We love to rag on Bush the second.
After all, he is the reason behind the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, his response to Hurricane Katrina was absolutely disgraceful, and his lack of attention to pre- 9/11 warnings definitely render his judgement as a national and world leader more than a little questionable. However, it’s his father who is making headlines now — and not for anything the GOP, or his son and those who were a part of his administration, will be happy about.
Apparently, the elder George Bush is going to be the subject of
a new biography by Jon Meacham. He had a lot to say, much of it very negative towards his old
friends Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, both of whom were at the
helm in Bush 43’s administration during the aforementioned atrocities and more.
For example, H.W. said, regarding Dick Cheney, who was the Secretary of Defense under the elder Bush, and Vice President for his son:
“I don’t know, he just became very hard-line and very different from the Dick Cheney I knew and worked with. The reaction (to Sept. 11), what to do about the Middle East. Just iron-ass. His seeming knuckling under to the real hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything, use force to get our way in the Middle East.”
Cheney shot back, as he learned that H.W. had accused him of
allowing his wife and daughter to turn him into a bit of a hard-ass, and
forced him further to the right:
“It’s his view, perhaps, of what happened, but my family was not conspiring to somehow turn me into a tougher, more hardnosed individual. I got there all by myself.”
Well, that’s no more comforting, sir. If anything, it makes you
look like even more of an asshole.
If H.W.’s remarks about Cheney were bad, they were nothing
compared to what he had to say about Bush 43’s Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld. In fact, one could argue that he didn’t care for Rumsfeld very much
at all. According to Meacham’s biography, Bush said:
“I don’t like what he did, and I think it hurt the President. I’ve never been that close to him anyway. There’s a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He’s more kick ass and take names, take numbers. I think he paid a price for that. Rumsfeld was an arrogant fellow.”
I’ll never be one to agree with either Bush on much at all,
but I really do have to give a big thumb’s up to this former president’s candid
remarks regarding two people who have arguably done more damage to this country
than anyone in recent history.
It also, in a roundabout way, seems to be H.W.’s
way of admitting that he was never that big a fan of his son’s administration,
or, at the very least, he recognizes the many tragic failings there. That takes
tremendous courage, even for a man who likely has very little to lose
politically at this stage in his own life.
It’s time for the Bush political dynasty to come to a close in
America. It seems that George Herbert Walker Bush knows that, as well.
This very revealing Jon Meacham biography, entitled Destiny
and Power: The American Odyssey Of George Herbert Walker Bush will be available for purchase next
Tuesday.