George H.W. Bush - Classic or Dud

i kinda feel like no one can be director of the c.i.a., even for a year, and not be a complete asshole.

don't forget we have him to thank for Clarence Thomas

Oh shit, that's right.

don't forget: we have him to thank for loathing broccoli.

never forget:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ervjj_qRXXQ

2 Bad Neighbors

"It's your sons, Jeb Bush and George Bush Jr.!"

http://www.hwdyk.com/q/images/twobadneighbors_12.jpg

http://youtu.be/GkyBfJfcIoM?t=23s

ebruceii 9 months ago

This video makes me want to punch that old man Bush in his effing face. HE was the person running the CIA when THEY brought that shit into our cities to pay for wars in Central America under President Reagan. Glad that old scumbag is dead.

ebruceii is clairvoyant.

Poppy Bush never had an Alec Baldwin tell him "Nice guy? I don't give a shit. Good father? Fuck you. Go home and play with your kids!

Being the father of George W., Neil & Jeb is probable cosmic blowback for being the son of a Nazi financier.

Also ironic for him being the son of the first national treasurer of Planned Parenthood.

'never understood lemonade myself...not my forte.'

morbs' favorite president!

he's loathsome... just less so than the 3 who've followed.

(weighing everything, that is)

On one of the modern rock chart polls we tossed around the idea of the 1988-1992 musical interzone when certain ideas about presentation and arrangements reached their apex then started to slowly wilt until the next set of jolts. Poppy's presidency was a perfect match: a purported continuation of Reagan, only not so; a sense of sitting in a waiting room for the Next Big Thing. Reagan of course is still with us, the corpse that keeps getting exhumed; so is the Lobster of Hope. Bush will never be reexamined though...except when Obama refers to his foreign policy as a model of excellence.

i kinda feel like no one can be director of the c.i.a., even for a year, and not be a complete asshole.

― packt like phoebe cates's dad in a chimney (strongo hulkington's ghost dad)

sums it up for me, there's plenty we'll never know about.

So he's the unplugged "Layla."

He's Richard Marx's "Angelia."

JCM's Whenever We Wanted might have been his best.

what's that painting of him and clinton in front of the mosque upthread?

I think it was part of the 2004 Tsunami Relief fund?

Bush tried to surprise Clinton with a visit to his friend's office in New York City's Harlem; when Bush arrived, he found Clinton was overseas. So Bush sat down in his successor's office, put his feet up and called him on the phone. "Bill! It's George. Nice view! Nice desk!"

Ha, what is this, trying to get there first to hold open the door?

http://news.yahoo.com/famed-gulf-war-u-general-schwarzkopf-dies-former-012253521.html

weird times, those were.

http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/image.php?id=1168&filename=P22412-16.jpg

http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/image.php?id=2261&filename=HS767.jpg

Bar?

open and wet

During the 1988 presidential campaign, Donna Brazile, a campaign aide to Bush's opponent Michael Dukakis, was asked to resign after she told reporters that George H.W. Bush needed to "'fess up" about unsubstantiated rumors of an extramarital affair. Said Brazile, "The American people have every right to know if Barbara Bush will share that bed with him in the White House."

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ipk3HlMEmp8/Tta3aCfE74I/AAAAAAAACnI/jH3b6dZd7v8/s1600/pict435.jpg

Looks like No. 3 is aping No. 5's hairstyle.

http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/42/57/3812324/3/628x471.jpg

How this picture features not one, but two future presidents shows that America has a lot to answer for.

http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/17/03/43/3946702/3/628x471.jpg

http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/42/56/3812239/3/628x471.jpg

"Of course not, Biff. Now, I wouldn't want that to happen."

Anyway. The funniest about this thread so far is that we're all pretty much doing this:

http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/06/33/03/1683672/3/628x471.jpg

Damn, no video of "Message: I care" on YouTube.

The death watch:

Mr. Bush’s single term, from 1989 to 1993, proved a pivot point at home and abroad. The last president to have served in World War II, he managed the end of the Cold War, reunified Germany and expelled Iraq from Kuwait. He reauthorized the Civil Rights Act, updated the Clean Air Act and signed the Americans with Disabilities Act. But he broke his “read my lips” promise not to raise taxes and lost re-election when he seemed disengaged from a troubled economy.

and:

The nostalgia for Mr. Bush may say as much about these times as his. Those were the days when America went to war with Iraq and then got out, when the two political parties struck grand bargains tackling the budget deficit, when Russia was a newfound friend retreating from confrontation rather than provoking it.

