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I don’t usually single anybody out on Veterans’ Day, it is a day that belongs to all veterans, but this year I’ll make an exception. It is only fitting, after all.
For those of you who have been around the site for a while, or for any amount of time, really, you’ll know that I have never been a “yes” man for President Bush. I have criticized him, mocked him, ridiculed him and called him names numerous times over the years when he made mistakes, and I stand by those criticisms, even though I might recant on some of the actual insults if pushed on it. I’m human, and I go over the top from time to time, so it’s quite possible, though inconceivable of course, that yours truly, benevolent as I am, might have said things in a fit of emotion over the years that I, upon reflection, should have worded differently.
It is also my firm belief that his policies have done more damage to the conservative “brand” than the loony left has ever, or could ever have done. His big-spending, big-government ways and his baffling over-eagerness when it comes to turning his back to present a better target for Democrat knives are but some of the things that contributed to his record low approval ratings as we approached this election, and we all get to pay the price now.
I stand by that, as I have stood by it in the past.
But if there is one thing that I would like to thank that proud veteran of the Texas Air National Guard for as he is leaving office, it is his human decency and honesty.
Throughout 8 years of being the target of the most vile, ridiculous and unfounded hatred and hysteria, I can’t remember him once giving back as he got, even though he was more than a little bit justified in doing so. I disagree with that approach, if somebody kicks me I’ll kick back, pausing only to put on my steel-nosed boots if I’m not already wearing them, but that’s not the point.
The point is that he always stayed above that. Talk about slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
I also remember him never being too busy to take the time to talk to and commiserate with those in pain. Nobody was ever “unimportant” enough for him to give a hug and share a cry with if he had the time and, more often than not, if he didn’t have the time, he made the time. I’ve seen him cry with the loved ones of fallen heroes, I’ve seen him choke up when talking about the decisions he’d made to send men and women into battle, and not once did I see the slightest bit of “playing for the cameras” in there.
I’ve heard him talk honestly about his battle with the demon alcohol in his youth, his erring ways and his realization that he needed G-d in his life, yet I’ve never seen him blame anybody but himself for his mistakes.
I’ve seen him age from looking 5 or 10 years younger than he was when he took office to 10 to 15 years older than he is now that he’s getting ready to leave, having carried the burden of our nation and, at times, the world on his shoulders. Yet he has never, not once, complained about it.
I’ve seen him stand by the war in Iraq even when it was clear that his approval ratings, thanks to relentless propaganda from the MSM, were suffering for it. I saw him fly into Baghdad when Baghdad was still “hot” to share Thanksgiving with his soldiers, and all he got from the MSM was a concocted lie about the turkey being “plastic.”
And he never complained about that either.
If ever any man had just reason to get pissed off and fire off an angry tirade, it would have been him, more times than I can count, and I believe that he should have. But he never did. Agree or not, that’s the mark of a gracious, decent man.
I won’t lie and pretend that I am going to miss his policies, but I am going to miss his decency.
And, for all of our differences, he remains a man that I’d be happy to buy a beer for.
So Mr. President, on this Veterans’ Day, allow me to say one thing:
Thank you for your service, and may G-d bless you.
Entries (RSS)
I’ll miss him myself. At least we felt safe here with him in the White House. I still want to kick his ass over the Bailout Bill and the Shamnesty deal, but all in all he’s an honest guy at least. We’re certainly not going to get any honesty from Obamination.
Thank you Mr. President. :em04:
November 11th, 2008 at 1:00 PMUsing
I think his legacy is pretty much assured by the nutball taking office after him. Future generations will regard George Bush as a modern-day Thomas Jefferson compared to the subsequent rise of the Obamessiah’s socialist train wreck.
November 11th, 2008 at 1:02 PMUsing
There are more then a few bones I would pick with President Bush. I still feel, that he would have worked wonders by enforcing the Anti Sedition laws already on the books, and well, there are the policies like the bailout bill and such I am not happy with either.
However.
He’s a good man, that didn’t get a fair shake. Legit gripes are one thing blatant demonization by the Lib-tard left and their lackies. I didn’t envy his position and responsibilities (the weight of the free world on your shoulders), still don’t. I do hope, that if I am ever subject to such treatment I can face it with as much dignity as what he has shown.
