue and the Wild beating the Canucks in HD. Life is good.
ulee
Barbara Bush, beautiful minded Bar, tweets that this is working quite well for the Haitians.
demkat620
Olbermann has that one of our ships has arrived? God these pictures are heartbreaking.
Notorious P.A.T.
Once upon a time some guy named Al Gore proposed an ocean-based warning system to try and give Asian nations some warning in case of a tsunami. But congressional Republicans killed the program because they wanted to deny him accomplishments going into his presidential campaign. If the Supreme Court hadn’t decided to throw out all our votes, President Gore would have had a second shot to implement it.
p.a.
according to a poll by the Heritage Foundation? hmmmm…
Notorious P.A.T.
Link I tried to put in with the edit function
WereBear
@clone12: True, that.
@Notorious P.A.T.: Ahh, now I’m even more sick to my stomach. I truly believe they are allergic to humanitarian acts.
kommrade reproductive vigor
PROOF THAT BUSH WAS A STEALTH LIEBURUL!
I know I’m being greedy, but I reaaaally hope some bright spark in the RNC tries to use Bush’s popularity in some African nations as a way to increase the number of African-Americans who vote R. The ads would be hilarious.
Quick, where can I put $50 on the time for the next post?
Cat Lady
@John Cole:
Bankster testimony is going to need a revised tag:
Thanks cleek.
kay
I think you have to give Bush credit for Africa if Africans give him credit, and they seem to.
I saw it as sincere. I remember photos from his last trip there and (besides the goofy ones of him clowning around and such) he did seem genuinely interested and engaged, and by that time he had all but checked out, when appearing publicly in the US.
Paula
Howard Fineman’s (and Jake Tapper’s) idiocy notwithstanding, Obama appears to be making a very visible bid to lead/coordinate gov’t/UN aid effort down there.
“After Merten told him everyone with the US Embassy was present and accounted for, the president told him, “I told my team to be as aggressive and responsive as possible. I want to make sure you’re getting everything you need from Washington.”
At 1:12 PM, President Obama spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was en route to Australia.
Throughout the day he reached out to various world leaders. At 2:15 PM he spoke Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. At 2:23 PM, he spoke with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. At 2:36 PM, President Obama spoke with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The UN Mission Staff in Haiti has lost at least 14 employees, including chief of the UN mission in Haiti Hedi Annabi, with at least 56 injured.
At 4:53 PM the President called Lula. At 5:06 PM he called Bachelet.
The President from the first moment was focused on getting rescue and relief teams to Haiti, McDonough says.
“He believes it’s very clear we have the responsibility” to lead the efforts there, McDonough said, starting with helping Americans – the estimated 45,000 government personnel, volunteers, religious workers, and dual Haitian-American citizens in Haiti – but also the Haitians in need.”
It IS our due to help for various reasons, but no one rational would have charged the administration for negligence if all Obama did was announce a shit-ton of money and relief personnel and then retreat to the background and let the NGO’s do their thing.
Not to be cynical, but what would taking over the disaster efforts do for him domestically? Yes he would look good and all, but relief efforts, beyond that initial big push, are going to be a slog, and he’s got enough to do next year without being the de factor leader of the ongoing relief efforts. Or to get real dark, I hope this is not another entre into an exercise in nation re-building.
JGabriel
geg6:
That kudo is unnecessary. Pardoning Scooter would have left him open to Congressional questioning without resort to the 5th amendment — you can’t take 5th over crimes you’ve been pardoned for and can’t go to jail over.
Commutation preserves Scooter’s 5th Amendment rights, since commutation means he can still self-incriminate on related testimony.
.
pking
The US did eventually respond in a huge way to the tsunami by providing heavy air and sea lift capabilities, but good old George was his usual self at first:
nytimes.com/2004/12/30/opinion/30thu2.html?_r=1
More on the response here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_to_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
Mnemosyne
@kay:
I have to say, as long as we’re damning Bush with faint praise, I never got the impression that he was a racist (or, at least, no more racist than the rest of us who grew up in the USA). I think that, in some ways, that was why Katrina stood out so much — he hadn’t seemed to have that kind of animosity in him, and yet there he was sitting with his thumb up his ass while people drowned for no apparent reason.
