Almost done with bizarre Bushisms

[Neil D]

By HELEN THOMAS

HEARST NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON -- Outgoing President Bush admits to some "disappointments" during his eight White House years but he hesitates to call them "mistakes."

At his last news conference as president, Bush cited Abu Ghraib --the notorious Iraq prison where U.S. soldiers abused and tortured prisoners -- as a "huge disappointment," even though he had approved of harsh interrogation techniques.

"I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not," Bush told reporters "but there were things that didn't go according to plan."

Here's a bizarre Bushism. In one of his strangest statements as president, Bush said that Iraq's "not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment."

Wait a minute. The absence of those weapons should have been good news.

But it was a huge disappointment for Bush because he had had staked his public rationale for attacking Iraq on the existence of those alleged weapons. When none were found, it became a disappointment for Bush because it meant that he had committed U.S. military forces to invade Iraq in 2003 on either erroneous information or a lie.

More than 4,000 Americans have been killed in Iraq since then. Imagine the disappointment of their families and loved ones.

To this day, Bush has not given a credible explanation for his war that also has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis.

Well, a mea culpa was too much to expect. Reporters who have covered Bush day by day found him in denial, defensive and self-righteous in his farewell news conference, just a few days before turning over power to Barack Obama.

In bidding farewell, Bush said he never worried about his popularity polls which kept falling into the 30 percent approval range. But he insisted that the decisions he made were to protect the U.S. from further attack.

Bush told a questioner he strongly disagreed that the U.S. moral standing in the world had been damaged by the attack on Iraq.

The U.S. image "may be damaged amongst some of the elite, but the people will understand America stands for freedom, (and) that America is a country that provided such great hope," Bush said.

He does not buy the complaints of some predecessors that the presidency is the loneliest place in the world. "Not for me," he said. "I believe this -- the phrase 'burdens of the office' is overstated."

Although some of his friends are skeptical, Bush also said: "I tell people that some days are happy, some days not so happy, every day, every day has been joyous."

On the Middle East crisis, his double standard was in full display.

Bush said he remained an opponent of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which has been invaded by Israel. He found only the firing of rockets by Hamas unacceptable, but expressed no sympathy for the Palestinians who are suffering heavy Israeli bombardment with American-supplied weapons.

Bush told the news conference: "Israel has a right to defend itself." He did not say the Palestinians have a right to defend themselves. He also said the Gazans have to stop smuggling arms. But he said nothing about the tons of arms we have supplied Israel.

As for the global economic meltdown, the president admitted he had to abandon his free-market principles and approve of massive government intervention in the economy. He said this switcheroo was required in order to save the free market system. The logic evoked the Vietnam era when we had to destroy a village in order to save it.

In an interview with Fox television correspondent Brit Hume, Bush said "being the commander-in-chief" was his main point of pride, a sentiment voiced by Vice President Dick Cheney in his own farewell interviews.

The strange twist here is that both Bush and Cheney found ways to skip the draft during the Vietnam era, although they were eligible and in good health.

Heading back home to Texas, Bush said he was "getting off the stage," adding he had had "my time in the klieg lights."

Gone but not forgotten, he plans to write a book and said he will be "opining" at times. I'm waiting with bated breath.

[Neil D]

Yeah, I can see that now...Bush still talking about Gynocologists not being able to do the joys of thier profession.....

Yeah, right....who's gonna get that book, unless it's to be fodder for the comedians....

[fccool]

While I don't think Bushisms matter much, I think it's important that presidential legacy does speak for itself.

I believe that President's direct requests for the people to "go out and shop", and unwillingness to recognize the inherent problem with economy early on in fact contributed to the crisis we are experiencing today.

It's one thing to be wrong as a pundit, it's another thing to be wrong with thousands of brilliant people behind your back constantly warning you, and you choose to ignore them in light of what you want to hear.

