Can you post the article so that I don\'t need to sign up and provide them an email address. Thanks.
The Decency of George W. Bush
By Michael Gerson
Friday, November 7, 2008; A19
Election Day 2008 must have been filled with rueful paradoxes for the sitting president. Iraq -- the issue that dominated George W. Bush\'s presidency for 5 1/2 bitter, controversial years -- is on the verge of a miraculous peace. And yet this accomplishment did little to revive Bush\'s political standing -- or to prevent his party from relegating him to a silent role.
The achievement is historic. In 2006, Iraq had descended into a sectarian killing spree that seemed likely to stop only when the supply of victims was exhausted. Showing Truman-like stubbornness, Bush pushed to escalate a war that most Americans -- and some at the Pentagon -- had already mentally abandoned.
The result? A Sunni tribal revolt against their al-Qaeda oppressors, an effective campaign against Shiite militias in Baghdad and Basra, and the flight of jihadists from Iraq to less deadly battlefields. In a more stable atmosphere, Iraq\'s politicians have made dramatic political progress. Iraqi military and police forces have grown in size and effectiveness and now fully control 13 of Iraq\'s 18 provinces. And in the month before Election Day, American combat deaths matched the lowest monthly total of the entire war.
For years, critics of the Iraq war asked the mocking question: "What would victory look like?" If progress continues, it might look something like what we\'ve seen.
But Air Force One -- normally seen swooping into battleground states for rallies during presidential elections -- was mainly parked during this campaign. President Bush appeared with John McCain in public a total of three times -- and appeared in McCain\'s rhetoric as a foil far more often than that.
This seems to be Bush\'s current fate: Even success brings no praise. And the reasons probably concern Iraq. The absence of stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in the aftermath of the war was a massive blow. The early conduct of the Iraq occupation was terribly ineffective. Hopes that the war had turned a corner -- repeatedly raised by Iraqis voting with purple fingers and approving a constitution -- were dashed too many times, until many Americans became unwilling to believe anymore.
Initial failures in Iraq acted like a solar eclipse, blocking the light on every other achievement. But those achievements, with the eclipse finally passing, are considerable by the measure of any presidency. Because of the passage of Medicare Part D, nearly 10 million low-income seniors are receiving prescription drugs at little or no cost. No Child Left Behind education reform has helped raise the average reading scores of fourth-graders to their highest level in 15 years and narrowed the achievement gap between white and African American children. The President\'s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has helped provide treatment for more than 1.7 million people and compassionate care for at least 2.7 million orphans and vulnerable children. And the decision to pursue the surge in Iraq will be studied as a model of presidential leadership.
These achievements, it is true, have limited constituencies to praise them. Many conservatives view Medicare, education reform and foreign assistance as heresies. Many liberals refuse to concede Bush\'s humanity, much less his achievements.
But that humanity is precisely what I will remember. I have seen President Bush show more loyalty than he has been given, more generosity than he has received. I have seen his buoyancy under the weight of malice and his forgiveness of faithless friends. Again and again, I have seen the natural tug of his pride swiftly overcome by a deeper decency -- a decency that is privately engaging and publicly consequential.
Before the Group of Eight summit in 2005, the White House senior staff overwhelmingly opposed a new initiative to fight malaria in Africa for reasons of cost and ideology -- a measure designed to save hundreds of thousands of lives, mainly of children under 5. In the crucial policy meeting, one person supported it: the president of the United States, shutting off debate with a moral certitude that others have criticized. I saw how this moral framework led him to an immediate identification with the dying African child, the Chinese dissident, the Sudanese former slave, the Burmese women\'s advocate. It is one reason I will never be cynical about government -- or about President Bush.
For some, this image of Bush is so detached from their own conception that it must be rejected. That is, perhaps, understandable. But it means little to me. Because I have seen the decency of George W. Bush.
The writer was a speechwriter and policy adviser to President Bush from 2000 to 2006. His e-mail address ismichaelgerson@cfr.org.
Obama has named Chicago Congressman Rahm Emmanuel Chief of Staff. :thumbsup:
Emmanuel is a progessive Democrat known for his relentless nature. Every admistration needs someone who can be the bad guy in negotiations.
Also- so much fo right wing theory that Obama is a closet Muslim extremist. Emmanuel is about as Jewish as they come.
I also love how he\'s right to work on the economy. You know he\'s exhausted after the campaign.
