Borders signing in Dallas, Texas
11.9.10
Matt Lauer’s exclusive interview with former president George W. Bush aired Monday night:
His memoir, Decision Points, available in book stores today (bought mine this morning).
Live interview with Matt Lauer on The Today Show, Wednesday morning.
*UPDATE*
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.
Thanks for posting, Word. Interesting interview. I was never a fan of Bush politically, but Kanye West is an all around douchebag.
My wife surprised me with a copy of Decision Points today. I am looking forward to reading it. I missed the Lauer interview, but caught the Hannity and Oprah interviews. You could tell how much the charges of racism affected him and how he got emotional talking about the letter from his father and also about flight 93.
Like him or hate him, the man kept us safe, stuck to his principals and did the right thing, even when the polls said otherwise.
I have always said that the job of the president is to maintain and strengthen the military, technological, cultural, political, and economic superiority of the United States of America. On that measure, George W. Bush was an abject failure. But I will still buy his book because I think it will not be a nonsensical self-congratulatory piece of fiction like Karl Rove’s book. I suspect that Bush will be honest and open about his failures and his successes.
Cary —
You are simply wrong about Kanye West being a “douchebag.” Obama was right: Kanye is a “jacka$$.”
Bush sucks. We wouldn’t have this usurper following Bush’s footsteps if Bush didn’t suck.
He and his false flags and patriot act and first bailout.
My how you forget.
Interesting how Bush says he feels sick that no WMDs were ever found in US but yet some on here still claim WMDs were found. At least Bush isn’t under illusion about that reality.
@Antics
* Safe? The biggest terrorist attack on US soil happened on his watch.
* Was bailing out the big banks and a multi-billion stimulus package part of Bush’s principals?
* Was failing to deal with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac doing the right thing and was the subsequent government take over of those companies part of Bush’s principals?
* Was going into Iraq on Rumsfeld’s shoestring plandoing the right thing?
* Was advocating that 12 million illegal immigrants in the US should be allowed to legally work in the US doing the right thing?
*If Bush wasn’t effected by polls – then why did he ditch Rumsfeld after in the mid-term polls in 2006?
Thanks for showing your BDS hasn’t died, Gaffe. Despite efforts by some excellent posters here, you still display a staggering ignorance of the facts . The ONLY one you got right was how wrong he was to push for amnesty.
Again, this is all the time I will waste on you since after all these years you still can’t get it…and won’t.
@Gaffa: You said (in no particular order):
Um, nope you are wrong –
NYT in 2003: President Bush Tried To Stop Advent Of Fannie Mae Fiasco
Bush Called For Reform of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac 17 Times in 2008 Alone… Dems Ignored Warnings
And how many AFTER that? NONE
How many under Obama? Fort Hood, Times Square, Christmas Day, etc..
Rumsfeld offered his resignation even though Bush had stated publicly that Rumsfeld would be staying on through the end of his (Bush’s) term.
“On November 1, 2006, President Bush stated he would stand by Rumsfeld as defense secretary for the length of his term as president. Rumsfeld wrote a resignation letter dated November 6, and, per the stamp on the letter, Bush saw it on Election Day, November 7. In the elections, the House and the Senate shifted to Democratic control. After the elections, on November 8, Bush announced Rumsfeld would resign his position as Secretary of Defense. Many Republicans were unhappy with the delay, believing they would have won more votes if voters had known Rumsfeld was resigning.”
I could go on Gaffe, but really Hard Right is correct in stating that you just don’t get it; and in my battles with you on other threads I have found that you never admit when you are wrong.
@Hard Right
Yeah could you let me know which date in Bush’s 8 years was when it turned from blame Clinton to blame Obama? e.g. 9/11 – Clinton’s fault and Global Credit Crunch – Obama. At least Truman knew where the buck stopped when he was president.
@Anticrocks
So despite for the majority of his time in office – Bush had control of congress – how is it the Democrats fault? So he can’t plead ignorance of the issue – just that he was incompetent in getting through new regulation.
