Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

BUSH PREDICTED EXACTLY WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN IRAQ

Former President Bush has every right to say to President Obama:  "I told you so!"  No one takes pleasure in that fact.  It's disheartening that America acted so foolishly as to elect a "community organizer" not just once, but twice!  

 

Mark A. Thiessen writes in the Washington Post:  (HT: Wintery Knight)

. . . In the summer of 2007, Bush warned of the dire consequence of pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq against the advice of our commanders on the ground. All of Washington was telling Bush that the surge he had launched would fail and that the time had come to withdraw from Iraq and accept defeat.

At a White House news conference on July 12, 2007, Bush declared: “I know some in Washington would like us to start leaving Iraq now. To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we’re ready would be dangerous for Iraq, for the region and for the United States. It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al-Qaeda. It would mean that we’d be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we’d allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan. It would mean we’d be increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous.”

. . .  In 2010, Obama did precisely what Bush warned against and withdrew all U.S. forces from Iraq — overruling his commander on the ground, Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, who had recommended that Obama keep 24,000 troops. And since then, everything that Bush warned would happen has come to pass.

Bush warned that withdrawing against the advice of our military commanders would result in “mass killings on a horrific scale.” Check. We’re now seeing mass killings on a horrific scale — summary executions, women and children buried alive, people being crucified, the attempted genocide of the Yazidis and two American journalists beheaded.

GEORGE W. BUSH SHINES

Drudge provides links to two commentaries lauding the humility, integrity, and "normalness" of President George W. Bush.  I found both opinion pieces fascinating, and on the mark, as each sketches the character of the five presidents present for the opening of Bush's presidential library in Dallas yesterday.

     - Peggy Noonan - Obama fatigue becomes apparent

I thought the following even more poignant:

      - Joseph Curl - W outclasses Barack and Bill, without even trying

GEORGE W. BUSH FLIGHT 93 MEMORIAL SPEECH, SEPTEMBER 10, 2011

I find former President George W. Bush a man of deep feeling, genuine care and concern, in many ways a heroic man, who led this nation in the aftermath of 9/11 with exceptional competence and devotion.   (Ht: Gateway Pundit)

Former U.S. president George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush bow their heads during ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attack in Shanksville, Pennsylvania September 10, 2011. (REUTERS/Jason Cohn)

Here is the speech:

 

From his speech today:  (HT: Gateway Pundit)

On 9-11, “The most lives lost on American soil on a single day since the Battle of Antietam.”

“One of the lessons of 9-11 is that evil is real and so is courage.”

“At the moment American democracy was under attack our citizens defied their captors by holding a vote. The choice they made would cost them their lives. And they knew it. Many passengers called their loved ones to say good-bye. Then hung up to perform their final act.”

“The Flight 93 heroes led the first counter attack in the WAR ON TERROR.”

“The temptation of isolation is deadly wrong.”

Bush receives a standing ovation.

Hundreds of Fans Mob George W. Bush & Billy Graham at Charlotte Bush Signing (Video)

Click here.

PRSIDENT OBAMA AND PRESIDENT BUSH THROWING A BASEBALL FROM THE MOUND

I was struck by Daniel Foster's observation:

Watching the president [Obama] throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Nats game yesterday (which you can watch on the homepage), I couldn't help but think of President Bush's first turn at that task. Yankee Stadium in October of 2001, under much different circumstances.

As Bush chatted with the Yanks in their clubhouse before the game, he was reportedly told by Derek Jeter that, if he missed the plate, he'd be booed — "United We Stand" or not.

As you can see, though he was burdened with heavy body armor under his FDNY fleece, Bush didn't miss the plate. He fired a sinker in there for a belt-high strike. Just sayin'.

Me: If you watch Obama throw a baseball, and you are a guy who has personally played catch since you were a kid, you won't be impressed.  To put it mildly.  Below:  President Bush at Yankee Stadium shortly after 9/11.   Impressive.  To put it mildly.

BIZARRE ANGLE OF OBAMA'S CEREMONIAL FIRST PITCH AT THE ALL-STAR GAME

The Anchoress asks the right question when she wonders

 "if David Axelrod had negotiated the bizarre angle (there is no other word for it, if you’re a baseball-watching fan) used to showcase President Barack Obama’s ceremonial “first pitch.” I have never seen a president throw a pitch, before, where the angle left out the catcher at the plate."

