Elder Bush Says His Son Was Served Badly by Aides

[liberal N proud]

WASHINGTON — After years of holding back, former President George Bush has finally broken his public silence about some of the key figures in his son’s administration, issuing scathing critiques of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

In interviews with his biographer, Mr. Bush said that Mr. Cheney had built “his own empire” and asserted too much “hard-line” influence within George W. Bush’s White House in pushing for the use of force around the world. Mr. Rumsfeld, the elder Mr. Bush said, was an “arrogant fellow” who could not see how others thought and “served the president badly.”

Mr. Bush’s sharp assessments, contained in a biography by Jon Meacham to be published by Random House next week, gave voice to sentiments that many long suspected he had harbored but kept private until now. While he continued to praise his son, he did tell Mr. Meacham that the younger Mr. Bush was responsible for empowering Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld and was at times too bellicose in his language.

“I do worry about some of the rhetoric that was out there — some of it his, maybe, and some of it the people around him,” Mr. Bush told Mr. Meacham. “Hot rhetoric is pretty easy to get headlines, but it doesn’t necessarily solve the diplomatic problem.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/05/us/politics/elder-bush-says-his-son-was-served-badly-by-aides.html?_r=0


If he was that gullible, he should have never been in the office.

[Sienna86]

1. Fascinating.

Had to check if this was an Onion article. Wow.

[Human101948]

2. Trying to inoculate Jeb...

It won't work you feeble old bastard. Who led you astray?

New documents link Kissinger, Bush senior to Letelier assassination

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/04/lete-a20.html

The Pinochet File: How U.S. Politicians, Banks and Corporations Aided Chilean Coup, Dictatorship

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2013/9/10/the_pinochet_file_how_us_politicians_banks_corporations_aided_chilean_coup_dictatorship

[malaise]

6. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Fuck all the Bushes - they are responsible for nothing.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

11. If I'm not mistaken

Isn't Jeb basically surrounding himself with most of the same advisors?

[marew]

14. Yup! Sure is! n/t

[newfie11]

3. There's only so much one can do

For an imbecile!

[gordianot]

4. If there were real justice in America several generations of the Bush males would be incarcerated.

Crime has and continues to serve them well.

[bulloney]

5. The whole Bush family seems to be on CYA mode for Dubya's disastrous presidency.

There's JEB! campaigning on the laughable claim that his brother "kept us safe."

Now, Poppy is doing as much in his biography?

When do we hear from Babs and the other Bushes?

[Lil Missy]

7. Let's face it, Jr is an idiot and arrogant jackass.

[LeftishBrit]

8. 'It's not really my son's fault he got into trouble; it's all because he got into bad company!'

[hobbit709]

19. True, if you include his own family. Couldn't get any badder with their history.

[yardwork]

9. Bullshit. The Bush family put those people around w.

[GreatGazoo]

15. Exactly. Cheney was like a babysitter for GWB, wouldn't let him testify on 911 without

Cheney there to answer for him. GWB got the bin Laden memo and went on vacation for a month to play cowboy for the cameras in Texas -- that isn't 'Cheney set um his own empire', that is Cheney was the real president.

Watching the section that begins at 7:35 of this brought it all back...

[yardwork]

16. The fix was in. Install the drug-addled baby bush, then go to war.

Everything went according to plan. They all made billions of dollars off the wars they caused. Now it's time to clean up the history books. And install JEB! the fixer.

[madokie]

10. Maybe if he didn't steal his way in

We wouldn't have to have this conversation now would we Poppy

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. That family is not big on personal responsibility

Are they?

[marew]

13. So he admits his son is stupid and incompetent!

W couldn't manage his own presidency! Like we never knew this before now! LOL!

[Mnemosyne]

17. An evil old war criminal says what? nt

[Hortensis]

27. Hmmm! Now, I thought the containment of Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait

by putting together a coalition of 100 nations officially, plus the unofficial backing of Russia and China, was well done. Including GHWB's commitment to a LIMITED WAR, understanding that occupying Iraq and taking down and trying to replace its central government would be disastrous. As we all understand now as well as GHWB did then.

Instead, we applied sanctions to keep Hussein too poor to cause much trouble and peeled off control of its northern and southern 2/3 to belatedly stop his genocide in those areas (our 10-year air surveillance didn't result in the death of a single American pilot). And Hussein, deadly enemy of criminals and islamists, and vice versa, was left to continue his secular dictatorship of the rest, during which time Iraqis could walk the streets safely at almost all hours -- as long as they didn't cross his government.

Overall, considering what happened under his son and after, what's not to respect about that good job?

Of course, there WAS the after when a far more destructive conservative ideology controlled the White House. Limited war of modest, achievable goals and diplomatic solutions are absolutely despised by that type of strong conservative -- including W. They're wired by genetics to see anything less than smashing of our opponents as disastrous first steps to our own defeat. So we went back.

Looking at GHWB, it really seems to me that, for a conservative pressed on all sides to do far more by neocons, the enormously popular American exceptionalism doctrine that we should rule the world, greedy corporations, the Religious Right eager to kill millions in the name of their god, and widespread and aggressive conservative xenophobia, he did a really good job in this instance.

BTW, I once did a MOOC on war, which depressingly made a very good case for war being a natural state of man and not something we will ever be entirely free of. It's simply not realistic to set the bar at no-war-ever and to trash anything that falls short of that completely unachievable standard. Since we will never be rid of the eager warmongers among us, it seems to me that one way we can lessen their danger to the world is to, when all attempts to avoid fail, at least look for and support those who argue for limited war that can achieve our basic goals.

And that starts with respecting the utility of limited war. The First Gulf War can be a template for the future. Thank you, President G. H. W. Bush for that.

[hobbit709]

18. Some of those aides were the same ones he had.

[liberal N proud]

24. Some of those aids would be in a third bush admin if Jeb were to pull of a steal

[Marrah_G]

20. He had no business being President then Poppy

[Javaman]

21. in other words, dimson wasn't able to think for himself as the "decider".

we got you poppy, your son* is a moron*. On that we can agree.

[dembotoz]

22. boils down to would you buy securities from bernie madoff's family????

the name is toast

[Baitball Blogger]

23. Wait a minute. Chris Matthews assured us that GW was smart enough to surround himself

by the smartest people around.

Can we all now agree that people that have active, private interests have no business dictating public policy?

[NightWatcher]

25. Come on old man, admit your role in JFK before you pass

A clean conscience will help your travels to the other side.

[underpants]

26. This is the "Lost Cause" template

The leader - he was GOOD and NOBLE
His staff/ubderlings - THEY screwed it all up

You can look up who uses the "Lost Cause" to this day.

[bbgrunt]

28. simply hilarious.