Islamic killings under Bush…
9/11/2001 USA Washington, DC 184 53 Nearly 200 people are killed when Islamic hijackers steer a plane full of people into the Pentagon.
9/11/2001 USA Shanksville, PA 40 0 Forty passengers are killed after Islamic radicals hijack the plane in an attempt to steer it into the U.S. Capitol building.
9/11/2001 USA New York, NY 2752 251 Islamic hijackers steer two planes packed with fuel and passengers into the World Trade Center, killing hundreds on impact and eventually killing thousands when the towers collapsed. At least 200 are seriously injured.
3/19/2002 USA Tuscon, AZ 1 0 A 60-year-old man is gunned down by Muslim snipers on a golf course.
5/27/2002 USA Denton, TX 1 0 Muslim snipers kill a man as he works in his yard.
7/4/2002 USA Los Angeles, CA 2 0 Muslim man pulls out a gun at the counter of an Israeli airline and kills two people.
9/5/2002 USA Clinton, MD 1 0 A 55-year-old pizzaria owner is shot six times in the back by Muslims at close range.
9/21/2002 USA Montgomery, AL 1 1 Muslim snipers shoot two women, killing one.
9/23/2002 USA Baton Rouge, LA 1 0 A Korean mother is shot in the back by Muslim snipers.
10/2/2002 USA Wheaton, MD 1 0 Muslim snipers gun down a program analyst in a store parking lot.
10/3/2002 USA Montgomery County, MD 5 0 Muslim snipers kill three men and two women in separate attacks over a 15-hour period.
10/9/2002 USA Manassas, VA 1 1 A man is killed by Muslim snipers while pumping gas two days after a 13-year-old is wounded by the same team.
10/11/2002 USA Fredericksburg, VA 1 0 Another man is killed by Muslim snipers while pumping gas.
10/14/2002 USA Arlington, VA 1 0 A woman is killed by Muslim snipers in a Home Depot parking lot.
10/22/2002 USA Aspen Hill, MD 1 0 A bus driver is killed by Muslim snipers.
8/6/2003 USA Houston, TX 1 0 After undergoing a religious revival, a Saudi college student slashes the throat of a Jewish student with a 4″ butterfly knife, nearly decapitating the young man.
12/2/2003 USA Chicago, IL 1 0 A Muslim doctor deliberately allows a Jewish patient to die from an easily treatable condition.
4/13/2004 USA Raleigh, NC 1 4 A Muslim man runs down five strangers with a car.
4/15/2004 USA Scottsville, NY 1 2 In an honor killing, a Muslim father kills his wife and attacks his two daughters with a knife and hammer because he feared that they had been sexually molested.
6/16/2006 USA Baltimore, MD 1 0 A 62-year-old Jewish moviegoer is shot to death by a Muslim gunman in an unprovoked terror attack.
6/25/2006 USA Denver, CO 1 5 Saying that it was ‘Allah’s choice’, a Muslim shoots four of his co-workers and a police officer.
7/28/2006 USA Seattle, WA 1 5 An ‘angry’ Muslim-American uses a young girl as hostage to enter a local Jewish center, where he shoots six women, one of whom dies.
10/6/2006 USA Louisville, KY 4 1 In an ‘honor’ attack, a Muslim man rapes and beats his estranged wife, leaving her for dead, then savagely murders their four children.
2/13/2007 USA Salt Lake City, UT 5 4 A Muslim immigrant goes on a shooting rampage at a mall, targeting people buying Valentine’s Day cards at a gift shop and killing five.
1/1/2008 USA Irving, TX 2 0 A Muslim immigrant shoots his two daughters to death on concerns about their ‘Western’ lifestyle.
7/6/2008 USA Jonesboro, GA 1 0 A devout Muslim strangles his 25-year-old daughter in an honor killing.
