by Mark Silva
Imagine the delight of a retired president, roosting in Dallas where a presidential library and think tank are being erected in his name and reading the morning headline about Americans missing him.
Then again, Matt Damon's Green Zone also made a debut with a graphic and dramatic reminder that the premise for going to war in Iraq was groundless (No WMD's).
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram arrived with news that that billboard in Minnesota picturing a smiling George W. Bush with the question, "Miss me yet?'' isn't the only sign of 43 Nostalgia cropping up these days. T-shirts, hats, coffee mugs and other Bushaphernalia are cropping up on the Internet as well.
It seems that things have gotten brighter for Bush since leaving office on Jan. 20, 2009, with an approval rating of 22 percent, the paper notes -- "the lowest for a president in at least 70 years.'' His favorability rating last month stood at 38 percent in a FOX News / Opinion Dynamics survey. Among Texas Republicans, his favorability has risen to 79 percent, according to Public Policy Polling -- he should have run for governor again.
"There are those who may have disagreed with President Bush on a few issues," Tarrant County, Texas, Republican Chairwoman Stephanie Klick is quoted as saying. "Now that we have President (Barack) Obama, many would prefer President Bush to be in office again."
The former president and wife Laura have retired to Preston Hollow in Dallas, where he jogs, works on his memoirs and prepares for his library and public policy institute at Southern Methodist University, the former first lady's alma mater. The search teams in the Damon thriller about seeking WMDs in Baghdad may have come up empty, but the 9 mm pistol found on Saddam Hussein hiding in a spider hole in Iraq wlll be among the artifacts on display at the Bush library and museum.
Last week, the Star-Telgram notes, 13 of the top 100 items sold online by CafePress featured the "Miss me yet?" Bush design. (The Cafe Press design is pictured here.) "An average of 500 of these items are sold each day. The site now has more than 7,700 "Miss me yet?" designs, compared with 1,320 in February, company spokesman Marc Cowlin said.
"It's still going strong," Cowlin said. "This seems to be a larger trend that will continue," Cowlin said.
More than 14,000 people have signed an online "We miss you" letter to Bush.
"Although time is often kind to former presidents, something different is at work here," the letter states. "While it usually takes 10 or more years for a good president to be appreciated for his contributions, in less than 18 months Americans of all political persuasions have begun to miss your strong leadership, no-nonsense foreign policy, and pride-filled vision of American exceptionalism.
"In the short time that you have been out of office, our country has sunk to an unprecedented low point," the letter says. "Mr. President, we miss you."
Comments
Obama is single handedly improving Bush's stature with each day in office. Who would have guessed that the worst president ever would be replaced by an even bigger fool. All the stupidity of Carter without the real world experience.
Posted by: Hans | March 15, 2010 10:37 AM
Misstep
Misuse
Misappropriate
Miscue
Misspeak
Miss him?
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | March 15, 2010 10:42 AM
OH, START THE "TOLERANT" LEFTIE LIB HATE RANTS IN 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . .
Posted by: Bobby Mobbie | March 15, 2010 11:03 AM
To Liberal journalists, a Matt Damon movie is their 'truth"!
Comment is unnecessary.
Posted by: Bruce | March 15, 2010 11:34 AM
Mismanage
Misunderstand
Mislead
Mistake!
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | March 15, 2010 12:14 PM
Well, the faux poll either proves how biased and corupt their "news" agency is, or it tells us that at least 38% of Americans are idiots. Either way, this article proves that 79% of texans make love with themselves.
Posted by: Xcellentform | March 15, 2010 12:21 PM
Sure we miss him, like another Bloodbath in Baghdad, more Weaseling on Wall Street, more gifts of Trillions Dollars to the Corporations !! Sure we miss the halfwit. Maybe he and Cheney can get back together and be nitwits, again !! We sure do miss the 8.5 Million jobs the nitwits, Bush&Cheney, misplaced or destroyed !!
Let's start that investigation into all the malfeasance of these nitwits, then they can miss their freedom !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | March 15, 2010 12:26 PM
I'll take two, one to sh.. (you know the rest).
Posted by: BHunt | March 15, 2010 12:36 PM
The trend was obama, and I think it's over. Maybe Silva and his friends can trade their obama memoribilia in for a Bush shirt.
How about a shirt with the word Corpse Man written across obama's large head!
I wonder if matt damon will do a movie about FDR and all the lies he told and actions he took to get us into WWII?
Oh wait - I forgot - he's just a tool of/for the democrats.
Why do democrats hate our troops? Seems like they don't even care about how many die anymore - remember when Bush was president - they addressed it daily.
What will really kill the democrats is when obama is known as the worst president ever. How silly will they feel with his bobble head on their mantle.
Posted by: worsethanbefore | March 15, 2010 1:18 PM
I wonder if this Bush Library will have the Mission Accomplished banner or how about Bush's favorite book, 'My Pet Goat'. That reading would fit the mentality of his ignorant and uneducated supporters.
As for Bush t-shirts, they can be used as rags.
