GWB farewll speech.

[SpiritWarrior]

LOL. This letter is much apprecified.

[Felix The Assassin]

I like it.

[Cerek]

Nice back and forth, Felix and SW.

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.

[Cerek]

Here is the farewell address I would have liked to see Bush give:

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.

[Felix The Assassin]

Hey SW,

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

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

[SpiritWarrior]

Unfortunately for him, yep.

[Jorath Calar]

Originally Posted by Felix The Assassin Wow! 2. Thou many may not agree with his decisions, at least agree he made them. Amen! .

So did Hitler...

[Felix The Assassin]

Originally Posted by Jorath Calar So did Hitler...

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?

[Jorath Calar]

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

[SpiritWarrior]

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.