Total: 3012 deaths…
Islamic killings under Obama
2/12/2009 USA Buffalo, NY 1 0 The founder of a Muslim TV station beheads his wife in the hallway for seeking a divorce.
6/1/2009 USA Little Rock, AR 1 1 A Muslim with ‘religious motives’ shoots a local soldier to death inside a recruiting center.
11/2/2009 USA Glendale, AZ 1 1 A woman dies from injuries suffered when her father runs her down with a car for being too ‘Westernized.’ (10-20-09)
11/5/2009 USA Ft. Hood, TX 13 31 A Muslim psychiatrist guns down thirteen unarmed soldiers while yelling praises to Allah.
12/4/2009 USA Binghamton, NY 1 0 A non-Muslim Islamic studies professor is stabbed to death by a Muslim grad student in revenge for ‘persecuted’ Muslims.
4/14/2010 USA Marquette Park, IL 5 2 After quarrelling with his wife over Islamic dress, a Muslim convert shoots his family members to ‘take them back to Allah’ and out of the ‘world of sinners’.
Total: 22
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/AmericanAttacks.htm
So if Bush wanted Rumsfeld as he had stated to stay on to the end of his term why didn’t he simple refuse his resignation? Surely – you really don’t believe that his resignation wasn’t connected to the mid term polls.
As Hard Right and I predicted, Gaffer refuses to admit anything…
No word on how he got it wrong about Fannie and Freddie.
I have to go to work now, so I will delve into the rest of Gaffer’s bleating later. BTW, while I am gone Gaffer, why not provide some links to those dates you brought up?
I won’t be holding my breath.
@GaffaUK:
Dude, I’m no Bush lover either, but the crimes you site are individual crimes that had little or nothing to do with Muslim terrorists. Tacking on “Muslim” to their descriptions only fuels anti-Islam sentiment, and is a pretty cheap shot to get people on your side.
Nearly half of the crimes you site are the Beltway Snipers. The motive that was established in court for them was to cover the murder of his wife, making her look like another random victim. He grabbed on to the “Jihad” rhetoric AFTER he was sentenced to Capitol Punishment. Completely and totally a separate thing from an Al-Qaeda terrorist attack.
@GaffaUK:
Read the book, Gaff. 😉
Ouch.
Antics, what’s so funny and sad about Gaffe is he comes here with LONG discredited attacks and expects us to refute them.
Ok gaffe, I’ll throw you bone out of boredom. The ease with which 9/11 happened was Clinton’s fault. 8 years in office and they weakened our intelligence services severely. Bush comes in late to the office due to Gore’s attempt at stealing the election, has less than a year to do ANYTHING about the security mess he was left with, and you blame him. Typically pathetic of you.
If we were face to face and you said such bullshite to me, my response would be less than nice.
Just one thing to say to all of you people that hate Bush.
I love Bush (but not for what he did in his presidency other than preventing another attack on our country and trying to protect those of us that are most innocent, the unborn)
…..and I hate your fuckin guts.
Go ahead and tell us how you love Obama for doing everything in his power to weaken this country and killing every child he could (by his stance on legislation of that topic), even if they were already born and were alive due to a botched abortion.
You people are made for each other, and you all have the same destiny.
GuffaUK
Keep believing the way you are and when the USA is not there to pull your ass our of the fire, make sure to see the finger I am waving your way.
@jlfintx:
I never said I hated Bush, only that I was not a fan of his politically. If that causes you to hate me, then I can only say your hatred is harmful you more than it is to me. Nor has there been any mention of loving Obama in this thread. Many liberals are disappointed with Obama, and being critical of Bush does not automatically equate love for Obama.
Well Gaffer, I stopped in to check my computer before taking my wife out on a date night (and no, I won’t be sticking the taxpayers with the tab… 😀 ) so that I might see if you offered up any credible sources.
Nope, just as I suspected. It’s a good thing I didn’t hold my breath.
