View Full Version : RIP GHW Bush
Possibly the last authentic gentleman to hold the office of President of the United States. No ethical triangulation. No leading from behind. No nation building. No childish petulance.
I had a lot going on in my life then and did not pay much attention to politics. So I only vaguely remember him. I suppose that's a good thing as he didn't cause much of a ruckus. I do remember his infamous, "read my lips" statements. The news has played him up as a gentleman, which is important in my world. The Republican party seems a lot different now, even excepting 45.
I could make a rather off the cuff statement that Republicans have promoted their popularity but reducing taxes and not cutting spending, which never seems to work out. I'm not totally certain that is accurate.
Teacher Terry
12-2-18, 3:24pm
Yes I agree he was a decent person and president. However, I find Obama to be totally authentic and he didn’t have any scandals.
Three of the four living ex-presidents are Democrats now. Maybe we should work on evening things out by making Trump an ex.
President Carter was an honorable man; perhaps too honorable for his own good.
Bush 41 should be given due credit for a life of service to his country.
Teacher Terry
12-2-18, 4:33pm
Jane, I forgot about Carter. A man that lives his values.
I agree with what people said about him.. A decent, honorable man.
I have to admit, I was disappointed to see rancorous comments about him following Bernie Sanders' online condolence post on Facebook. Can't people EVER put things behind them? "Good riddance" is NOT an appropriate response to this man's death, no matter how different your politics are.
And this is a silly thing that I've been wondering about.. why couldn't 43 make it from Dallas to Houston to see his Dad off? The NYTimes said that he talked to him on speaker phone. None of my business, but I was just curious.
Anyway, I liked George Bush because he seemed like a decent human being, because he was adventurous in his old age, because he was beyond adventurous--he bravely served his country in WWII, because he had a 73 year love affair with his wife, and because he gave Dana Carvey such great fodder to work with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZLwc91RCjI
I did not agree with his politics at all, and I am not a CIA fan. I did think that he and his wife handled the death of their young daughter with incredible grace and dignity, and I admire them both very much for that. I also admire them for loving their large extended family very much. Since we are distant cousins, (both descended from Abiel Bush) I guess I will go with " a death in the family" and call it a day.
Yes I agree he was a decent person and president. However, I find Obama to be totally authentic and he didn’t have any scandals.
I never saw Obama as a classic gentleman. He spent eight years in such intense self-celebration that he didn’t notice his party withering. In that sense, he was the other side of the Trump coin.
Ultralight
12-3-18, 9:27am
I never saw Obama as a classic gentleman. He spent eight years in such intense self-celebration that he didn’t notice his party withering. In that sense, he was the other side of the Trump coin.
Larry Elder said this back in 2016: "The legacy of Barack Obama is Donald Trump."
Larry Elder said this back in 2016: "The legacy of Barack Obama is Donald Trump."
I think there is some truth to that. They both defeated Clinton. Trump’s victory was to a great extent a reaction against identity politics and elitist contempt. The other big factor was the incompetent campaign of the most qualified candidate in the universe.
iris lilies
12-3-18, 9:58am
I agree with what people said about him.. A decent, honorable man.
I have to admit, I was disappointed to see rancorous comments about him following Bernie Sanders' online condolence post on Facebook. Can't people EVER put things behind them? "Good riddance" is NOT an appropriate response to this man's death, no matter how different your politics are.
And this is a silly thing that I've been wondering about.. why couldn't 43 make it from Dallas to Houston to see his Dad off? The NYTimes said that he talked to him on speaker phone. None of my business, but I was just curious.
Anyway, I liked George Bush because he seemed like a decent human being, because he was adventurous in his old age, because he was beyond adventurous--he bravely served his country in WWII, because he had a 73 year love affair with his wife, and because he gave Dana Carvey such great fodder to work with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZLwc91RCjI
I just heard former Senator John Danforth talk about GHWBush. The rafio interviewer hypothethized that Dana Carvey’s bits on Saturday Night Live hurt his election. Senator Danforth said no not at all, it was fiscally conservative Republicans who supported Ross Perot, the beginnings of the Tea Party, that took him down.
Ross Perot got so many votes!! We tend to forget that and it is very relevant in discussion of three party presidential elections.
I never saw Obama as a classic gentleman. He spent eight years in such intense self-celebration that he didn’t notice his party withering. In that sense, he was the other side of the Trump coin.
Interesting that we all see the world through our own, sometimes warped, lenses. I saw no such self-celebration; I saw a consummate gentleman. He wasn't "classic" only because he wasn't white. And he certainly was the opposite of a public embarrassment.
And I think "identity politics" is a fiction and a Fox talking point. Unless you consider Evangelicals, right-to-lifers, Big Money, white nationalists/bigots, Pharma, Big Oil, gun lovers, etc. as "identities," which of course the right doesn't.
Some useful perspective. (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/12/01/george-hw-bush-legacy-222730)
HW was a bona fide war hero; I'll give him that. A holdover from a time when patricians still felt some sense of obligation to lead from the front.
But the celebration of his supposed good qualities--overdone as usual by the news media--needs to be kept in context. The Republican Party has succeeded in setting the ethical bar so abysmally low that almost anyone starts to look good, and he played as much a role as anyone in that. Saying he wasn't Donald Trump--or for that matter, his own son--is not exactly high praise.
Some useful perspective. (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/12/01/george-hw-bush-legacy-222730)
HW was a bona fide war hero; I'll give him that. A holdover from a time when patricians still felt some sense of obligation to lead from the front.