Quote from: wildcoyote;210231Obama has named Chicago Congressman Rahm Emmanuel Chief of Staff. :thumbsup:
Emmanuel is a progessive Democrat known for his relentless nature. Every admistration needs someone who can be the bad guy in negotiations.
Also- so much fo right wing theory that Obama is a closet Muslim extremist. Emmanuel is about as Jewish as they come.
I also love how he\'s right to work on the economy. You know he\'s exhausted after the campaign.
reposted from TS.com
Some fun facts about Rahm
1. Their father is an Israel-born pediatrician, their mother a former X-ray technician, a onetime rock club owner, and a civil rights activist. She would take her sons along on the demonstrations if they were peaceful.
2. They grew up poor, leaving one apartment because it was rat-infested, and another because neighbors complained that the three Emanuel boys were too rambunctious.
3. He lost half of his right middle finger after a meat-slicer accident while working at Arby\'s as a teenager. It happened on prom night, and led to a bone and blood infection that nearly took his life. His fever went as high as 106.
4. Rahm is the inspiration for Bradley Whitford\'s character Josh Lyman on The West Wing.
5. He was encouraged to take ballet lessons as a boy, and he excelled at it so much, he eventually won a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet. He turned it down to attend Sarah Lawrence College.
6. He worked on Paul Simon\'s 1984 Senate bid.
7. He volunteered in Israel during the Gulf War, and was assigned to rust-proof breaks at an army base.
8. The same year, he convinced Bill Clinton to put off campaigning in New Hampshire to raise funds instead. It was a strategy credited with winning Clinton the election.
9. He acted as a senior advisor in the Clinton regime from 1993 to 1998, but was demoted one year after Clinton took office. After the \'96 election, he planned on quitting, but Clinton gave him George Stephanopoulos\'s post as senior advisor for policy and strategy.
10. During his 1992 run for Congress, Edward Moskal, president of the Polish American Congress, called him a "millionaire carpetbagger who knows nothing [about] our heritage." He also falsely claimed that Rahm was a dual Israeli citizen and fought in their army.
11. He was named DCCC chairman in 2005, and butted heads with DNC chair Howard Dean over Dean\'s "50-state" strategy?in one heated exchange, Rahm even lobbed an F-bomb and stormed out of the room.
12. Torn over who to support in a Presidential bid between longtime friend Hillary and home-state senator Barack, Rahm said, "I\'m hiding under the desk. I\'m very far under the desk, and I\'m bringing my paper and my phone."
13. He practices Orthodox Judaism with his wife, Amy Rule, and their three children, Zacharias, Ilana, and Leah.
14. He\'s a triathlete.
15. His name means "high" in Hebrew.
16. He doesn\'t recommend that colleagues appear on The Colbert Report, though he himself has appeared numerous times on The Daily Show.
17. His date of birth is November 29th, 1959.
18. He has photos of sunsets in his office and David Gray on his iPod.
19. He\'s quick with a zinger. Example: On the Clinton Days: ?Back then, stimulus and package had a whole different meaning.? ?I?ve spent more alone time with Bill than Hillary.? On Fred Thompson: ?He had an interesting take on No Child Left Behind. He married one.?
20. His nickname is Rahmbo. Even his mother uses it.
Apparently, Emmanuel Rahm = Bill Brasky
I disagree, Palin is a rising star in the republican party.
look at regan in \'76
I just had a very strange experience...
I was walking around the mall doing research for my class in Ethnomusicology, and I was asking employees of different stores about the music that is played in their stores...
In my discussions I met a guy named Nick at Kohl\'s. We first talked about the music the store played, but eventually got talking about the election. He claims he "knew" Obama would be our next president almost a year ago.
He told me that he is able to see the path the future will take. He says Obama will be the last president we elect as president the way we do now. He said that the new world order will happen. And that if we haven\'t made peace with our maker we should now. 2012 is the year the world will change forever.
He gave me a stone that he says he embedded with prayers. It is I believe a Native American tradition. I believe he told me he is a "spirit walker"?
This is a true story. I am still in shock.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/19/1046851/-PPP-Iowa-Tracker:-Ron-Paul-takes-lead,-Newt-Gingrich-falls-off-cliff?via=blog_1
Ron Paul takes the lead on Iowa polls.
I hope Ron Paul wins the primary.. it will certainly create the most interesting debates this country has seen in recent history for the General election.
No matter who wins I think the issues Ron Paul will bring into public discourse will be a win for everyone.
And who knows, maybe by next year I could be convinced Ron Paul is a better choice than Barack Obama.