this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024
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While Dick Cheney has endorsed Harris, there have been no comments from other senior Republicans from Bush’s era

The MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell this week hit out at George W Bush, the Republican former president, for refusing to weigh in on America’s looming presidential election.

“All any decent person wants him to do is to say, ‘Don’t vote for Donald Trump, and here’s why,’ and he won’t even do that,” O’Donnell told the Fast Politics podcast, of the Republican president who was in office from 2001 to 2009.

Increasingly, Bush – and some other top Republicans from his political era – are looking lonely in their ongoing refusal to take a side in an election in which many have warned that US democracy is under threat from Trump’s open sympathies with autocracy.


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[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 138 points 1 month ago (5 children)

big fucking tough guy when it comes to sending other peoples' kids out to die for a bullshit war based on outright lies

but when it's time to actually take the correct stance on something, he buckles like a lawn chair under the average cod cosplaying maga chud

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 44 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I was living in NYC before and after 9/11.

The Ground Zero pit stayed undeveloped until 2007 because that's how long it took the money men to decide which insurer would pay for what. George W. never bothered to push them to hurry things, because it was vital that every single penny be accounted for. No problem with starting a war with lies, but money must be guarded to the utmost.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They wanted it to stay an open wound because it let them be more jingo

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[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 99 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I mean, Bush and Trump are in direct competition for worst presidents in living memory.

...and they both kinda jimmy with elections. They have a lot in common really so it makes sense he'll be averse to calling out someone whose not that dissimilar to himself.

Also Bush has a generational bonding to the GOP, so there's probably some level of moral compromise in that.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 36 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I had Bush ahead of Trump for a long time, but now I have to give it to Donnie.

It's one thing to lie about a war, and a whole differnet level to plan to kill citizens with Covid.

[–] AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Both were awful. At least you don't fall for the rehabilitation so many in our media have been doing of Bush

[–] Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Both are incredibly incompetent. However, I think if Bush had not become president he would have been seen as somebody who is a bit stupid, and easy to influence, but otherwise a pleasant personality. Trump on the other hand was a criminal long before he saw the Oval Office.

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Bush was terrible, for sure. But it was at least believable that he was doing what he thought was best for the country (Cheney, Rove, and Rumsfeld, not so much). But there is no way you'll ever convince me that Trump cares about anyone or anything other than himself.

[–] PlantJam@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

But look, he paints! Just like Bob Ross, so that means we can just forget about all that other stuff, right?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (6 children)

I had Bush ahead of Trump for a long time

Presidents in the rear view mirror rarely carry the emotional weight of ones at the forefront.

I'd argue Reagan was worse than both of them. We had all the nightmarish bellicose foreign policy of the Bush Administration, the disastrous neglect of health care leading to multiple epidemics from the Trump Era, and dogshit fiscal policy that gave us massive recessions and enormous new debts to accompany our contracting quality of life at the end of his last term.

But who still remembers Iran-Contra or the '87 bank collapse or our deplorable environmental and civil rights policies or the then-extremely-lethal AIDS epidemic?

Buchanan and Andrew Johnson are still largely considered the two worst historical presidents. Truman and Nixon are routinely cited as 20th century flops. But its very difficult to remember how shit America was before most of the folks doing the rankings were even alive. Harder still to have enough of a historical baseline to make an objective measure.

As soon as Trump is done, we're going to be on one about how DeSantis or Cruz or Matt Gaetz is the actual worst person to run for President in our lifetimes.

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[–] oxjox@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Depends on what "recent" memory is for you. I've got Reagan and Trump neck-and-neck. While Bush should be tried for war crimes, he's nowhere close to as bad as Trump. I'd put Bush and Clinton in the cage match.

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[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 54 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Hilarious to me that all the media spent time rehabbing Bush's image and he can't even manage to match Dick fucking Cheney?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago

Cheney is pissed at his daughter losing her family-guaranteed sinecure in Wyoming to a Trumpie, because he's invested in his family's political legacy.

Bush has no real beef with the Trumps and isn't trying to give his daughters a leg up into the next administration.

Totally different set of political incentives to endorse.

[–] 5h17h34d@lemmy.world 42 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Second worst president ever.

He's considered a war criminal in most countries outside of North America and Europe.

