Normalizing W
by tristero
For a while, the question going around my social media was, "Don't you wish George Bush was president instead?" And my response was always the same, "You mean, would I prefer dying from pancreatic instead of liver cancer?"
But normalizing W - and by extension, the hideous caricature of an American political party that is the modern GOP - appears to be inevitable. Let's not mince words here:
What Posner and Bazelon wrote below is as Orwellian a lie as anything coming from Trump's mouth:
Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama flexed their executive muscles. Mr. Bush enhanced the president’s control over national security after the Sept. 11 attacks by opening Guantánamo, trying terrorism suspects before military tribunals, and authorizing warrantless wiretapping. Mr. Obama took unilateral aggressive actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reform immigration.
They left the office stronger than when they arrived. Although their policies were controversial, both presidents were given deference because they made their judgments conscientiously and led the government professionally.
Bush is now conscientious. The president who famously refused to pay attention to a memo that was entitled "bin Laden Determined to Attack US" in the month before 9/11.
Bush is now professional. The president who praised the incompetent Michael Brown during Katrina with ""Brownie, "you're doing a heckuva job.""
Bush - the president who presided over the worst economic crash since his fellow Republican Hoover's regime.
Bush - the president who brought international shame to his office and the United States by kowtowing to right wing religious extremists during the grotesque, macabre Terry Schiavo horror.
Bush - the president who invaded a country on knowingly trumped up (yes, that's intentional language) lies, which led to Abu Ghraib, which led to ISIS, and to attacks to come against the US that will likely last for generations.
That is the President Bush who is now touted as a paragon of conscientious and professional governance.
Posner and Bazelon both know better. They should be ashamed of themselves.