Honesty, is something rare in most normal people much less, a politician. I dread the upcoming four years, though I to feel that if enough SMART people claw their way into the trade of history, he will be remembered Properly.
~Rex
November 11th, 2008 at 1:15 PMUsing
For the effect his simple decency had on restoring some measure of Personal Honor to the office of the President (shredded - perhaps irreparably - by Bill ‘What-is-Is?’ Clinton), we owe him a debt of gratitude.
He made mistakes, but he was always honest and owned up to them.
We’re going to miss that most of all in the years to come.
- MuscleDaddy
November 11th, 2008 at 1:16 PMUsing
Overall, Misha, well said and honestly felt. W’s tendency to turn the other cheek really is walking the walk, as a Christian. But day-um, the target he was presenting was his ass cheek, and the bastards never passed on one single opportunity to stick it to him, and derivatively to me. An occasional short jab and a bloody nose for select leftinst shitstains would not have been amiss. SHows ‘em, as an old girlfriend put, no chingo con migos.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:15 PMUsing
I’ve always like President Bush for exactly the reasons listed.
Has he made mistakes?
Yes.
But haven’t we all?
I think George has got more class in his little pinky than Obama has in his entire BEING.
At least with President Bush you knew you were getting the straight up, whether you wanted to hear it or not.
And when he didn’t think that the American people could handle hearing certain things, he just kept it in the office.
I don’t think we’re going to get anything but bullshit fed to us for the next four years.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:18 PMI hope I’m wrong, but from what I’ve seen of Senator Obama’s performances so far, I’m afraid that I am not.
All we can do now is wait and see.
Using
I, too, will miss President Bush. I, too, want to kick his butt over the Shamnesty and Bailout bills, but overall, he’s been a great president, and I hope History will be kind to him.
But as for Obama, when I think of all of the horrors that could happen under his Administration, the thing that keeps coming back to mind is this: We’re talking about a man with a long history of accomplishing NOTHING.
I don’t for a minute dismiss the potential danger. I know people who honestly believe that Obama REALLY IS the Anti-Christ. They’re saying that all of the Biblical signs are there, including the apparently blind devotion that he’s engendered. I don’t go that far in my worry. My personal concerns are rooted more in the fact that I don’t trust ANY politician from Chicago who doesn’t have a long, solid history of fighting against the Daley Machine. Someone who rose up INSIDE the Daley Machine is someone who automatically gains my suspicion, at the very least.
But I DO have a hunch about something. If Pelosi keeps up with her promised behavior, and brow-beats the conservative Democrats who were elected in 2006 into supporting her and Obama’s flaky ideas, look for those people to switch parties.
Most of the Blue Dogs are Southerners, and most Southern Democrats are Democrats because their great-great-granddaddies were. If Pelosi places them between a rock and a hard place, where they’ll be forced to either vote liberal and face a furious electorate at home in 2010, OR hold the line and lose campaign financing from the DNC, they may react by biting the big one and switching parties.
It COULD happen. It’s a hope, to borrow a loaded concept!
We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:45 PMUsing
I was having this argument the other day with my hopelessly liberal mother. He certainly wasn’t one of my favorite Presidents, with things like the bailout, the stance on the border, and not using his bully pulpit, just once to shame members of Congress who took it upon themselves to interject themselves into foreign policy and attempt to alter that policy on their own initiative, but unlike Mom, and all the other leftist twits who exhibited a disgusting 24/7 outpouring of bile, disemblance, venom, and putrid self-loathing as Americans for the last 8 years, I know that history will be kind to Bush because he was the first to address a global war on terrorism, call it by its name, and take comprehensive steps to address it. I may not have always agreed with his policies, but I could always rest my head on my pillow at night, assured in the knowledge that we had an adult in the White House who was always guided by America’s Self-Interest, even when a large majority of Americans had no clue what was in America’s self-interest and opposed him at every turn, not some much out of a disagreement with those policies, but instead an almost patholigical belief that any strong stance taken by this nation was wrong, and inherently unfair to the rest of the world. No other President since Lincoln has endured such bitter, nonstop personal attacks villifiying the very person and humanity of the one elected to sit in the big chair and make the difficult decisions. I may not have agreed with him all of the time, but I ALWAYS knew where he stood on matters, as did our enemies, which gave them pause and our nation respite. As the sun sets on his administration, that respite will close as a man who has demonstrated conclusively that he will swing like a weathervane to conform with how the wind blows will be ushered into office to face not only the slings and arrows of adversity and the constant testing by our enemies. Because of this, I pray that he will be blessed with wisdom and character that have been conspicously absent thus far, and I pray for this nation as well.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:53 PMUsing
I’m really going to miss that man. He’s got integrity. Something that has been lacking in that particular office. I have not always agreed with him, but he is a man that has earned my respect
November 11th, 2008 at 3:17 PMUsing
After reading about President Bush, and listening to him, especially since 09/11, I have respected him for having to deal with that horrific, ugly can of worms dumped on his knees during his Presidency. And yes, many are prompt to find fault with the man over anything and everything, but by everything that is sacred to me, he did what needed to be done.
