Bush Pulls A Cheney
I’ve been praising George W. Bush for saying, unlike his former partner in crime, Dick Cheney, that Obama “deserves my silence.” It appears as though the former president has had a change of heart. In particular, Bush went after Obama on health care.
“There are a lot of ways to remedy the situation without nationalizing health care,” Mr. Bush said. “I worry about encouraging the government to replace the private sector when it comes to providing insurance for health care.”
Asked by the evening emcee at the 104th annual Manufacturer and Business Association meeting if he finds the new president’s policies “socialist,” Mr. Bush started — then stopped.
“I hear a lot of those words, but it depends on –” he said, breaking off. He later offered a more diplomatic assessment: “We’ll see.”
Other criticisms were implied, as when Bush insisted his administration’s actions on interrogation were within the law and when he claimed it would be the private sector rather than the government that rights the economy. But, then who started the bank bailouts?
“I worry about encouraging the government to replace the private sector when it comes to providing insurance for health care.” No one is talking about replacing the private sector. The plan is to provide a public option that competes with the private insurance companies. Sure sounds like he read Frank Luntz’s talking points memo.
EricG Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
That’s all any REpublican reads anymore. They all seem completely vapid of all interest in facts and seem to have a certain love for vague BS.
I would arrest Frank Luntz as a enemy-propagandist if I had my way.
My favortie moment with him was when he was running a focus group, asked them about Obama, they all approved and gave favorable remarks and then he turns to the camera and says: “Well, you can’t always believe the group.”
Ha!
So when conservative opinion is produced you can believe that but when it’s not conservative it must be lies.
What horse-poop. And this is the basis and standard of these Neo-Cons and their BS machine.
Murderers, blood on all their hands.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
It may be unprecedented for a former President and Vice President to speak out but it is also unprecedented for a current President to spend 6 months whining about the mess he inherited. The Democrats had their part in the housing crises that along with record high oil prices, triggered this mess. It was not just Bush.
anonymouse Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
“… it is also unprecedented for a current President to spend 6 months whining about the mess he inherited.”
Bush was still blaming his economic failings on Bill Clinton … as George was leaving office in 2009, eight years after Bill left the Oval Office for the last time.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
The dog is done Mr.
June 18th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I’d imagine the “Manufacturer and Business Association” meeting would be a very quiet place to spend an evening this year.
**Cricket**
**Cricket**
**Cricket**
June 18th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Bush Pulls A Cheney
Are you calling Bush a Dick?
June 18th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Ha ha ha pino
Good one
June 18th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Who said the plan is to replace private medical insurance with socialist medical insurance? I think what the administration has been promising is an alternative choice for private medical health ninsurance, provided by the government. More choice… more Freedom. That’s it and that’s all.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Rather than criticize, Dubya should apologize for leaving multiple disasters for his successor to clean up.
Better yet, he should be in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffs and leg irons in the prisoners’ dock at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, facing justice for his war crimes, instead of speaking at the rubber chicken luncheon for the Chamber of Commerce or Rotary Club or whatever.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Rather than criticize,
Right. Obama?
Rendition
More war
More debt
More torture
Orange suit for Obama Mr Coffee?
TDro319 Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Pino:
Bush/Cheney had 8 years to clean up their mess.
See us in 4 years if everything is the same or worse than what Dubya and the Dick left.
TDro319 Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Pino:
You gave Bush/Cheney 8 years to clean up their mess. You’re jumping the gun. See us again in 4 years if things are the same or worse than the Dubya and the Dick fiasco.
TDro319 Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
It seems you jumped the gun, Pino. You gave Bush and Cheney 8 years to clean up their mess. See us in 4 years if things are the same or worse than the last 8 years have been.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Alan…looking for a reason to be offended.
It’s not like he called a press conference. Someone asked him a question and he gave his opinion…and he had the self-awareness to realize (although a bit late) that he shouldn’t say anything inflammatory.
You’d think Alan and the Libs would be more secure in their station to not worry about what people who have no power say.
Dick Cheney was being provacative, George Bush was chilling at a conference when someone asked him his opinion.
Daddio Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Guido,
Don’t you know by now that Bush has no right to go and defend his administration? Obama has every right to blast Bush, but how dare Bush try and defend his policies while he was President!!
Even if Bush is asked a question he still has no right to answer it in a way that defends his decisions and policy. He should just shut up.
Of course I don’t mean any of what I just said. That is how a liberal thinks. Conservatives and Republicans should just keep quiet and ride off into the sunset.
But…Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton? Well that is ok if they speak out about Republican administrations. All according to liberals.
EricG Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I don’t understand how any modern conservatives think. Do you NOT know you led to the recession with YOUR policies. Are you so stupid you don’t understand that Bush started a war illegally and immorally approved torture? Are you so stupid you can’t see anything except your political party and you could never bring yourself to love yor country enough to see the damage that Bush has done to this nation.
You’re a moron.