It looks like GWB’s new book Decision Points may not turn out to be a big favorite of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010311110017
Has any President in memory ever admitted making mistakes before G.W.Bush?
It appears not. Refreshing is it not, in the midst of a self-adulating Administration’s term in the Oval Office?
While I strongly disagreed with some of G.W.B.’s decisions, his perspective always seemed well grounded and without artifice, and he never pretended to be king of the world. He had a sense of his job and no one doubted that he loved his country.
Meanwhile the current President is so filled with his own sense of grandeur that he views the electorate with disdain. The very people who put him in office, are now viewed by the object of their worship, as being too mentally deficient to understand that his policies are GOOD FOR THEM regardless what the costs are.
It is also refreshing, in the wake of Obama’s constant whining “blame game,” to hear a former President’s refusal to speak badly of Any President, past or present. He makes Obama look infantile.
You’ll note that both carter and clinton have attacked Bush during and after his presidency. Bush has more class than all three dem presidents combined.
I’m not overwhelmingly happy with Obama, though I do think he’s done some good things. But I really think that the best chance the Dems have for maintaining the Executive branch in 2012 is for Hillary to challenge him in the Dem primaries. Conservatives may not like her anymore than they do him, but many liberals are thinking they made the wrong choice. In fact, most of my gay rights activist friends are completely unhappy with him. And the fact is, Dick Cheney is more in line with them than is Obama. Though I do raise an eyebrow when Bush speaks of tolerance. When it came to gay issues he was NOT on the same page as his VP. Cheney even made that clear in his VP debate during the reelection campaign, though he felt he had to stand by the President’s wishes.
Cary: We are agreed that Obama doesn’t beat his wife, but then again, she might kick his ass if he tried, so I don’t think that is a legitimate assumption.
@Skookum:
I’m not even sure what you mean by that! I mean, I know the saying, but can you please clarify how it pertains to what I’ve written? I’m afraid you’ve gone over my head!
The conversation between Senator Mitch McConnell and President George W. Bush, as related in Decision Points:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/11/13/maddow_mcconnells_cynical_game_of_war_politics_exposed.html
I’m betting that the conservative media won’t touch this revelation about McConnell with a ten-foot barge pole. If a high-ranking democrat cynically suggested such a thing to President Obama, it would be headline news for a week.
Thusfar McConnell hasn’t denied that the conversation relate by George W. Bush took place.
@ Greg,
It appears that not only do you not bother to read, but you don’t listen either.
What you call the conservative media – reported it first.
What you should ponder is the fact that the former President had the brass to admit to the political pressure that existed from his own side of the political aisle. Who cares that an insecure McConnell was the one who pressured? He’s an insignificant goof, IMHO.
What’s more important is the juxtaposition of the former President’s guileless presence, to the current weak-kneed whiner currently failing to make positive decisions for a country in serious trouble.
Cary it was a weak association, using Aristotle’s logic to refer back to your statement that Obama has come good points: by me stating that he doesn’t beat his wife is illustrating my difficulty in thinking of the good points that you reference.
Cary you surely appreciate how difficult it is to write humor; some lines are funny and some lines are only funny to the author at the time. At the time it was a crack-up. Rest assured Cary, I have no reason to attack you personally. I will rip into the anyone’s prose to get a laugh and since you neglected to mention Obama’s good points, I jumped like a starving wolf on a lamb; you left the door open for a frustrated humor shark, who is always circling and waiting, waiting for an opening…
Lighten up Cary, you hang out with a bunch of Conservative bad asses that like you, it doesn’t get better than that for a Lib, my friend.
Skook,
On the other hand, when someone is beyond question a complete fraud who has misrepresented himself and hidden his intent, it serves little to search for that scrap of positive, . . . regardless, your comment was funny as hell.
Thanks JR, its nice to ride with someone who has a sense of humor: I have a feeling we are going to need a lot of humor over the next few years and most important of all, the ability to laugh.