[Jack Chaffin Jr]

All,

Helen Thomas is not the most credible source. Her Bush-hatred has real depth and duration, as does her elitism. She basically personifies all that is wrong with the inside-the-beltway chattering class.

[phkrause]

Yea! but Neil is her number one admirer. hahahahaha couldn't resist Neil. Have a good Sabbath.

pk

[Bravus]

I think we should do exactly as Bush asks - let history judge his legacy.

When do you think we'll know?

[John317]

Yes, I do believe it will, and I am glad for it-- no matter what that judgment is.

But I believe it will be different from what you may expect. I think you'll be surprised, actually. People sure were surprised about Lincoln and Truman. They were some of the most despised and disrespected presidents during their time in office. Now both rated very highly, Truman always rated among the top ten, and of course Lincoln usually at the very top. Many considered Lincoln a bumbling, stupid monkey who could do no more than tell dumb jokes. And Truman was widely viewed as untalented and unintelligent compared to the great man, FDR.

Much of the info that historians need in order to judge President George W. Bush won't be open to the public for about 12 years. Some will be available before that but there is much that won't be. But I don't think it will be that long before you will see a more positive view of this president's decisions.

Another thing-- I think President-Elect Obama will govern some things surprisingly like Bush, particularly the "war on terror." He's already made a lot of changes from the way he talked about a year ago.

I like most of what Obama has done so far.

[phkrause]

I agree with your acessment of Bush. I didn't vote for him. Didn't really like him or his father, but I think they both did what they had to do. I really didn't like Gore, I think Bush was the better of the two evils at that time in history. I believe that in time Bush will have a better rep than Nixon who I believe did more damage to this country than Bush could ever dream of.

pk

[Neil D]

All,

Helen Thomas is not the most credible source. Her Bush-hatred has real depth and duration, as does her elitism. She basically personifies all that is wrong with the inside-the-beltway chattering class.

[Neil D]

I think we should do exactly as Bush asks - let history judge his legacy.

When do you think we'll know?

How about now?

[Dr. Shane]

All,

Helen Thomas is not the most credible source. Her Bush-hatred has real depth and duration, as does her elitism. She basically personifies all that is wrong with the inside-the-beltway chattering class.

President Bush put Helen Thomas in her place quickly after he took office. He would have her seated in the back of the Press Room and would not call on her and allow her to ask questions. She has a real axe to grind with President Bush. The way he treated her is one of the things that made me proud he was the President. I don't like elitist reporters that think they know more than the subjects of the stories they are reporting.

[Bravus]

Yep, Bush sure did manage to tame the media.

[Dr. Shane]

Did I say tame?

[Dr. Shane]

Well Bush did a terrible job of using the media to defend many of the policies of his administration. I think his attitude was that he was doing what was right and it was between him and God. He also knew that much of the media was foaming at the mouth to show him in the most negative light possible. The media likes influence politicians to and get them to do things certain ways and Bush wouldn't play that game. Reagan was a master at handling the media. The media really went after G.W.H. Bush and all but destroyed Clinton.

[olger]

The media loved Clinton, Shane.

[Dr. Shane]

The media gave Clinton a lot of good coverage after the Monica Lewinsky affair but during the scandal the media was all over him. There were certainly ideologues in the media that tried to defend Clinton during the scandal but it was a front page story. The late night comedians were relentless. I saw David Letterman making a Lewinsky joke just last week.

Disclaimer: Letterman comes on after our local news so I sometimes catch a bit of his program. I am not a Letterman fan.

[Neil D]

I think you guys can't see the forest for the trees....

....It aint about Clinton or the press....

[Bravus]

When you have an illegal war declared and not one mainstream media outlet challenges it, that's a tamed press.

But you can't convince the converted.

[Neil D]

Well, when you send a veteran reporter to the back of the class, and then don't answer her questions, I would guess that in order to get the news [#1 priority for a reporter], you'd better play the game....

...and that folks, is how you tame the press....