When did Bill Clinton come out and critise Bush as he ignored the issue of national security to allow this nation to be attacked by terrorists? When did Clinton comes out to show that he office warned of the attack and the Bush office ignored that attack?
You just shut up. Yes you! You need to look closer at the real world and not just this crud they throw at your face on cable news.
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
June 20th, 2009 at 3:08 am
who is YOU?
You Ericg, are a f****** moron, and yes I just broke my own rule.
TDro319 Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
I personally think this is a non-issue. Bush and Cheney have every right to make the republicans look bad.
average james Reply:
June 21st, 2009 at 11:17 am
Yes they do, and they will continue.
June 19th, 2009 at 2:11 am
“Bush pulled a Cheney”–Alan
Well, in that case, Clinton pulled a Carter. And Cheney pulled a Clinton.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:58 am
I’m gonna go take a cheney, then wipe my bush. Followed by a bleach cleansing.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Im goin on record and say I dont care if the former Pres does speaking engagements daily. I didnt care when Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton answered questions. I will add that some of these gentlemen had credibility while others did not, but they all can give their opinion to a question when asked. just my 2 cents.
craig7120 Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Oh and a follow up… In my opinion other than the voters the person responsible for a dem. in the house is none other than 43. Him speaking is just a friendly reminder is all.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I listened to the last hour of the Alan Colmes Show easrly this morning and I do think Alan is over-reacting. It is not as if President Bush was taking an offensive about the Obama administration. He answered a question which reflected his own opinion but did not attack Obama.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I guess he isn’t a real American who simply has different ideas for the nation. I guess he is a traitor and war criminal and guilty of treason.
Too bad. He should have stayed in his little closet.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
“Don’t you know by now that Bush has no right to go and defend his administration?”
Well, if he wants to prove himself a fool by attempting to defend the indefensible that’s fine by me.
“Obama has every right to blast Bush…”
Every true and loyal America has the absolute moral obligation to condemn the heinous crimes of the Bush regime without qualification–and if you don’t condemn it then you don’t deserve to enjoy the freedoms guaranteed by the US constitution, and you should be ashamed, and you should get down on your KNEES and BEG forgiveness.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Do you NOT know you led to the recession with YOUR policies.
Walk me through the demonstration of that, would you please Master Eric?
June 19th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Rocky, my man, get a grip. I have long sensed you have a very, very scarey love affair with Obama and an equally scarey hatred for Bush.
June 19th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
ERICG, you and Rocky sure have a raw nerve when your beloved B.O. is rightly criticized. Let’s see in 3 1/2 years if you can still defend any and all that he does.
June 19th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
“ERICG, you and Rocky sure have a raw nerve when your beloved B.O. is rightly criticized’
……………………………….
Not like the Bush followers who took to the fainting couch when anybody said he lied about war, fighting terror, shortchanging the troops, plundering Iraq and the treasury, balooning the deficit (”Obama’s main contribution to the deficit is his extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for households making less than $250,000. Such policies — together with the Wall Street bailout, which was signed by Mr. Bush and supported by Mr. Obama — account for 20 percent of the swing.”)
JFA Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
What about the other 80% lefty. :)
OldLefty Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
REALLY do gotta go, but. from NYT:
“The story of today’s deficits starts in January 2001, as President Bill Clinton was leaving office. The Congressional Budget Office estimated then that the government would run an average annual surplus of more than $800 billion a year from 2009 to 2012. Today, the government is expected to run a $1.2 trillion annual deficit in those years.
You can think of that roughly $2 trillion swing as coming from four broad categories: the business cycle, President George W. Bush’s policies, policies from the Bush years that are scheduled to expire but that Mr. Obama has chosen to extend, and new policies proposed by Mr. Obama.
The first category — the business cycle — accounts for 37 percent of the $2 trillion swing. It’s a reflection of the fact that both the 2001 recession and the current one reduced tax revenue, required more spending on safety-net programs and changed economists’ assumptions about how much in taxes the government would collect in future years.
About 33 percent of the swing stems from new legislation signed by Mr. Bush. That legislation, like his tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, not only continue to cost the government but have also increased interest payments on the national debt.
Mr. Obama’s main contribution to the deficit is his extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for households making less than $250,000. Such policies — together with the Wall Street bailout, which was signed by Mr. Bush and supported by Mr. Obama — account for 20 percent of the swing.
About 7 percent comes from the stimulus bill that Mr. Obama signed in February. And only 3 percent comes from Mr. Obama’s agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas.
If the analysis is extended further into the future, well beyond 2012, the Obama agenda accounts for only a slightly higher share of the projected deficits.”
Cheney said, “Remember, Reagan taught us that deficits don’t matter”.
JFA Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I’ll read it later. But thanks.
June 19th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Man, talk about name calling for those with different opinions. I guess that “liberal tolerance” was just another liberal myth.
June 19th, 2009 at 5:20 pm