I miss this stammering idiot...

[Alison Wonderland]

Bush 2 was always a pathetic public speaker but through his failure to articulate himself coherently; he seems to come across as a decent guy. A simple guy. Probably a guy who only really cares about MLB and college football.

Now he's dedicated his time to painting.

I'd like to say that I'm no art critic or expert (but I am) so forgive me when I say his "artworks" aren't particularly jaw-dropping and a cynic like me would usually point to some ulterior motive; such as: glorify the monstrous, unnecessary war that I ignited and presided over.

Apparently most of his paintings are of (if not inspired by) Iraq 2 war veterans; can't help but feel kind of sorry for the guy.

Almost seemed haunted.

 

[YmirGF]

I'm one of the few people outside the family who has always liked George W. He is much, much smarter than most will ever dream giving him credit for. Granted he made some pretty large mistakes and was willfully mislead by some advisors whom he trusted too much, but he is a real stand up guy.

I all but ignored him till Sept. 11, 2001. It was his speech shortly thereafter that made me sit up and listen very closely to what he said from there. I am happy to admit, as he probably will agree, the "Mission accomplished" debacle was not his brightest moment. *sigh*

 

[Revoltingest]

I'm one of the few people outside the family who has always liked George W. He is much, much smarter than most will ever dream giving him credit for. Granted he made some pretty large mistakes and was willfully mislead by some advisors whom he trusted too much, but he is a real stand up guy.

I all but ignored him till Sept. 11, 2001. It was his speech shortly thereafter that made me sit up and listen very closely to what he said from there. I am happy to admit, as he probably will agree, the "Mission accomplished" debacle was not his brightest moment. *sigh*

And for stammering, Obama is king.
Take away his teleprompter.....

Regarding "Mission Accomplished", I think its being a faux pas is overblown.
Mission Accomplished speech - Wikipedia

 

[sun rise]

The current regime makes me long for Dubya who made me long for Reagan who made me long for Nixon who really made me long for Eisenhower who I would vote for today.

That said, Bush's finest moment was after 9/11 and the speeches he gave at that point.

As far as stammering goes, try to find the right words when a crowd is staring at you and you want to say the right thing. I'm not going to get into the "he's worse than him nya nya nya" taunting.

 

[Revoltingest]

That said, Bush's finest moment was after 9/11 and the speeches he gave at that point.

I thought that was his very worst moment.
He was a strong leader bent on revenge.
And he got both parties to get us into those
interminable costly wars.

 

[sun rise]

I thought that was his very worst moment.
He was a strong leader bent on revenge.
And he got both parties to get us into those
interminable costly wars.

So you hated a speech that brought the country together, that comforted people in pain and so forth.

I fully supported Afghanistan but think we botched the aftermath as we botched the aftermath of Iraq which I did not support.

 

[Satans_Serrated_Edge]

Bush 2 was always a pathetic public speaker but through his failure to articulate himself coherently; he seems to come across as a decent guy. A simple guy. Probably a guy who only really cares about MLB and college football.

Now he's dedicated his time to painting.

I'd like to say that I'm no art critic or expert (but I am) so forgive me when I say his "artworks" aren't particularly jaw-dropping and a cynic like me would usually point to some ulterior motive; such as: glorify the monstrous, unnecessary war that I ignited and presided over.

Apparently most of his paintings are of (if not inspired by) Iraq 2 war veterans; can't help but feel kind of sorry for the guy.

Almost seemed haunted.

The video title is pretty misleading. The interviewer seems to be trying to bait dubya to 'slam trump' but he doesn't bite.

 

[Kuzcotopia]

The neoconservatives in charge, post 9-11, saw an opportunity and use Bush's presidency to cynically try to accomplish it.

The Roadmap to Peace in the Middle East, it was called. I hated that plan, I thought it was immoral, and I didn't underestimate the power of religion in the region the way they did.

But if there's any credit, at least they had a plan, and assumed positive long term consequences (that didn't work out). Compared to the current president's administration, which clearly has no moral compass or sense of direction to formulate any long term plan on any policy other than hold rally's and talk tough l, Bush's admin were geniuses.

 

[Revoltingest]

So you hated a speech that brought the country together, that comforted people in pain and so forth.

To bring the country together for bi-partisan support for well over a trillion dollars worth of continuing wars.....yes.
(Although "hate" is too emotion laden. I prefer "oppose".)

I fully supported Afghanistan but think we botched the aftermath as we botched the aftermath of Iraq which I did not support.

Botching is what happens in war.
It always will.
So the rewards should be well defined & greater than what we've seen.

 

[godnotgod]

So you hated a speech that brought the country together, that comforted people in pain and so forth.

You mean brought a country of sleeping children together who believe in myths and fairy tales. Of course it was easy. Even a caveman can do it!

 

[oldbadger]

I miss this stammering idiot...

Bush 2 was always a pathetic public speaker..............
........... A simple guy................

You mean to say that a stammering, simple pathetic idiot could become the President of the United States of America and one of the most powerful folks in the World?

Tell me........ how you doin' so far?

