What can’t be argued is that the Gulf War lasted 6-7 months and was over before his re-election bid.
Like I said, no war time president lost a re-election bid. If they ran while we were at war, we re-elected them.
Which were … um … could somebody remind me, please?
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Can we burn this thread already?
It makes me want to headdesk.
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As Bill Hicks said, a war is when TWO sides are fighting…
Damn, we could do with Hicks now. 
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Oh look, no sand traps.
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Yes, you are correct. I just thought it was interesting how many wartime presidents had serious physical problems.
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Best article I’ve read in years was by Jon Schwarz at The Intercept:
…one of the reasons we have fond memories of Nixon is that it was never really widely reported that he committed treason, colluding with a foreign power (S. Vietnam) to sabotage peace talks just for his own electoral needs. The war went on another four years, killing an extra 20,000 Americans.
There’s just no words.
The article also has a good review of Iran/Contra, doubly topical because Ollie North is back in national prominence. Which the good Mr. Schwarz has reviewed in greater detail about Ollie’s participation, just today:
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The asterisk reading: Assuming that the psyche of the person in question actually separates malice and incompetence rather than balling everything together into a chaotic wad of screaming rage.
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Nah. I don’t buy it. The fact that the observation “Bush looks good by comparison” is widely accepted is not the same as being “fully rehabilitated.”
None of Bush’s policies have been redeemed by history. There is no rush of liberals saying “Yeah, maybe I was wrong, invading Iraq turned out to be a great idea!”
Unless Trump is followed by someone who publicly masturbates the White House pets while wearing sponsor logos, he is going to be reviled for a long time.
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And there was me, having doubts whether Ollie had the qualifications to head the NRA… but no, turns out he’s just the man!
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They are below, on the hangar deck.
Yes, it is a two-floor golf course.
The bestiest.
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I’ve been thinking the same thing - that increasingly worse Republican presidents have been allowing the rehabilitation of the reputations of the previous ones. And also that Trump is likely going to be overshadowed by a smart fascist who realizes everything Trump did wrong and everything he accidentally did right (in terms of achieving power), and will make us long for the days of Trump.
But that’s not entirely it. Reagan’s been mythologized heavily because he was a celebrity president who could charm voters in ways that subsequent Republicans could only dream of. Republicans also love him because he sold Americans on neoliberalism (and subsequent Democrats who also embraced it can’t really speak against him). Bush’s rep can be rehabilitated because it has become clear that he’s an amiable idiot. He was just surrounded by malevolent assholes who used him to advance their own hateful agendas. Bush often wanted to help people, even if he didn’t manage it; Trump has no such interests. Some of what Bush helped bring forth clearly haunts him. Nothing Trump does will ever haunt his conscience because he doesn’t have one.
Yeah, we have to remember GWB as an idiot surrounded by effective malevolence; that Trump is an ineffective, malevolent idiot doesn’t retroactively make GWB any better. They’re just different kinds of disasters.
To be fair, many of the awful things we’re afraid Trump might do aren’t the the same sort of awful things that Bush did, though. If we’re lucky, the underpinnings that hold our democracy together will still exist by the time he’s out of office. That war with Iran still might happen, too.
Relative to Trump, the guy’s all charm.
A (relatively) smart, competent fascist. An organized authoritarian who knows how to work the system, work with others and dismantle the norms and laws that hold democracy together, and does so. This is the kind of president that Trump has made more likely, because he’s illuminated the way.
I can’t even handle Trump (although part of that is my expectation now that America’s future will be more Trumpian). My best coping mechanism so far is nihilism - just saying, “Fuck it, maybe America does deserve to die in a fire.”
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He’s already been caught in multiple scandals that would have brought down any other President. Republicans just don’t give a shit.
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My assumption is that when we have a well mannered but evil president - someone like Pence with enough sense to keep their mouth shut so the SC can’t cite their tweets as evidence of malicious intent, and start REALLY running amok, they’ll look back “fondly” at bumbling Donny the same way we look back fondly at GWB for “only” terrorizing Iraqis.
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W. does not appear to be a color line racist. Certainly a bigot, on multiple axes, but not against dark skin color or African origin. That’s all I got, and frankly it’s not enough to redeem him in my eyes.
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Well there was that one time he actually apologized after accidentally insulting a disabled reporter instead of angrily doubling down on his original remarks. Hard to imagine that happening today.
Yeah, we’ve set that bar pretty low.
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I’m not so sure that ex-POTUS Trump can be rehabilitated. I mean, when the payment to a lover for an abortion and the $400m of laundering dirty money come out and fully documented, he personally will be a proven POS of a human being. He true, repulsive nature will be fact, not opinion.
In W’s case, the historic wrongness of the wars or whatever in Afghanistan and Iraq as well enabling the 2008 financial collapse not too mention mass repression and limitation of freedom – thanks to corporate media reportage – are too subtle for the average person to, let’s say, perceive and appreciate. Donald’s failings, when all the lies that make him up get exposed, will be something else. (And yes, at this point, I have trouble deciding which is the worse POTUS.)
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[Bill Hicks is awoken from his eternal slumber by a demon.]
Hicks: [blinks, stares around in confusion]
Demon: Bill, Earth needs you. Again.
Hicks: [slowly blinking]
Demon: It’s Trump.
Hicks: [squints] Huh?
Demon: Donald Trump. He’s president of the United States now.
Hicks: [thousand-yard stare]
Demon: Bill?
Hicks: [shakes head] No. [pauses] No. Fuck it. Just let me go back to being dead.
Demon: [sighs] Bill, c’mon. The masses appreciate you now.
Hicks: That’s nice. Fuck off. Put me back to sleep.
Demon: [sighs, looks around blankly before locking his gaze with Hicks] Debbie Gibson did a Playboy centerfold.
Hicks: [now looking down at the ground] I—I don’t care.
Demon: [mutters to himself, starts to pace, thinking in silence] Recreational pot is legal in, like, four states now and will probably be legal throughout the country pretty soon.
Hicks: [continues to stare at the ground]
Demon: Bill?
Hicks: [long pause, deep breath, then exhales] Do you have a cigarette?
Demon: This is Hell, of course I do. Here.
[The demon hands Hicks a cigarette rolled by Jesus and moistened shut by Claudia Schiffer. Hicks looks up and takes the cigarette in his hand and places it in his mouth. The demon flicks his thumb and lights it for him. Hicks takes a long draw, holds it in for a few seconds, and exhales, his gaze on the long plume of smoke. He stares for several seconds as his right hand taps the building ash from the cigarette.]
Hicks: [staring ahead] Fuck it. Fine. Let’s get this shitshow started.
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I think I’m in love.
