What is with the sudden outpouring of respect for George Bush Sr?

[Hugabear]

So he served in WWII. Does that mean he gets a pass on everything he's done since then?

Do we overlook his role in the Iran-Contra affair? Do we just overlook his actions in Iraq and Panama? Do we overlook him giving us Dick Cheney, Dubya, and the rest of the BFEE? By the way, we do still remember what BFEE stands for, right?

[flvegan]

1. Empathy, maybe?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

8. Empahy the right never shows to antbody?

[flvegan]

11. Your point?

BTW, we're not them.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

12. You're right we're not them.

My point. I'm not showing them anything. Fuck em.


If you don't like it then too bad.

[flvegan]

17. How exciting.

I fail to see your final point unless it involves your spelling.

I mean really, "too bad" for what?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

25. Oh, the syntax police have arrived. How quaint.

[cartach]

40. Retired English Teacher!

Frustrated,bored,with little else to do but post on DU [61,000 plus posts],and I'll bet a high percentage deal with such errors.

[2pooped2pop]

49. lol

they always can point out that the important part of any post is the spelling, rather than the gist of the post. Lol, some come only to grade papers, it seems.

[Puzzledtraveller]

78. Doubleplusone!

[Fearless]

2. Aside from the grave dancing thread?

No one should justify his actions. But, suggesting one should cease to exist because of their actions is, literally, a pro death penalty argument. Am I to assume the DU and the civilized world isn't beyond that argument yet?

[MessiahRp]

16. I disagree

If we said, "That fucker deserves to die", that's a pro-death penalty comment. If we say, "I don't care if he dies and he doesn't deserve revisionist history just because he is dying." That's a different argument. You're not wishing him death but rather asking that the facts surrounding the history of his life aren't changed and manufactured to prevent him the scorn and ridicule he deserves just because he is dying.

Two different arguments.

[Fearless]

37. Suggesting that

Someone should die or the happiness one has for the death of another is dependent on the bad things they have done is pro the death of someone based on their deeds.

[MessiahRp]

48. No it's not. It's indifference to their death.

Pro Death is rooting for them to die.

Indifference is I don't care either way if they do.

Just because someone doesn't want their inevitable death to be cloaked in lies to manufacture a phony revisionist mirage around the man's history does not mean anyone is rooting for him to die. And that part, the revisionist history attachment, that comes post-death and is separate because you could not wish someone to die but still not want their death to trigger a load of falsehoods perpetuated by a compliant media.

You're just blending all of that together but it just isn't so. It's a tad bit of unnecessary outrage, really.

[2pooped2pop]

50. Personally, I've wished him death for a long time.

Him and most of his republican buds. Finally gonna get that wish it seems. Not my most important wish. But hey, take what you can get, I guess.

One down.

Maybe Karl Rove will go visit and catch it.

[Chorophyll]

3. Elderly man, possibly on his deathbed?

I don't actually respect him, mind you. But I see no point in celebrating.

[burrowowl]

4. God only knows

He, because Raygun was already out of it, was responsible for Iran-Contra which lead to the deaths of 200,000 to 250,000 Guatemalan Indians and a Maryknoll priest trying to get medicine to them. He is a war criminal.

[Pholus]

5. There is some subtlety?

Yup, all the bad stuff you said is true and nasty. I definitely wish GHWB had not served as president! But he did and unlike our modern teabaggers you can at least point at a couple good things:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022077646

Put in that context maybe he warrants at least a respectful silence as he passes.

[uppityperson]

6. He spent his life seeking power and wealth. I pity his family at his deathbed, but he did so many

bad things for all of us.

[Whovian]

7. He gets no respect from me.

If he dies, he dies. We all do it.

[rrneck]

9. He's a former POTUS, and he's dying. It's a legacy trying to not admit we elected a jerk thing. nt

[Arctic Dave]

10. He is a POS

He will get no respect or sympathy from me.

[HiPointDem]

13. the usual bullshit when evil leaders die.

[The Second Stone]

14. He's an old man with a fever for several weeks, it's going up, so he is

most likely dying.

He served his country. He looks really good in comparison to W.

[jmowreader]

22. Al Capone looks good compared to W.

I was going to mention Charles Manson...naah, anyone looks good compared to Manson.

[MessiahRp]

15. Or his possible CIA involvement in the JFK Assassination?

Just putting that out there...

