Bush Speaks Out At Last!

What a contrast between Bush and Obama. One speaks well from prepared speaches and uses the office to attack individuals who disagree with him. One spoke not so eloquent, but from the heart with conviction and didn’t take on his critics, rather concentrated on the issues facing the country.

Uncertain times call for uncertain leadership…

Ccontrary to the MSM – Bush is/was no dummy!! He was low-key, but he knew what was going on, had (for the most part) solid advisors and ALWAYS had the good of the Country at heart. Now, we have… Mr. Thin-skin, Training Pants. 2010 can’t come soon enough!

More of this, please, Mr. President!

mynameis… don’t let the door…

Scrapion:

This RECESSION began under BUSH! Have you forgotten that point already?
Or have you been Con’d by the Republi-CONS?

There are signs that Obama’s plan is working and here is one of them:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090618/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_economy

Am I better off today than I was 5 months ago?? I am guessing you are referring to financially.
The answer is YES!!!

Oh just in case you still believe that Obama has broken MOST of his campaign promises as some on this site have suggested, here is another dose of the real truth.

The Obameter Scorecard
Promise Kept 31
Compromise 8
Promise Broken 6
Stalled 12
In the Works 64
No Action YET 394

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

Mike:

The WORST President in recent history is pictured at the top of this string. I’m sorry you are so confused.

My prayer is that we withstand the next 3.5 years, without unfixable damage being done. When an administration does its utmost to tare down this country and what made it great, it’s hard to get up in the morning. Shame on you Obama and all those who back you, you are a disgrace not only to America but now to the world. You insult Great Britain, stand back and allow Iranians to be murdered in the streets, denigrate Germans with their leader standing next to you. Apologize for America where praise was called for. A pox on you and your cabal of Fascists that are wrecking a great country.

Here’s a little dose of reality for Sky55110, Internet Casonova:

(Remember Bruce…. this list only includes the first 100 days.)

100 Days, Almost as Many Expired Campaign Promises

Happy 100th Day in Office, President Obama!

To celebrate, I thought I would go through all of your promises and statements from the campaign that reached their expiration date during this historic period.

1. “As President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

2. “I will make sure that we renegotiate [NAFTA].”

3. Opposed a Colombian Free Trade Agreement because advocates ignore that “labor leaders have been targeted for assassination on a fairly consistent basis.”

4. “Now, what I’ve done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut.”

5. “If we see money being misspent, we’re going to put a stop to it, and we will call it out and we will publicize it.”

6. “Yesterday, Jim, the head of Caterpillar, said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off.”

7. “I want to go line by line through every item in the Federal budget and eliminate programs that don’t work, and make sure that those that do work work better and cheaper.”

8. “[My plan] will not help speculators who took risky bets on a rising market and bought homes not to live in but to sell.”

9. “Instead of allowing lobbyists to slip big corporate tax breaks into bills during the dead of night, we will make sure every single tax break and earmark is available to every American online.”

10. “We can no longer accept a process that doles out earmarks based on a member of Congress’s seniority, rather than the merit of the project.”

11. “If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.”

12. “Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe the United States has to be frank with the Chinese about such failings and will press them to respect human rights.”

13. “We must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights.”

14. “Lobbyists won’t work in my White House!”

15. “The real gamble in this election is playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expecting a different result.”

16. “I’ll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we’ll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills.”

These are only the 16 that I was able to find in my archives over the past 100 days, and I’m sure readers will recall more. But it is important that we remember that this is only the beginning. There is a long road ahead, and many more promises left to break.

UPDATE: And the readers come through!

17. “Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.” Obama is 1-for-11 on this promise so far.

18. A special one on the 100th day, “the first thing I’d do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing I’d do.”

Here are some more for you Bruce:

Obama: Mirandize Terrorists Captured Waging War On America, Update: An Obama Flip-Flop?

Obama to Bring Back Military Tribunals Which He Opposed As Professional Candidate

Where are your musings on the illegal firing of an Inspector General?

Obie sponsored the very law that he broke….sounds like a broken promise to me.

More to come.

You made the unfortunate mistake of challenging me on the facts again.

You’re gonna need some Maalox by the time I’m done.

And bandages.

If Brucie decides to show up on this thread again….here’s some more for him to chew on:

Obama has adopted the Bush adminsitration’s positions on lawsuits over “torture,” warrantless wiretapping, state secrets and policies the powers that allow the president to indefinitely detain suspected terror supporters.

The administration is negotiating possible exceptions to the June 30 deadline for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraqi cities

Obama has flip-flopped on the free-trade pact with Colombia and NAFTA.

Even before he was elected, he broke his promises to immediately repeal tax cuts for the wealthy and take on Big Oil

Other broken promises will tend to bother only the Right, like the abandonment of his inaugural pledge to end ineffective government programs.

The Obama Administration is not policing its stimulus spending for waste, fraud and abuse, not doing the legally-required oversight of TARP funds and not providing information to the Congressional Oversight Panel on TARP.