From this humble Canuck, thank you Mr President! :em04: :em69:
November 11th, 2008 at 3:36 PMUsing
Each time Dubya was accused of lying about wmd’s, he could have waved this around,,, from msnbc no less.
(Hey Hardclimber, does your geiger counter have a good calibration? That WAS a significant amount of yella cake!)
November 11th, 2008 at 3:43 PMUsing
LC Cheapshot911
The mediots must be besides themselves with rage over this one!!! How dare we remove the much-needed material for wmd from their terrorist friends!!!
Glad to read that it was used for peaceful purposes though…
November 11th, 2008 at 3:55 PMUsing
“Not sure that they can feel rage for being wrong, only discovered.
If there was a ticking nuke found with instructions to deliver it to an address in nyc, it would still not be enough.
40,000 dead Kurds, several different pathogens,,, not enough.
Daily SAM shots at coalition aircraft,, not enough.
I’ve just about fucking had enough.
When enough comes, Canada is our fallback.
November 11th, 2008 at 4:12 PMWe come in peace with guns n’ liquor.
Using
President Bush remarked on the transition
being the first wartime transition in 40 years.
No comment from the press.
‘War, what war? Oh, you mean “Bush’s War.”
Isn’t that old thing done yet?’
It’s as if rainbows and lollypops will burst from
the first terrorist weapon fired after January 21st.
President Bush will be missed then.
He will be missed
when released terrorists from Gitmo
wreak havoc in the courts,
in the streets,
or in their new jobs.
Thank You Mr. President, for defending America,
November 11th, 2008 at 4:47 PMthe first President George W. would be proud.
Using
I know one thing for certain. For all my misgivings about Bush’s Presidency I will look back on these days wistfully while living under the regime of sultan jugears and his moronic worshipers.
I hope you enjoy a relaxing retirement Mr. George W. Bush, you deserve it. :em69: :em69:
November 11th, 2008 at 5:11 PMUsing
Misha, thank you so much for saying exactly what I have been thinking myself. For all the policy decisions and so on that I think President Bush screwed up, it has always been evident to me that he is a man of honor, decency, courage and courtesy.
Truthfully, I believe that he has LIVED the Christian example, and from that, I have no doubts about the reality of his faith in our L-rd and Savior. Perhaps he may end up like Jonathan Edwards, one of our Great Preachers of the Word, who was removed from his position in his church due to the vile lies of someone who hated him. Edwards refused to defend himself, preferring that G-d alone be his defender.
Eventually, the truth came out, and Edwards was vindicated. Oddly enough, what I’ve heard of this (through resources available from Ligonier.org), the two families were traced, and Edwards’ family is resplendent with pastors, men of G-d and dedicated service. His accuser, however, had descendants of less than sterling character.
Gee, what a surprise!
Anyway (please forgive the digression; and I ought to dig out some proper links), I think that the best part of any legacy President Bush leaves behind will be his bedrock decency and faith.
For all our differences, he is a good man, and one who I would be honored and blessed to host in my home.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:04 PMUsing
Misha, I don’t like disagreeing with you, but this guy has been a disaster. I feel no gratitude to the man, and the only way I would share a beer with him would be to pour it all over him. He may have served in the WingWiper Guard, but this jarhead thinks he didn’t learn a whole lot about leadership.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:18 PMUsing
George W. Bush has Honor. That Oath of Office he took bound him to work in the inerest of America.