But the celebration of his supposed good qualities--overdone as usual by the news media--needs to be kept in context. The Republican Party has succeeded in setting the ethical bar so abysmally low that almost anyone starts to look good, and he played as much a role as anyone in that. Saying he wasn't Donald Trump--or for that matter, his own son--is not exactly high praise.
I was scrupulous in couching my praise for public service so as not to set off those spoiling for a fight. I'll allow him the inevitable fawning praise in death.
Interesting that we all see the world through our own, sometimes warped, lenses. I saw no such self-celebration; I saw a consummate gentleman. He wasn't "classic" only because he wasn't white. And he certainly was the opposite of a public embarrassment.
And I think "identity politics" is a fiction and a Fox talking point. Unless you consider Evangelicals, right-to-lifers, Big Money, white nationalists/bigots, Pharma, Big Oil, gun lovers, etc. as "identities," which of course the right doesn't.
Edited to add: I can't conceive of President Obama publicly (or privately) kicking Michelle in the backside, as Bush did--on camera--with Barbara.
I was scrupulous in couching my praise for public service so as not to set off those spoiling for a fight. I'll allow him the inevitable fawning praise in death.I spent the day with him once back in the late 90's and came away genuinely impressed with his humble and gracious demeanor. In honor of his memory, I'll scrupulously avoid setting off those spoiling to start one.
ApatheticNoMore
12-3-18, 10:53am
Larry Elder said this back in 2016: "The legacy of Barack Obama is Donald Trump."
to the extent that it really was people voting disgust with economics maybe. But this is probably overstated as a percent of the Trump voters. But yes the economy was in deep recession (depression is far more accurate) for years and years and only the bankers got bailed out. That was truly obscene and criminal really. There was extension of unemployment though. And people remember that if they had to go through it. This is somewhat the legacy of Bill Clinton too, of NAFTA etc., but it was much more directly the fallout of the great recession and insufficient programs for ordinary people.
Also of course some people back-lashed against a black man in the white house. Unlike the former there really is no legitimate basis to that so what can you say, that this was a real factor is shown by how many openly racist people have run recently and won. Add that to people who were never ever going to vote Dem anyway just your usual Republican base, and those who just liked Trumps authoritarian rich famous strongman bent - and there you go.
I spent the day with him once back in the late 90's and came away genuinely impressed with his humble and gracious demeanor. In honor of his memory, I'll scrupulously avoid setting off those spoiling to start one.
I'm a big fan of humble and gracious; we need more of those.
Teacher Terry
12-3-18, 12:54pm
Alan, how awesome that you got to spend a day with him. How did that happen? I see Bush as a honorable man and am enjoying hearing more about his early life on tv. L, if anyone is in to self celebrating it would be the orange baboon. On Veterans Day Obama walked the cemetery and talked to people and he isn’t even the president.
Alan, how awesome that you got to spend a day with him. How did that happen?
Local side of an executive protection detail. He came to town for a morning and evening event and I was the local security rep.
Teacher Terry
12-3-18, 2:46pm
A good friend of mine did executive protection for a bank. More than once he had to fly to a foreign country to negotiate the release of a bank president. He had some interesting stories.
I hope it’s not disrespectful, but possibly a bit of gallows humor. When I saw the headlines saying, Bush lies in state, my mind flipped to the 45 version of lies, and had to correct myself. I guess i’ve been conditioned by the media.
One commentator said don't whitewash the candidate who used the Willy Horton ad.
Teacher Terry
12-3-18, 8:00pm
No one is perfect. I am glad the whole world won’t be inspecting everything I have said or done. We can’t expect people to be perfect.
But the expectation is exactly perfection in most cases, that only good things can be said about the dead, even when they themselves are humble and have admitted to mistakes. A president is a public figure, and eventually historians will present a balanced picture. A good example is Kearnes Goodwin's portrayal of Johnson in Leadership in Troubled Times.
Since you don't want your life examined, stay a private citizen.
The eulogies for McCain were more realistic because people talked about his temper.
Teacher Terry
12-3-18, 9:15pm
I actually saw a balanced review of Bush that said later he regretted that ad. I am in no danger of becoming famous:))
My George HW Bush memory: I was a reporter on the staff of the Hamtramck Citizen in the late summer/early fall of 1992. This is a little town totally surrounded by Detroit. They had a big Polish fest Labor Day weekend. Bush is going to walk in the parade. Early in the day I see a guy walking around with this 6-8ft tall pole, with a bunch of broccoli hanging from the top. During the parade, Bush is walking along, directly opposite me, when all of a sudden broccoli begins raining down on him and the cops/Secret Service around him. The Hamtramck police chief was cowering from the broccoli with a file folder in hand as a shield. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in person. Police chief didn’t like being reminded that he cowered from a broccoli onslaught! ����
George HW Bush did champion the ADA and raise taxes when it was necessary to do so.
And he despised the current occupant of the White House, saying "Trump doesn't know what it means to be president."
ToomuchStuff
12-8-18, 3:38pm
Been a wierd week. Yesterday a coworker asked about his train as she missed that part of the funeral. We looked it up and that lead to various history/famous events conversations (Reagan getting shot/Challenger/Truman's funeral) and then a friend pulled out some pictures of him and Bush at a couple years golf tournaments. In a way, I think the train is a good metaphor for wanting to harken back to simpler times.
I laughed when Jim Baker brought up Dana Carvey's description of how to do a Bush impersonation. Be Mr. Rogers trying to do John Wayne.
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