Posted on 09/04/2010 6:15:30 AM PDT by McLynnan
Former President George W. Bush was at Ridgewood Country Club on Friday morning for a charitable event to raise money for the education of spouses and children of service members killed or catastrophically disabled in the line of duty.
Bush was named honorary chairman of the inaugural Patriot Golf Day Weekend, started this year by the Folds of Honor Foundation to raise money for the organization’s scholarship fund.
The foundation’s name refers to the U.S. flag-folding ritual during a military funeral. Former President George W. Bush jokes with onlookers after one of the members of his group at Ridgewood Country Club hit an errant drive off the first tee Friday morning. Former President George W. Bush jokes with onlookers after one of the members of his group at Ridgewood Country Club hit an errant drive off the first tee Friday morning. Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald
According to the foundation, thousands of golf courses across the country are asking golfers to add $1 or more to their normal greens fees for the program.
“Thank you for allowing me to associate myself with such a worthy cause,” Bush said during a brief statement to reporters before he teed off. “First, I like to play golf. And secondly, I admire our vets and their families and this is a way for citizens to contribute to a scholarship fund for children who have lost a parent in combat or whose parent is severely wounded.
“People all across America can play golf this weekend and support the children of our vets and that’s a noble and worthy cause.”
Bush did not take questions from local TV news crews cordoned off behind the first hole, but he brought “FOX and Friends” anchor Brian Kilmeade along to start the round.
Rounding out the presidential fivesome were retired Army Staff Sgt. Heath Calhoun, a double amputee and Iraq War veteran; Oklahoma Air National Guard Maj. Dan Rooney, who founded Folds of Honor; and Jim Remy, president of the PGA.
Calhoun lost his legs after his Humvee was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in Mozul in 2003.
Bush had awarded Calhoun a Purple Heart, and his children have received future scholarships through Folds of Honor.
Bush was the first in the group to tee off, after several members declined to go in front of a former president.
Bush was in a jocular mood during the event, ribbing Kilmeade for an errant drive and winking at the bank of TV cameras.
The president’s first drive was low to the ground and to the left of the fairway and Bush asked for and received a mulligan, golf-speak for a do-over.
His second attempt was also low and leftward but it curved back toward the fairway before dropping out of view below a decline on the course.
Several notable Wacoans came out for the charitable event and to watch the former president on the course. They included Waco Mayor Jim Bush and Waco Tea Party co-founder and vice president Michael Simon.
mshapiro@wacotrib.com
He stunk, especially in his second term. Deal with it.
He should have wiped the cow crap off’n his shoes for the event....
I was so glad we had nice weather yesterday!
Brilliant. just brilliant.
“This man has class and an honest love for country and the military, but those qualities are ignored by the mainstream media. They would rather report every time this president takes a dump.”
And get a tingle up their legs as he does it.
Stronger than a tingle. :)
“He stunk, especially in his second term. Deal with it.”
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Bush was by no means perfect. I will agree with that. However, I would rather have him as President than the gangsta-in-chief we have now....or even the babemeister, Bill Clinton...or the weenie, Jimmy Carter. We’ve done a helluva lot worse when it comes to electing presidents.
Agreed- compared with the current marxist jackass, Bush looks g-r-r-great!
Compared with the gold standard, e.g., R. Reagan, not so much.
At best, he was a mixed bag- some positive things and some very negative things.
As time goes by, we are able to see how his failures helped pave the way for the mess we are in now, and that doesn’t exactly put him in the Hall of Fame of presidents.
http://www.wacotrib.com/photos/George-W-Bush-plays-golf-in-Waco.html
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Darn I miss this man, thank you for the link.
“Compared with the gold standard, e.g., R. Reagan, not so much.”
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I usually get tarred and feathered for saying this, but even Ronald Reagan had his faults. Let’s face it — all presidents all human; so it’s natural for them to screw up from time to time. Don’t get me wrong — Reagan was probably the closest president to perfection — I just don’t worship him as much as most people here do.
But it used to be that you could usually count on a president — even the Democrats — to do something right once in a while. With most of our past presidents, you could tell they had love for the United States and believed in the principles on which this nation was founded. It seems to me that George Bush, in spite of his faults, was one of those presidents. The current occupant — I haven’t seen anything he has accomplished in the last 20 months that was good and right. He and his accomplices are out to destroy this country, and everything he has done to date bears witness to that. Unlike Carter who was thoroughly incompetent or Bill Clinton who spent his time chasing babes, this “president” is just plain evil.
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