I don’t agree with many things he did but, he firmly believed that they were in line with that oath. :em04:
November 11th, 2008 at 6:28 PMUsing
Just because he’s a dumb SOB, doesn’t mean he ain’t a tough SOB. I’m personally going to miss that SOB. And I mean that with full honor and respect.
That being said, I did wake up screaming last night “YOU F$%KIN’ IDIOT! YOUR IGNORANT BAILOUT JUST GAVE OBAMA 700 BILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF LEVERAGE ON THE US BANKING SYSTEM!!!!!!”
:em98: :em98: :em98: :em98: :em98: :em98: :em98: :em98: :em98:
November 11th, 2008 at 6:36 PMUsing
Although I too disagreed with a lot of Bush’s domestic policies, I have always believed that he based his decisions on what he truly believed was best for the nation as a whole. And for that he has my respect and admiration, to go with my opposition to those same policies.
Where he will be judged by history is his strategic vision in attempting to plant the seeds of democracy in the middle east. While the libs would wax and wane and cry about the “root causes” of terrorism, he knew what needed to be done to address those causes, and it wasn’t sing kumbyah with them. Give the honest people an alternative to tyranny and oppression. Kill those who would oppose us, help those who desired peace.
Unfortunately our sound bite montage society doesn’t the attention span to see past this weeks episode of American Idol to the ultimate strategic goal, a middle east made of free and friendly allies.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:37 PMUsing
It made me boil all thru this past election how many times the candidates (of both parties) and the press went after Bush for his spending and the budget being out of whack. They casually forgot or left out the fact that during his watch our Country has endured: 1 massive attack on its soil, record breaking natural disasters effecting a whole region of our country (The Southeast, & others) and two wars, both of which we are winning and more. They fail to mention their buddies in the congress that during these times of strife continued to pollute their bills with wasteful pork. He did have his fair share of errs, but the congress is persistant in pissing away our funds.
November 11th, 2008 at 8:05 PMUsing
How well was our intelligence system functioning before?
Why did he inherit a mothballed Navy?
Why did we have to replace thousands of ejected top officers who represented billions of dollars worth of training, and unimaginable experience?
(Spitspitspit and P-TAW!)
November 11th, 2008 at 8:30 PMUsing
LC Hardclimber54-Imperial Chief Pilot and Aviator sez:
You know, the real sad thing is… when it was first revealed, the few libs that cared to even know about the news that yes, there were WMD’s in Saddam’s Iraq and we found them, raged about exactly that! :em98:
November 11th, 2008 at 9:33 PMUsing
And by contrast,
The Fresh Prez Of Bill Ayers has spent the last two years whining about how his glassy-eyed, tingly-legged myrmidons in the media have allegedly treated him- or that mean republicans are focusing on his skin color or his funny name. The diametric opposite of Bush’s stocism.
The Affirmative Action President.
November 11th, 2008 at 10:48 PMUsing
Here’s a lovely farewell. As posted in the WSJ.
A very different POV.
“President Bush will soon be heading home and for many that day cannot come soon enough. Count me among those who will miss him and his bedrock decency.
He had a rough road from day one. His first inauguration struck me as a portent. I was there, shivering in the grandstands on Pennsylvania Avenue. At the exact moment the president heard “Hail to the Chief” for the first time and was announced to the audience, a sleet storm descended from the skies.
[Commentary] AP
It has never let up.
Through it all Mr. Bush kept his head up and soldiered on. He took the criticism in stride. I remember riding with him in his presidential limousine to the Washington Hilton for a speech. A woman standing at an intersection directed an obscene gesture at him that I had hoped he missed. The president waved to her and with a bemused look said to me, “Did you see what she did?”
Many other Americans, particularly the “values voters” who helped elect him twice, will miss him because of what he achieved: Samuel Alito and John Roberts on the Supreme Court, children in schools that now are better because they are accountable, African women who now have medicines for their HIV-infected babies, and religious charities that are finally being treated by government as partners instead of rivals.
I remember coming to the West Wing one morning before the daily 7:30 senior staff meeting and seeing Mr. Bush at his desk in the Oval Office, reading a daily devotional. I remember the look of sorrow on his face as he signed letters to the families of the fallen. When he met with recovering addicts whose lives were transformed by a faith-based program, he spoke plainly of his own humiliating journey years ago with alcohol. When a Liberian refugee broke into tears after recounting her escape to freedom in America, the president went over and held and comforted her.
