GWB farewll speech.
 

Wow!

Three things.
1. IT HAS been over seven years since our last terrorist attack on our soil. I prey tell that number will grow, but have an intestinal instinct of something darker.

2. Thou many may not agree with his decisions, at least agree he made them. Amen!

3. Wishing good fortune to the next administration, who will surely need it after their not even in office yet bumpy start.

Overall, a well written speech that was executed with excellent mannerisms, good articulation, and most importantly, with sincerity.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Really...wow? Not the word I would use after seeing the thing.

Horrible speech IMO. Just another pointless attempt by GW to fix his legacy the same way he "fixed" so many things over the last few years (economy, national security, education, federal emergency response-time, republican party, oh, and a war that nobody wanted... need I go on?) After all, he exits with such low approval ratings, mirrored only by the likes of Nixon. His legacy is already been long written and sealed.

I couldn't disagree more with your observations.

1. Whether or not there was an attack on the U.S. is hardly indicative of anything really. It's anyones guess when and where, the same way it was anyones guess before 9/11. I am hearing some media outlets (read: Fox) mention how "he kept us safe" all these years, and it reminds me of a student taking credit for a paper he didn't write but doing so because he knows nobody can prove it. Using the same logic described above, 9/11 actually happend on GWB's watch...so that can't be right, can it. What I do know is America is a lot more unpopular than it was before this man took office.

2. This one, when I first heard it, made me laugh."Though you may not agree with my decisions, at least agree that I made them". Of course you made them, you're the president, and are supposed to make them. The problem is they were bad decisions and that is why the nation can't wait to see you leave.

3. Id expect nothing else than to wish good fortune. It's the least he could do gracefully. And I agree, with the economy the way it is, his predecessor already has his hands full cleaning up GW's mess.

And yes, good diction and articulation. It seems we spent eight years teaching this man how to speak - they even invented a new term for his screw-ups and ancedotes "Bush-isms". At least he finally learned something.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

1. You are correct, 9/11 did happen on his watch. Why? Because the president before him failed to take action to eliminate the threat before it became what it is now known as.

2. Refers back to number one above, AND, president 42 was sadly, *NOT* the only one to fail to make a tough decision. And, as we can see in the GD forum, the pres elect is already stumbling out of the block worrying about a small percentage of people who have had a couple years to prevent the current situation. Furthermore, GW could have stuck to party principles and not made the decision to use federal money to bail out the failed economy, and just left it to pres elect, but like a 'good' leader, he made that tough decision as well.

3. The economy, wow. You do realize congress in 2003 deregulated the futures market? Which by the way, was padded with Enron money. Yeap, the pres had a lot to do with that. Or was it when the Dems deregulated the housing market allowing people with no means to pay their bills finance a house (every American who wants for a house can now own one)? As well, I'm sure GW was on the board of directors telling the Big 3 not to look into the future and be concerned with the volatility that the now deregulated futures and housing markets brings with it (NOT)? Sure, the economy is GW's fault, and I'm willing to bet the man on the moon told "Aljazeera Satellite Channel" to tell that to the world! Wait, is the world having a tough time of it now, or just the US.

Jimmy Carter has done more for the nation after his presidency than he ever did as president, and has become a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

GW will be recognized for his great contributions in due time, and I hope you are still about when his deeds are recorded in the annuals of history.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Dude, wake up. His legacy has already been written. I don't want to create a back and forth here, but I know from all the national polls that the majority agree he was a bad president. People didn't like him while he was in office, and they like him less when he's about to leave (people get ballzy when he is no longer the president, see). Even Fox betrayed him recently, saying they disagreed with many of his decisions and didn't like the way he handled "the whole war issue". Fox news said that about their own messiah.

Do you honestly and seriously think this president was a successful one? And I am not asking for redderick, I am asking you personally. If you were having a drink with me in a bar at 2 am, and I asked you do you really think GWB was good for the United States what would you say? Look at the state of the country. Look at how it was when his predecessor left it. There was a surplus in the treasury!

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

I will tell you this. He was dealt a turd sandwich and did the best he could to keep the enemy of our nation off our soil, and to take the fight into their lair. Was he successful? Yes.

Was he perfect? No!

But everything that some people blame him for, were not his to be blamed for. As far as red tail news, I could really give less than a rat's ass about their rhetoric. IMO, Couric, Williams, Rather, and Fox are all opinionated in their own right, and if you don't agree with their philosophy, then one becomes the butt of their insignificant ridicule. Always remember, life is but a set of choices, and choosing to click the remote is a choice!