Martin
Protip: If Cole comes to help you at your house with moving, or painting or something, and asks if it’s okay for him to take off – say yes, excuse yourself to the bathroom for a moment, and when you return the job will be done.
Cole is as effective as going Galt as the teabaggers.
General Winfield Stuck
@Mnemosyne:
Bush was not a racist. He was a pauperist. Loathing poor folk without regard to skin color.
PeakVT
@Paula: Perhaps Obama is taking charge for cynical reasons, but it also makes sense. The US is the closest rich country. And even though most of the country’s military equipment is tied up in the Mideast, the US still has the greatest ability in the world to move stuff from point A to point B on an emergency basis.
If there’s a cynical reason for Obama’s actions, it’s probably that he is attempting to further improve the country’s international image, which still kinda sucks, for obvious reasons.
kay
@Mnemosyne:
I absolutely agree. I never thought he was a racist. I think Katrina was a screw up. They were otherwise occupied and they just screwed up. There was a wedding, right? Some Bushie was getting married on an island and a lot of them went to a wedding. That seems that like something that actually could happen, to me. It doesn’t excuse hiring that FEMA director, but it makes sense.
What was objectionable about Katrina was not the massive error, but how they reached for ideology rather than just admitting the response was inadequate and doing the work.
They turned it into an abstract ideological exercise, blathering on about personal responsibility and how red states were stoic and self-reliant, while NO was not. I just can’t bear that. I’m impatient with it. The sheer impracticality of that drives me crazy.
Tecumseh
@pking: If I remember correctly, Bush was back at the Ranch when it happened and– here’s a surprise– didn’t do anything or say much about it, just cleared some more brush. It was only until everybody noticed and he was taking a hit politically both here and the rest of the world that he came out and did something.
Anne Laurie
@SGEW:
One political cartoonist — Toles, I think — suggested that’s where Bush intended to hide Cheney’s “man-sized security safe”.
Jody
Wow. Chalk one up for the shrub.
That makes the score one for, eight hundred bajillion against. But hey, not a total shutout.
Cat Lady
Cole’s reading the FCIC Bankster Testimony. Mark my words, outrage shit storm ahead…
Violet
@Lyle4:
It sounds like the people who actually live on the African continent disagree, given the US’s high approval ratings and the number of kids named George Bush.
There is so much need across Africa that sometimes, even if the good comes with bad, you’ve got to take the bad anyway. I know W could have made different decisions and not required those stupid policies, but at least people’s basic needs are being taken care of. There are so many people who don’t have even that. I’m no fan of W’s, but I applaud him for what he did, even if it had some stupid health policies attached to it.
Nellcote
@SGEW:
I’ve always wondered what his real reason was.
And speaking of ex-prezzies, it looks pretty prescient of Prez Obama to have appointed Bill Clinton special envoy to Haiti early last year.
someguy
Bush only had the Navy drop off food and supplies so that the natives would gather up tightly in a single spot, making it easier to cluster bomb them to death.
mr. whipple
I remember Bush doing something I agreed with, once, but I don’t remember what it is now.
kay
When Pat Robertson says “true story” that means he’s making stuff up. Again.
Just remember! When anything horrible happens to you or yours, Pat’s minions are going to blame you.
That’s what they’re thinking. YOUR FAULT, sinner.
Fern
@kay:
Ha! Or in this case, blame your great, great … great grandparents.
General Winfield Stuck
@mr. whipple:
Was this it?. Bush is the one on the left, I think.
El Cid
Remember, it’s things like this which prompt the Teatards to proclaim that George W. Bush Jr. was really a ‘liberal’.
John O
Like most artists, John, you’re at your best when you’re at your peak mental.
Sanka
Unlike some prominent Democrats, Bush apparently didn’t care if these Negros were clean, articulate and spoke with Negro accents. Unless, of course, they chose not to.
Where’s my coffee?
mr. whipple
@General Winfield Stuck:
No, that wasn’t it. It will come to me.
General Winfield Stuck
@Sanka: You mean the one they supported and helped get elected president, and now is that.
Cream? or a little sugah?
And Another Thing...
@JGabriel: Good points. However, Dick Cheney has seemed to be pissed about the lack of a pardon, and that works for me.
