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News & ArtsMonday, December 1, 2008
2008 All Apologies
Posted by Eli Sanders on Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 10:58 AM
In something of an exit interview, Bush tells ABC News that he "was unprepared for war" and regrets the intelligence failures that led him to invade Iraq.
He'd like to be remembered by Americans this way:
I hope they feel that this is a guy that came, didn't sell his soul for politics, had to make some tough decisions, and did so in a principled way.
2
That would presume that he had either a soul or principles before he was president... and everything I've seen would indicate that's unlikely.
3
Bush was amazingly consistent. Compare that with Obama who changed all his positions during the Primary! Before even getting the nomination or getting elected!!!
4
Right as always Fail-O. Bush was consistently stupid, wrong, and downright evil.
Nice legacy, fratboy.
Nice legacy, fratboy.
7
Given that Saddam and his evil sons (who would still be playing their WMD shell games and invading neighbors -- and here at home there would be bipartisan calls in Congress for a regime change continuing to this very day) are burning in Hell and that Iraq is now a democracy increasingly able to stand on its own - thank God George W. Bush was president when he was.
8
must be nice to exist on tiny little cloud that you live on, raindrop. bush started an unnecessary war, tens of thousands of people are dead, include young men and women who serve this country in the armed forces, who trusted their government with their lives and paid the price for that government being headed by criminal. it pains me to think that if george bush were to ask for forgiveness for all his sins that he might get away with this. perhaps he will never admit that this war was a sin, and he will join the husseins in the devil's barbeque.
10
yeah, fat chance fucktard.
saying 'oops, wasn't prepared for that. well hope you guys don't mind too much' is total shit when tens, possibly, hundreds of thousands of people have been unnecessarily killed. and we all know it wasn't 'intelligence failures' that led to the iraq war, between the deliberate, and fully dishonest, linking of 9/11 and iraq and the whole downing street memo thing the picture is pretty clear.
bailo, raindrop, i know you guys are just trolls, but seriously what the fuck is wrong with you?
saying 'oops, wasn't prepared for that. well hope you guys don't mind too much' is total shit when tens, possibly, hundreds of thousands of people have been unnecessarily killed. and we all know it wasn't 'intelligence failures' that led to the iraq war, between the deliberate, and fully dishonest, linking of 9/11 and iraq and the whole downing street memo thing the picture is pretty clear.
bailo, raindrop, i know you guys are just trolls, but seriously what the fuck is wrong with you?
11
I feel sorry for George Bush. And I find it very, very hard to hate the guy. Unlike Cheney, I don't think GWB is evil, and to call him evil is just too easy a way to point a finger at why this administration sucks; it's a cop-out, a way of stating a political opinion using as few brain cells as possible. And now, the guy is doing something very few sitting presidents have the nerve to do: admit mistakes. I say cut him some slack. Let the past be the past. It's the way of the Buddha.
14
I would hope "that this is a guy that came," along with Laura, at least a few times during his eight will-this-never-end years in the White House.
Otherwise he's a miserable fucking failure as a husband, in addition to being one as president.
Otherwise he's a miserable fucking failure as a husband, in addition to being one as president.
15
@ 11,
Yeah, I'm sure the "pobody's nerfect" explanation works just fine for the millions of people who are now dead, displaced or forced into poverty. No one should ever be held accountable for any of it, right? It'd be rude to mention it.
Yeah, I'm sure the "pobody's nerfect" explanation works just fine for the millions of people who are now dead, displaced or forced into poverty. No one should ever be held accountable for any of it, right? It'd be rude to mention it.
17
One thing’s become glaringly obvious: The US is a perverse anti-meritocracy, where only the most insane fuck-ups in politics, business and religion are rewarded for their actions. People who’ve been right about the economy and the wars for years are dismissed, marginalized and ignored.
Even now Obama’s cabinet is filling up with the same pathological liars, psychopaths and “free-market” frauds from the Clinton and Bush years that ran the nation into the ground.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit horse tranquilizers.
Even now Obama’s cabinet is filling up with the same pathological liars, psychopaths and “free-market” frauds from the Clinton and Bush years that ran the nation into the ground.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit horse tranquilizers.
19
@10: Actually trolls are sloggers who call other sloggers trolls when they don't like what they say.
20
@11: Not to pile on, Buddha boy/girl, but Bush was a child of privilege whose stunted brain somehow managed to develop the ARROGANCE (and the Oedipal obsession) to think he could handle the job of president when he had failed and fumbled at everything else he ever tried.
You don't have to be evil to fuck the world over. Just being a phone-it-in president is enough.
And the past is, unfortunately, the past.
You don't have to be evil to fuck the world over. Just being a phone-it-in president is enough.