@Antics
Clearly you didn’t read this…#9
He knew there was an issue years before it happened and yet he was unable to prevent it despite being in control of congress for many years. That’s not dealing with an issue. Shall I hold my breath whilst I wait for you to wriggle out of that one?
@Cary
A terrorist is one who terrorises – and John Allan Mohammed seems to fit that bill alright. And we are talking about terrorist attacks not necessarily those directed by Al Qaeda. Indeed a Virgina court found him guilty of an act of terrorism. Also Antics brings up the Times Square, Christmas Day – attacks whilst both failed! Do we therefore count failed attempts under Bush? As for Fort Hood that was a lone nutter inspired by radical islam as was a lot of those who I listed when Bush was president. Of course by starting the Iraq War – which had no credible connection to 9/11 unlike Afghanistan – Bush also put a lot of servicemen and women into harm’s way.
@Hard Right
There is plenty to suggest that Bush & Rice ignored warnings about the threat of Al Qaeda. What things did they put in place during that year to prevent 9/11? Seems like you have DCS. lol 😆
@jlfintx
Fortunately you don’t decide what countries the US pulls out of the fire or which countries pulls the US out of the fire – in the past or the future – so take your weak little ineffectual finger and swivel on it. I guess you must hate Reagan guts too if you are so anti-abortion?
@Gaffer:
Let’s make this simple, since you obviously need simple.
1) How many votes are needed to get legislation through the House of Representatives?
2) How many votes are needed to get legislation through the Senate?
3) While you mention that the Republicans were in control of both houses of Congress, you don’t mention the margins of control. What were the margins of control during the years that the Republicans controlled Congress under President Bush?
Like a dog returning to its’ vomit you keep coming back ’round to this.
The archives here at FA are filled to the brim with documentation on how Iraq and 9/11 were connected yet you’re still here playing the part of the dullard.
Just the decision by US District Court Judge Harold Baer, Jr. alone is enough to show that you’re nothing more than a intellectual lightweight when it comes to the facts.
Don’t you ever tire of being laughed at?
Dog squeeze!
@Skookum:
You’re right…. I need to lighten up! My mind was not in humor mode, so I didn’t recognize it. I’ve been getting into a bit of Aristotle lately too, btw.
@GaffaUK:
You’re really stretching. There are tons of crimes that strike the feeling of terror into our citizens. Fear is a universal emotion. By your examples, the Zodiac Killer, Son of Sam, Jesse James, and Carrot Top are all terrorists. Was the President responsible for not thwarting them? When we refer to a terrorist attack happening under an Executive in Chief’s watch, we are talking about something very specific, planned and large scaled from an outside enemy of the US. Timothy McVeigh was a domestic terrorist – was the President held responsible for not stopping him? Come on man, I’m sure you know this!
@Cary:
I always thought of Carrot Top as a bad comic…but never as a terrorist. 😉
On a side note, it’s nice that we’re seeing a little more of you on FA these days.
Oh Gaffer, get over yourself. YOU are the one who did not read what I posted. Bush tried a myriad of times to get Congress to act on Fannie and Freddie and it was Barney’s Frank who insisted, along with Chris “Friend of Angelo” Dodd that nothing was wrong.
Barney’s Frank on Fannie and Freddie, 2005 –
Chris “Friend of Angelo” Dodd on Fannie and Freddie –
Anything to intelligent to say now, Gaffer?? Or is it still all Bush’s fault?
I didn’t think so.
@Cary
So one man who shoots people dead and clearly uses Jihad language is a terrorist whilst another one isn’t? Do you believe that Nidal Malik Hasan is a terrorist and Obama should be held responsible? Or how about Sulejman Talović shouting “Allahu Akbar” whilst going on a shooting spree in Salt Lake City?
