George Bush, 41st President, Dies at 94

[Sid]

I think he was the best Republican president in my lifetime. He lead the USA and the world trough a turbulent time, was great in international politics.
RIP and thank you for what you did for the world.

 

[Zaida Gearbox]

I didn't much like him as a president, but he seemed like an alright guy to me. I feel bad for his family - especially the grand kids and great-grandkids (if there are any) losing him during the holiday season like this. I read somewhere that George W's daughter Barbara was really torn up over losing her grandmother and now this...

 

[Pamela]

I was shocked to read he quit the NRA in disgust back in 1995.

 

[Romana]

I wasn't a fan of his presidency, but boy was he miles above the Republicans of today.
And he girly wished his successor the best in office, and they were great friends.
I read the Clinton's' tweet in memory of him and some people posted the most awful things in response, some aimed at them and some at him re: Kuwait etc. Not most, but some. SMH.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

He had more decency than either Reagan or Trump (duh) but he was still an oil baron, a conservative (though "moderate" when that meant something), and another religionist. I want to blame him for the first Gulf War, but in reality that was mainly the result of larger strategic decisions that predated him. What he was not was a dynamic speaker, fwiw.

I just wonder if his family will ban Trump from the funeral? They really should.

 

[Free]

He at least dropped a useful "fuck you" before he left:

Limbaugh: 'George W. Bush Voted for Hillary'

 

[Kara Spengler]

So donnie will be talking to bush43 and going to the funeral wednesday. What are the odds he makes it through the day without causing a national embarrassment like making it all about him?

 

[Cindy Claveau]

Trumps to attend state funeral for George H.W. Bush

 

[detrius]

Maybe they gave him the wrong address?

"No, this is not the the funeral you are looking for. You need to drive, uh, ten miles down the road until you get to the cemetery... next to the McDonald's!"

 

[Lianne Marten]

On balance he made the world a worse place than it was before him and it would have been better had he never been around.

His legacy is war crimes, obstruction of justice, and racism.

 

[Pamela]

On balance he made the world a worse place than it was before him and it would have been better had he never been around.

His legacy is war crimes, obstruction of justice, and racism.

Well now we know how very much worse he could have been.

 

[Pamela]

Trumps to attend state funeral for George H.W. Bush

I immediately start wondering what he will do to do to make sure it’s all about him. Maybe climb inside the coffin? Give a speech about how great he is?

 

[Lianne Marten]

Well now we know how very much worse he could have been.

All subsequent Republican Presidents being worse than he was doesn't absolve him, especially since his actions paved the way for their installation.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

He such a weird mixed bag. He's the president who passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (and he didn't just sign it, his admin actually did work on it), signed another very pro-immigration act, and created a program for paying monetary damages to people who got cancer due to atmospheric nuclear tests back in the 60's. I had to double-check all of those things before making this post because to someone my age the idea of a Republican being caught dead even speaking positively about initiatives like that, let alone actively supporting them, let alone a Republican president signing them, is just so way the heck out in some kind of (censored)-up Twilight Zone wacky-land that if I didn't already know it was true, and somebody came up to me and told me a Republican president passed the ADA I would instinctively slap them.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

... and it would have been better had he never been around.

I'd like to point out that saying his policies are bad, and saying that we'd have been better off if he hadn't been around are two totally different claims.

If the Bushes hadn't been around, do we really know what would have filled that void? I think Reagan actually did make the country more conservative than it was before. I think the country would have been better off if he was never around. But I don't think H W Bush had that same long term, transformational effect. If he wasn't in the picture, it absolutely could have been a lot worse.

I feel the same way about the son. I don't agree with most of what he did, but people forget how blood thirsty the PUBLIC was after 9/11. If we had a real fascist in the white house during that time, that same fascist might still be in charge.

I'm not saying YAY for the Bushes, just that I think the bigger problem with conservativism is much deeper in the country.

 

[Pamela]

I'm not saying YAY for the Bushes, just that I think the bigger problem with conservativism is much deeper in the country.

Boy that's the truth. To me, GHWB was the antithesis of Trump and his minions. And I would not call it conservatism but authoritarianism.

 

[detrius]

He was the last Republican President who I can say tried to be a President for all Americans.

Sadly, that tells you more about Republicans than about him.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

GHWB and Reagan before him, were the last presidents we had before Gingrich's super-conservative "revolution" that opened the floodgates for Koch, Fox News, and the rise of the rightwing evangelists. That doesn't mean they can be excused, just that they laid the groundwork for many of the polarizing issues we face today.

 

[Lianne Marten]

Categorizing Reagan as not super conservative is a pretty big statement about where we're at right now.

 

[Pamela]

He such a weird mixed bag. He's the president who passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (and he didn't just sign it, his admin actually did work on it), signed another very pro-immigration act, and created a program for paying monetary damages to people who got cancer due to atmospheric nuclear tests back in the 60's. I had to double-check all of those things before making this post because to someone my age the idea of a Republican being caught dead even speaking positively about initiatives like that, let alone actively supporting them, let alone a Republican president signing them, is just so way the heck out in some kind of (censored)-up Twilight Zone wacky-land that if I didn't already know it was true, and somebody came up to me and told me a Republican president passed the ADA I would instinctively slap them.

Good to keep in mind that there is a difference between being evil and being wrong. Trump is both.