Anne Laurie
@kay:
It was easy enough for Dubya to stand in front of the cameras and make generous noises about helping out the tsunami victims… once (as has been noted) he’d been routed out of his brush-clearin’ hidey-hole. But doing anything to mitigate the Katrina disaster would have meant assuming responsibility for an actual obligation that the Bush administration had failed — two words that were not in Dubya’s vocabulary.
Part of the epic, Greek-tragedy-level horror of the Bush Regency is that, like Elinor & Marianne’s repellent stepbrother in Sense & Sensibility, under the supervision of a less thoroughly corrupt and sociopathic handler than Cheney, George the Lesser could have been just an ordinarily mediocre Republican presidential place-keeper, like Gerald Ford.
Incertus
@DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio: I have one nice thing to say about George Bush. He signed the bill which made Income-Based Repayment of student loans possible, and that means that as long as I stay in public service for the next ten years, I get to pay my loans based on my income, and whatever’s left over at the end of ten years is forgiven. And given what I owe and what I make, I might not cover the interest, even at 3%.
SiubhanDuinne
@SGEW 8:04 pm
He certainly did. Remember that time when some reporter asked him what his very favorite moment as President was, and he said it was the time he caught a 7.5-pound bass.
General Winfield Stuck
@SiubhanDuinne:
Damn straight Bush liked fish.
Or he woodn’t have said this here.
Though that 7.5 pound bass could not be reached for comment.
bago
@Martin: Only if you kill your WiFi.
SGEW
@SiubhanDuinne: The question was what his “best moment” was as President.
And catching that fish very well might have been it, honestly. To tell the truth, I suspect that he really didn’t like the job.
@General Winfield Stuck: I’d like to think that his “human being(s) and fish can coexist peacefully” statement was a sincere (and rather touching) expression of his inner heart, and of the peace that marine wildlife gave him, but it doesn’t explain why he enjoyed slaughtering them so much. Ah! Irony.
General Winfield Stuck
@SGEW: oops, shoulda read your comment first. Beat me to it.
JGabriel
And Another Thing…:
That’s kabuki theater: someone has to appear to be pissed about it; to not appear pissed would be to admit that Scooter was guilty.
.
BongCrosby
Hmm.
Two relatively pro-Bush posts in less than an hour?
Hey, everyone — JOHN’S SWITCHING BACK!
PanAmerican
Why is Al Roker in Haiti?
General Winfield Stuck
@SGEW: Maybe – but
Reminds me of this
Comrade Jake
Didn’t Bush become convinced to give more aid to Africa after a visit from Bono, or something?
General Winfield Stuck
@PanAmerican: I think because earthquakes are considered weather by weathermen. Never could understand why. The Weather Channel is wall to wall with Haiti and was with Tsunami as well, if I remember correctly.
Darryl
@JGabriel:
No, Cheney’s actually pissed. Scooter was his boy. How could privileged legacy dingbat president Bush refuse his request to take care of his boy? Cheney and company believe they have the right to act as dictators, with impunity. Bush actually allowed Scooter to suffer some mild legal consequences. That violates Cheney’s beliefs.
Darryl
It’s not an act. Cheney’s belief that the Executive Branch is above the rule of law is in fact the core reason why his administration was so fucking bad for america.
gex
@kay: So the abstinence only, AIDS spreading, homophobic AIDS work in Africa is a credit to W? Yeah, that sounds about right. The tsunami work probably ranks #1. That this is ranked somewhat near that speaks volumes for our standards for Bush.
Darryl
Next thing you know, they’ll be doing something called volcano monitoring!
Darryl
@gex: Bush did double aid money to Africa. I don’t like the guy much either, but Clinton didn’t do that.
geg6
For those to whom I’ve given the mistaken impression that I don’t understand the legal niceties of the Libby pardon, I understand how the commutation shields Bush and Cheney. However, ol’ Darth is mighty pissed off about it and if you read my comment, you’ll see that it’s the fuck you aspect (remember that Cheney practically begged hin to do it) that makes it a good deed in my eyes. And I have a hard time agreeing with anyone who wants to give kudos to the Africa stuff because a poll shows Africans are content with him. Perhaps a majority of those haven’t the education or time off from simply trying to survive to contemplate the larger implications of how the restrictions on STD prevention and safe sex education created just as many sick and dying people as may have been saved. Sorry, but making sure an epidemic increases and expands and only providing assistance after the fact isn’t exactly Nobel Prize material. Hell, I don’t consider it worthy of a Boy Scout badge.
