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George H W Bush dead at 94

CastlevaniaNut18
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SaysWho?

SaysWho?

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Posted
45 minutes ago, 2user1cup said:

Nah, HW was better than W and better than Trump but he still created massive global instability and hurt Americans. The caravan is here because of policies and actions HW (and others) set in motion.

 

Agreed by and large. HW is one of the most interesting presidents in recent times for me because he respected the office and didn't seem to hold grudges when defeated, evident by his friendship with not just his successor but his son's successor who ran on, "Man, Bush Jr screwed everything in the world up," and the letter he wrote for Clinton, and there was a considerable amount of humanitarian work he did post-presidency that's admirable.

 

But I tell people, the "nostalgic" (as the article put it) view of the Republican Party of decades ago is so misguided. HW is a better man than Trump, but he helped grow the populist garden that sprung Trump and turned the current Republican Party to what it is. Obviously people like Pat Buchanan and his "make American first" lines had a huge impact as well, but read this exchange between Bush and Dukakis in their first debate and tell me it isn't eerily similar to the debates in 2004 and the debates we're having now:

 

Quote

JENNINGS: I'd actually like to follow up if I may on this mention you've made of his card carrying membership in the American Civil Liberties Union. You've used the phrase "card carrying" so many times since Governor Dukakis first acknowledged that he was a card carrying member of the ACLU that some people have come to believe that you've used it to brand him in some way, to identify him as people were identified in the 1950's as less than patriotic. I'd like to know why you keep repeating the phrase, and what's the important issue here? What is so wrong with the governor being a member of an organization which has come to the defense of, among other people, Colonel Oliver North?

 

BUSH: Nothing's wrong with it. (Laughter) But just take a look at the positions of the ACLU. But, Peter, please understand, the liberals do not like me talking about liberal They don't like it when I say that he says he's a card carrying member. Now, if that quote was wrong, he can repudiate it, right here. I've seen it authoritatively written twice, and if I've done him an injustice, and he didn't say it, I'm very, very sorry. But I don't agree with a lot of - most of the positions of the ACLU. I simply don't want to see the ratings on movies. I don't want my ten year old grandchild to go into an X-rated movie. I like those ratings systems. I don't think they're right to try to take the tax exemption away from the Catholic Church. I don't want to see the kiddie pornographic laws repealed; I don't want to see "under God" come out from our currency. Now, these are all positions of the ACLU. And I don't agree with them. He has every right to exercise his passion, as what he said, a strong, progressive liberal. I don't agree with that. I come from a different point. And I think I'm more in touch with the mainstream of America. They raised the same thing with me on the Pledge of Allegiance. You see, I'd have found a way to sign that bill. Governor Thompson of Illinois did. I'm not questioning his patriotism. He goes out and says the man is questioning my patriotism. And then all the liberal columnists join in. I am not. I am questioning his judgment on these matters, or where he's coming from he has every right to do it. But I believe that's not what the American people want, and when he said, when he said at the convention, ideology doesn't matter, just competence, he was moving away from his own record, from what his passion has been over the years. And that's all I'm trying to do, is put it in focus. And I hope people don't think that I'm questioning his patriotism when I say he used his words to describe his participation in that organization.

 

LEHRER: Governor, a response.

 

DUKAKIS: Well, I hope this is the first and last time I have to say this. Of course, the vice president is questioning my patriotism. I don't think there's any question about that, and I resent it. I resent it. My parents came to this country as immigrants. They taught me that this was the greatest country in the world. I'm in public service because I love this country. I believe in it. And nobody's going to question my patriotism as the vice president has now repeatedly. The fact of the matter is if the Pledge of Allegiance was the acid test of one's patriotism--the vice president's been the presiding officer in the United States Senate for the past seven and a half years. To the best of my knowledge he's never once suggested that a session of the Senate begin with the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

(Applause)

 

DUKAKIS: Mr. Bush, I don't question your patriotism. When you're attacked for your military record, I immediately said it was inappropriate, it had no place in this campaign, and I rejected it. I would hope that from this point on, we get to the issues that affect the vast majority of Americans, jobs, schools, health care, housing, the environment. Those are the concerns of the people that are watching us tonight. Not labels that we attach to each other, questions about each other's patriotism and loyalty.

 

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