 

[LuisDantas]

I thought that was his very worst moment.
He was a strong leader bent on revenge.
And he got both parties to get us into those
interminable costly wars.

I would not call him a strong leader (not that I particularly value strong leadership, mind you), but otherwise you are spot on.

 

[Revoltingest]

I would not call him a strong leader (not that I particularly value strong leadership, mind you), but otherwise you are spot on.

I saw him shepherd the country towards war with grit & determination,
when the outcome was uncertain. Strength is fundamentally neither
good nor bad, but in this case, it's the latter.

 

[LuisDantas]

I saw him shepherd the country towards war with grit & determination,
when the outcome was uncertain. Strength is fundamentally neither
good nor bad, but in this case, it's the latter.

You call that strength?

If you really see any sense in that...

 

[Revoltingest]

You call that strength?
If you really see any sense in that...

Strength is the capability to do what is difficult.
Do you disagree?

 

[LuisDantas]

Strength is the capability to do what is difficult.
Do you disagree?

Not exactly. That is a functional enough definition for our purposes.

But to call GWB strong.... well, you are closer to him and all that, but the hints sure did not reach me.

I don't even think that it is a good thing if a POTUS (or a President of anything) is "strong". But leaving that aside, Jimmy Carter struck me as strong. Dwight Eisenhower, certainly. Abraham Lincoln, probably. The ones that came after Carter? Not one of them. Obama probably has the best case for that qualifier, followed by Clinton.

That is not a coincidence. Every single Republican POTUS since at least Reagan was elected in no small part because they were not strong in any meaningful sense. They were privileged but weak (if often fearmongering) men who appealled to fearful people seeking promises of denial of uncertainty.

That took its toll. The GOP of these days is noteworthy for very little beyond its undeniable fragility and fear.

That is one reason why they are so catastrophically obsessed with attaining nominal "wins", no matter how destructive and feeble they might be. They seem to no longer have the ability to differentiate being feared from being strong or even respected.

 

[godnotgod]

You mean to say that a stammering, simple pathetic idiot could become the President of the United States of America and one of the most powerful folks in the World?

Yes, believe it or not, and now we have another idiot of a different kind, perhaps far more dangerous than Bush.

I've often wondered if we need to have some exams a would-be President should pass to qualify him. Even potential jurors are screened for qualification; eliminated if they show prejudice or hatred. Here we just voted in a man who is obviously racist and aggressive, and a chauvinist to boot. Obama showed far more intelligence than either Bush or Trump throughout his presidency, but was constantly up against Republicans who saw him as an unqualified black man, and couldn't wait for him to leave, rarely, if ever, giving him the credit or attention he deserved.

 

[oldbadger]

Yes, believe it or not, and now we have another idiot of a different kind, perhaps far more dangerous than Bush.

Is that a reflection of yours upon the electorate?

I've often wondered if we need to have some exams a would-be President should pass to qualify him.

...... him? Was that a slip of tongue, exposing some inner prejudice against female leaders?

Even potential jurors are screened for qualification; eliminated if they show prejudice or hatred Here we just voted in a man who is obviously racist and aggressive, and a chauvinist to boot.

After the USA's treatment of Former President Obama, maybe your last Election will wake up the electorate for the next Election?

Obama showed far more intelligence than either Bush or Trump throughout his presidency, but was constantly up against Republicans who saw him as an unqualified black man, and couldn't wait for him to leave, rarely, if ever, giving him the credit or attention he deserved.

Yes. Former President Obama is one of the best Leaders the US ever had, but prejudice, bigotry, hatred, carelessness kept his good works at bay.

 

[Revoltingest]

Not exactly. That is a functional enough definition for our purposes.

But to call GWB strong.... well, you are closer to him and all that, but the hints sure did not reach me.

I don't even think that it is a good thing if a POTUS (or a President of anything) is "strong". But leaving that aside, Jimmy Carter struck me as strong. Dwight Eisenhower, certainly. Abraham Lincoln, probably. The ones that came after Carter? Not one of them. Obama probably has the best case for that qualifier, followed by Clinton.

That is not a coincidence. Every single Republican POTUS since at least Reagan was elected in no small part because they were not strong in any meaningful sense. They were privileged but weak (if often fearmongering) men who appealled to fearful people seeking promises of denial of uncertainty.

That took its toll. The GOP of these days is noteworthy for very little beyond its undeniable fragility and fear.

That is one reason why they are so catastrophically obsessed with attaining nominal "wins", no matter how destructive and feeble they might be. They seem to no longer have the ability to differentiate being feared from being strong or even respected.

I don't understand your usage of "strong".
But no matter.

 

[LuisDantas]

So you hated a speech that brought the country together, that comforted people in pain and so forth.

Were any human being that powerful, we would be talking of mind control, and the world would be significantly different from what it is.

GWB never had the power to unite the USA, although I am certain that he hoped and believed otherwise.

GWB tapped into the fears of the time and the people lent him enormous amounts of power for a while. That does not mean that it was a good idea, and certainly tells us nothing good about GWB - or for that matter, about the people who supported him either.