This photo of George W. Bush, 32, campaigning for Congress with wife Laura in 1978 in Midland, Texas, comes from the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, via the AP. Bush is building his own presidential library in Dallas.
by Mark Silva
All the back and forth between Dick Cheney and the Obama White House, the sharp elbowing of Wanda Sykes and Rush Limbaugh and the general air of hostility surrounding the great partisan divide in America these days got us to thinking about George W. Bush.
Barack Obama, the former president has said, 'deserves my silence.''
For his part, the 43rd president dropped in on classes the other day at Southern Methodist University, alma mater of wife Laura Bush and home to the George W. Bush Presidential Center under development now. The selection of the campus caused a stir among some of the faculty who opposed the think tank that the former president will run there , with a policy institute dedicated to "the principals of George W. Bush'' attached to the new presidential library, as well as dissent from some bishops of the Methodist Church who parted ways with Bush over the war in Iraq.
But lately, Bush has been dropping by to chat.
Bush had lunch with and addressed some journalism students during a visit with Journalism Carolyn Barta', whom Bush had first met when he was running for Congress in 1978 and she was a newspaper reporter. He lost that race, his first and only losing campaign for public office.
Asked about his visit, Bush told SMU Daily Mustang reporter and student Shelly Smith: "I was trying to impart some knowledge.''
Comments
To conclude that Saturday's White House Correspondents Dinner proved "class made an exit with the Bush Administration" is to blissfully ignore Bush's eight-years of joking at the expense of the American people. After all, when he wasn't mocking workers, giggling at the disabled and stereotyping African-Americans, George W. Bush made wisecracks about the prison sentence Scooter Libby never served and the WMD in Iraq he never found.
Posted by: Hulk SMASH! | May 11, 2009 2:24 PM
Interesting photo. Is that Cheney riding shotgun??
(Duck!)
Posted by: mort | May 11, 2009 2:42 PM
I don't give a damn about why the wingnuts think the dinner crossed some sort of line.
Their clown Republican president made jokes about not finding the weapons of mass destruction that were oh-so-imminent that he had to send thousands to die.
Their idiot Republican presidential team choreographed torture techniques in the White House.
These people do not get to decide what is funny or appropriate or classy. They just don't.
Oh no, someone made a joke about how Sarah Palin's abstinence-only education of her children has been a total epic fail. Yeah? And? Her knocked-up daughter is shilling for a pumps company with her talk of how regrettable it is that she has a son.
Oh no, someone made a joke about Rush Limbaugh being a junkie! Well, isn't that awfully classless, since he is, after all.....A JUNKIE!
Yeah, I really don't care what these people think. At all.
Posted by: Deano | May 11, 2009 2:45 PM
Yeah, I really don't care what these people think. At all.
Posted by: Deano | May 11, 2009 2:45 PM
AMEN!!!
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | May 11, 2009 3:36 PM
"Asked about his visit, Bush told SMU Daily Mustang reporter and student Shelly Smith: "I was trying to impart some knowledge.'' "
Well, it looks like GWB is operating
over his level again.
GWB needs to talk to elementary school students to have any chance of imparting knowledge on anyone.
Anyone out of elementary school has a higher understanding of our wolrd and country than King George EVER knew!
Remember this oldie but goodie?
During the 2004 elections, it was always said that the King spoke to his audience of the loyal and psychotic Followers like they were 5 year olds. And that was because that was the way his advisers explained it to him!
Posted by: barkleyg | May 11, 2009 7:09 PM
Bush wasn't perfect but they never displayed the disrespect that is being displayed by many of the current politicians. It's unfortunate that there can't be different opinions without people being disrespectful. We look really stupid to the rest of the world. And I end with this. When I traveled in Europe and lived in Europe in the 1970s, the Europeans already didn't like Americans. This didn't start with President Bush. No he was just the scapegoat for anything that the Europeans complained about us Americans. And when I say Europeans, I have a real affection for many of them, as we are Greek Immigrants, but many of them are jealous of us Americans. We will never be able to please the Europenas or the United Nations. We should try and do what is right before God and man and quit trying to impress the rest of the world.
Posted by: Debbie Georgatos | May 12, 2009 3:45 AM
George Bush is showing Obama a lot more class than Obama is showing for Bush, blaming him for everything publicly. That is something no other sitting president has done to his predecessor. A sign of maturity is accepting responsibility. Certainly not one of Obama's traits at this point.
Posted by: Erica | May 12, 2009 9:58 AM
They are actually sitting on a couple of beer kegs.
Posted by: ornery | May 12, 2009 11:00 AM
We surely lost a lot of class with the "change" from George Bush to Barack Hussein Obama. The jokes at the dinner were often crude, nearly all caustic and not self-deprecating as was formerly the norm.
I wonder whether the available IQ in the administration is enough to understand where the country is headed? Disaster looms.
Posted by: paul | May 12, 2009 6:11 PM
Grow up.
Whine, whimper, whine.........
George Soros is proud of you!
As Obama backs off another
campaign promise today w/the
interrogation photos. The PR
stunt is over for now, the CYA is done, and he can reverse the stupid order. That's
#101 in flip flops...it's only May.
'Their' President,
was also your president. I didn't vote for Obama, and think that ACORN group is Fraud Central, but, he's MY president too. Wanda was not
funny, and her Rush joke was
stupid and rude. Normally, you poke fun at yourself as the
President...Obama poked fun
at everyone else but himself.
Yawn...Congress & the UN voted for the war actions, WMD's were found (yeah, that's per the UN, not Dubya...and the press ignored it - facts suck).
Please let me know when he mocked blacks? The NAACP
attacked him from 2000 early on to the end. Yet, he hired top level minorities from day 1 to the end. W/little fanfare.
Grow up. He's not President.
He's being a classy ex-president who isn't doing a Jimmy Carter. Carter & Gore bashed Bush (and Clinton in Carter's case) feverishly. For that, they were awarded Nobel Prizes (as was Arafat one time).
Cheney - keep talking. Dubya, keep doing your own thing.
Obama, please get over yourself, and lead. Flip Flop Obama, he's giving Kerry a run for his money. I live here too, and wish our nation well in
all things. I wish Obama good
health, and good work. Even if I disagree w/ him on almost
everything.
Posted by: esperanza | May 13, 2009 4:44 PM
I am amazed that anyone could call this criminal classy. He should be in prison for crimes against the Constitution and the American people. He sent 4000+ soldiers to their deaths for oil profits, and he lied to the American people from day one. He is an embarrassment and a disaster. How anyone could respect him is beyond me.
Posted by: Fretum Boemer | June 1, 2009 11:54 AM