And the past is, unfortunately, the past.
21
Seriously, raindrop, you must be living in some kind of alternative universe. That statement "thank God George W. Bush was president when he was"... it's just so far out of touch with reality.
Statements like that are the reason people think there is a "conservative America" and a "liberal America". In order to be the "United States of America", we have to be able to acknowledge when our "side" is wrong, and when the other "side" is right. To insist, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, that we were fortunate to have had W as a President just drives a deeper wedge between red and blue.
Statements like that are the reason people think there is a "conservative America" and a "liberal America". In order to be the "United States of America", we have to be able to acknowledge when our "side" is wrong, and when the other "side" is right. To insist, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, that we were fortunate to have had W as a President just drives a deeper wedge between red and blue.
22
Of course he didn't sell his soul for politics. He handed his soul over to Karl Rove, who sold it to politics for him.
23
Repubs are still detached from reality, as it ever was and ever will be.
There were no WMDs, period.
Saddam's army was a joke. He and his sons did not and would never again have the wherewithal to invade any other country. Anyone who argues otherwise is lying, insane, or stupid. raindrop is clearly all three.
who would still be playing their WMD shell games and invading neighbors
Repubs are still detached from reality, as it ever was and ever will be.
There were no WMDs, period.
Saddam's army was a joke. He and his sons did not and would never again have the wherewithal to invade any other country. Anyone who argues otherwise is lying, insane, or stupid. raindrop is clearly all three.
25
GWB does not and did not do things in a principled way. That would mean he, a) did follow some rule or code of conduct. Bush is a sleepwalking cowboy who will never take responsibility or exhibit compassion for his actions and what they have done to this world.
26
@23:
There were when that Kurdish village was gassed, so you're in error. After that who knows, but the world thought he did and that's the point. The truth could never be revealed until Saddam was diposed.
Even Barbara Walters asked Obama if he thought Iraq was a victory and he couldn't bring himself to acknowledge it, he could only mutter a tepid "improvement."
Historians will also evaluate the Bush presidency in terms of catastrophies he avoided in addition to his tactical errors in the war.
There were no WMDs, period
There were when that Kurdish village was gassed, so you're in error. After that who knows, but the world thought he did and that's the point. The truth could never be revealed until Saddam was diposed.
Even Barbara Walters asked Obama if he thought Iraq was a victory and he couldn't bring himself to acknowledge it, he could only mutter a tepid "improvement."
Historians will also evaluate the Bush presidency in terms of catastrophies he avoided in addition to his tactical errors in the war.
27
@ 26,
In case you haven't noticed, Iraq went from being a functional, third-world dictatorship into a full-blown, fourth-world failed state, without clean water, food, sanitation, education, and anything resembling employment for over 50% of the population.
It's a mission impossible, but you might at least try pulling your head outta your ass someday.
In case you haven't noticed, Iraq went from being a functional, third-world dictatorship into a full-blown, fourth-world failed state, without clean water, food, sanitation, education, and anything resembling employment for over 50% of the population.
It's a mission impossible, but you might at least try pulling your head outta your ass someday.
28
@27. Yeah, a third-world dictatorship where the trains may have run on time but the people lived in terror. Very pleasant indeed.
I'll refrain from calling you a delinquent dildo, oops - just did.
I'll refrain from calling you a delinquent dildo, oops - just did.
29
I don't think GWB is evil, and to call him evil is just too easy a way to point a finger at why this administration sucks.
Wrong, W is totally evil. Don't let the "I'm a dumbfuck texan" routine fool you.
Also, since we're actually dignifying raindrop, et al; the Kurdish village thing happend TWO presidents before this retard decided to invade.
Am I really saying this in 2008? There were no WMDs. Bush knew. He wanted oil.
Mission accomplished.
Wrong, W is totally evil. Don't let the "I'm a dumbfuck texan" routine fool you.
Also, since we're actually dignifying raindrop, et al; the Kurdish village thing happend TWO presidents before this retard decided to invade.
Am I really saying this in 2008? There were no WMDs. Bush knew. He wanted oil.
Mission accomplished.
30
@28- and people don't live in terror in today's Iraq? Please.
Why would you place your admiration in a murderous, ignorant, selfish, son-of-a-bastard, grandson-of-a-nazi-financer jerk like Bush? What has he ever done for you, besides dismantle your social institutions, widen the gap between rich and poor, throw out your civil liberties, and generally make our world a shittier place to live? Why would you, a normal person, give a flying shit about his wellbeing?
What are your motivations?? It baffles me.
