Posted on 04/22/2013 6:32:25 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
George W. Bush: ‘No need to defend myself’ By Jonathan Easley - 04/22/13 07:51 AM ET
Former President George W. Bush said he feels “no need to defend himself” over the high-profile decisions that marked his two terms in office, saying he will leave those judgments to history.
“There's no need to defend myself,” Bush said in an interview with USA Today. “I did what I did and ultimately history will judge.”
Bush, along with President Obama and former Presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter, will be on hand to open the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on Thursday.
Bush described the center as “a place to lay out the facts” behind his major policy decisions, including the decision to go to invade Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, not as a place that will explain or defend the actual policies.
Visitors to the library will be able to assess “the decisions that I had to make and the recommendations I received” at a “decision points theater,” according to Bush. In addition to the Iraq war and troop surge, the theater will focus on his handling of the 2008 financial collapse and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
In an interview conducted before last Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings, Bush said terrorism should still be a primary concern for the federal government.
“It's apparent that time is quickly dimming our memories,” Bush said of 9/11. “Evil exists still in the form of people who murder innocent people to advance a point of view.”
“The lessons of 9/11 are as profound today as they were then,” he added.
Bush has taken up painting in his private time – a fact that became known after a hacker exposed some of his private emails. The former president said it helps to keep him “mellow,” and that he’s content in his new life outside of public view.
“I'm happy to be out of the limelight. I truly am,” he said. “My life is obviously much simpler than it was in the past, but in many ways the simplicity creates contentment.”
“Some people get confused about my desire not to have the klieg lights shining on me, but eight years is plenty to be in the lights,” he said.
In an interview last week, the former president also expressed hopes that his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) would run for president.
Asked if the nation was “ready for another Bush” in the Oval Office, he responded “That’s for Je to figure out.”
“I would hope that people would judge, if Jeb were to run, on his merits and his track record,” said Bush, adding “I hope he will run.”
His brother Jeb Bush has said he would weigh a 2016 GOP presidential bid and is seen as a prime contender for the nomination.
If anyone wants to explain the Peter Principle, they need go no further than the man that was sworn into office in January of 2001.
His last name was Bush. That’s all it took.
If people had looked at his record in Texas, they would have seen one very troubling fact. His repair of the Texas education system, consisted of him throwing tens of millions of dollars at the problem. That should have scared any voter to death. Instead it was overlooked.
By the end of his second term in office, the implications early on, were fully realized. Our national debt grew around 92% during the Bush administration.
And lest anyone get the bright idea to blame the trillions of additional debt on the two wars, the cost of those wars was less than 25% of the increase in debt under Bush.
That my friends, is why Obama could come in a spend like there was no tomorrow. Bush had done it. Specifically Bush had done it in the year and months before Obama being sworn in.
Obama merely continued the spike in spending that Bush handed off.
That is why we got Obama. We couldn’t attack him on his plans to spend massive amounts of printed money, because our own guy spent massive amounts of printed money.
There’s much more we could address pro and con with regard to Bush, but this is the only real issue that counts. Bush cut the legs off our ability to expose Obama for who he was.
That is what his legacy should always start with. This man essentially destroyed our nation. Anyone who looks back fondly reminiscing about his character, should understand that men with character avoid problems.
Men without it don’t defend themselves, because they can’t defend what they have done.
George Bush didn’t hate our nation. No, he didn’t. There’s one old adage I’ve come up with over time. It fits here. It goes like this. If you want to destroy an effort, place an incompetent in charge of it.
Placing George Bush at the helm of Conservatism, destroyed it.
He is what people think of when they think of Conservative leaders. Ruminate over that friends...
and President Bush won twice too... didn't even whine during the recounts the first time...
Well after throwing out the sacrificial lamb that was Bob Dole in 96, in 2000, the Republicans wanted to “win at all costs.”
10-15 years is hardly history... it's pretty much still the present... history has not judged... not yet...
Pretty good rundown of the Bush “Legacy”.
wow--i remember most FReepers being ecstatic about Judge Roberts... good for you that you had the foresight to see how terrible he has turned out to be... we all should have listened to you...
Great response and exactly what I did - with him and McCain and Romney.
We had no choice and THAT is what the elitist progressives want to force us into.
Choosing the lesser of two evils.
Thanks
And they did didn’t they...
We were cautiously optimistic. Compared to his FIRST selection, Roberts seemed an improvement. But he NEVER looked as good as Alitto OR Thomas OR Scalia.
They won, we lost.
Not defending himself was his patrician born weak spot
Overall a decent guy with some major naivete but heart in right place
But that naivete and lack of political response to an onslaught of attack made him a failure in the short run
His total poor judgment on the border has doomed us.
How immigration has killed this nation happened largely on his and Slicks watch.
How utterly utterly pollyanna they were
...and still are
but God love him...I studied his face ..his actions...he was a good man...with a heart
just wrong on a few things that really mattered
one day.... Los Estados Unidos will laud him the way we do Gorbachev and the fall of the USSR
indeed
why don;t they go back to another Wideawakes to antifreep instead of slinking back here
oh I know...they can;t get along well enough to antifreep without imploding
*some I have made peace with...not directed at them
I remember my thoughts when I found out that Bush had a $70 million dollar war chest around October of 1999. Frankly, I was angry about it. There were so many folks here that didn’t have a clue why.
In early 2000 I posted here that I thought the election of George Bush could very well be the end of Conservatism. Boy was that unpopular.
How is Conservatism doing these days? Hangs head just thinking about it...
However, his biggest fault was his unwillingness to defend himself. Over the the years the smears and the lies added up and we are having to deal with that now.
Like his father, G.W. Bush is a class act and is correct.
On this particular point, it’s sufficient.
Yeah, a stable free-enterprise society could still emerge in Iraq. Despite Bush’s not having had a plan.
Could happen.
Maybe.
Perhaps.
Not.
Bush listened to TokyoRove and as a result we lost both houses, that is the GW that I despise. Hispandering did not work for him and it won't work for the GOPe.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.