Bush's final address

Yes, it was nauseating. It was like taking a bottle of ipecac. Yet, I felt I had to watch President George W. Bush's last public address. The funny thing is I could've written that for him. Everyone who has followed his presidency knew what he was going to say. Bush has always tried to paint himself as a poorly understood tough guy who was never afraid to make decisions. This is exactly what he said in his address. He also had to tell us that the world is a different and dangerous place. Finally, somewhere in the speech he had to give advice to the incoming president. He had to say something about not losing one's nerve because this has been a theme of this president for the last five years.

I wish I could tell you that President Bush said something new. He didn't. I might go so far as to say he wouldn't. For the last three years President Bush has been on autopilot. He had stayed the course. Now, was no time for him to change his rhetoric and he didn't. Tonight ends an eight week media blitz that President Bush and his administration clumsily performed. It was their attempt to rewrite history. Almost everyone was involved including former officials like Karl Rove, Ari Fleischer and Andy Card.

For some reason, I don't think that George Bush and his top administration officials will fade off into the sunset. These neoconservatives understand that history is written by the winners. Therefore, I would not be surprised to continue to see George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Karl Rove and a few others continue this "charm" offensive. They're going to continue to talk up the "great" things that George W. Bush has accomplished. Look for one or two of the Bush insiders to become regulars on one of the Sunday morning talk shows.



From NYT:

President Bush defended his two terms in office during a farewell address from the White House on Thursday evening and conceded that he “experienced setbacks” over a tumultuous eight years. But he argued that he kept the country safe following Sept. 11, 2001.

“There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions, but there can be little debate about the results,” Mr. Bush said. “America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil.”

The president spoke to the nation from the East Room of the White House before an audience of nearly 200 people, including family, friends and members of the Cabinet. He also invited about 50 people whom he had met at some point in his presidency, many of whom were parents of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan or families members of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (more... )

Iraqi Journalist Throws Shoe At Bush

The Obamas Come To The White House

Obama Responds to Bush and McCain

From Politico.com:

Obama on McCain: Hypocrisy and fear-mongering


In an appearance in South Dakota just now, Barack Obama came back at yesterday's attacks from George W. Bush and John McCain, accusing them of "hypocrisy, fear-peddling, and fear-mongering."

He responded first to the charge from Bush that Democrats stand for appeasement in the Middle East.

"That’s exactly the kind of appalling attack that’s divided our country and that alienates us from the world, and that’s why we need change in Washington," he said, going to repeatedly link Bush and McCain.

"That was frustrating enough," he said of Bush's words. "Then John McCain gives a speech. He gave a speech in the morning where he talked about the need for civility in our politics. He talked about elevating the tone in our country.... Not an hour later, he turned around and embraced George Bush's attacks on Democrats. He jumped on a call with a bunch of bloggers and said that I wasn’t fit to protect this nation that I love."

McCain "accused me of not being fit to protect this nation – a nation my grandfather served in World War II– a nation that’s given me everything that I have," Obama said, then pivoted to attack Bush and McCain on a series of issues: Iraq; the survival of Osama bin Laden's and the Al Qaeda's leadership; Iran's strength; and Hamas's and Hezbollah's ascendancy.

He broke in particular with Bush's focus on democracy in the Middle East above all else.

"They’ll have to explain why Hamas now controls Gaza – Hamas that was strengthened because the us insisted that we have democratic elections in the Palestinian Authority," he said.

McCain "still hasn’t spelled out one substantial way that he’d be different from GB when it comes to foreign policy," Obama said, accusing both of "dishonest, divisive attacks."

He also mocked McCain's opposition to talking to Hamas in light of an interview McCain gave two years ago in which he appeared to support talking to Hamas.

Then he returned to themes familiar from his primary fight with Hillary Clinton.

"They’re trying to fool you. They’re trying to scare you. And they’re not telling you the truth. And the reason is that they can’t win a foreign policy debate on the merits," he said, calling their belief in the power of "tough talk" "naive and irresponsible" -- charges he exchanged with Clinton over his plan to meet with dictators.

He needs to keep on pounding on this. Linking McCain to Bush; turning McCain into a referendum on a Third Bush Term, and most of all, standing up to the lunacy in foreign policy of the last 7 years that has NOT made us safer.

McCain Wanted To Talk To Hamas TOO

h/t jedreport




Um, Senator 'Straight Talk Express' McCain isn't speaking such straight talk. After running up behind Dubya yesterday in his criticism of Obama being an ' appeaser', lo and behold, what is found?

From an interview 2 years ago:

RUBIN: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?"

McCAIN: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."

Hmmmmmm....
Hmmmmmm.....

Will Dubya come out and call McCain an appeaser? Or is McCain a flip-flopper?

Bush Attacks Obama in Israel; Joe Biden Responds-"This is bullshit"

Our President was at it again. Today, he compared Barack Obama to Nazi Appeasers. In Israel.

From The HuffingtonPost.com:

Bush Compares Obama To Nazi Appeasers
The Huffington Post
May 15, 2008 09:00 AM


President Bush has said repeatedly that he would not insert himself into the presidential race, but that stance changed dramatically today during his trip to Israel. After likening Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Osama bin Laden, Bush compared Barack Obama to Nazi appeasers:

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," said Bush, in what White House aides privately acknowledged was a reference to calls by Obama and other Democrats for the U.S. president to sit down for talks with leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to the Israeli Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Obama himself quickly responded to the comparison, calling it a false attack and listing past presidents who didn't think that diplomacy was such a bad idea:

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 6Oth anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack. It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel."

"Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power -- including tough, principled, and direct diplomacy -- to pressure countries like Iran and Syria. George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the President's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."

It was only yesterday that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates argued that United States needed to engage with Iran:

"We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with them," Gates said. "If there is going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can't go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us."

What are the odds that Bush says anything about what Gates just said?

Joe LIE-berman sided with the President (surprise...surprise...)

So, what did fellow Senator Joe Biden say?

“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset ... and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”

The man who brought us the worst foreign policy in a half century actually thinks he can credibly criticize ANYONE?

Puleeze.