@Aye & Antics
Irrespective of how big or small Bush’s majority was – show me the vote where Bush’s bill to reform Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae during 2003-06 was shot down? Did it even get to that stage? And who cares what the minority Democrats said – they aren’t the executive and they didn’t hold the balance of power at that time. Bush didn’t deal with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae – because it fell apart. He tried to deal with it but was too incompetent and politically weak to even get it through a congress he controlled. That’s not dealing with an issue.
@GaffaUK:
I’m sure you know there are many mentally ill and crazy people in the world. Using the language of a particular terror group does not prove an actual connection to that group. Or do you actually think that David Berkowitz was getting instructions to kill people from his neighbor’s dog?
You’ve proved nothing but that anti-Islamic sentiments are present on both sides of the isle.
@Aye:
He sure scares the crap outta me!
I like to stop by when I can.
Gaffa the question you ask about GOP efforts to stop the meltdown has been answered on here many times before. How about doing your own homework for once?
It gets old having you lefties come here and post the same disproven crap over and over like we’ve never discussed it.
@GaffaUK:
I cannot help but notice that you didn’t answer the questions that I posed to you in #31.
Here they are again:
The questions are very simple.
The answers are equally simple.
Surely, even you can handle them.
As soon as you answer mine I will answer yours.
@Aye
1) 51
2) 218
3) 2004 elections – Senate (Rep 54), HoR (Rep 229)
So again show me the vote where Bush’s bill to reform Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae during 2003-06 was shot down?
@Gaffer:
Care to try again?
@Cary
Except I didn’t claim there was any connection to any group. You don’t need to be connected to a terror group to commit acts of terrorism. You could (for example) simply pick up a ‘holy’ book. And here is my question for you…
Did Bush keep the US safe?
@Hard Right
lol – yeah what I have seen seems to be the usual ‘quotes’ from Democrats at the time as if that proves Bush did all he could do push legislation through. Is that what passes for leadership these days? Show me the vote.
@Aye
Go on Aye – you tell me the answer and then answer my question.
@Gaffer:
Nope.
Not my responsibility to edumakate you.
If you want to come trotting in here pontificating on things about which you know nothing then I am more than willing to allow you to wriggle ’round in your ignorance whilst the rest of us point and laugh at you.
That wasn’t the answer I was talking about. Someone answered your question about a week ago. Seriously, look it up on your own.
@GaffaUK:
The only thing I’m defending Bush on at the moment are your claims that he didn’t protect us from the list you claim were terrorist attacks. I have already told you why they don’t count as such. I’m not fond of repetition unless it’s song lyrics, and even then too much is annoying…
@Cary:
😉
@Missy:
There are execptions! 😉 I always thought that song could go on forever and never get old! Those girls are too cute!
@Aye
Lol – looks like you are procrastinating or should I say filibustering – trying to avoid give a lame excuse as to why Bush was unable to even get a bill through or even to get it to a vote. Plenty of bills can get through with such numbers which hardly unusual. Clearly Bush rather talk about an issue that deal with it.
@Cary
My point is that Bush – more than any President in recent times – has clearly not kept Americans safe. He and Rice were warned before 9/11 about the threat of Al Qaeda but why did it take almost 3000 people to die before Bush took this threat seriously? Comparing the Fort Hood shootings with 9/11 is pathetic – where a lone gunman goes beserk which is very different from a very carefully planned international attack with many people involved. Lone gunman attacks are harder to deter and the Fort Hood attack shares more similarities with the Beltway shootings than 9/11. But because some guy called Cary considers one to be a terrorist attack and the other not doesn’t necessarily make it so – and in this case I go with the court in Virginia which did find it a terrorist attack.
In regards to songs I prefer ones with melody and variety but it seems you are stuck on the chorus unable to answer whether you count Fort Hood as a terrorist attack and whether Bush kept Americans safe through his 2 terms. However if you keep getting stuck on your same point which we disagree on then the only person playing the same fragment of the same tune is you. 😆
@GaffaUK:
http://www.kissthisguy.com/
So, before we get to the next verse, you should get the lyrics right for this one. Here’s something for you to read up on….