Guess you have not seen this report?
http://rpc.senate.gov/releases/1997/FY98CBOR.JT.htm

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Yes, he was dealt a horrible hand as far as 9/11 goes, but that can't be blamed on his predecessor unless it can be blamed on him too. If there was a lax approach to impending threat, then it was carried on in his term also. According to Condi Rice though, when she was questioned by the 9/11 comission, these threats were so frequent, that they began to become almost routine, like a dog with much bark and little bite. I don't begrudge Bush or blame him for it - it is anyones guess whether today they decide to attack or just continue threatening for another 8 years. But, I will certainly point out that to ignore all this, and to blindly blame his predecessor on something that no-one could accurately predict, is almost as retarded as blaming Bush for it in the first place.

As far as taking the fight into their lair. Well, you know how that goes. The terrorist group is still alive and well. He may have miscalculated or just read the map wrong but ended up in the wrong place - and still remains there.


Elaborate. Briefly, tell me what you did not like.

True, some people simply piled stuff on him. I personally feel there is enough substantial stuff to bitch about and work with rather than make stuff up. A spokesperson for Bush reecently said that around the time of Katrina was when his approval ratings dipped and that he never recovered from it as far as polls go. The stuff that came afterward which I listed above, didn't exactly help. To this day GW still says his reaction time to Katrina was "Pretty quick".

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

From about summer of 1997 until January 20th 2001, the US placed a 'free' reign ransom on OBL. During that time there are "3" known occasions when a US SPEC-OP had him not only in spotting scope, but within the cross lines of his weapon. The call from clinton was hold fire. Also recall, a UAV had OBL and a large entourage located, it took over three hours to deliberate that the spot guided missile should "NOT" be fired. That event made international news, and should be available somewhere on the www. clinton had 4 opportunities and failed to make a decisive decision on any, Bush only had one opportunity, and we are still engaged in that fight.



I dislike the decision not to drill for oil off the US Gulf coast seaboard. Yet there are several foreign rigs just off the international water mark using the old slurpee-straw to extract our resources. Somebody (several Dems, not just GW) seems to think if we don't use it, it will be there, I guess satellite imaginary doesn't always work for everybody!

The bail-outs, should have never even been considered.

Not using total veto powers during the deregulation of the futures market, and then during the housing deregulation.

Not holding the Iraqi's responsible for their actions.

Not funding permanent military structures in Iraq like we have in Germany and Korea. My opinion as well as many others I associate with believe we should maintain a presence for several years to come.


The pres was there within hours, the levy has been an issue for years, I blame the willfully ignorant for being there. I was just a young grasshopper in my birth place of Tampa, FL. when Camille came through, it seems to me if it happened once, it could happen again. Parts of LA are literally below sea-level. What does one do? Completely bulldoze what is there, add tons of cubic feet of seabed and raise the entire area? Or just keep throwing federal many at the problem and hope it goes away like many before him, and more than likely, many after will do. Politicians who don't want something to happen add "pork barrels" to legislation before it is acted upon, many gave real service, many more gave the pen! That is something that may need to be overhauled. To blame GW without blaming the ones who stalled is just as ignorant as believing he caused the event in the first palce.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

But we're not. The US is here and the terrorists are there *points*. Saddam is dead as are tons of young american kids, tons of Iraqi's and their children too. Meanwhile, Bin Laden is releasing audio tapes and were still in Iraq fighting "the axis of evil". Please. Haliburton was over there faster than most troops, in their words to "Test the quality of Iraq's oil wells for the Iraqi people". How nice of them, to come all that way for free, just to test the oil quality of wells that they have nothing to do with.





Wow and most of those aren't even my beefs with him. Guess we can add these to the list. So you'd agree then, he has made many mistakes during his presidency and made more than a few bad decisions - enough to justify his horrid ratings and to seal his legacy as the man who got us into this mess. See, when he talks about making "tough decisions" even if people don't like them I start to think what is the value in making hard choices if the choices you make are consistently wrong? Even by your own view he dissapointed you, and some of the things you wrote wouldn't even be a priority to me personally, yet he managed to let you down too on many issues.

I do agree though that he was wrong about wall street being able to regulate itself and would also add about him being wrong that tax cuts were the answer to the recession.





I remember it very clearly though, it did take him days to do anything significant. When he was asked why he didn't get out of the helicopter and talk with at least some of the people who lost everything, he said he thought it would be a distraction. Like these people who lost their homes and families have somewhere to be. He got down on 9/11 (I think it was 9/12) - why didn't he at least create a pretense of doing something?