Little acts behind the curtain like these inspired intense loyalty by staff members. They spoke of someone never too busy or burdened to care — like when he took time on Air Force One to call my wife when she was sick. The president’s true character rendered his media image pure caricature.
Mother Teresa was asked at the end of her life whether she was discouraged because after decades of caring for the dying and destitute in Calcutta little seemed to have changed. She replied, “No. God doesn’t call me to be successful. God calls me to be faithful.”
History will decide whether George W. Bush was a successful President. But he was faithful. He had a charge to keep and he kept it.”
Mr. Towey was director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives from 2002-2006. He is president of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:25 AM– “Why I’ll Miss President Bush” by Jim Towey (in the Wall Street Journal)
Using
A memorable moment
Bush pauses to comfort teen
‘This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11′
By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Scuse me for a sec..damn dust in my eyes…..
November 12th, 2008 at 2:14 AMUsing
Oh I remember that moment Brendon-I never voted for Bush, but he always struck me as a decent PERSON-just someone who’s policies I disagreed with. I was never a Bush hater, just someone who disagreed with him. And I did like him helping out Africa. My friend says he is the worst president, and I tried to say I wonder what history will say, she looked at me weird. Oh well.
November 12th, 2008 at 4:19 AMUsing
He was a good President that had a lot piled on his plate. He tried to do the right things regardless. He could well have been a lot harder than he was, and WE would have cheered him. He might even have shut the mediots up with that. I can see so many places where he’d have been absolutely correct to have taken ‘executive action’.
November 12th, 2008 at 6:37 AMUsing
I was never embarrassed to have Pres. Bush as my CinC. I didn’t always agree with him (hell, I don’t always agree with ANYBODY) but I think he did the best job he could do, and did it with the interests of the U.S. citizenry at heart, and I think that history will show him to be a much better president that we gave him credit for being.
November 12th, 2008 at 8:38 AMUsing
I certainly disagree with Bush on many things; I even dropped more than my share of insults upon the man. I suppose that goes with the territory of politics.
Yet I could never understand just why people hated him so. What did he do to deserve the heinous label of a “Hitler” or an evil dictator? Bush didn’t commit genocide, didn’t rob the piggy banks of little children or show up as the boogey-man in our closets. The media just wanted to make him look bad — like anyone who isn’t a card-carrying socialist. That they succeeded so spectacularly should be a warning sign to us all. Propaganda in the guise of unbiased assessment is here to stay. People are guzzling the kool-aid, unawares.
So my message to Bush would be thus:
“I disagree with you on many things, maybe there were times when I felt like accusing you of missing a spine, a brain, or a pair of functioning testes. All things considered though, you were the best choice we had, and perhaps in retrospect, much better than I originally gave you credit for. I can call you Commander in Chief with a straight face, and mean it. You weren’t always presidential, but you were our President, and the office will be losing something important when you leave it. I can only hope it comes back someday.”
Thatisall.
November 12th, 2008 at 10:00 AMUsing
Wow, Brendan. Just wow. That’s a great picture and story. It’s funny how something as powerful as that can permanently change your thinking about a subject.
November 12th, 2008 at 10:53 AMUsing
I fear that, in the years to come, we will all remember this about him.
…with yearning.
- MuscleDaddy
November 12th, 2008 at 3:46 PMUsing
@ Retired Spook, MSgt, USAF (Ret)
Couldn’t have said it better, Brother. :em04:
November 12th, 2008 at 5:50 PMUsing
I remember the overwhelming sense of relief in the rank and file when President Bush won the election in 2000. Finally, we thought, there will be someone in the White House who respects us.
I have had my issues with the man, but I have always regarded him as a man of honor even when I didn’t understand or agree with his actions.
thepresenceusmc, I would pay money to see you dragged off by the secret service agents. This is the sort of asshattery we have been talking about here. Mind your oath young man. I didn’t like Bill Clinton when he was my CinC, but he was my CinC regardless and I would have been able to be civil and behave myself in his presence.
November 12th, 2008 at 7:05 PMUsing