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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI found it galling to watch George W. Bush speak on Saturday
George W. Bush 2021, Meet George W. Bush 2001
Sept. 14, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/opinion/george-w-bush-911-speech.html
You can draw a straight line from the war on terror to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, from the state of exception that gave us mass surveillance, indefinite detention, extraordinary rendition and enhanced interrogation to the insurrectionist conviction that the only way to save America is to subvert it.
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It is with all of this in mind that I found it galling to watch George W. Bush speak on Saturday.
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Bush spoke as if he were just an observer, a concerned elder statesman who fears for the future of his country. But thats nonsense. Bush was an active participant in the politics he now bemoans.
In 2002, Bush said that the Senate, then controlled by Democrats, was not interested in the security of the American people. In 2004, he made his opposition to same-sex marriage a centerpiece of his campaign, weaponizing anti-gay prejudice to mobilize his conservative supporters. Ahead of the 2006 midterm elections, he denounced the Democratic Party as soft on terrorism and unable to defend the United States.
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It is frankly maddening to see anyone treat the former president as if he has the moral authority to speak on extremism, division and the crises facing our democracy. His critique of the Trump movement is not wrong, but it is fatally undermined by his own conduct in office.
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As much as he has been rehabilitated in the eyes of many Americans as much as his defenders might want to separate him and his administration from Donald Trump the truth is that Bush is one of the leading architects of our present crisis. We may not be able to hold him accountable, but we certainly shouldnt forget his starring role in making this country more damaged and dysfunctional than it ought to be.
choie
(4,111 posts)n/t
UTUSN
(70,686 posts)Not to mention my barf attack to see Liz CHEENEE's gushing over it.
Peregrine Took
(7,413 posts)What he put us through to spend his "political capital" not even to mention ignoring hard warnings of another attack coming up in a month.....and did nothing....words fail me.
I bet that's what he was thinking in that classroom...OH SHIT I screwed up!
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)But good on this columnist for pointing out the truth.
Carlitos Brigante
(26,500 posts)FakeNoose
(32,634 posts)... but only because we've experienced far worse from 2016 to 2020.
Carlitos Brigante
(26,500 posts)luv2fly
(2,475 posts)Nor does a wishy-washy condemnation of domestic terrorists.
lark
(23,097 posts)I'm glad he's not as full on nazi as TFG, but he started this rw ignoramus path and it got even out of his control. The country would have been so much better if SCOTUS hadn't highjacked the election and Gore took the office.
dajoki
(10,678 posts)they did it kinda sneakily but I think we all saw what went down. Nowadays they don't even bother to pretend.
LAS14
(13,783 posts)Bush wasn't crazy. He was just very, very wrong. Big difference for democracy.
dajoki
(10,678 posts)but definitely incompetent.