Chad N Freude
I want to join the Bush-Was-Really-Cool-(Sometimes) movement. Bush did a great job of running the shadow government while Cheney ran the real one. Bush is not a Bad Person. Bush is a bad leader, manager, executive, decider, role-noun-of-your-choice, but not a Bad Person.
Edit: And he actually moved away from Cheney’s dominance before his second term ended.
SiubhanDuinne
@SGEW: Thanks for the correction. “Best moment,” not “favorite moment.” I was working from memory.
On your more serious point, I think you’re absolutely right, that he didn’t really enjoy being Prez very much. If true, it certainly would go a long way towards explaining why he acted so goofy, took such long and frequent vacations, worked out physically to an almost obsessive degree, and went to bed early nearly every night. Classic escapism. Not to mention turning over a sinfully big chunk of his decision-making responsibilities to Cheney, Rummy, Wolfie, Ashcroft, et al. And I suspect one of the most honest and heartfelt things he said during the entirety of his Presidency was the whiny “It’s haaaard woooork bein’ Prezdunt.”
More and more, as we gain a little distance on that 8-year clusterf#@k, I am coming to think he was not so much a *bad* person as he was a weak and easily led one. He did a whole lot of really bad things — I’m absolutely not minimizing his sins of omission or commission — and I’m not trying to make excuses for him. But with a different VP or SecDef, it’s at least plausible that the damage he did might have been contained, and the good he did might have been a beacon for more of the same instead of an aberration.
And bonus: the man might actually have enjoyed his job.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@calipygian:
One way to get the military behind it is if we could create ‘assistance bombs’ and such ordnance, letting the military deliver them like we were at war with the country in need. That way we would get pinpoint accuracy in delivering aid, especially to those in remote areas. I could see the Air Force delivering stuff via a BLU-type weapon…
Fortunate Aid Recipient: Yeah, we heard this jet off in the distance and next thing we know there is this thing coming down on a small parachute. Our first thought was ‘Hey, they are dropping aid packages!’ but that thought was interrupted when the thing on the parachute started spinning and ejecting these canisters that launched ham sandwiches at us. My family was wiped out, same with my cattle, but I do have to admit that it was a very good ham sandwich.
JGabriel
Darryl:
I’m sure Cheney is pissed that Bush didn’t commute Scooter’s fines and other consequences.
That said, Cheney’s smart enough in the byways of political chicanery to know that he’s safer with Scooter’s 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination preserved. His expressions of anger over it would be necessary for the social and political circles he moves in, as well as maintaining the fiction of innocence, whatever he personally thinks.
At least that’s my belief. Without personal knowledge of the actors — and absent an incriminating memo or e-mail to support it — it’s probably impossible to prove either way. Only Dick, and maybe Lynn, know for sure.
.
de stijl
In Darfur, many families name their newborn sons George Bush.
Cargo cults are inscrutable.
Kinda like Chinamen.
PS: “Chinamen” used ironically
Chad N Freude
@SiubhanDuinne:
But it wasn’t and he wasn’t. As much as I love your comments, I think this is generosity way beyond the boundaries of reality.
Mike in NC
You know, Cheney truly was more evil and malicious than the villain in some fucking Batman movie.
JGabriel
Darryl:
Or as Sarah Palin would say: “Those liberals want to use their evil quake panels to decide that my Down’s Syndrome Baby isn’t worth saving from a tsunami!”
.
kommrade reproductive vigor
@Mike in NC: But with none of the cool gadgets. I mean he’s got a lair (the undisclosed location) but his only weapon is a Lawyer Blastin’ Blunderbuss.
El Cid
@Mike in NC: And also, he pretty much resembled the Penguin.
JGabriel
Mike in NC:
Like the Joker without a sense of humor, Catwoman without the sex appeal, and the Penguin without …
Actually, Cheney is just like the Penguin.
ETA: Heh, El Cid got there first. Two minds with a single thought.
.
El Cid
@JGabriel: Waa, waa waa waa waaaaaa….
de stijl
Twoface, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, The Penguin, and The Joker were all “evil” characters caused / created by circumstances essentially outside of their control. They were basically normal and decent folks before their transformations. Some were even “good”.
Cheney, like The Riddler and Maximillian Shreck, appears to have been born evil.
