Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ManintheMiddle]

Whatever one might think of Bush's ideology or policies, he has not deserved the relentless campaign of demonization he has received in the liberal media.

It was Bill Clinton who while speaking at a fundraiser with both Bushes in attendance said, "Am I the only one here who really likes both of these men?"

The press likes wit, which is why they gravitated toward Kennedy. They enjoy literary repartee and shun those who they deem less literate than themselves. But they are in the main East Coast elitists or West Coast trend followers.

It wasn't cool to like Bush or to even begrudgingly admit to his good points. He remained steadfastly a family man, unlike his predecessor, and he was sincere in his convictions. Although many people were put off by what they perceived as his religious zealotry, he was clearly a man of convictions.

People conveniently forget, too, that his approval rating in the wake of 9-11 was approaching 76% or that his administration has at least managed to keep another terrorist act from our shores.

Bush the man is humorous, genuine, and willing to laugh at himself. The same can not be said for most of his detractors in the press or on Capitol Hill. Unless you lived in Texas as I did while he was governor, you might not know that he remained very popular and won over a lot of doubters in the opposition. He was just never able to make the transition to the big leagues of politics and his Achilles Heel was staying loyal to Cabinet members long after they deserved his loyalty. Both Cheney and Rumsfeld come to mind in that regard.

And Joo is correct to a point: Bush has had to face an exceptionally bad streak of luck in disasters, although he didn't help his cause any. The Democratic governor of Louisiana deserves the lion's share of the blame for the initially poor response to Hurricane Katrina but this was masked over when the media gaze shifted to the FEMA Director who was, admittedly, ill-suited to the task.

Bush did have a certain bravado that was off-putting and his was presumptuous to the point of arrogance to assume he had a mandate after either election, especially given the circumstances under which he won.

This all said, Bush was also the victim of prejudice--a sneering attitude that looks down on his Texas twang and his obvious struggle with what appears to be dyslexia or something akin to it.

And even Bono, of U2 fame, as well as former UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, have repeatedly acknowledged that he did more for African aid during his time in office than any preceding president, including Bill Clinton, who admitted to sitting on his hands during the Rwandan genocide and the breakdown of civil order in Somalia.

Hell, even that slick opportunist and �po-mo� revisionist historian filmmaker Oliver Stone had to give him some of his due.

So, no, you're not alone in your sentiments. And I suspect that when the history books are written, Bush will be treated more charitably than he is now. At the very least, some of the conniving and even outright treachery of which he has been accused in the execution of the Iraqi War will not hold muster in the long run, I suspect.

[Cheonmunka]

You ask about 9/11 then you talk about warmongering Kurds in '85. For what are you asking?

LEt's stick to the point. You make war on another country and in the guise of peace and freedom kill thousands uopn thousands of children and women and innocent men, you deserve to be put into history as all the other warmongers, as both GW's ought a be.

PS: My sources are primary, not Mike Moore. I already told you I met with refugees and hold very dear and different stories than media told you.

[head-in-the-clouds]

[Cheonmunka]

Head in the clouds, put in the sand, same thing.

Mine is a lost cause in this place and time. I'll admit that quite readily.

No one will represent the poor.

The Bush vendetta killed thousands of thousands of innocent people. That's all I'm going to say about it. You can keep justifying it all you like.

[head-in-the-clouds]

[bacasper]

[bacasper]

[Enrico Palazzo]

[Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee]

Saddam's Iraq was a place of beauty? Like Germany right before World War II.

[ReeseDog]