Posted on 09/19/2005 6:33:57 PM PDT by wagglebee
Thirty-six hours after ex-president Bill Clinton bashed and trashed his son on everything from his handling of the Hurricane Katrina crisis to the Iraq war, former president George H.W. Bush says he still likes Clinton.
Appearing during commercial breaks on ABC's "Monday Night Football," the president's father was asked how he and Clinton managed to get along.
"I like him," Bush 41 said, despite the verbal thrashing Clinton administered to his son on ABC's "This Week" the day before.
Given two more opportunities to comment on his relationship with Clinton, Bush Sr. declined to say a single negative word about his successor.
Mr. Clinton, on the other hand, demonstrated no such graciousness when asked on Sunday about the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.
"You can't have an emergency plan that works if it only affects middle class people and up," Clinton told ABC's "This Week."
He said the allegedly slow federal response disproportionately affected African Americans and was caused by the Bush tax cuts.
"This is a matter of public policy," Clinton told his former communications director, George Stephanopoulos. "And whether it's race-based or not, if you give your tax cuts to the rich and hope everything works out all right, poverty goes up and it disproportionately affects black and brown people."
I believe Sr. Bush's comment that "I like him" is similar to saying, "I know it is wierd, but I like him. It is amazing, that I could like this person who is so beneath me." Sr. Bush knows it is uncharacteristic that he could like Clinton, yet he can't explain it.
Notice that Sr. Bush didn't say, "he is my friend," or "we are friends."
I think it is close to liking a bad habit or your inability to keep from looking at a train wreck.
How is this showing "class"??? To me it shows nothing but pathetic weakness. It was despicable for HW Bush to give Ted Kennedy an eponymous award for "public service" a week after Kennedy called his son a "liar" on the floor of the Senate. Doesn't Bush 41 recognize evil when he sees it? I am so sick of how "nice" the Bush family is. When will the gloves come off?
Why? Because look how bad it makes Clinton look now. What is everyone talking about, even libs? How can Clinton trash Bush and then suck up to him and his Dad. They're not really talking about what he's saying, they're talking about the betrayal. Once again, Bush wins.
I think Dubya has the potential to be a great leader, but too often only when his back is to the wall and he stops acting like his likable but highly ineffective Dad.
Allowing the Leftists, and international media, to cheapshot with impunity, with absolutely no fear of reprisal, is political suicide.
Who can watch Dubya losing news cycle after news cycle to the pathetic Dems, with nary a reply, and say - this is the best we can do to make our case?
Islamofascism must be dealt with decisively in our lifetime, and only the GOP has the sense to do it.
Squandering this vital call to duty with pious political naivety will get me and my family, and you and your family, killed fast.
I don't. To permit Clinton to blame Bush 43 for N.O. while giving Clinton (and James Lee Witt) a pass for the Chicago heatwave deaths is just weak. If Bush 41 would simply refute any one of Clinton's lies, you would see Billy Boy shying away from it in the future.
I already said it on this thread - lying is NOT class.
Yep. He was too "nice" to take on Clinton's character in 1992, he was too "nice" to withdraw Ted Kennedy's "Bush Award for Public Service" after Fat Ted called his son a liar. Now he is too "nice" to take on Clinton's lies about the President.
A "statesman" doesn't roll over for his enemies. He takes them on in the field of public debate, and calmly defeats them with rhetoric.
Reagan was a man.
He shot his critics down with SAM's, with class and aplomb.
'Well, there you go again..."
He called them on it everytime, to resounding success.
I believe Juanita.
What on earth does this have to do with refuting liars and scoundrels? By permitting Clinton to spew despicable lies about his son, the sitting President, Bush 41 in effect surrenders the debate to him. You don't have to yell and scream or "slug" anyone. But to ignore it and say how much you like the lying creep is just pathetic, and unworthy of admiration.
Great quote....one of my favorite ones. Incidently, was first uttered by Cyrus Stuart Ching (1876-1967), an industrialist who was a favorite among the organized labor movement.
Hell, I can just sit here and watch you knock them outta the park!
Well said!
Bush 41 just ignores his critics and says how much he "likes" them. Bush 43 is often not much better, having permitted incredible lies to be told by Nagin and Landrieu without any rebuttal whatsoever.
Bill Clinton....
That you don't know if Bush is in cahoots with Judas speaks to his vacillating quality.
Uncertainty in action or purpose is no way to run a country.
I'm with you, MJ. No matter how charmingly manipulative a pr oven sociopath is, once proven to be one he is never to be trusted, let alone endorsed.
It's not class. It's lack of sack. Damn it, when are we going to have some real leaders in this country?
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