Take a look at a video
of George W. Bush speaking to the nation five or six years ago.
Like a pop single from
1962 (or 2002, for that matter), it didn't age very well.
It's astonishing that
this transparently frightened man was the leader of the free world for
eight years, and was given so much license to commit so much destruction.
But, then, nothing seems
to define our era quite so much as license.
It's been said with regards to the Watergate scandal and the
Nixonian presidency that the cover-up was worse than the crime. A month
after Nixon resigned, his successor, President Gerald Ford pardoned
him, and many observers believed his technically-less-than-one-term
administration never recovered from that action.
"The cover-up continues," a New York Times editorial declared on Sunday.
MONTREAL — As George W. Bush cracked jokes with a
business crowd inside a hotel ballroom Thursday, hundreds of people
outside the building cheered while he was being burned in effigy.
Police in riot gear and others on horseback held back a crowd of
hundreds, including many people who tossed shoes at Montreal's historic
Queen Elizabeth Hotel in a demonstration of disdain for the man
speaking inside.
Two protesters who tried forcing their way through the line of
shield- and baton-carrying police were wrestled to the ground and
arrested.
A
group of prominent musicians are joining a campaign to close Guantanamo
Bay and demanding the release of records about what music was used
during the potential torture of detainees there and at other facilities.
EDMONTON - While former U.S. president George W. Bush talked about
democracy inside a downtown Edmonton conference centre on Tuesday,
hundreds of protesters were outside exercising their right to free
speech with signs, songs and screams.
"Stop the killing, stop the
war," the protesters chanted to the beat of a drum. They held signs
that said "Bush is a war criminal;" "Bush lied, 1,000s died;" and
"Canada is not Bush Country."
Hey, wasn't that George
W. Bush presidency really fantastic?
You do still remember
it, don't you?
Wasn't it great?
Don't you have lots of warm and fuzzy memories of it? Isn't
it a shame that he couldn't have a third term?
Five years ago, Forbes magazine performed a worthy public service. The right-leaning business publication that dubs itself, "Capitalist Tool," published a set of criteria by which to judge the economic performance of 10 post-war presidencies. It then evaluated each presidency against that set of criteria.
WASHINGTON — Top Bush administration officials in 2002 debated
testing the Constitution by sending American troops into the suburbs of
Buffalo to arrest a group of men suspected of plotting with Al Qaeda, according to former administration officials.
Some of the advisers to President George W. Bush, including Vice President Dick Cheney,
argued that a president had the power to use the military on domestic
soil to sweep up the terrorism suspects, who came to be known as the
Lackawanna Six, and declare them enemy combatants.
The hellish-hot weather
persuaded me that I was wise to ignore the caution expressed by a close friend
who grew up in Dallas, as I set off to give talks there. Better wear a
bulletproof vest, he told me.
Since the election of Barack Obama, mainstream observers have
commented on the turmoil in the backrooms of the White House and the
Pentagon. Apparently, the new President is trying to repair the damages
done by the irresponsible and reckless moves of the Bush era and
refocus the U.S. around a new set of policies. It is going to be very
tough. On a parallel track, many think that the long-term decline of
the U.S. is inevitable, partially because of its own internal fractures
(economic crisis, military overstretch), partially because of the rise
of emerging powers.