Brick Oven Bill
Let us now consult our Sixth Liberal Art of Music, as provided to us in this case by Tommy Shaw:
Quote.
Now I’m a jet-fuel genius.
I can solve all the world’s problems without even trying.
I got dozens of friends;
And the fun never ends;
That is, as long as I’m buying.
Is it any wonder I’m not the President?
Unquote.
Mac
But there are people suffering from HIV and AIDS in this country now and in the past. Bush wasted that money. Why couldn’t he take care of our own instead of going all the way over to Africa to give aid. Why couldn’t he have looked south — or southeast — and seen that Haiti needed that HIV/AIDS help?
What is wrong with the Bushes?
Jon H
Um, might the improved opinion have something to do with the fact that Obama lived in Indonesia when he was a kid?
Ah, never mind, that story is pre-Obama.
SiubhanDuinne
Chad N Freud
“But it wasn’t, and he wasn’t.”
Oh, I know. I’m not trying to delude myself about him. But I spent the better part of a decade having a kind of visceral reaction to Bush that refused to allow for *anything* good about him. I don’t think that’s healthy for me and I don’t think it’s fair to history. I am starting now to recognize that I was, during those 8+ years, basically applying to Bush the same binary, good-evil, black-white, us-them standard for which I regularly excoriated him.
As I said above, I’m not trying to make excuses for him or sugarcoat his disaster of a presidency. I’m just trying to get a handle on what kind of guy he was, beyond the facile labels. I’m beginning to think, a more complex — and infinitely sadder — person than he wants us to see.
/pop psychology from a safe distance
El Cid
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s okay. I eventually grew beyond feeling like I had to give a shit whether or not some public person ‘had some good inside them’ while they caused inordinate amounts of harm, because, mainly, I’m me, and I don’t have to be on Earth to be their biographers or to always choose to imagine that I am in the position of said powerful person making their decision versus the people on whom those decisions are being inflicted.
Who gives the slightest shit whether or not there is ‘some good’ in GWB Jr? Who cares? Who feels like they need to know one way or the other?
JGabriel
@Brick Oven Bill: Why am I not surprised that BOB is a Styx fan?
(I’ll bet that line is even funnier to people using the pie filter.)
.
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’ve been tempted to read American Wife because it sounds like it does a little of what you’re trying to do: examine a guy who’s weak but not, strictly speaking, evil.
gnomedad
It is now about 31 hours and 18 posts since Cole announced he was taking a break and this time he meant it.
Chuck Butcher
I understand Hitler was nice to dogs, too. Also.
So fucking what?
Bush Africa follow the link if it pleases you.
Bubblegum Tate
@SGEW:
Yeah, I thought that was a really good thing for Bush to have done, too.
As for Africa, I think Bush deserves praise for that as well. Sure, it would’ve been nice if that aid had been tied to better policy (i.e. not that abstinence-only bullshit), but as the saying goes, let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Chuck Butcher
@Bubblegum Tate:
If you fucking simpletons can’t tell the difference between bad policy and fucking perfect maybe you should leave other people’s fucking quotes alone.
Explain to me the the enemy of good involved in a baby boom explosion and resulting poverty explosion. Just fuck your “enemy of perfect” dumbassedness.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne: Oh, interesting thought. I haven’t read it; I thought it was a Laura Bush roman à clef which isn’t something that pulls at me.
@El Cid: C’mon now. I have absolutely no interest in being GWB’s “biographer,” and as I’ve said one way or another now in three different posts, I’m *NOT* trying to whitewash or do that whole “but-Hitler-was-nice-to-his-dog,” you should excuse the Godwin allusion. And not for one minute have I imagined that I was “in his position” or “making his decisions.” SGEW mentioned in passing that he thought Junior didn’t really like being president. I agreed and did a little speculative riffing on that, which is the kind of thing people do on blogs. That’s all. Don’t make it such a big deal.
Bubblegum Tate
@Chuck Butcher:
Did your dog die or something?
Chuck Butcher
@Bubblegum Tate:
Stupid shit aggravates me.
My wife had a stroke last night and can’t talk, might account for short temperedness, but it still was stupid as hell.
no, not a bad joke.
Chad N Freude
@SiubhanDuinne: I think the point really is what are the effects of his presidency. Mr. Nice Guy or Incompetent Dolt doesn’t matter, he should be evaluated by the consequences of his actions (or inactions), not his presumed intentions, his personality, his beliefs, or his IQ.