She has produced a brilliant comparison of Obama and Bush, not only in throwing ability, but more importantly in their style (and modesty).  Her post is definitely worth reading, as is her link to Andy McCarthy.

Rush Limbaugh plainspeakingly says:

Obama's pitch did not make it all the way to the plate. . .  The guy throws like a girl.  I'm sorry.  He throws like a girl, he had a girlie toss.

The video he posts substantiates his point.   Further down Rush's post you can compare President Bush's 2001 World Series toss.

Is throwing ability small potatoes?  Yes.  What's significant are the larger points made by the Anchoress and McCarthy.  The media will stand on its head (and orchestrate camera angles and commentary as well), to make this president look good.

AT THIS TIME LAST YEAR, WHO WAS MORE POPULAR? OBAMA or BUSH?

Peter Wehner:

Here’s an interesting data point comparison: Barack Obama’s approval rating in the Gallup Poll today is 61 percent, with 28 percent disapproving (the Real Clear Politics aggregate of polls has his overall job approval rating at 59.8 percent). A March 5-7, 2001 Gallup poll found President Bush's job approval at 63 percent as well, with only 22 percent disapproving. So George W. Bush, at a comparable  time in his presidency, was in marginally better shape than Barack Obama is right now, at least based on the Gallup Poll survey.  (my emphasis)

This runs counter to conventional wisdom that Obama is tremendously popular, and that Bush (based on the divisive nature of the 2000 election) was not. In fact, according to the Gallup Poll data, what President Bush did was rise in the esteem of the public during the first five weeks of his presidency, while Obama has lost a bit of altitude.  (more . . .)

Photographing President Bush

From Andrea Shea King at WND:

Blogger "The Anchoress" discovered and linked this photo essay of President Bush created and narrated by TIME magazine photographers Brooks Kraft and Christopher Morris. The pair reflect on the eight years they spent covering George W. Bush. This heartwarming tribute to our 43rd president features memorable and heartrending photos of Sept 11, 2001, the buildup to the war, and the president's visits to our wounded soldiers.

BUSH HAS FOOLISHLY ALLOWED THE LEFT TO WRITE THE NARRATIVE OF HIS PRESIDENCY: A TRAGEDY

President George W. Bush is a nice guy.  But as the leader of the United States, and the leader of the  free world, and the leader of the Republican party, he had a responsibility to answer his critics promptly and forcefully with fact, after fact, after fact.  Instead he remained silent, and thereby let his enemies distort reality and control the historical narrative.  President Bill Clinton did not make that mistake.  He did the opposite.  He went after his opponents constantly, even if it meant stretching or denying the truth.  History has been kind to Clinton.

But now, finally, the Bush Administration is fighting back against the New York Times on one issue, something it should have done  day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year for  the past eight years.  That it has not done so is a tragedy.  Please read Andy McCarthy's  post which illustrates and clarifies my point:

VIDEO: BUSH TALKS CANDIDLY TO "NIGHTLINE" ABOUT HIS CHRISTIAN FAITH

President George W. Bush is a good, decent, honorable, humble man.  One can disagree with him on this or that policy, but his fundamental decency remains.   Click here for the interesting and revealing two-part video interview.

The Anchoress says she was very touched by the President's genuineness and humility.

Daniel Pulliam thinks the religious aspects of President Bush's interview are making greater waves overseas than in the United States:

European news outlets have for quite awhile reported a distorted view of Bush’s faith, and this interview is truly earth-shattering news for them.

