Bush Deplores the Legacy of Slavery

[Gore1FL]

I walked out to smoke a cigarrette and saw this Headline in the St. Louis Post dispatch paper box.

Here is a link to the PDF (but I don't know how permanent the link is.)

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/graphlib.nsf/ByFilename/frontpage.pdf/$file/frontpage.pdf

I cannot find an html link to the story at this time.

ANYWAYS

My initial thoughts:

1> Well it is nice to see him take a stand on an issue that was decided 140 years ago.

2> The only thing he deplores about the legacy of slavery is that the decendants of former slaves statistically don't vote Republican.


I mean seriously -- What a stupid fucking top headline.

[SoCalDem]

1. Yessir.. He takes those "brave" stances

He probably just wanted to go there because it was GOREe island..:)

[unfrigginreal]

2. Check This Yahoo Link...Goree Island Folks Weren't Too Happy

I just tried to post on another thread about this, but I don't think it went through. If you get a chance read this article from yahoo...it seems the moron had the people herded away from where he was giving his speech.

From the article:

The cooped-up residents were not impressed.

"It's slavery all over again," fumed one father-of-four, who did not want to give his name. "It's humiliating. The island was deserted."

AND

"We were shut up like sheep," said 15-year-old Mamadou.

Many residents compared Bush's hour-long visit unfavorably to the island tour by former President Bill Clinton (news - web sites) in 1998.

"When Clinton came, he shook hands, people danced," said former Mayor Urbain Alexandre Diagne.

http://news.yahoo.com/?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030708/pl_nm/bush_africa_anger_dc


edit: If one of you kind folk could post this article I'd appreciate it.

[gottaB]

4. bubble boy--pop!

What a pleasant surprise to see Reuters piercing the bubble. This little gem needs to get some ink.

It puts me in mind of Rob Watson's comments on covering Dubya.

Is the press responding to a need for more stories from outside the pool, more privileging of facts on the ground? Or is this just one intrepid reporter managing to cut through the lies? Whatever, it's a brilliant piece of journalism.

[unfrigginreal]

7. Nice to see a little truth shine through once in awhile, ain't it?

GottaB - could you post the article somewhere on DU? I don't have those priviledges yet...Thanks!

[gottaB]

9. okay, general discussion

because it's more than 12 hours old, and the media angle is my spin

[Gman]

3. Blatantly playing African-Americans for complete and total fools

This is about absolutely nothing more than picking up more African-America votes in '04. They have no shame whatsoever. Not one single, solitary, miserable shred of shame.

[dfong63]

5. did duhbya forget another great historical crime,

... when his brother jeb conspired to deny thousands of black floridians the right to vote in election 2000?

[BulletproofLandshark]

6. I Wonder If...

the legacy he claims to deplore includes that of his grandfather, who made the family fortune in part due to profits from slave labor in Nazi Germany. Of course not, because then the asshole would have to work for a living, instead of dragging an entire nation down to his level.:grr:

[gottaB]

8. news links

google news

text of Bush's Goree Island speech

bet is covering the trip. And if you think their stories are critical, check the "Discuss Now" links. Nobody's being fooled by this guy.

[punpirate]

10. Let us keep in mind...

... that this man's administration floated the idea of removing minimum wage requirements for single mothers on welfare to work programs. If that wouldn't constitute virtual slavery, I don't know the meaning of the condition.

Truly, for someone who claimed a degree in history from Yale, this bozo can't define the subject except in terms of a photo-op. He's simply saying what he thinks Africa wants to hear, rather than what Africa desperately is trying to tell him. By the time this little press tour is over, Africans of all persuasions will know the meaning of that old Texas saying, "son, you're just pissin' on your own shoes."

This may be the first goodwill tour since Nixon in Latin America in 1956 that resulted in more harm to the U.S. than good.

[ZenLefty]

11. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2372&mesg_id=2372&listing_type=search