[In]Decision Points

I would be remiss if I did not talk about President George W. Bush's memoir Decision Points.  So, what prompted me to write this?  Bush's book that was released?   Not directly.  What prompted this was my father telling me of the young soldier that was in the chemo room with him this week at Walter Reed Army Hospital on the Oncology Ward that was missing both legs, both arms and was receiving chemotherapy with his young wife watching.  My first words out my mouth were, "Jesus Christ!"  My next words can not be uttered here, but this posting will provide the facts that lead to that comment.

If you believe George W. Bush should be the fifth entry on Mount Rushmore, then you might want to stop reading now.

Let's see, where to begin....

• First, I always have said that George W. Bush  would be a great neighbor.  Easy going, does not seem to be an in your face type of guy.  When he was drinking, he was probably a very funny guy to hang out with as well :-)
• Second, I always thought his dad had both brains and guts.
• As a president, however, George W.  Bush will absolutely go down as the worst ever.
• Three unfunded tax cuts that were mostly for the rich.
• Two unfunded wars.
• Bush later admitted that Iraq had NOT A DAMN THING TO DO WITH 9/11.
• Thomas Friedman's "Too Good To Check" column on the "Obama's Asian visit costs $200M/day" nasty rumor, as trumpeted by FN.  The list price for the Afghan war is $190M/day and Iraq is $2BILLION/week, not counting the tragic fallout facing soldiers at Walter Reed.  (Put another way, we could just pay 30M Iraqis $67 a week to like us.)
• When talking about the cost of Bush’s wars, we usually count the dollars and American troops killed/maimed.  That leaves out two huge groups: 
• Iraqis/Afghans whose lives have been destroyed and contractors.  In Iraq several hundred thousand Iraqis have been killed out-right by violence and 1 to 1 ½ million have died from other war related causes like disease.  Another 3 million have been turned into refugees.  We should NOT leave them out when counting costs, but I am sure some will view this as just "collateral damage".
• There are also at least as many contractors, many from poor nations just looking for any job, as there are American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They get killed and maimed just as frequently as our troops, but we never even bother to count them either.
• An unfunded Medicare prescription drug program
• Making regulation a four letter word.  The Great Financial Recession happened on Bush's eight year watch.  
• We are talking trillions of $$$$$$$$$$$  here folks....
• Let's see, how did that work out?
• Let's remember Bush inherited a surplus.
• Bush watched the national debt grow from $5.6 trillion to nearly $10 trillion
• "You see, the growing surplus exists because taxes are too high, and government is charging more than it needs," Bush said in February 2001.     Uhhhh, that would be a big no.  Not when you are in the hole as a country.  Driving down the debt was a smart thing.
• We are in such a huge financial hole right now because of Bush's idiotic decisions.  Congress will not have the courage to do what other countries are starting to do - make the hard decisions no matter how unpopular they may be.
• For those longing for Reagan, go back and look at the numbers here at PresidentialDebt.org
• Looking at those numbers, you realize that Reagan was much worse on the debt, but that is not the point of this blog entry :-)
• When I hear Bush state, "I kept America safe."  WHAT!  Bush likes to forget that 9/11 occurred on his watch.  We need only go back to the famous seven minutes of Bush sitting there wide eyed listening to the teacher in Florida reading "My Pet Goat" to realize that this guy had not a clue on what it takes to be a great president.
• It was interesting to watch Bush state that water boarding saved lives and is the right thing for America to do to other countries, but when Matt Lauer asked him, "what if other countries were to do the same to us?"  Bush stated, "Matt, I am not going to debate this."  Of course, what he was saying was, "Matt, I do not think about things I do not think about, I might have to reflect and that might be painful for me to do."  This reminds me of the famous scene in the classic movie, "Inherit The Wind" when the topic of evolution comes up and the attorney Matthew Harrison Brady says, "I do not think about things I do not think about."
• The Oval Office with Matt Lauer was amazing to watch when Lauer confronted him.
• When Bush was asked his worst moment?  When Kanye West implied Bush was a racist.  Really, that was Bush's WORST moment as President?   Are you freaking kidding me?  Watching kids come back in body bags for a war he and Cheney made up with no WMD was not up there in the top ten at least?  Watching Americans suffer in New Orleans during Katrina really paled to Kanye West hurting his feelings?  Now, I must state that I do not think George Bush has a racist bone in his body.  
• When Bush states that, even without WMD, he would STILL go into Iraq again then he is lying to himself and to the American people.  Let's think this through here "W".  You get in front of the American people and say, "We have to go after Saddam Hussein because we think he has WMD.  However, even if he does not have any WMD and THERE ARE NO LINKS to 9/11, me and Dick Cheney still think it will be worth sacrificing thousands of young American lives and trillions of dollars anyway."   How do you think the Americans would have reacted to that there "W"?
  
• Obama was given one hell of a mess.  Obama needs to spend more time doing what is right and less time answering questions that appear on Fixed Noise and the other wacko "news" outlets.  Yes, MSNBC can be just as wacko, but it does not have the money and power that Fixed Noise does.  If Obama continues to kick the can down the road and show no courage in standing up to The Party of No, then he will be a one term president as well.  Democrats have zero guts.  
• What I can say that I admire about Bush is that he has kept his mouth shut since he got out (except for this book). That takes restraint and class.  He should tell his buddy Cheney to exercise some class as well.