General Winfield Stuck
@Chuck Butcher:
Sorry to hear that Chuck. Good vibes sent your way.
Chad N Freude
@Chuck Butcher: Oh God! I am so sorry.
Bubblegum Tate
@Chuck Butcher:
Geez, that’s really horrible. I’m so sorry to hear that–all the best to you and yours.
Chuck Butcher
Appears to have been a TIA, another one. Something amiss between brain and mouth making sentences over 3-4 words go south.
Not the first time for this, hopefully within a week words will get right. Like the doc said, not much to do about it, prescription for Plavix ($5/pill fer cripesake).
Well yeah, one day one of these will be a bullet through the brain. Just turned 56. This shit bankrupted me 10 yrs ago.
Glocksman
@MikeJ:
True ‘dat.
Which is why in the name of ‘bipartisanship and reconciliation’, Obama should immediately pardon Libby.
While at the same time sending a ‘hey, interrogate his ass’ memo to the relevant House (fuck the Senate) committee.
Glocksman
@General Winfield Stuck:
Seconded.
Your family has my best wishes.
SiubhanDuinne
@Chad N Freude #105: I agree. The rest is commentary.
(By the way, apologies for leaving the terminal “e” off your handle in an earlier post.)
@Chuck Butcher: I am very sorry about your wife. As you care for her, I hope sincerely that you’ll do whatever you need to do to care for yourself too.
Glocksman
@SiubhanDuinne:
A conservative friend of mine* has expressed similar viewpoints when we discuss politics.
He doesn’t say a fucking word when I diss Dick Cheney, but says that Bush was in his opinion a well meaning guy who picked out some bad mofos to be his advisers.
If GWB is sincere in his Christianity, I suspect that he’d have a lot more problems with what went down since 2001 if explained to him by a theologian who wasn’t an apocalyptic asshole with an axe to grind.
*Of course we’ve been best buds since 1982, so my recent conversion to libtardism :) wasn’t enough to break up the friendship.
Yutsano
@Chuck Butcher: Oh man. Positive thoughts to you and your wife now.
Chuck Butcher
@SiubhanDuinne:
It is only the speech center, but I will be crabby bastard if this doesn’t straighten up pretty soon. Decoding is not all that much fun.
I appreciate all the good wishes and I’ll be ok – I always manage that.
Glocksman
@Chuck Butcher:
I’m not in the best of financial positions this year myself, but I can spare some money to help if you need it to care for your wife.
Politics aside, I have some nasty health problems and stories like yours make me painfully aware that ‘but for the grace of God and my Union, there go I’.
IOW, do you have a paypal addy I could slip you a few $ to help out?
Added: yes I know you weren’t asking for help.
That said, I do have a heart in the metaphysical sense and don’t mind helping you out if you need it.
DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio
@Chuck Butcher:
Thoughts are with you Chuck.
And, that Plavix ….. been taking it for years. Not only does it cost a fortune, have ugly side effects …. it also puts me on an insurance blacklist. If I lose my coverage, I am told that it would be near impossible to get it replaced.
Oh, and the Plavix makers fought and won a court battle to keep a generic off the market, so the price isn’t going down until next year.
The generic was in the pharmacies and they were ready to dispense four years ago when Bristol Myers got a ruling.
Despite all that …. it can be a lifesaver. I hope things go well for you and the missus.
Chuck Butcher
@Glocksman:
whoa, whoa. this will be alright and it isn’t costing me enough at this point to cause any monetary problems. Glocksman, that touches my heart, really, but we’re ok.
Ten years ago carotid artery surgery turned into a cascade of events resulting in $150K unsecured debt. The TIAs were a result of occluded carotids and then more from outcomes of correction.
JGabriel
Glocksman:
Oh, man, that would be brilliant, and a nice payback to Cheney’s pissiness. OTOH, Obama doesn’t seem very interested in pursuing investigations into crimes by Bush’s higher-level administrators, so I wouldn’t expect too much on that account.
.
JGabriel
@Chuck Butcher: My empathies. Strokes run on my mother’s side of the family. That’s a bitch and half to deal with. Good wishes for a quick and complete recovery.
.