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

I would not necessarily say 4 brigades of boots on the ground in Afghanistan is a non-presence. That number is going up soon after the new president comes on-board. The issue is dealing with neighboring countries who give lip service towards policy, but screams to the US media the moment a UAV guides a missile to target.


Nobody is perfect, and yes he made a couple decisions that were not the best choice, but then again, what politician hasn't who has actually made a decision? To me, no action is worse than an action that may not be perfect, but can be changed and steered into a better choice, whereas in the former never even attempted to act.


Wow, you might want to recheck your memory banks. He was on Air Force One, returning back from a California politicking trip, which started from his Texas vacation home after he took a couple days off. Even ABC, CBS, and NBC said they could not land due to the flood waters, the closet airport to handle a plane that size and still in operation was then inaccessible by motor vehicle back to the flood zone. He flew onto DC, and put forth the measures to react. It took congress 48 hours to vote it into agreement, with many "pork barrels" in tact. During that time he made his visit back to LA, and was on the ground with the victims.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

As opposed to how many in Iraq? A place that had nothing to do with 9/11. Now, 8 years later the new guy makes it one of his priorities to up the number where we're supposed to be. I mean, isn't that him jusy saying "enough BS, let's do what we should have done on day one".

Yes he was on air force one, sorry - I did see the widely publicized photo. Helicopter, plane - he didn't land. It wasn't about safety, he was asked recently why he didn't even get down and be with his people, and said because he thought it would be a distraction. Not that he felt threatened.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Actually this increase has been planned, the military said we cannot accommodate ATM, let us prepare for a Spring 09 accession. Just so happens the new guy is getting credit from you already? LOL! Furthermore, Iraq is on the down swing, a people voted in government is in place, Gw's time-line for planned withdrawal is nearing, events are at or about where they need to be, and to our distress, there is no immediate plan for long term billeting of US forces there. However, the funding to complete the training and stagging facility was issued and there is a spot where up-to a few modern I or S BCTs can be rapidly placed into action if need be.



Safety vs distraction. Safety was not an issue, impossible was the issue. Distraction? As a leader I groomed my subordinate leaders to replace me. If I had to get in their business, who was handling my business? If the senior commander wanted to conduct a spot check on one of my teams, I saw no reason for me to be there. I would more than likely present a distraction to the event. GW got a birds eye view, and went back to DC to handle business, with the intent of returning soon to do the publicity stunt.

But here again I say, once he gave the orders, stuff should have happened like well oiled clock works. Here it is possible that the system could be evaluated and revised. My personal thought is, move the hell out. This was *NOT* the first time it happened. Problem is, that area receives an extremely large share of federal aid on a yearly basis (slum)...

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

So wait, 8 years later, almost a decade, Bush suddenly figured out where he needed to send the troops? And timed it just as his term was up? If so, I can add that to the list of his major F-ups.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

More like 6, but hey, it's your story, right?

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Well, that is only, if we assume he didn't have beef with Saddam all along. He just got the perfect excuse to do it on 9/11 and then in 2003 decided lets convince america this is where the the wmd's are. Now we're back to wmd's again, we did that already.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Here, just a small token of real American politics:

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Question? Are you also one in which feels GW "stole" the election in Y2K?

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

I am on the fence about it in many ways. I don't have enough info. or evidence -and prolly never will, to say so (although who knows, with Bush leaving office, people tend to get brave and come out of the woodwork with admissions/confessions)

I do find it curious that he had a brother occupying a high position in the state where the votes counted the most, breaking a virtual tie between he and his opponent that was actually taken to court to be settled finally in his favor. Coincidence? Possibly.

I am more puzzled as to what happend in Ohio in 2004 election, and the thousands of votes that went unaccounted for and/or were counted incorrectly in GW's favor. I am curious as to what happend all the abroad/mail-in votes that went unsent, with a judge ruling that thousands of voter mail being returned to sender was not against the law but was indeed quite suspicious and needed a full investigation.

Looking back, I note that, the whole "abuse of power" theme was something echoed throughout GW's presidency, sometimes proven with arrests and resignations and sometimes not proven with fruitless investigations and inquiries.

But it is food for thought. Do I know anything here for certain? No. But, like the rest of the world, I don't care now that he's finally gone.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Riddle me this: If the former president was dealt a turd sandwich than how many turd sandwiches has the next president received?

I think this requires some economic analysis.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

None, yet...

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Someone leaked the content of the letter that Bush left in the Oval office for Obama!



Dear Barry,

First and foremosting, I would like to congratulatise you on getting the job. It will be great to have someone come in and bring a finished completion to all the work I did. I warn you, though, Baz, being President isn’t all laughs. There are a lot of boring speeches to sit through.

