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June 5, 2012 9:00am by David Farrar

What would George do?

A very funny speech by George W Bush at the unveiling of his White House portrait.

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Comment12

Humour
United States
George W Bush

Comments (12)

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Fletch

Bush was all class, unlike the thin-skinned Obama who took the opportunity to criticize Bush at an event to honour the hanging of Bush’s portrait.

Apparently, as with so many other things, some people who hold the Presidency have class and some don’t. To all appearances, former President George W. Bush is the former, and current President Barack Obama is the latter, at least if this afternoon‘s unveiling of former President Bush’s Presidential portrait is any guide.

This event – which is, at least in theory, supposed to be free of partisan sniping, got an earful of just that when President Obama gave his introductory remarks welcoming Bush:

President Obama on Thursday twisted the knife he‘d stuck in his predecessor’s legacy, reminding former President George W. Bush that he left the economy a mess and al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden alive when he left the White House three years ago.

“The months before I took the oath of office were a chaotic time,” Obama told a crowd of mostly former Bush administration officials and members of the Bush family, including Bush’s parents, former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush.[…]

“We knew our economy was in trouble, our fellow Americans were in pain, but we wouldn’t know until later just how breathtaking the financial crisis had been,” Obama continued, raising some eyebrows among the Bush crowd seated just a few feet away.

Obama stopped short of blaming Bush for the recession, something he has done repeatedly on the campaign trail.
Instead, Obama couched his remarks with praise of the former president, thanking Bush for going out of his way “in the middle of that crisis … to make sure that the transition to a new administration was as seamless as possible.”

Translation: “Thanks for getting out of the way and letting the smart people take over, you jerk.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/president-obama-insults-former-president-bush-at-his-own-portrait-hanging/
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June 5, 2012 9:50am
dime

I laughed.
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June 5, 2012 9:51am
Manolo

Using Obama and class in the same sentece is an oxymoron.
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June 5, 2012 10:00am
tom hunter

Translation: “Thanks for getting out of the way and letting the smart people take over, you jerk.”

Heh, heh, heh. It’s okay, because “W” showed that he knows how to slip the blade in under the ribs as well, with his comment about “What would George do” – and it should be noted that our similarly politically aware host understood this also by headlining the thread with that quote.

It’s another example of the fact that GW was always a sharp operator in the murky world of politics. He’s well aware of the arguments (from left-wingers in many cases) that Obama’s has effectively been the third term of GW, and that line was simply a way of needling Obambi about it.

Besides, the people who are really angry and disillusioned are the left-wingers who actually thought GW and co. were going to be handcuffed and perp-walked long before they stepped back onto the floor of the White House. You should have some sympathy as well as laughter for such folks: altogether now – awwwwwwwwwwwww.
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June 5, 2012 10:07am
Fletch

For anyone interested, here is the actual painting –

http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2012/05/31/278466-bush-portrait.jpg
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June 5, 2012 10:42am
David Garrett

Well yes….I have just finished a book about the complexities of the Middle East…George clearly went blundering into “Eye-rack” contrary to the advice of anyone who knew anything about the place “because Saddam tried to kill my Dad”, as I think he once said publicly. in 1991 “Dad” had stopped at the Iraq-Kuwait border because he at least clearly understood the tar baby mess they would get into if they went on to Baghdad…

George’s “Mission Accompished” banner on the aircraft carrier will surely go down in history as the best example of calling the result when the fight is half over.

But a funny and gracious speech nevertheless. I always thought that Laura was a bit of alright….
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June 5, 2012 10:53am
RandySavage

Davids started early tonight
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June 5, 2012 4:53pm
David Garrett

Are you referring to me? If so, “starting” what? Are you a mate of the phool?
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June 5, 2012 5:25pm
Fletch

David, hmmmm…
I do not think it was only Bush who thought Iraq was a threat. This from journalist Andrew Roberts –

The next factor that will be seen in its proper historical context in years to come will be the true reasons for invading Afghanistan in October 2001 and Iraq in April 2003. The conspiracy theories believed by many (generally, but not always) stupid people – that it was “all about oil”, or the securing of contracts for the US-based Halliburton corporation, etc – will slip into the obscurity from which they should never have emerged had it not been for comedian-filmmakers such as Michael Moore.

Instead, the obvious fact that there was a good case for invading Iraq based on 14 spurned UN resolutions, massive human rights abuses and unfinished business following the interrupted invasion of 1991 will be recalled.

Similarly, the cold light of history will absolve Bush of the worst conspiracy-theory accusation: that he knew there were no WMDs in Iraq. History will show that, in common with the rest of his administration, the British Government, Saddam’s own generals, the French, Chinese, Israeli and Russian intelligence agencies, and of course SIS and the CIA, everyone assumed that a murderous dictator does not voluntarily destroy the WMD arsenal he has used against his own people. And if he does, he does not then expel the UN weapons inspectorate looking for proof of it, as he did in 1998 and again in 2001.

Mr Bush assumed that the Coalition forces would find mass graves, torture chambers, evidence for the gross abuse of the UN’s food-for-oil programme, but also WMDs. He was right about each but the last, and history will place him in the mainstream of Western, Eastern and Arab thinking on the matter.

History will probably, assuming it is researched and written objectively, congratulate Mr Bush on the fact that whereas in 2000 Libya was an active and vicious member of what he was accurately to describe as an “axis of evil” of rogue states willing to employ terrorism to gain its ends, four years later Colonel Gaddafi’s WMD programme was sitting behind glass in a museum in Oakridge, Tennessee.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/4241865/History-will-show-that-George-W-Bush-was-right.html
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June 5, 2012 6:50pm
Fletch

ps, the “mission accomplished” banner story, from Bush’s book Decision Points

I hadn’t noticed the large banner my staff had placed on the bridge of the ship, positioned for TV. It read “Mission Accomplished.” It was intended as a tribute to the folks aboard the Lincoln, which had just completed the longest deployment for an aircraft carrier of its class. Instead, it looked like I was doing the victory dance I had warned against. “Mission Accomplished” became a shorthand criticism for all that subsequently went wrong in Iraq. My speech made clear that our work was far from done. But all the explaining in the world could not reverse the perception. Our stagecraft had gone awry. It was a big mistake.

George W. Bush (2010-06-04T12:00:00+00:00). Decision Points (Kindle Locations 4698-4702). Crown Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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June 5, 2012 7:25pm
David Garrett

Yeah right…George had absolutely no idea that the banner was being ‘deployed’ or why…do they make Tui beer under licence in the US??
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June 5, 2012 7:42pm
scrubone

George clearly went blundering into “Eye-rack” contrary to the advice of anyone who knew anything about the place “because Saddam tried to kill my Dad”, as I think he once said publicly. in 1991 “Dad” had stopped at the Iraq-Kuwait border because he at least clearly understood the tar baby mess they would get into if they went on to Baghdad…

Agree with the second sentence.

But the problem was that the situation was untenable. It was a case of either letting Saddam off his leash, or taking him out. There were no good solutions, and the status quo was the least tenable of all.

I for one remember those on the left who took so much trouble to tell us just how many were dying under the sanctions.
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June 5, 2012 9:09pm

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