George W. Bush, Winner

American Spectator ^ | 1-14-09 | Lisa Fabrizio

[STARWISE]

Friends, Americans, conservatives; lend me your ears. I come to praise George W. Bush, not to bury him; I'll leave that to our famously unbiased media.

*snip*

We can also be pretty certain that his departure will not feature the ransacking of the Oval Office and Air Force One, or the sophomoric removal of the "O's" from White House keyboards.

If, as has been the case for his entire presidency, he is true to his word, he will be as magnanimous to his successor as he was to his predecessor; notwithstanding the disrespect he received at the hands of both.

[STARWISE]

God bless President George W. and Laura Bush

[STARWISE]

Mods, could we please have a tribute thread to Pres. Bush that’s free of hateful, vulgar and vicious comments? Thank you for anything you can do.

[STARWISE]

~~PING!

"So this is the message to our liberal friends in the media: you didn't beat this president, he beat you. You and your allies in Washington failed time and again to take this good man down. Indeed, he was elected and re-elected despite your historic efforts to the contrary."

[mkjessup]

Start a prayer thread for GWB. One of those “Pray for our Nation and our outgoing President” deals.

Problem solved.

Happy to help.

[MozartLover]

Thank you for this. I for one appreciate your steadfast support of our President and my son’s Commander in Chief.

[Kaslin]

Thanks STAR, for the ping to this excellent editorial.

[napscoordinator]

President Bush was the President of the United States from January 2001 to January 2009. Prayers to his family.

[Enchante]

I am not without some serious criticisms but I must say that in such a critical time for our nation President George W. Bush engaged in the fight in the WOT when just about any of the Demagogues would have found endless excuses to do less. Think Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, John Edwards, Hillary, Obama, et al....

So, yes, we have been fortunate in many ways to have GW as POTUS, and although I also see serious flaws in policies, I would take him over any of the leading presidential contenders (and Presidents) we have had in the past 20 years...... so that’s saying A LOT.

[Army Air Corps]

Fare tee well, Mr. President. I may not have agreed with everything that you did, but you did make tough decisions and you kept the Jihadis at bay.

[Army Air Corps]

tee = thee

[Paladin2]

GWB approval >> ‘rat Congress approval. QED.

[melsec]

I hate to think of what a post 9/11 world would have looked like if this man had not been in charge - something like Europe I imagine.

God Bless him he is a honorable man!

Mel

[mallardx]

In 6 months to two years, I predict most Americans will be looking back on the Bush years as the good old days. Socialism is ugly and it always leads to misery and murder. It is on it’s way, folks, be wary.

[Berlin_Freeper]

[JustAmy]

Starwise, thank you for this thread and the ping.

Through some very tough times, our president did not waver from his beliefs.

God Bless President and Laura Bush.

Thank you for being here for us, Mr President!

[Jacquerie]

. . . could we please have a tribute thread to Pres. Bush that’s free of hateful, vulgar and vicious comments?

I hope so. It would be a pleasant change. Sometimes this forum reads like Duh. Unlike his predecessor, President Bush put his country first.

[wxgesr]

Thank you Mr. Bush for being a good man and making some very hard decisions that kept us safe.

[STARWISE]

Darn right! God help and protect us .. God have mercy on us.

[CaliforniaCon]

I loved this President — George W. Bush. Perfect, no, but he was always well intentioned and a very good man. He will be sorely missed by more than is obvious at this time.

For me, the most important thing to take away from this presidency is that GWB kept the country safe from attack during his watch. That was no small task!

I wish President George W. Bush and Laura Bush all the best in their “retirement.” They deserve it.

[STARWISE]

Jonny ~~

I had to include your breathtakingly real drawing of President Bush. It’s simply magnificent ... and will stand the test of time and be more appreciated in the years to come, just like its subject.

You’re truly an incredibly gifted artist .. I’m so grateful you created this wonderful piece that we’ll always have. HUGS!

[Paul Ross]

Start a prayer thread

Totally agreed. 'Nuff said.

[Kaslin]

The left thinks if Gore had become president there would not have been a 9/11. Like as Al Qaeda knew how President Bush would attack. Had the terrorist known he would fight back, I am sure they would held back.

You can be sure we would have had another attack if Gore had been elcected or had been successful in stealing the election, because he would not have done anything about the attack, and the same goes for Kerry if he had won the 2004 election

[McGavin999]

Thanks Star, you have been a great and loyal person. It’s nice to see people who can look through the hate and see the man.

[sodpoodle]

Thank you for this thread of appreciation.

Of all the political and social philosophies, conservatism promotes: self reliance, individual effort, decency, love of and service to Country, charity, humility, doing what is right, confronting evil and giving praise to our Creator.

I believe, as President and personally, George W. Bush held to those principles - however, he has been surrounded and opposed by a majority of citizens, a Congress and mindless media kumquats who do not...

