but, you're one of those people who like Bush
Oh, the places I could go with that statement, but we're talking Dubya here.
I talked to my mom last night. My parents live in Pennsylvania, and my mom, many years ago, registered Republican because it would supposedly help my dad get a better job with the state. I don't know how party affiliation and state jobs are connected, or were 40 years ago, but that was the story I got. Anyway, philosophically, my mom is anything but Republican, and it took until now, for her to change that party affiliation so she could vote in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary, where she told me she'll be supporting Obama. OK, good for her that she'll get out and make her voice heard. I don't agree with her choice, but that's another matter.....or maybe the matter with this post.
You see, somewhere in that conversation, she said, "But, you're one of those people who like Bush." And she said it that way too...with very heavy, almost scornful accent on the word "like". She has a great dislike for the man, the myth, the President. But no matter how many times I tell her, I don't know if it'll ever sink in.
No, I don't like George Dubya Bush, and I tire of defending a man I don't think is all that great. I don't see myself ever inviting the man over for a beer. I don't like politicians in general, and he fits the category. I don't trust them any farther than I could stab them...repeatedly...with a very sharp butcher knife. I don't think he's particularly bright, and I think he's smug to the point of being annoying, even to the point where you just wanna slap that smirk off his face. I do think he's a man of integrity, and that might be his singular redeeming feature. I think he's a better man than the kept man, John Kerry-Heinz, or the founder of the internet, Al Gore, and that's why I voted for him. Just because a man is less scummy than two other men though, doesn't make him my buddy. I think some of his decisions were the correct ones. I think we needed to go to Iraq and end the Saddam shell game with weapons inspectors, even as much as that move has cost, and will cost before it's all said and done. I think if Al Gore had been President when 9/11 happened, we would have apologized profusely to the Muslim people for making their lives so miserable that they felt compelled to carry out such an attack, and asked what we could do to make it up to them...and I'm not joking...well, not much anyway. That's about what I would have expected from him. It's about what I would expect from Barak Obama, too. I hate war. I hate it to the point where I don't know that "hate" is a strong enough word. I hate what it does to the families of those who don't survive it (not to mention the men and women who don't survive it), and what it does to the people who do, and their families. I've lived it...not to the point John McCain has, but I have lived it, and it's ugly...and I don't wish it on anybody. I have memories of it, and not very many are happy. It is, however, sometimes necessary.
So no, I don't like George Bush, but I have some respect for him. I have more respect for him than I do the two men he ran against (even if that's setting the bar so low it's scraping the ground). I think he tries to do what's best for the country (even if he doesn't always know how), regardless of what that does to popular opinion polls about him, and I find honor in that. I think history will be kinder to him than current day CNN, but he won't be one of the great American Presidents, by any stretch. I won't be sorry to see him go, but today, given the same choices I had in either of the last two elections, I'd still vote for him.
I talked to my mom last night. My parents live in Pennsylvania, and my mom, many years ago, registered Republican because it would supposedly help my dad get a better job with the state. I don't know how party affiliation and state jobs are connected, or were 40 years ago, but that was the story I got. Anyway, philosophically, my mom is anything but Republican, and it took until now, for her to change that party affiliation so she could vote in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary, where she told me she'll be supporting Obama. OK, good for her that she'll get out and make her voice heard. I don't agree with her choice, but that's another matter.....or maybe the matter with this post.
You see, somewhere in that conversation, she said, "But, you're one of those people who like Bush." And she said it that way too...with very heavy, almost scornful accent on the word "like". She has a great dislike for the man, the myth, the President. But no matter how many times I tell her, I don't know if it'll ever sink in.
No, I don't like George Dubya Bush, and I tire of defending a man I don't think is all that great. I don't see myself ever inviting the man over for a beer. I don't like politicians in general, and he fits the category. I don't trust them any farther than I could stab them...repeatedly...with a very sharp butcher knife. I don't think he's particularly bright, and I think he's smug to the point of being annoying, even to the point where you just wanna slap that smirk off his face. I do think he's a man of integrity, and that might be his singular redeeming feature. I think he's a better man than the kept man, John Kerry-Heinz, or the founder of the internet, Al Gore, and that's why I voted for him. Just because a man is less scummy than two other men though, doesn't make him my buddy. I think some of his decisions were the correct ones. I think we needed to go to Iraq and end the Saddam shell game with weapons inspectors, even as much as that move has cost, and will cost before it's all said and done. I think if Al Gore had been President when 9/11 happened, we would have apologized profusely to the Muslim people for making their lives so miserable that they felt compelled to carry out such an attack, and asked what we could do to make it up to them...and I'm not joking...well, not much anyway. That's about what I would have expected from him. It's about what I would expect from Barak Obama, too. I hate war. I hate it to the point where I don't know that "hate" is a strong enough word. I hate what it does to the families of those who don't survive it (not to mention the men and women who don't survive it), and what it does to the people who do, and their families. I've lived it...not to the point John McCain has, but I have lived it, and it's ugly...and I don't wish it on anybody. I have memories of it, and not very many are happy. It is, however, sometimes necessary.
So no, I don't like George Bush, but I have some respect for him. I have more respect for him than I do the two men he ran against (even if that's setting the bar so low it's scraping the ground). I think he tries to do what's best for the country (even if he doesn't always know how), regardless of what that does to popular opinion polls about him, and I find honor in that. I think history will be kinder to him than current day CNN, but he won't be one of the great American Presidents, by any stretch. I won't be sorry to see him go, but today, given the same choices I had in either of the last two elections, I'd still vote for him.
Labels: Politics
John put this out here at 7:09 AM
3 Comments:
Oy vey. And so much of what you say I generally agree with. On this one? I'd invite your MOM over for a beer.
Mom's not a beer person. She'd have a glass of wine with ya though. You'd probably get along really well.
Nicely written. I enjoyed that post. And I'll take beer or wine, whatever you've got lying around...
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