Why would you place your admiration in a murderous, ignorant, selfish, son-of-a-bastard, grandson-of-a-nazi-financer jerk like Bush? What has he ever done for you, besides dismantle your social institutions, widen the gap between rich and poor, throw out your civil liberties, and generally make our world a shittier place to live? Why would you, a normal person, give a flying shit about his wellbeing?
What are your motivations?? It baffles me.
31
@30:
I'm just looking forward, instead of perptually Bush bashing, that's all. Iraq has a solid chance to be a democracy in the region as opposed to being an oppresive third-world dicatorship. I think that's a good thing, don't you?
I'm just looking forward, instead of perptually Bush bashing, that's all. Iraq has a solid chance to be a democracy in the region as opposed to being an oppresive third-world dicatorship. I think that's a good thing, don't you?
32
@15 & @20 - I know, I know, I've heard all the arguments, and, you know, I MOSTLY AGREE WITH YOU! But I'm just going from feelings here. I'm thinking about politics with my heart & not my head, always a dangerous game, I'll admit.
I guess it's just kind of a WWJD thing. I mean, yes, GWB's actions resulted in a lot of deaths. But I firmly maintain that the Christian/Buddhist/whatever (atheist, too) thing to do is to forgive.
I was tremendously saddened by so many things that went down these past 8 years, but I was never, NEVER, red-faced with rage as many of my friends, and many of you, have been. I don't know why. Who knows, maybe it'll result in a slower onset of heart problems or cancer or something. One can only hope.
I guess it's just kind of a WWJD thing. I mean, yes, GWB's actions resulted in a lot of deaths. But I firmly maintain that the Christian/Buddhist/whatever (atheist, too) thing to do is to forgive.
I was tremendously saddened by so many things that went down these past 8 years, but I was never, NEVER, red-faced with rage as many of my friends, and many of you, have been. I don't know why. Who knows, maybe it'll result in a slower onset of heart problems or cancer or something. One can only hope.
34
FUCK YOU GEORGE BUSH! FUCK YOU! I will remember you as a piece of shit horrible president who ruined my life for 8 years. You ruined my teenage years, and my early 20's. FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE. You did whatever the fuck you wanted, with no regard for anyone but your own selfish hick self. FUCK YOU.
35
Re: WMD, we should also remember the 400,000 lbs. of high explosives and thousands of small arms found by the fast-moving U.S. forces in the early weeks after the invasion that were bypassed and left unguarded because everyone was looking for long-range missiles with nuclear or biological warheads. Those explosives alone were more than enough to supply suicide bombers for the next century, not to mention the porous borders with adjacent countries like Syria that let thousands of new "freedom fighters" enter Iraq.
A more sinister interpretation would be that the administration wanted to set the stage for a thriving insurgency that would provide justification for long-term U.S. occupation and permanent bases throughout the region. And golly gosh, that's exactly what happened.
A more sinister interpretation would be that the administration wanted to set the stage for a thriving insurgency that would provide justification for long-term U.S. occupation and permanent bases throughout the region. And golly gosh, that's exactly what happened.
36
@31- all I think Iraq has a shot at being right now is a goldmine for American corporations. Democracy is further down on the list of possibilities.
And saying, "Thank god Bush was president" is a far cry from just not wanting to Bush bash. You are celebrating his actions.
And saying, "Thank god Bush was president" is a far cry from just not wanting to Bush bash. You are celebrating his actions.
37
@30, good on ya for reminding people that the Bush and Walker families (George Herbert Walker Bush) included global industrialists who made money by arming Germany (as well as the allies) before both world wars, as described by Kevin Phillips in the book _Dynasty_.
38
@36:
And that's a bad thing? Why?
all I think Iraq has a shot at being right now is a goldmine for American corporations.
And that's a bad thing? Why?
39
@ 38,
Because US companies are taking anything of value and the profits are being shipped abroad, so they'll never benefit the Iraqi people.
Because US companies are taking anything of value and the profits are being shipped abroad, so they'll never benefit the Iraqi people.
40
@39:
Bull. How dumb do you think Iraqis are? They've already agreed on sharing oil revenues amongst the provinces and are eager to make a lot of money. American and other foreign corporations can only be profitable if the local employees and franchise owners are profitable as well.
You just want them to be dirt poor and angry at the United States because it affirms your own misguided dispositions.
Bull. How dumb do you think Iraqis are? They've already agreed on sharing oil revenues amongst the provinces and are eager to make a lot of money. American and other foreign corporations can only be profitable if the local employees and franchise owners are profitable as well.
You just want them to be dirt poor and angry at the United States because it affirms your own misguided dispositions.
41
And yet, I suspect I'll always remember him as that dumb fucking idiot who either ruined or nearly ruined my country (too early to tell which).
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