Bush deserves better than groundless blame

When George W. Bush leaves office Tuesday, he will do so with a 27 percent exit approval rating, lower even than Jimmy Carter’s was. I think he deserves better.

Why? Because, while national security is not the president’s only job, it must be his first priority, and Bush has been an excellent wartime leader. Even when it cost him politically, he has remained a relentless and successful defender of this nation and its people.

Like all of us, Bush saw those two great towers reduced to rubble, the smoke pouring from the Pentagon, the smoldering scar cut through a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001. Unlike too many of us, Bush never forgot how much can change in a single morning if we give our enemies an opening.

Famously stubborn, Bush refused to forget the lessons of 9/11, and we have all benefited, whether we realize it or not. I imagine he was also inspired by those he met who lost loved ones on 9/11 and in the war that followed. Remembering 9/11 was also his duty: He swore to preserve, protect and defend —- and he has done so.

At every turn, Bush has been opposed by the hordes of liberal Lilliputians who dominate our colleges, newsrooms, Hollywood studios and —- more tragically —- even the Democratic caucus in Washington. They have questioned his veracity, his motives, his tactics. They have whined about Guantanamo Bay and interrogation techniques and wiretaps of foreigners. Two years ago, they said Iraq was a lost cause.

Even now, Bush’s domestic adversaries have bloodied but not beaten him. He and our soldiers, intelligence agents and law enforcement officers have kept us safe. At home, we have not been hit again. In Iraq, the surge has worked and the war is nearly won.

One of the most reckless claims of Bush’s opponents is that he misled the country into Iraq by lying about Saddam Hussein’s efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. Truth is, Bush didn’t lie. Nor did Bush claim Saddam was behind 9/11. What the president refused to do, in the wake of the most devastating attack on America since Pearl Harbor, was sit around and do nothing when the best intelligence indicated Saddam was working feverishly on WMDs.

On the domestic front, Bush’s record is not as strong. As a conservative, I wasn’t happy with some of his choices. He never put a brake on government spending. He tried too hard to work with people like Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), who wrote his first education bill. And he generally failed to make the case for conservatism or his own policies.

Even so, there were times Bush demonstrated remarkable political courage, often at a risk to his own popularity. In 2005, he made fixing Social Security a top priority. The rest of Washington wasn’t interested. The American people weren’t, either. So nothing happened. Nor did Bush make friends with his immigration plan, but at least he had the courage to take on an enduring national challenge.

Vice President Dick Cheney also deserves better. He was retired from public life and making a comfortable living when Bush asked him to run. Under such circumstances —- and with his heart troubles —- Cheney could easily have turned Bush down. But he didn’t. He served ably, and he is a hero for it, not a villain.

In the end, Bush’s low approval ratings and the apparent credence given to absurd descriptions of him as one of America’s worst presidents reflect more on the people’s shortcomings than Bush’s. In this, the president hasn’t so much let us down as we have let him down.

Which isn’t so surprising. Free people often tire of war. Even the British, fast on the heels of Adolf Hitler’s defeat, unceremoniously voted out Winston Churchill in 1945.

I saw comedian Dennis Miller in Las Vegas last year, and he neatly summed up why I remain thankful for our outgoing president. Bush, Miller explained, will still be going after the bad guys with everything he has, right up until the day he leaves office.

Starting tomorrow, we can only hope that our new president will prove as aggressive in protecting our nation and defeating our enemies as George W. Bush.

“Nor did Bush make friends with his immigration plan, but at least he had the courage to take on an enduring national challenge. “

geesh. Not only did he not make friends, he betrayed us by using blackmail...saying we can’t have border security without comprehensive immigration reform...he ‘took on’ the immigration “challenge” in a critical election year costing us both the house and the senate, he played irresponsible and dangerous games by sending UNarmed military to the border to shuffle paperwork, and left our nation in economic shambles by pandering to illegal aliens with his 2002 “Ownership Society”. I could go on and on... But for the grace of God this country was not hit again...it had nothing to do with Bush. He sent our soldiers to fight and left their families vulnerable here at home by REFUSING to secure OUR borders. As long as the border remains effectively unsecured, we stand to lose the WOT in our own backyards. I’d rather know that, as an Open Borders puppet, his hands were tied, than to believe he made such stupid choices all by his lonesome. Yeah, voted for him twice.

Jimmy Carter is a contemptable fool. He is not worthy of polishing the shoes of George W. Bush.

HOWEVER--there is plenty of well grounded blame that George W. Bush well deserves, to whit:

He REFUSED to enforce U.S. immigration laws.
He REFUSED to secure the Mexican Border and halt illegal immigration.
He spent more of the American worker's hard-earned money than any president since Lyndon Johnson.
He INCREASED the size, reach, grasp, greed, and appetite of the Frankenstein's Monster known as the Federal Government.
He saddled the already staggering American taxpayer with YET ANOTHER entitlement program--prescription drugs!
He handed Congress to the depraved, degenerate, decadent Democrats on a silver platter in 2006, and in 2008 he gave them the ENTIRE U.S. government, including the presidency.
He pardoned Ramos and Campeon at the final hour. He could have--and SHOULD HAVE--pardoned them immediately after their conviction. For this he gets faint praise from me.
He managed to alienate his most loyal, enthusiastic, and benevolent supporters--especially me--by his stupid, ridiculous, and unnecessary policies and behavior in office.

Bush is an honest, decent, and honorable man--in contrast to his predecessor--and he kept the United States safe after 9/11; for this he is to be honored and commended.

However his policies, his decisions (vide supra), and his behavior in office are unforgivable. The danger into which he has cast the U.S.A. and the American people by delivering them into the clutches of Democrat politicians has been greater than the danger threatened by America's enemies abroad!

He has and deserves the scorn of history and the world.

And this from one of his--former--most loyal supporters!

For eight years, he pretty much carried the world on his shoulders, so I’m glad he finally gets to take a break — and let those who haven’t been carrying their own weight take over, and have to protect themselves.

“But the world is a safer place because of his years of leadership, particularly reining in the reign of terror that nobody thought there was anything anybody could do about it. He showed us one could. And so the world is a very different place now — and others can take over.

But nobody else could have done what he did — and that was why he was president, when he was.

He’ll regain his strength and vitality now that the constant pressure is off. It’s been hard on his supporters also — and we also deserve a break from the vigilance of looking after those who have lost the capacity to look after themselves. But now that they’ve seen how it’s done, they can take back their lives.

The only way George Bush could have been popular enough to give McCain a win would have been to retreat in Iraq, rescind his pro-life policies, and appoint liberals to the Supreme Court.

To name President Bush as the architect of Republican defeat is to blame him for the cowardice and weasel actions of so many Congressional Republicans, as well as the pundits who were supposed to be his supporters. And GOP voters need to shoulder a great deal of the blame as well.

I am proud this man was president, and proud to have supported him through the last 8 years. I hope he has a long and happy life, surrounded by his family and friends, and never has to deal with politics ever again.

"To name President Bush as the architect of Republican defeat is to blame him for the cowardice and weasel actions of so many Congressional Republicans, as well as the pundits who were supposed to be his supporters. And GOP voters need to shoulder a great deal of the blame as well."

Exactly right, MM! The "principled conservatives" who sat on their asses and "sent a message" that they didn't get their single issue satisfied have led us to this point where an avowed Anti-American President and Congress controlled by dishonest, Anti-Americans now controls this country.

Of course, all those "principled conservatives" will be whining about how it isn't their fault...just like my ex-wife! You asked for it...you got it! Now, try to survive with it and shut the hell up!

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