[siamesecats]

Agreed starwise

God Bless President & Mrs Bush!

Thank you for keeping our country safe for the last seven years.

[COUNTrecount]

"For I say unto you in all sadness of conviction that to think great thoughts you must be heroes as well as idealists. Only when you have worked alone -- when you have felt around you are a black gulf of solitude more isolating than that which surrounds the dying man, and in hope and despair have trusted to your own unshaken will -- then only can you gain the secret isolated joy of the thinker, who knows that a hundred years after he is dead and forgotten men who have never heard of him will be moving to the measure of his thought -- the subtle rapture of postponed power, which the world knows not because it has no external trappings, but which to his prophetic vision is more real than that which commands an army. And if this joy should not be yours, still it is only thus you can know that you have done what lay in you to do -- can say that you have lived, and be ready for the end."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Thank you Mr. President

[Miss Marple]

Thanks, STARWISE. I believe President Bush will be appreciated much quicker than the media realizes. His approval rates are slowly climbing, and that will only escalate as the contrast with his successor becomes more apparent.

[Krodg]

Nothing but tingly feelings up everyone's leg, huh?

Were you looking for an Obama thread?

[Right_in_Virginia]

Thanks for the “ping”.

I am in total denial about the change that is just days away. ;-(

Thank you, Mr. President and Godspeed to you and your family.

[silent_jonny]

Thank you, Star :) I’m honored that you would want to include it.

[STARWISE]

You’re welcome. Thank YOU and your son
for your sacrifice and service to our
country. God bless you both.

Sadly, some folks are completely narrow-minded
and lose sight of the BIG picture.

[bergmeid]

Thanks Mr. President for everything. I voted for you twice and trusted you with my life. God bless you and your family.

[SunkenCiv]

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[STARWISE]

What a beautiful saying. Thank you SO much for posting it.

[STARWISE]

Me, too. I can neither still believe it
nor imagine that anything so shocking could
happen in these United States of America.

[teeman8r]

he will be known as the last great american president...

i will miss his wit, his humor, and his bushinisms...

thank you sir.

god bless your family.

t

[STARWISE]

You’re so welcome ... I love how your captured him... ;)

[COUNTrecount]

Thank YOU for initiating this thread.

[STARWISE]

ooops

how your = how you

[Wolfstar]

Good afternoon, Star. Thank you so much for the ping to this most excellent article.

While the author did acknowledge that "Although some of his actions upset conservatives," she underplays what actually transpired, particularly during President Bush's 2nd term. The fact is that all one needs to do to realize the extent to which the right mirrored the left in its Bush hatred, is to read almost any FR thread.

I'd like to quote the following paragraph from the piece and make a comment afterwards:

And yes, he truly is a compassionate conservative. Unlike politicians who can turn on the tears on cue, George W. Bush could truly get misty at a T-Ball game on the White House lawn or at a press conference with "Snowflake" babies; those born from embryos that would otherwise have been destroyed or used for research. And who can forget one of the most emotional of all the scenes immediately following the carnage of 9/11, when President Bush returned to his seat after delivering his beautiful remarks in the National Cathedral, and embraced his visibly-shaken father.

Since when did "compassionate" become a perjorative among conservatives? How many times on FR and elsewhere have we seen the term "compassionate conservative" lambasted rather than embraced. Far too many people saw insult in that term rather than an opportunity to demonstrate to vast swaths of the American populace that conservatives are not the meanspirited caricatures described by the media and other left-wing mouthpieces.

What are we conservatives if we cannot hold dear the honor, dignity, moral conviction, compassion, and simple human kindness President Bush demonstrated every day during his tumultuous presidency?

There's so much that not only could be said about the right's abandonment of GWB, but that needs to be said. We expect shallowness and disloyalty from the left, but if we on the right abandon our friends, then what are we? Yet this probably isn't the time or thread to go into the necessary detail. Better, for, now to quote one of my favorite pieces from our nation's Revolutionary period:

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
-- Thomas Paine (The Crisis, December 1776)

George W. Bush did stand it, and he has my love and thanks for as long as God gives it to me to know such feelings.

[Birch Barlow]

Good point about the approval rating. I think that he will follow a similar course as Truman. Left with lower rating but after time historians came to view him as much better. Truman saw the threat of communism and Bush saw the coming threat of radical islam.

[STARWISE]

I believe that.

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for that moving quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes. It’s right on the mark.

[MozartLover]

Excellent post. Thank you.

[Wolfstar]

Excellent post. Thank you.

You're welcome.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I've forced myself to listen to Obama. And I already miss President Bush.

And on top of this, I feel such deep sadness when I witness --- even now --- the depth of disrespect thrown at the President.

The next four years promise to fulfill the prophecy: — “May you live interesting times”.

[COUNTrecount]

You are welcome.