Just as telling are Mr. Bush’s current friends and foes. Among the friends are some of the same Democrats who tormented him but now lavish him with praise. Among the foes are some of today’s Republicans, who see him as the epitome of everything they do not want to be.

“You never hear anyone point to Bush 41,” said Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, a Tea Party group. “By definition, a one-term president is a failed president. The American people rejected his economic policies.”

On the other side of that argument is Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, who ran for the Democratic nomination to challenge Mr. Bush in 1992. “I know they’re building statues of Ronald Reagan at airports,” Mr. Harkin said, “but in terms of their lives and their life’s work, to me, Bush 41 is much more integral to the development of American government and the process of democracy.”

Mr. Harkin will attend this weekend’s events at the elder Bush’s library at Texas A&M University, organized by Frederick D. McClure, chief executive of the library foundation. Mr. Harkin will appear on a panel to discuss the Americans with Disabilities Act, on which he collaborated with Mr. Bush.

Also on hand will be another Democrat, former Representative David R. Obey of Wisconsin, who helped broker the 1990 budget deal that included tax increases. “If there’s a single word that you can use to describe Bush’s approach to politics, it’s governance,” Mr. Obey said. “It was a case where the adults ran the show.”

Other Democrats are quick to add praise. “I actually have a high opinion of Bush 41,” said former Representative Richard A. Gephardt, Democrat of Missouri, who ran for president in 1988. Mr. Bush showed “strong presidential leadership,” Mr. Gephardt said, in taking on his own party over taxes and not pursuing Iraqi troops all the way to Baghdad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/04/us/politics/hindsight-proves-kinder-and-gentler-to-bush-41.html?ref=politics&_r=0

Two bad neighbors

Say what you will about HW but there's no denying
he puked on that Japanese dignitary that one time

'and that is why i will continue to oppose teen alcoholism in all its forms.'

http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/streams/2014/June/140612/2D274906094889-today-george-bush-skydive-140612-02.blocks_desktop_medium.jpg

mission accomplished.

did he die

George H.W. Bush - Classic or Dead

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/380298/ghwb-then-and-now-jay-nordlinger#comments

http://i.imgur.com/ZUuq0yu.jpg http://i.imgur.com/agiUXUd.jpg

eaten by dogs

has there ever been a decent biography of this guy?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41URrtJNQJL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

I'd like to imagine it's a book written by W.'s ghostwriter about Poppy's ghostwriter.

There's also

http://i.imgur.com/6kwFJ6k.jpg

Jarvis Cocker was right:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd6E1JpwMj4

many xps - Alfred, why Dawn Powell?

hottake: probably at least 50% of American presidents are both war criminals AND "decent people." It's function of being at the helm of American Empire.

many xps - Alfred, why Dawn Powell?

― flappy bird,

She wrote well and was no one's fool, hence she's a hero.

fortunately i have never cared what 99% of America thinks (fuck "Family Feud")

no argument there but I think the usual definition of "American hero" excludes artists, business, and most people... it's someone that made a (largely) selfless and substantial contribution and impact on the country/world... so Bill W. is obvious, MLK as well. Jackie Robinson also an easy pick despite being paid for his work. Jonas Salk is another big one I forgot. the guy that invented air conditioning? maybe.

xp

xp we know, morbs.

the "war criminal" stuff always seems a bit glib to me. there are valid criticisms of FDR's conduct of WW2 but i still wouldn't be comfortable throwing it in the same category as W's invasion of iraq.

For me it's simple: how many Americans had their lives improved thanks to a president's leadership? Hence my not giving two shits about James Polk's comfy residence in the upper echelon.

here's a Poppy grace note I learned: James Baker snuck in a Morton's steak and a bottle of Grey Goose one time that Jefe was in the hospital.

I assume everyone who wanted to read Maureen Dowd's lengthy paean to her friendship with Bush has done so w/out a link here.

biggest yuk: GWHB referred to Dubya as "my son Quincy"

that picture of them in front of the Xmas tree is something else

Can't wait till we get back to normal. pic.twitter.com/QtdjNgKBCB

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) May 30, 2020