But I think you will make a great commander-in-chife. You’ve got what I’ve got – charismaticism. And that goes a long way. I also dig the way you got all those famous people on your side – they didn’t take much to me. I like that Jon Bono Jovi who sang a few days before your augmentation – he’s a good guy.

My daddy once told me: “Eat your vegetables, George Jnr”. And he was right. Well now its my turn to give out some advisementory words. Don’t let people misunderestimate you the way they misunderestimated me. I hope you don’t misunderstandimate what I’m getting at there Baz – I used a lot of long words in that sentence.

Being the President is a bit like grabbing the bull by the horns – you gotta go up to that bull and grab its horns. In a metaphosphorical sense of course. If you grab a real bull by the horns you won’t be president for too long. You should maybe write that one down.

I’ve left you some pretzels on my desk and, before I forget, I’ve also left you a crisis in the Middle East and a bad economy – in London, England, they’re calling that a “credit crunch”. Ain’t that cute? Sounds like a breakfast cereal to me, Baz. Next time you’re in No 1, Downing Street, tell Gordon Ramsay I said “hi”.

So I guess that’s all I got for ya. I know you’ll be a super leader. They made a movie about me after my 8 years were up, so if they do the same with you, I guess you’ll know you’ve done a good job.

Good luck. Baz.

Yours facefully,

Dubya (spelt with a ‘W’)

PS: Sorry about the lawn….my dog Barney’s little weapons of mass destruction (joke!)

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

LOL. This letter is much apprecified.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

I like it.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

<font color=plum>Nice back and forth, <font color=yellow>Felix and SW</font>.

Regarding Katrina, here a few facts that often get overlooked.

More than 25 years before Katrina struck, scientific researchers were asked to list the most devastating natural disasters that could occur in the US. New Orleans being hit by a Category 5 hurricane was in the top 5 of that list. What did the government and state of LA do about that? Crossed their fingers and hoped it wouldn't ever really happen.

Meteorologists started warning that Katrina could strike New Orleans at least 5-6 days ahead of time. They then changed their warning to say that Katrina would definitely hit New Orleans at least 3 days before it came ashore. What did the Democratic mayor of New Orleans and the Democratic governor do in the face of this immediately impending disaster??? Nothing.

What should they have done? Commandeered every school and city bus within 100 miles to start evacuating people and calling for emergency supplies to stock emergency shelters along the way. The stockpiling of supplies should have begun as soon as there was a chance of Katrina coming close.

What did President Bush do about the impending disaster in LA? He took a pre-emptive stance and declared New Orleans a "disaster area" 2 days before Katrina actually hit. Why? because he knew LA would need federal aid and he was getting the process started as quickly as possible. What else did he do? Nothing. Why? Because the US Constitution forbids the federal government from stepping in to take over state business until it has been formally asked to do so by the state government. In this case, state government actually trumps federal government. President Bush got the process for federal aid started before Katrina actually made land, but that was all he could until the LA Governor specifically requested federal aid and intervention. And what did the state government (who should have had a vested interest in getting as much help as soon as possible) do? That's right, boys and girls - nothing.

Then, after the hurricane actually struck New Orleans (like the meteorologists said it would do) and the levees broke (like scientists had predicted they could do over 25 years before), what did the state government do? Put the blame on Bush as fast as possible. The only thing the mayor did right in that whole fiasco was turning the Superdome into an emergency shelter, except he neglected to provide any SUPPLIES for the masses that would be sheltered there, so it ended up being a horrible situation, but at least the people survived the hurricane.

When federal aid finally DID start moving towards LA, it was President Bush that dropped the ball, it was FEMA and their apparant inability to do anything right due to their thumbs being permanently implanted in their ass. Now, for the sake of fairness, one reason FEMA was such a screw-up is because Bush had put a long-time horse breeder buddy of his in charge of the department and the guy apparantly couldn't pour piss out of a boot with instructions written on the heel. So, yeah, that one was on Bush. Then again, such buddy-appointments have been the norm for every Administration in recent history, so it wasn't like Bush was doing anything nobody else had done. This one just came back to bite him in the ass and he quickly fired his buddy and hired a guy with some actual experience for the job.

