Well, the first review, anyhow. But if this were the only review The Bad Attitude Guide to Good Citizenship ever got, I could die happy.
Okay, it’s by somebody I know. But he didn’t have to be so nice.
Speaking of books, we’ve all been subjected this week to our former decider-in-chief boasting about how he personally approved war crimes. Anything to make bux off his new memoir, of course. The photo on his new and endlessly-touted tome has a conventional shot of the ex-pres (attempting an expression of gravitas but succeeding only in looking as if he needs a dose of Ex-Lax). Bovard has a much better suggestion for a cover photo.
I finished Bad Attitude this morning. No disrespect intended, but he /did/ have to be that nice, to give an honest review.
You gave us so much to think about, my brain hurts.
Thanks,
Sam
Awshucks, Sam. Awshucks, Jim. That’s very nice of you.
(I finally snagged a copy of the book for myself, and yegads there’s definitely a lot of information in there, isn’t there? But I sincerely didn’t mean to hurt anybody’s brain.)
Personally I’m sick to death of bush-bashing and have been for awhile. Of course he was a shit president, I know that and I know why…but ever since it became encouraged to not like the guy, I’ve just gotten funny looks whenever I’d ask someone specifically why they dislike him. “Uhh….you know…Iraq….and he’s like…..uh……..something about oil….f**k man! Haven’t you seen that Michael Moore movie?”
Besides…Our current president’s inability to know how many states are in the union got near silence, wheras the press would be busy for weeks every time Dubya said nuclear the wrong way. We have bigger problems than him now.
(Obviously this isn’t a jab at Jim or Claire, I know both of you could put together a proper argument on the flaws of the Bush presidency. And the ex-lax comment had me on the floor!)
Winston: I feel the same way. Bush got verbally ripped apart by the media for the crime of speaking with a Texas accent, but very few of Obambi’s flubs are even noticed. At times I wonder if they’re just afraid to mock him because he’s black?
……Bush could probably explain the definition of jihad better than Obama didn’t……
Sorry… but Bush was a verbal klutz, an “avenger” (for his father), a lazy man who didn’t at first think he had to do much while in office, a self-styled goody two shoes — all of which could be led around by Cheney because he (Bush) didn’t know what to do or how to properly do it. He MAY have learned something while in office, he MAY have learned how to be his own man — but he never indicated so, and he’s now had time to take advantage of Obama’s unpopularity in order to boost his own presidential image.
Both he — and his book — SHOULD be put down, not because of comparison with Obama, but because his Presidency *wasn’t worth defending.* To waste time comparing them is like “voting for the lesser of two evils”: they are both on a par, and defending (or voting for) one or the other is immaterial as far as results are concerned.
Yeah. What Pat said.
On top of all the negatives Pat notes, Bush II was a war criminal and an economic moron (just as Obama is).
I can see being weary of Bush-bashing. Or political bashing in general. Definitely. It makes me wince hearing people trash Bush while giving Obama a pass for doing the very same, or similar, things.
But the current effort to recast that vicious, smug, self-satisfied, cotton-headed lightweight as some sort of thoughtful, but misunderstood, statesman is … well, it’s even weirder than the (unfortunately mostly successful) effort to rehabilitate the reputation of the wretched criminal, Richard Nixon.
A pox on ’em all.
Oh don’t get me wrong…I wasn’t implying that I miss Bush… he sucked and because of it we still suffer from a lot of his bad decisions such as the Patriot act. Like Dan Qualye will mainly be remembered for “potatoe” and Cheney for being that VP who shot the lawyer, I really hope history views Bush as the failure that he was.
I guess it’s just that once people like Chris Matthews started bush-bashing…well, it just ain’t as fun. Watching the whole country go into anti-bush frenzy was like seeing a bunch of preschoolers join into a chant about how so-and-so has cooties.
Wouldn’t mind a calm, rational discussion, with evidence presented to back up every claim (even the claims I believe, I’d like it if people had evidence instead of just accepting someone else’s word). But that’s nearly impossible to find anymore, even with otherwise rational people. Try and discuss something with the average person and they start parroting sound bytes back and forth.