Posted on 08/27/2013 5:14:47 AM PDT by 7thson
I am about 40 pages away from completing "Decision Points" by President Bush. I voted for this guy - twice. Granted, the choices were stark but I thought he was the best person at the time.
However, I am now wondering what I saw in this guy and why I voted for him.
At the end of this book, he is talking about the financial crisis he states he did not want to be like Hoover but more like Roosevelt. It was this statement and others like it that makes me wonder that the Dems were correct - he is not that bright.
Any comments, opinions?
The only thing I can say in his defense is that he was better than Gore or Kerry and sure as hell would be better than Obama
No matter how left we place him on the dial, I will always remember him for being a class act. A dwindling attribute.
That Hoover/Roosevelt comment is shocking. I’m trying to finish the book, too, before visiting his library on Thursday. In spite of everything and especially compared to what we have now, I do miss him.
At least W is a Christian.
I highly admired W for his determination in protecting us from terrorism. That said, his continuing refusal to answer back to his critics and almost complete disregard for addressing domestic threats to our economy, jobs, financial system et al coupled with a coupled of severely egregious decisions (legislatively and organizationally) have pretty much soured my opinion of him.
I will NEVER forgive him for:
“No Child Left Behind” - a faith deal with a murdering womanizing drunkard
“Department of Homeland Security” - failing to install sufficient safeguards to prevent abuse of its powers [see Obama, Tyrant, Maniac]
“Transportation Security Agency” - an organization for which there is no earthly excuse in a free and unfettered society.
“Prescription Medications for Medicare” - as if we don’t have enough debt already.
We might have stayed on the road after his fixes instead crashing into the Bushes.
You need to take his statements in context, rather than take them out of context. And that does not mean you AGREE with whatever decision.
But it will keep you from falling into the pit of misunderstanding even what he was trying to get at, in a fit of pique over what he meant by the words he uttered.
George W is smart as a whip. But let’s face it he’s a mere mortal and doesn’t know everything he thinks he knows just like anyone else. He also has been communication-challenged when he has to get into the weeds of stuff. He tries to simplify and unify things that might be very complex and more disconnected than connected.
Thereby botching the overall impression. Imagine saying he had to violate capitalism in order to save it. Imagine saying he preferred to be like FDR rather than Hoover. But in context, he actually believed the financial system was imploding. His Treasury guy swore it was (Paulson of Goldman Sachs). So he took problematic, massive government actions that we still disagree with to this day, but he believed he had to, right or wrong.
The part about Roosevelt or Hoover was a false choice, but W studied history and you know how historians have presented that false choice. Therefore W could have simply MEANT, if he is to be remembered for a financial implosion, he would rather be thought of as a man of action (Roosevelt) rather than as a man of inaction (as Hoover is painted but again, a false choice, neither Hoover nor Roosevelt fixed anything and both “tried”).
But how easy for you, just start a thread and invite the avid, avowed Bush Bashers to join in...
I don’t agree with a lot he did, I do agree with some of it (tax cuts, open religious faith, immediate response to 9-11) but most of all I agree he came off as a class act and someone who respected the office and the military.
Bush was a class act. He was a social conservative and wanted to protect America. He told the truth.
I think Bush’s problem was Rove and the estabshment. Like every country club republican, which can also be called a Liberal in Conservative clothing or RINO for those of you in Rio Linda, eventually you have to pay back your benefactors.
He is like a hemorrhoid: Pain in the butt when he’s here, but you miss him when he’s gone.
The office of President is co-opted by a hidden hand of financial, security and power interests. Each is selected and installed to further a long standing (50 years old or more) strategy for the United States. The complete about faces of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama on foreign policy and foreign intervention should completely confirm this. Both campaigned on non interventionist foreign policies devoid of “Nation Building”.
</tinfoilhatslip>
People can say whatever they like...however this is how I will always remember the man and I miss having an American loving, American patriot for president. A president that truly loves and cares for America and still loves and cares for the troops. He is a "great American." 
Hell...George W Bush on his worst day is still a damn far sight better than the train wreck we have as present_dent now. God Bless America and God Bless George W. Bush.
Reagan might not have won without Bush. Establishment Republicans preferred Bush to Reagan in 1980.
...but most of all I agree he came off as a class act and someone who respected the office and the military.
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I agree with your entire posting, Lady! Dubya still serves through his work with the Wounded Warriors.
“...People can say whatever they like...however this is how I will always remember the man...”
Well said... and thanks for saying it.
I, too, think Bush Sr. was Reagan’s first and biggest mistake. Second was amnesty for illegals.
...Who wouldn’t be wounded, but for Bush’s penchant for foreign “nation building.”
I thought it rather strange that they were seemingly trying to sell that. It seemed to regular America that the economy was strong. So why the sudden emphasis on ‘the economy is strong’?
Well, a few months later, it became clear. The housing crisis, the banking crisis, etc., started hitting the fan. Then, Team Bush tried to throw money at the problems with bailouts.
Team Bush knew months earlier that the underlying economy was in bad shape. The Bush Team had tried to head off the impending economic crises and get through the 2008 election. They fell short by a year. And Bush was still neck deep in two wars that were growing more costly: Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pretty much sums up a thinking persons position.
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