Bushwhacked

[San Bernardhinault]

President 41 is no longer with us.

He will be remembered with unreasonable fondness because the Republicans who came after him were so much worse.

[Amor de Cosmos]

There's 1001 points of light now I guess.

[Hot Pepsi]

President 41 is no longer with us.

He will be remembered with unreasonable fondness because the Republicans who came after him were so much worse.

Yeah. And, to be fair, they were.

He spoke at my college graduation. In the speech, he went out of his way to
openly criticize the NRA. Imagine that now.

[tee rex]

Not exactly major achievements, but I always remember two things about politics that have stuck in my mind thanks to Bush ...

1) Beware the backfiring bullshit, when you're caught trying to be what you're obviously not (in touch with the common folk): like when he said he "kicked ass" against Ferraro, and later when he was excited by a supermarket barcode. A lesson ignored by countless politicians since, with their support for West Villa Ham, etc.

2) Beware the supremely assured foolishness of pundits, when soaring poll numbers mean somebody "can't" be beaten. Again, a lesson that keeps getting forgotten and relearned. (Bush's approval was 80% plus after the Kuwait war).

Anyway, what SB said. Could have been worse, and that's about it.

[G-Man]

What an epitaph: The least objectionable Republican to be elected president after Eisenhower.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Much like with Trump, I don't like the obits that imply that Bush moved to Texas and became a self made millionaire in oil. His family were the Rockefellers' bankers, he didn't go out to Texas with nothing but a rucksack and a shovel. My recollection of his re-election defeat was his infamous declaration "Read my lips - no new taxes" that came back to bite him when he did have to raise taxes.

[Kevin S]

Point for longeared in the Death Pool.

[longeared]

Point for longeared in the Death Pool.

That's a nice start to the day, it can only get worse from here on. *turns off computer, begins tortuous journey to Blackburn*

[anton pulisov]

Whoever wrote the Trump's statement was clearly trolling Trump.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1068743940755660800?s=19

[Sporting]

Why is "nation" capitalized?

[Satchmo Distel]

Translated from Reich

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

heh, well by that meaure, the only republican president after Eisenhower, who shouldn't have wound up in jail was Ford. Though if you take a look around, he probably committed treason or did something really horrific somewhere along the line. Bush was head of the CIA at an exciting time. He must have done some really awful things long before he got to that point.

I think Bush benefits from being the last republican president to be in power, before the end of the cold war, because after that the people who own the republican party realised that now the cold war was over, they didn't have to make things function and could simply loot everything.

[Satchmo Distel]

Only GOP Pres since Ford to lose an election.

[G-Man]

Am I misremembering history or should he, in a just world, have gone to prison for Iran-Contra?

And yet...

[adams house cat]

I think he did reasonably well given the circumstances. Reagan was a virtual narcoleptic by the end of his term and the world was entering a period of profound change.

[Nefertiti2]

amazing and very funny thread about the lengths the DNA went to buy crack near the White House

https://twitter.com/JoshClarkDavis/status/1068889697999568897

`it has a nasty kick in the tall

this is a major part of Bush’s legacy. It’s what his War on Drugs did to just one person. But it shows the human costs of that war in miniature detail. A high schooler was lured to the WH to sell crack and spent 7+ years in prison, so that the President could make a point on TV.

[anton pulisov]

Only GOP Pres since Ford to lose an election.

One of only three Republican presidents since Ford who sought re-election, so that's a very small pool...

[Tactical Genius]

Willie Horton.......

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yep.

[San Bernardhinault]

Only GOP Pres since Ford to lose an election.

So, the first Republican since Hoover to lose a re-election?

[Prester John]

Not exactly major achievements, but I always remember two things about politics that have stuck in my mind thanks to Bush ...

1) Beware the backfiring bullshit, when you're caught trying to be what you're obviously not (in touch with the common folk): like when he said he "kicked ass" against Ferraro, and later when he was excited by a supermarket barcode. A lesson ignored by countless politicians since, with their support for West Villa Ham, etc.

Also the time when he apparently referred to Bono as Boy George, when he criticised Bill Clinton for spending too much time wooing celebrities instead of talking to real politicians.

Alistair Cooke's Letters From America on Radio 4 are a good source of information on how his Presidency went down at the time. There are hundreds of episodes available to download from the Radio 4 website.

I've listened to all of them over the past few years, and from what I recall the one word that kept cropping up with Bush Snr was his 'preppy' image. He never lost that Yale old boy tag, and of course that's not going to go down well in the inner cities and cash strapped suburbs.

Bush always reminded me of the amiable old duffer with limited charisma who got the top job thanks to his impeccable connections and being in the right place at the right time.

[Prester John]

See also, 'The Vision Thing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geor...ntial_campaign

[Prester John]

Bush Snr is also indelibly linked to the Zoo TV tour of the early 90s. Boy George gets his revenge...

https://youtu.be/f2mM8J9zOio

[Lurgee]

Being known to history as "the other President Bush" must be a bit galling.

[anton pulisov]

The two main things I remember about the guy:

Saying that families should be more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons, demonstrating how unbelievably out of touch he was. (meanwhile slick willy was playing sax on the Arsenio Hall show)

Throwing up all over the Japanese PMs lap. And in true Japanese style, the PM was absolutely honoured to have received the presidential vomit.