As for the two elections, that has been covered thoroughly, but what the hell? The only reason the vote was close in the first place is because the Dems had disallowed thousands of absentee ballots from military personnel, the majority of which were for Bush. Peter Jennings and ABC news declared Gore the winner before all the polls had actually closed in Florida (they apparantly forgot the panhandle is in the Central Time Zone and the polls were still open for another hour there. That area is also predominantly Republican. Jeb Bush did his best to (publicly) recuse himself from the count or recount. The head of the Republican Party in Florida tried to declare Bush the winner ahead of time, but was overruled by the court. They then looked at the recount themselves. Like it or not, the result was determined by a court of law, not by the President's brother. As for Ohio, much rhetoric was slung around about election officials being jailed afterwards, but a further investigation discovered the "officials" were not "heads of the Republican party" - in fact, the higher ranking of the two was a Democrat. The two workers admitted they were too lazy to do an accurate recount in the one district where they worked. Even if the votes had gone Biden's way, he still wouldn't have had enough votes to win Ohio.

I realize none of this will detract the dedicated Bush-bashers and will pooh-poohed as insignificant or misleading. That's fine. But if you ignore facts that conflict with your own opinions, then you can understand why others do the same when they don't agree with you.</font>

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

<font color=plum>Here is the farewell address I would have liked to see Bush give: :D</font>

<font color=white>My fellow Americans:

I'd like to say that I bring a heavy heart to this last day of my presidency, but the truth is, I couldn't be happier to be getting out of here.

Imagine this: You go to work every day, to a challenging, stressful job. You work harder in a day than most people do in a month. You're on call 24 hours a day, and bear ultimate responsibility for an enormous number of staggeringly complex projects. As if that weren't enough, you have a braying mob outside your office, who denigrate your every action, second-guess your every decision, sabatoge your work, and bad mouth you to your boss at every opportunity. The people who comprise this mob have never known a fraction of the responsibilty that rests on your shoulders, yet they are not shy in telling the world how much they hate you, how much they want to see you fired, or even dead.

These are the conditions under which I have labored for the past eight years. If you haven't guessed, the braying mob I'm talking about is the media.

I came to Washington hoping that I could change the tone of discourse, which I felt had coarsened in recent years. I promised you, and I promised myself, that I would not badmouth people, I would not be insulting or belittling. I hoped that by setting an example I might inspire others to conduct themselves with civility.

A few short months after I took office, America witnessed the most horrific attack ever visited upon her shores. This event hardened my resolve. I believed that if we were to take seriously our responsibility to prevent further attacks, that it would be critical for us to focus on policy. More than a nicety, civility would be a crucial tool in our effort to reason intelligently about the proper course of action to take. Bearing this in mind, I followed a very straightforward template in my dealings: I proposed actions, laid out my reasons for taking them, and then I followed through. Where necessary, I submitted them to Congress to be voted upon.

Apparently this was the wrong thing to do. Instead of answering civility with its like, the braying mob became ever more shrill, and ever more negative.

My friends, have you ever had a friend or co-worker who talked nothing but negativity to you all day every day? After a while, it can't help but bring you down. And my friends, this is what the braying mob did to the American People.

I will not attempt to refute every lie that's been told about me in the past eight years. They are legion. But I do ask you to consider this: If I am the tyrant I have been painted as, how is it that today, in accordance with the law, I am voluntarily leaving office, and handing the reins of power to my successor? If I were intent upon "shredding the constitution", wouldn't I have shredded the part that compels me to relinquish power? If I were intent upon "stifling dissent" how is it that not a single reporter or pundit has gone to jail?

For eight years I have held my tongue in the belief that in the best interest of our nation. Tonight I say to my adversaries, you win. Tradition dictates that as a former President, I keep my thoughts to myself. However, in recent years, Presidents Carter and Clinton have taught me that that tradition has passed. From here on out, I will be more than happy to share my thoughts on the actions of my successors.

In closing, I would like to wish President Obama all the warmth, cooperation, and respect that I received while in office, and remind him that should he need my input on anything, I'm only a phone call away - provided that he's okay with the public knowing that he called me.

Thank you, and God bless.</font>

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Hey SW,

Is this another of GW's legacy you speak of?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090123/...tain_economy_2

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Unfortunately for him, yep.

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

So did Hitler...

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

As did Peter Adler Alberti! But his decisions landed him an impeachment.

Hitler had several assassination attempts conducted (some historians claim up-to 17), and many from his own people, at last count, President Bush had an astonishing two media hype reports, and one real threat, from a Eastern Georgian, not a US Gawgian!

Guess that comparison has a strong bond to it, eh?

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Acctually Hitler had 42 according to an documentary I saw recently... but fair point... although you forgot the shoe... :)

Re: GWB farewll speech.
 

Really, measuring someones good/bad decisions based on how many people try to kill him? I think he needed no help killing his approval rating of 15%. Just because ninjas ain't trying to assasinate him on a daily basis does not mean he is doing a good job.