Posted on 01/22/2005 11:56:00 PM PST by ambrose
Bush's Father Warns Against Extrapolating From Speech
By Jim VandeHei Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, January 23, 2005; Page A06
President Bush's call for an end to tyranny worldwide should not be interpreted by foreign governments and the American people as a prelude to a more aggressive and bellicose foreign policy in his second term, the president's father told reporters yesterday.
"People want to read a lot into it -- that this means new aggression or newly asserted military forces," former President George H.W. Bush said. "That's not what that speech is about. It's about freedom."
After George W. Bush's second inaugural address, in which he promised to defend those who seek freedom everywhere, there has been confusion overseas and in the United States over whether he was signaling a shift in foreign policy. Some interpreted the speech as presaging a more confrontational relationship with Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other nations that are allies in the war on terrorism but also have records of abusing human rights.
White House officials said in interviews Friday that Bush was not signaling a shift in policy but rather seeking to clarify what administration officials call the "Bush doctrine of liberty" that the president feels should guide policy well after he leaves the White House. The president's father reinforced that message yesterday.
People "certainly ought to not read into [the speech] any arrogance on the part of the United States," the former president said during an impromptu visit to the White House briefing room. White House officials said the president planned to detail the policies that will flow from the inaugural address in the upcoming State of the Union address.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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A Talk Radio Host in Northern California has started a Recall Sen. BOXER Campaign. It's about time.
During the Vietnam War a much younger BOXER led Anti-U.S. Demonstrations to shut down San Francisco's City Government Operations.
The Enemy is now Within...
and always has been.
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Of course I have no evidence, but this one really rings true for me.
Imagine that you invite your elderly father and mother to fly all the way from wherever they are (Maine?) down to your ranch in Midland on Thanksgiving, the holiday that symbolizes family and the blessings of America more than any other.
Meanwhile, while they are spending all of their time picking out what to wear, imagining the conversations that they will have with you, etc., you duck out of town to visit troops halfway around the world.
As a result, your parents were nothing more than tools, who flew all the way there and never even had the time to say hello.
And where are these troops? Fighting, at great risk to their own lives, in a war that does not have your father's support (and his mother never has commented on it).
Sure, as a booby prize, they got to spend some time with Laura and his girls. But imagine his father and mother's feelings when they arrived in Midland -- and imagine being the President and imagining what your parents' reaction will be!
Right. Therefore, your whole senairio is premised on "no evidence."
That's right. I believe that I said that it was all unprovable speculation/armchair psychiatry.
Obviously, I didn't make that point clear before, so thanks for the opportunity to clarify.
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