PRESIDENT BUSH'S LEGACY OF HELP FOR AFRICA - (Mona Charen)

Though Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California rightly awarded President Bush the “International Medal of Peace” for his humanitarian work in Africa, the Left has refused to salute President George W. Bush and his noble efforts.  Mona Charen says that if President-elect Obama continues Bush's policies, Obama will be given the Nobel Prize and canonized. But it is Bush who deserves the credit he rarely receives.  Charen writes:

From the beginning of his administration, President Bush has pushed for more aid to Africa. Motivated perhaps by his deeply felt Christian faith (relieving poverty in Africa has become a major charitable push among evangelicals), the president has pressed for greater aid to Africa across the board. The original PEPFAR legislation (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), which passed in 2003, was the largest single health investment by any government ever ($15 billion). At the time the initiative was launched, only about 50,000  sub-Saharan Africans were receiving antiretroviral treatment for AIDS. Today, 1.7 million people in the region, as well as tens of thousands more around the globe, are receiving such treatment. PEPFAR has also funded efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus, provided compassionate care to the sick and dying, and cared for 5 million orphans. One aspect of the program has been to reduce the stigma of the AIDS diagnosis in Africa.

In July of this year, the president requested that funding for PEPFAR be doubled to $30 billion. The new funding will be used to train 140,000 new health-care workers. It would also address other illnesses, like tuberculosis, that often complicate AIDS.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH - A GRACIOUS MAN

-- Update 11/8/08 - In addition, see Jim Towey, "Why I'll Miss President Bush" - "The president's true character rendered his media image pure caricature."

-- Hugh Hewitt praises Neil Cavuto, a Fox anchor man.  Cavuto, in turn, praises Bush as follows:

CAVUTO: Well, he was classy, magnanimous, a gentlemen. . .  The president made a very classy gesture, offering only good words for the man who repudiated his run at the white house, but going one better, inviting Barack and Michelle Obama to the white house to see the place, talk about the place, and the pressures of the place, in private. These were not empty words. The president put a transition team in place months ago so that a smooth transfer of power could take place. President bush didn't have the same offer when he

President Bush Vindicated on Embryonic Stem Cell Position

Charles Krauthammer declares:

The verdict is clear: Rarely has a president -- so vilified for a moral stance -- been so thoroughly vindicated.

And he explains:

Why? Precisely because he took a moral stance... Precisely because he therefore decided that some moral line had to be drawn.

In doing so, he invited unrelenting demagoguery by an unholy trinity of Democratic politicians, research scientists and patient advocates who insisted that anyone who would put any  restriction on the destruction of human embryos could be acting only for reasons of cynical politics rooted in dogmatic religiosity -- a  "Moral Ayatollah," as Sen. Tom Harkin so scornfully put it.

. . . What Bush got right was to insist, in the face of enormous popular and scientific opposition, on drawing a line at all, on requiring that scientific imperative be balanced by moral considerations.

History will look at Bush's 2001 speech and be surprised how balanced and measured it ws, how much respect it gave to the other side.  Read it.  Here was a presidential policy pronouncement that so finely and fairly drew out the case for both sides that until the final few minutes of his speech, you had no idea where the policy would end up.

Bush 2.0 Repudiates Bush 1.0

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. spells out the unraveling of Bush's policies: appeasing North Korea, a Palestinian State no matter what, closing Gitmo, and farewell to sovereignty.   Seriously sad...  historically sad.

Bill Kristol Thinks Bush's Presidency Will Be Judged Successful

Kristol lists reasons.   I think he may be right. 

Peggy Noonan on the Bush White House: Republican Rank and File Spurned

** Update follows the post (6/2/07)

As much as I appreciate the many virtues of George W. Bush, I think Peggy Noonan's assessment sadly accurate. 

What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition. This is sad, and it holds implications not only for one political party but for the American future.

. . . For almost three years, arguably longer, conservative Bush supporters have felt like sufferers of battered wife syndrome. You don't like endless gushing spending, the kind that assumes a high and unstoppable affluence will always exist, and the tax receipts will always flow in? Too bad! You don't like expanding

Is President Bush a Liar? No

Joel Belz of World Magazine sets the record straight.    A still more definitive answer may be found in Norman Podheretz's "Who is Lying About Iraq?"

 

Update: 1/12/06 - See the article  Bush Understated Saddam's Threat which discusses the treasure trove of materials found in Iraq (over 2 million items!), including the names of 8,000 or more terrorists who trained in Iraq from 1999-2002 under Saddam.   This article in turn builds on Stephen Hayes' 1/16/2006 piece that appeared in the Weekly Standard.  Only 2% of the materials have so far been translated but they are amazing and totally discredit the accusations that President Bush lied about Saddam's threat.