Attorney General Eric Holder promised looser standards for Freedom of Information Act requests, but the lawsuits seeking information about the administration’s bailout programs are piling up.

Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the TARP, has already opened 20 criminal investigations and six audits into whether tax dollars are being pilfered or wasted.

@Aqua:

Just printed out the article you linked.

It’s amazing to me what Obie is doing.

Dunderheads like Sky55110, Internet Casanova Extraordinaire, are just floating along on the HopeyChangey vapors while the country is being destroyed around them.

Amazing.

And RAP, if you really want to be honest and place blame where blame belongs on the recession, HERE is public enemy #1.

[Courtesy embed for Aqua....I even selected a pretty pink border in honor of Senator Bawney Fwank. - Aye]

Moby sighting on Aisle 26.

Moby…Aisle 26.

So many delicious morsels there….so little time.

There has to be governmnet regulation put in place and if you don’t understand that I truly feel sorry for you. Why do you think the “Savings and Loan scandal” happened”. Nobody was regulating or watching over these selfish a**hole’s that were allowing anybody no matter what the income or economic status to receive a loan that was impossible to pay off.

Hey Morris….the reason the current lending debacle occurred is because the gov’t FORCED lenders to make loans to people who would never realistically be able to pay them back.

@herman:

That “adult” who was in charge is pretty much responsible for this

No, not exactly.

That would be like all of us blaming your third grade teacher for your current mental vapidity.

The Republican Party strayed from its’ principles long before President Bush moved into the White House. Until the party regains its’ footing, it will continue to founder in the eyes of those of us who are Conservative.

After all the crap from BO it was nice to hear from W again.

Oh MAN, I would have LOVED to have been there at the meeting!! I just got off the phone with the PR person for the event, and she said there was a VERY warm welcome for President Bush, and standing room only. She MORE THAN ONCE communicated HUGE enthusiasm and much positive energy there in response to his speech!! I called to ask if there was a video available, and she said there was not. The only thing taped was the 1st 3 minutes or so of the event. Other than that, just photos. I told her it would be SO refreshing to hear someone saying the free market still works, and she wholeheartedly agreed!! Lord knows I would have tried to attend if I’d known about it!!!

More photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/manp/sets/72157619805543305/

THANK YOU, MIKE!!

Hey Morris I served before you were born, and those WMD are somewhere up your butt, with who did you serve and where. Jimmy Carter was and is the worst President ever to serve, and Obama is very quickly catching up. Did Bush ever insult Great Britain not once but three times, did he insult Germany with Merkel standing next to the big eared baffoon, did he refuse dinner with The president of France, only to eat atop the Eiffel Tower. In just 65 days this dweeb has managed to p#ss off the whole world, so do me a favor shove him where the sun doesn’t shine.

Maybe I should add that we can connect CRAP… a student of revisionist history… and bozo “mynameis” off forum so they can mind meld.

“signs” Obama’s plan is working… LOL Right, CRAP… how much of that money has been released? And what jobs, other than government jobs for a year, has been “saved”?

Even Biden says “be patient”, it’ll work…. when the money finally get’s released. But then, if it hasn’t been released, how does it contribute?

duh

I guess Larry W is sharing prozac needles with you, right?

Oh yes… Morris who? You feel “sad” at all these comments? Interesting. I feel “sad” that you believe government is the cure for the problems when it was government (i.e. Congress) who caused not only the S&L but the current banking woes. Sometimes it’s bad legislation and regulation, and others it’s overregulation. And most are the result of many events together that create a perfect storm. That you simplify these problems as either similiar, or as a free market flaw, may suit your comprehension ability… but doesn’t make it so.

Hey Jainphx– “Weapons of mass destruction are somewhere up my butt”. I don’t think I even need to comment on this. HA the funny thing is they still haven’t been found yet so maybe they’re “up my butt” (IDIOT).

Bottom line: Whether you choose to believe it or not Obama was clearly the better candidate in the presidential race so before you criticize every democrat that comes into office please, please don’t make it so easy with lousy candidates. Also, just because a man served in the war and spent 1500 days as a POW does not mean he knows how to “Manage” a war. I am not going to sit here and say Obama has any experience either but as a country we had no choice but to elect somebody and based on the turnout “change was necessary”. Repulicans have controlled the house and office for the past 11 years and clearly something is not working. I am sure there are many of your right wing pals that voted Obama but would never admit it.

Don’t judge Obama’s presidency after the first 130 days or so and if you do make sure you put a better team on the field next race.

Oh yeah I almost forgot: Aye Chiuahua: Under who’s administration was the government under when these lendors were forced to push through these loans?

@Morris #26:

Also, I love how so many people were so “Pro-War” but I can guarantee you a mojority of them have never served.

Must explain why the majority military voting block consistently goes to Republicans.

I am a veteran and let me ask you something,

Also, I love how Morris pulls out the chickenhawk card, tries to fortify his opinion behind the “I am a veteran” aegis, then writes this gem:

just because a man served in the war and spent 1500 days as a POW does not mean he knows how to “Manage” a war.