Chuck Butcher
An insurance co would have to be insane to issue a policy for my wife – and they aren’t. It would take years of Plavix to cost 24 hours of ICU Stroke Unit at major hospital and I got hit with 2 weeks, not to mention 150 mi helicopter life-flight, along with other weeks of hospitalization, E-rooms and assorted medical nightmares.
This is spooky, sure, but you’d have to go real far to match that run 10yrs ago.
Glocksman
@Chuck Butcher:
If you’re discomforted, I apologize.
I have an artificial heart valve and as such, I’m on blood thinners and constant monitoring for the rest of my life.
Given that, I have an empathy to anyone with heart or blood issues that doesn’t have the quality of health coverage I have because my union won it for our members.
That said, you and your family are in my thoughts.
SiubhanDuinne
@Chuck Butcher: “Decoding is not all that much fun.” I’m sure it’s not, and prbably also frustrating as hell for your wife as she works to communicate. Again, best wishes to both of you. Please let us know progress if you’re okay doing that.
Yutsano
@Chuck Butcher: You’re probably going to get tons of well-meaning unsolicited advice so I’ll apologize if I step on any toes. I do have a thought for your consideration if you’re up to listening.
GregB
Chuck Butcher.
Wishing your wife a healthy recovery.
Also wishing for expedited emergency response to those in Haiti.
-G
And a big fuck you to Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh.
Comrade Luke, Taking A Break
Ringo Starr and Ben Harper on The Daily Show?!
mak
FTFY and Double-FGWFB.
Seriously people, I may be late here, and forgive me if someone has mentioned this in the last hundred or so comments, but I think the point of the OP was not what a swell fucking guy Dumbya was, or even whether he shall ever deserve redemption (the answer to that would be, uhm, NO), but rather, and simply, that doing nice shit for less developed nations is a far more effective way to advance our image and interests abroad than, say, bombing them to smithereens – even if it’s for their own good.
Okay, now I’ll recommence reading the comments, and see if I can make it back here in time to edit, if necessary.
Phoebe
@Glocksman: You are a sweetie pie. That is all.
And best of luck to Chuck and his wife.
Anne Laurie
@Chuck Butcher: I’m so sorry to hear about your wife. You’ll both be in my prayers (fwtw).
asiangrrlMN
@Chuck Butcher: I’m so sorry to hear about your wife. I am sending you major vibes and a white light to shield your wife on her way to recovery. Please keep us updated.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Chuck Butcher:
I am very sorry to hear about this Chuck, and I wish for the best outcome for your wife. My Grandmother (Mom’s Mom) was hit with a stroke that disabled her (left side paralysis and speech destroyed) for the few remaining years of her life. She moved in with my Mom and we cared for her until she passed so I know how serious it can be.
Best of luck to your wife and yourself. Most importantly of all, take care of yourself so you can take care of her. In stressful times it is easy to put caring for yourself on the back burner so stay on top of your own health.
Little Dreamer
@kay:
Ummm, no!
So, do you see yourself eating McCain’s birthday cake instead of tending to the needs of a bunch of hurricane victims?
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think I agree with your argument, although I still say Bush is a very, very bad man. My own take on the Dubya Paradox — and I first thought about this when Gail Collins published her famous ‘hit piece’ back during the 1999 campaign — is that Bush is ADHD. Which, yeah, has become the facile go-to explanation for a lot of selfish bad behavior, but I’m ADHD myself and we recognize each other the same way alcoholics do. Epidemiologists have identified a cluster of serotonin-uptake-related disorders that run in families, including substance abuse (a recurrent problem on both sides of Dubya’s family tree), dyslexia (his brother Neil), and Crohn’s disease (his brother Marvin). But when Dubya was growing up, having a “minor brain disorder” did not make you non-neurotypical, it made you some kind of retard. Years of compensating for his inability to ‘just settle down/try harder/pay attention/stop fidgeting/act like a normal person’, not to mention the anger and self-blame related to being told every day that ‘you’re too smart to be acting like such an idiot, so you must be doing this on purpose to annoy us’, in a toxic combination with the protective bubble provided by his family’s wealth and political position, turned a guy with some genuine political gifts into the lazy, nasty-mouthed, mean-spirited little prick who let Darth Cheney appoint himself Regeant to Bush’s C-Plus Augustus. Which is a real tragedy, for millions of Americans and tens of millions of unfortunates around the world. But whatever explanations we may come up with — and the “real story” probably won’t emerge for many years, if it ever does — it won’t mitigate George W. Bush’s cruel and unlawful actions.