[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Still waiting to see W, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz convicted of war crimes for all the torture they oversaw at those cia black sites, among other things. Absolutely villainous.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Bush and Cheney basically fabricated the entire Iraq War and the only people to come out on top were Exxon Fucking Mobil who took majority control of the Iraqi oilfields, and then the executive in charge of the operation, Rex Tillerson, got appointed to the Trump admin.

Thousands dead for greed. America's hands stained in blood and grease for generations.

Still only second worst tho, no disagreement on that.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Bush and Cheney basically fabricated the entire Iraq War and the only people to come out on top were Exxon Fucking Mobil

Be fair. Halliburton did pretty well for themselves as well.

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[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago (13 children)

I mean, who's surprised by this? Dubya was always a dumbass, and essentially the beta version of Trump.

[–] TammyTobacco@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

W was always a tool, a blank slate for his owners to use. The guy has no thoughts of his own so I'm not surprised.

[–] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

He may not have been a genius mastermind but he's smart enough not to be absolved of the evils he committed. Blank slate is a juuuuust a bit too far for me

Just saying

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[–] NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why did anyone ever think he was any good? The folksy paintings? The aw-shucks friendship with Michelle Obama?

This dipshit has the blood of millions on his hands. He gave us Alito. He destroyed as much of the administrative state as he could. His CIA daddy stole his election.

Can you imagine our world today if Gore had gotten in?

Fuck Cheney too, he only cares because Trump was mean to his shithead daughter.

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Can you imagine our world today if Gore had gotten in?

It's not very well-remembered today that Clinton's administration ended with a budget surplus of hundreds of billions of dollars or that Gore was by far the most prominent voice in the world sounding the alarm about global warming. With a Gore victory we could have been debt-free as a nation by now and actually taking significant steps towards ending our dependency on fossil fuels; instead the debt is $35 fucking trillion dollars (which is so enormous it sounds like a joke) and the only reason this isn't a bigger problem is that we're cooking ourselves off the planet anyway and no amount of debt is going to matter.

Somewhat tangential, but "global warming" was always a weak formulation of the problem and "climate change" even more so. I prefer "anthropogenic runaway global heating" which more accurately frames the actual problem and has the handy acronym ARGH.

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[–] NegativeInf@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Bushes are morally bankrupt anyways. Two war criminals and one of them, Laura, killed her friend in a car accident where she ran a stop sign.

[–] Thrillhouse@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago

I wonder if this is because W benefitted from the same ratfuckery that Trump uses (Roger Stone, Brooks Bros Riot, etc.)

[–] WhyFlip@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Choose a side you fucking coward, Bush.

[–] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 27 points 1 month ago

I've never seen a Bush miss an opportunity to be on the wrong side of history.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

He wants Republicans policies but not Trump. He's stuck like a lot of other people. Unfortunately, most of those people will hold their noses and vote for Trump and hope for the best. That's the two-party system for ya.

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[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Trump is the only chance gwb has of someone else having more war crimes than him; making him look less evil.

These are Republicans, they only ever serve their own best interests.

[–] aluminium@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

Now watch that drive

[–] NineMileTower@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Oh, now everyone is surprised when he acts like a piece of shit? My good friend growing up died in Iraq in 2008. For what?

[–] nemonic187@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Lol. Why are we still pretending to give a shit about W?

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[–] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Its Bush, that war criminal can go to hell

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yep, but it would be nice if he took Trump with him.

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[–] SassyRamen@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

He's a war criminal at large who is running from the Hague, he's obviously going to be on the bad guys side.

[–] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Aww, he's just a painter with a soft spot for traitors.

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[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Centrists are so disappointed that senpai didn't notice them.

[–] Notserious@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Didn’t he start the stacking the supreme court? Could have been his dad. Jr was just stupider.

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[–] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

To Bush, being morally indefensible is a plus.

[–] norimee@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

That would be his chance to do something decent for once.

Reminds me of when Pink wrote a song for him Dear Mr. President and we thought he is the worst that can happen...
"How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?"

[–] LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Morally indefensible but thank the Lord we don’t have any morals to worry about

[–] cybersandwich@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Former presidents dont typically get involved in presidential politics(especially of their own party ) after they leave.

They'll typically stump for candidates in their own party if they were a popular former president.

You could argue that his lack of involvement with Trump's campaign is pretty telling.

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