Must be taking lessons from President Obama on how to have his argument both ways.

Morris,

‘Whether you choose to believe it or not’ – you are funny Morris. Really, you are.

Mike, did you see this:

Bush Unplugged
By: Dr. Paul Kengor
FrontPageMagazine.com… | Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Last Wednesday evening, I witnessed a remarkable event, which is being misreported and misperceived—from the Drudge Report to the White House—in antagonistic ways I plainly didn’t see. I shouldn’t be surprised, since it involved George W. Bush.

It was the 104th annual event of the Erie-based Manufacturer & Business Association, which attracts top speakers from all over the world. June 17 was no exception, as Ralph Pontillo and his staff brought in the 43rd president of the United States.

As president, George W. Bush was, of course, widely disregarded for his oratorical shortcomings. His failure to communicate his core message, especially regarding his Middle East vision, was central to his record disapproval.

And yet, Bush was magnificent last Wednesday. He spoke with no teleprompter and few notes. After formal remarks, he reclined in a leather chair and answered audience-supplied questions. It was Bush unplugged.

I can’t do justice to all that was said. I’ll share a handful of items not getting the wider attention they deserve:

Referring to post-9/11 America, Bush calmly conceded, in a refreshingly frank manner: “I’m surprised we didn’t have another attack.”

We should all be surprised. Credit for that colossal accomplishment—Bush’s first priority after 9/11—goes to this president, who got little thanks.

Speaking of ingratitude, the unpopular ex-president didn’t whine about how he was poorly treated, and acknowledged he doesn’t sit around “psychoanalyzing” himself. Besides, he suffered something worse: He said it was far harder watching his father get attacked as president.

This was telling. George W. Bush idolizes his father. He talks of the “unspeakable” reassurance of the “unconditional love” of his father, which he compares to the unconditional love of his “heavenly father.” After watching his dad absorb arrows for four years, only to lose to Bill Clinton, the shots he took for eight years were easy.

Besides, said Bush, he can look in the mirror knowing he didn’t “sell his soul” for political gain. He always did what he felt was “morally right.”

The George W. Bush presidency was truly the sacrificial presidency.

What was more, Bush, a history buff and history major at Yale, noted that he had three busts installed at the Oval Office: Churchill, Lincoln, and Eisenhower. Ironically, he did that before 9/11, and it occurred to him only later that all three were wartime leaders. He couldn’t imagine the war he faced, and asserted that the most unexpected aspect of being president is preparing for the unexpected—“to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

On this point, President Bush didn’t pause to zing President Obama for removing that bust of Churchill. Quite the contrary, Bush promised, to tepid applause, that the one thing he will not do as ex-president is rip the current president: “I didn’t like it when it happened to me [read: Jimmy Carter], and I’m not going to do it to others.”

Here, reports that Bush “slammed” Obama are untrue. Naturally, he unavoidably made clear his preference for policy solutions in contrast to the central planning now governing Washington. At the same time, he dismissed fears that the nation was rushing toward “socialism.”

Bush shared a fascinating insight into his conviction that the Middle East can be democratically transformed. He reaffirmed his faith-based belief that Middle East Muslims have an inherent yearning for freedom placed on their hearts by a “loving God.” To think otherwise was “condescending.” God created them, too.

He made explicit reference, speaking passionately, and to hushed silence, about Muslim women in particular, and how they long to be educated and raise their babies in freedom. That emphatic statement from Bush haunts me right now as I now watch footage of Iranian women literally taking bullets for freedom—martyred women who may be the modern equivalent of that Tiananmen student who stood in front of a tank 20 years ago this month.

These were messages right out of the best speech of his presidency, his November 2003 address to theNational Endowment for Democracy.

What was new was the personal way he brought Japan into the equation. After World War II, many judged that Japan couldn’t become a democracy. Japan was out-of-control, recklessly belligerent. It was that culture, that insane war-machine, which shot down Bush’s dad in the 1940s.

And yet, explained Bush, not only did Japan change dramatically, unthinkably, but one of his best friends as president was Japan’s prime minister, who was the first to telephone after 9/11.

Imagine, exhorted Bush: There he was, President George Bush, son of President George Bush. The father had been shot down by imperial, anti-democratic Japan. Now, after 9/11, peaceful, democratic Japan was calling the son to express condolences and offer help.

That moving message deserves pause: If Japan could change that much, what might transpire in the Middle East? It’s a promising prospect, one every skeptic of Iraqi democracy should bear in mind.

This was George W. Bush in Erie, Pennsylvania on June 17—inspiring, colorful, communicating the big picture.

Alas, the one major disappointment from the event is that no video or transcript is available. All rights belong to the 43rd president. I imagine this gem will end up on a shelf at the Bush Library, left to lonely scholars with a VCR, watching with a mix of awe, confusion, and frustration.

Awe at the supposedly poor communicator delivering this engaging message. Confusion as to why he couldn’t communicate the message as president. And frustration that the millions who ought to be watching never will.