Speaking in Republican-dominated Jacksonville, Florida had to be better than former Pres. George W. Bush’s last attempt to address crowds. That appearance, planned recently in Switzerland, was canceled after human rights advocates threatened to arrest Bush when his plane touched down.
By contrast, Jacksonvillians gave standing ovations to the former chief executive, whose rein included two invasions, economic collapse, the worst handling of the worst natural disaster in our country’s history, and other low points too numerous and painful to recall. But Bush showed in the speech, in which reporter Karen Brune Mathis noted he “referred frequently to his recently published autobiography, ‘Decision Points,'” that he still doesn’t get it.
Bush said that his core principles include the belief that freedom should be universal and is the “gift of almighty God.”
“Freedom will lead to the peace that we want,” he said. “Freedom was the cornerstone of my policy agenda.”
Reality check: Bush and his vice president, Dick Cheney, presided over passage of the Patriot Act, an omnibus piece of legislation that allowed formerly illegal searches and seizures, secret wiretapping of American citizens, and – showing no intrusion was too minor – called for libraries to turn over records of people reading about Islam.
Bush showed his puffed up ego has grown since leaving office.
Bush also said that he was asked “don’t you ever watch the news?” during his presidency.
“Not really,” he said. “I was the news.”
The Bush/Cheney tactic of only fielding friendly, prescreened questions continues, as does Bush’s complete lack of awareness about his own limitations. Bush was known as the most “incurious” president ever to hold the office.
“I’m a content guy,” he said during the 30-minute speech followed by a 30-minute answer session with prepared questions from high-school students.
Despite turning a huge budget surplus into massive deficit, borrow-and-spend Bush floated the Republican/tea party line. And no one called him on it.
To enthusiastic applause, Bush said that his fiscal policy was “you can spend your money better than the government can.”
Pettiness appears to still be one of Bush’s trademarks. Even the reporter noticed that he never called Obama by his name.
Bush didn’t refer specifically to Obama, a Democrat, during the presentation although he did speak of the presidency and referred to the “president.”
Before leaving the area, Bush was photographed in a children’s hospital, played golf with the PGA Tour commissioner, and referred to his brother Jeb, Florida’s former governor, as “an awesome dude, by the way.”
Freedom?
How about all of the innocent people sold into captivity by their brethren and kept for years in Gitmo?
How about the stifling of dissent by continued allegations that any dissenter is a traitor?
How about the intrusions into people’s personal lives with the campaign to motive pro-w voters by putting anti-gay measures on state ballots?
The list goes on…. and on….. and on.
But, let me also add, that despite it all, I still have to say, that w was not the worst president ever – that title has to go to ronald reagen. http://bit.ly/iatNyB
The REAL problems were are experiencing today all stem from the bankrupt policies of reagan and bush: Unfunded wars, deregulation of financial industries, tax cuts for the wealthy, etc., etc.
http://bit.ly/e6vB9X
http://bit.ly/iatNyB
http://bit.ly/gsoE2I
I agree wholeheartedly with theHoundDawg — Reagan wins by miles.
The problem with the neo-cons today is that they all want to be Reagan. They want to get up in front of large crowds, say ridiculous things, give breaks to their buddies, spend loads of middle class money, fail misserably at every directive they are challenged with and still be touted as heros. It’s almost as if RR knocked up Barbara B.