Posted by: Doug R. | March 15, 2010 1:53 PM
What, miss me?
http://www.leconcombre.com/concpost/us/postcard4/alfred_e_neuman.jpg
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | March 15, 2010 2:20 PM
His only qualification to be on the top of the TeaBaggers list is that he's white. In other words, for the retarded (slow, lagging behind) TeaBaggers, if George W. Bush was black you would be TeaBagging him when he grew the Federal deficit, enlarged the number of Federal employees, bailed out the auto and air industry, paid for a war of aggression by charging it to future generations, and violated the Constitution. These are all things TeaBaggers supposedly care about but you've been exposed once again as bigots because you folks didn't bat an eye when President Bush did these things and now you want him back?
Posted by: sensible | March 15, 2010 2:53 PM
LIke a bad rash.
Posted by: Bubba | March 15, 2010 2:55 PM
worsethanbefore: did Pearl Harbor not happen, or did Hitler not invade Europe? Were the Jews and others not slaughtered? Just askin....
Also, keep voting for pugs....for your namesake anyways.
Posted by: Xcellentform | March 15, 2010 3:24 PM
Um..........No.
Posted by: Tim | March 15, 2010 4:20 PM
hey xcellentform,
Here's a link with excerpts from a book written by an Illinois senator detailing the lies FDR told to get us into WWII.
http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/wars/book.htm
Maybe you should read a bit more. FDR promised not to get the US involved in the war,
an outright lie. But then, don't let facts get in your way.
Posted by: worsethanbefore | March 15, 2010 4:23 PM
* * * * *
I don’t miss George Bush at all. I simply regret that adults weren’t in charge when he was president, and that the November 2008 election didn’t change that fact. This is what happens when America elects someone simply on the perception that they are “different” or not “as bad as” some other politician. I’m still at a loss to understand why we don’t have any real leaders, and/or why we seem incapable of electing one.
.
@worsethanbefore
.
FYI, Matt Damon has now turned against Obama a little bit. See http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1632922/20100301/story.jhtml It’s remotely possible that he’s not just their tool.
.
@sensible
.
You have no place to speak because you obviously weren’t looking. Had you been looking, you would have seen many conservatives boiling in anger or wincing in pain over the terrible spending sprees Duh’bya signed off on. He would have been tea-bagged had he remained in power.
.
@ Don Fitzgerald, IL
.
Don’t cry, clueless one. Obama has picked up the slack, and is now bailing out every corporation in sight. You don’t need your Bush and Cheney dolls to do that for you any more.
Posted by: John W. | March 15, 2010 4:32 PM
Hey worsethanbefore, maybe you should learn HOW to read, because the book was not written by an IL senator, and your link also has quotes from Jesus Christ.
Which lies were worse, and which war was more just: Bush's lies and the war in Iraq, or FDR and WW2? War mongering pugs can lay no claim to peace.
Posted by: Xcellentform | March 15, 2010 6:27 PM
DUMP TRUCK FITZ,
Still spreading that 8.5 million job loss on President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. Sorry, that dog don't hunt. Millions of jobs were created during the Bush-Cheney years - BLS Stats say so.
Now, go tend to your son Trickled On.
Posted by: Terry | March 15, 2010 7:32 PM
tickle-me-teri,
If you keep writting posts like this, I'll just have to assume that Inky found a new handle. When you say that bush created millions of jobs, I believe you if you meant 2.86 million over his 8 years. http://mediamatters.org/research/200812090014 When you put that against Clinton's 21 million jobs, bush looks like a complete failure in anyone's books. But I digress.....numbers and facts aren't really your thing. You'd rather be listening to your AM RADIO and tickling yourself.
Posted by: Xcellentform | March 15, 2010 10:13 PM
Miss him like I miss Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and athlete's foot.
Posted by: ornery | March 16, 2010 1:20 AM
tonka-truck-teri,
If what you mean by "millions of jobs" is 3 million, than I fully believe you. But, 3 million pails in comparrison to Clinton's 23 million, and is about 1/3 that of even Carter's 4 years in office. Do your homework clown....but I digress, numbers just ain't yo thang. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/01/09/bush-on-jobs-the-worst-track-record-on-record/tab/article/
You do trust the Wall Street Journal, don't you? Or are they part of the conpiracy too?
Posted by: Xcellentform | March 16, 2010 10:02 AM
As hard as it is to admitt I do miss GWB he was no genuis but BO sure makes him look like one.
Posted by: LibTard | March 16, 2010 10:02 AM
Horrible Form,
Last Time I checked, 3 million is plural and therefore would be "millions".
When President Bush took office, unemployment was at an all-time low; therefore, it is hard to create jobs when the country is at full-employment. What President Bush did was keep the country at full-employment for much of his term. He also inherited an economy 40 days from recession, his policies kept the recession short and shallow. Study the Phillips Curve sometime instead of working to get to 70 wpm.
I don't have time to listen to AM Talk radio all day or blog on the SWAMP, since I have a JOB.
Posted by: Terry | March 16, 2010 7:48 PM
Thanks for the reminder of how little I miss that cretin.
Posted by: C.Morris✧ | March 17, 2010 11:14 AM
i was working construction through the entire gwb term it was only when he had to leave that everything fell apart....the american people have know idea what is going on in this country,,,they are to busy running each other off the freeway so they can get home and watch Friends or some other dumbass program!!!
Posted by: mark | September 7, 2010 11:35 PM