Day: January 13, 2009

Appearing on Larry King Live, Laura Bush let it be known she was a little unhappy with that uppity black guy who showed so little respect to her husband during the presidential campaign.

…Laura Bush said she took some of Obama’s critiques of her husband personally.

“Were you angry at it?” King asked.

“Yes, sort of. George didn’t really even know about it because he didn’t really watch it that much,” Laura Bush said, laughing.

“So what’s new?” Bush piped in. “When you make big decisions and tough calls, you’re going to get criticized.”

“During the course of this presidency, I’ve been disappointed at times by the silly name-calling that goes on in Washington — it’s really not necessary,” Bush said. “I’ve done my best, though, to make sure I didn’t bring the presidency down to that level.”

Well, isn’t that nice? George W. Peckerhead Bush is above all that partisan name-calling because, you know, it’s just not necessary. And he’d never do any of that stuff.

Yeah. Let’s review.

President Bush and leading Republicans are increasingly charging that Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry and others in his party are giving comfort to terrorists and undermining the war in Iraq — a line of attack that tests the conventional bounds of political rhetoric.

Appearing in the Rose Garden yesterday with Iraq’s interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, Bush said Kerry’s statements about Iraq “can embolden an enemy.” After Kerry criticized Allawi’s speech to Congress, Vice President Cheney tore into the Democratic nominee, calling him “destructive” to the effort in Iraq and the struggle against terrorism.

It was the latest instance in which prominent Republicans have said that Democrats are helping the enemy or that al Qaeda, Iraqi insurgents and other enemies of the United States are backing Kerry and the Democrats. Such accusations are not new to American politics, but the GOP’s line of attack this year has been pervasive and high-level.

[…]

Bush just can’t seem to get enough of saying goodbye. After his final farewell press conference yesterday, in which he made fun of a reporter’s name in his signature boorish style, he’s requesting 15 minutes of prime time on Thursday to bid adieu to the rest of us. Wonder if he’ll take any personal parting shots at you.

While the networks mull over whether to cover this little piece of newsy non-news, they must also consider the bottom line.

If the address sticks with tradition and goes at 9 p.m. ET, it would preempt or delay in East Coast markets tentpole shows including ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” NBC’s “The Office” and CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

Grey’s Anatomy, CSI, whatever. But The Office? A new episode? How could they? Thank God for hulu.

Actually, I think Bush’s farewell is news. We already know he thinks history will vindicate him, and that he and Laura plan to “write” books and give lectures and open a liberry that will show what a great president he really was.

For this address, I would expect a Nixonian Checkers-type pity party, in which Bush will claim to have done it all for America, and to have been misunderstood and wrongly maligned.

Adios, asshat.