Little Dreamer
Chuck, I’m so sorry to hear about your wife. Best wishes for a quick recovery.
arguingwithsignposts
@Chuck Butcher: Late to the thread, but hoping for the best for your wife and the rest of your family as you deal with this.
geg6
I’m you won’t see it, Chuck Butcher, since this thread is surely dead, but know I’m sending you and your wife positive vibes for a quick recovery.
SiubhanDuinne
@Anne Laurie: That’s a lot of info about ADHD that I didn’t know, and it feels authentic wrt GWB. Thank you.
Additionally (and *not to excuse him or mitigate his actions*) I believe the death of his little sister when he was a child, and the way his parents reportedly handled the tragedy, had a profound and disastrous effect on his psyche and subsequent behaviour, and was another contributor to the long national/international nightmare of the first decade of the 21st century.
Despite my loathing of him, I do find GWB a compelling character, precisely *because* he is so damaged and complex. Darth Cheney, on the other hand, I believe is evil through and through. He’s as one-dimensional as the villain in a badly-drawn cartoon, and I have not a scintilla of interest in understanding him.
Glocksman
@Phoebe:
*blushes*
No, I just like to think I was merely the quickest on the draw to offer help.
Being in a similar situation (though it was my Mother and not my wife) 10 years ago opened my eyes and my wallet to others in need.
To this day if the American Cancer Society asks for a donation, I give as much as I can because they were a *huge* help to my family when Mom was dying of pancreatic cancer.
Ken
“It almost seems like providing food and financial aid is more constructive than bombing people.”
Yeah, but if you’re a right winger, not as much fun.
madmatt
The better to plant seeds about killing gay people and arranging the bribes for oil companies to come in and start looting the continent more efficiently. GWB NEVER did anything out of compassion.
jurassicpork
Regarding Haiti: Like a certain conspicuous balloon, Rush Limbaugh’s full of air, aimless and embarrassingly conspicuous and there’s no sign of life or intelligence inside.
Of course, there’s nothing from the right wing about Bush’s own sluggish response to the tsunami…
Svensker
Late to the thread, bu Chuck, prayers for you and your wife. That is hard.
I think Dubya is a fascinating character, and very likely a sociopath (duh). He reminds me of my late FIL who could be charming and fun, but was very much of the “enough about me, what do you think of my new hat” mode. And if he perceived that you were against him, he would have no problem with your death (but was too much of a coward to off you himself, directly).
kay
@Little Dreamer:
I don’t really buy that, Little Dreamer. I understand the political power of that photograph, and I’m glad the opposition used it against Bush, but do I think the President is actually the single person directing aid to a hurricane stricken area? Do I think the whole thing falls apart without the President at the helm of the ship of state 24/7?
God, I hope not. It’s a big country, and a big world. I hope like hell it’s not up to one person, or we’re screwed.
Katrina could have been handled perfectly competently with or without Bush attending a campaign event in the midst of it.
The problem wasn’t that the President was at a campaign event.
The problem was that the President hired a bunch of ideological true believers-campaign donors who didn’t do their jobs.
I think that’s a childish view of the Presidency, where photo ops matter more than actual effectiveness. If the crisis is handled properly, he can stay in bed for all I care. The photo only mattered because the response was inadequate. I don’t think Bush at the campaign event caused the inadequate response.
Steeplejack
@Chuck Butcher:
Sorry to hear about your wife’s problems. Sending healing energy your way.
Pangloss
@SGEW: Bush liked fish so much he wanted them to replace people in New Orleans.
Michael D.
John Cole:
I’ve always thought we should be providing food and financial aid to al Qaeda instead of bombing them! ;-)
Catsy
@geg6: @MikeJ:
This.
There was nothing noble about declining to pardon Libby. It was self-interest, pure and simple, because if he pardons Libby the man can no longer refuse to testify about things that would embarrass (or incarcerate) the Bush admin.
Chuck Butcher
Many thanks to all.
Snarla
The way I remember it, George Bush gave, like, six bucks in relief after the tsunami, only upping the amount about a week later. I guess when you’re desperate, a belated and grudging handout is still appreciated.