Free Republic

Ask George H. W. Bush, an 82-year-old Republican ex-president receiving a joint award with Democrat Bill Clinton, what he thinks of the heated political season, and you might expect an appeal for less partisan rancor. Wrong. In accepting the Liberty Medal with Clinton last night for their role in tsunami and Katrina relief efforts, Bush instead offered a spirited "defense of the proper role of partisanship in our politics." "No doubt, this has been a rough political year," Bush said, "but you'll have a hard time convincing me that politics is tougher and uglier in 2006 than it was in...