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/11/16/was-george-h-w-bush-involved-in-the-assassination-of-jfk/

[OldDem2012]

64. That, among other things going back to WWII and what appears to be his involvement....

....with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He was a Yale grad and a former college baseball player, prime recruiting grounds for the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA. Think of all of the major CIA ops going back to their official formation in 1947, especially those taking place in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, and Poppy was probably involved in some way. We certainly have a great deal of information about his involvement in the Cuban Task Force and the Bay of Pigs.

I wonder how long it will take after his passing before we begin to see books detailing his CIA experience in a way not seen to date. It should prove to be very interesting reading.

[zappaman]

92. Great.

Now with this bullshit, you put me in the uncomfortable position of having to defend this asshole.
He did enough bad stuff without this bullshit CT.

[MessiahRp]

94. On the other thread and affirmed that you believe Lee Harvey Oswald was the killer.

So everything except the completely easily debunked Government argument is conspiracy theory to you. Frankly I dismiss your opinion if you actually think LHO killed Kennedy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2079502

[NealK]

18. I have absolutely no respect for that guy.

And that's all I have to say about him.

[Kablooie]

19. I respect a Republican that is president for only one term.

That should be a model for all the other Republicans.

Of course he created W for us so that kind of cancels it out.

[triplepoint]

20. Chalk it up to Paid Posters or People with No Memory(?)

or a fogged-out memory leading to a failure to remember the tyrannical reign of the bush CRIME family. Those who can't remember the past are condemned to repeat it....

Gore Vidal called this national memory lapse situation, "The United States of Amnesia."

E. Howard Hunt gave a deathbed JFK Assassination confession. I hope bush I does as well. Hunt's son or someone else filmed it. Here's that video:
.

.
.
.

.
.
.

.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.
The don of the bush CRIME family and phony war hero had a photographic memory but somehow....couldn't remember where he was the day that JFK was assassinated. Yeah...sure....sure bet there monsieur boooooooooooooooooosh. Guess he won't be joining kenny boy at the bush hacienda in Paraguay afterall....Rest in Hell george! You should have been hanged for treason long ago!

[Bucky]

46. Paid posters?

oi

[progressoid]

21. I'll give him credit for one thing.

He called Reaganomics "voodoo economics".

But that's about it.

[jmowreader]

23. As long as he was running against Reagan, he did

Once Reagan took him onto the ticket, Bush did a complete 180 - he was pro choice before he was Reagan's running mate.

The best thing Bush the Elder could have done for this country was die during childbirth.

[condoleeza]

89. Hah, I've often said

when asked what I thought about Dubya, that somebody should have killed his grandfather before his father was conceived.

[Oilwellian]

98. He was far more than just pro-choice

He was a great fan of eugenics during his congressional years and greatly encouraged legislation that came to fruition in Virginia & North Carolina, where women on welfare or women with an IQ below 70 were uniformly sterilized while in the system. The world will be a better place when the elder of the Bush Crime Family is gone.

[thucythucy]

84. He also signed the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Junior would have vetoed it, for sure.

[loyalsister]

97. I hate this

but, actually W signed the ADA Amendments Act of 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADA_Amendments_Act_of_2008

[Carolina]

105. but he would not sign

the Family and Medical Leave Act which affects so many of us who have to work and still tend to family with serious medical issues!

[Mnemosyne]

24. Just another war criminal as far as I'm concerned. nt

[Nye Bevan]

26. He raised taxes on the rich when it was necessary,

even though he had promised not to do so ("read my lips&quot .

He further taxed the rich via a luxury tax on expensive cars and yachts.

He signed the Americans with Disabilities act.

He executed a smart, clinical Gulf War that did what was needed without any of the idiotic overreaching and quagmires that his son would perpetrate.

No President is perfect. I am not especially comfortable with Obama's kill lists and drone attacks, for example. But for a Republican, HW was really not that bad.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

31. But for a Republican, HW was really not that bad.

Would you vote for him?

[OneMoreDemocrat]

87. I did...

That election was my first and as I was 18 at the time I was highly influenced by my family, and I loved Rush Limbaugh back then, I thought he was hilarious...well, he still is if you only look at him as a comedy act.

I wouldn't vote for him now, but things have changed an awful lot since he was President...I doubt he could even get the nomination; I will say though that he was a MUCH better President than any of the Republican candidates they threw out there in the primaries would have been and probably better and less crazy than anyone they have in the wings.

[deutsey]

59. But, like his son, he lied us into war

That story about Iraqi troops throwing babies from incubators onto the cold floor? Lie

[putitinD]

27. I won't shed a tear

[NYC Liberal]

28. There are plenty of people here who have never hated him.

I think the guy did some really nasty stuff and is only "better" relative to Reagan or Shrub.

But it's not really "sudden" because I've seen many DUers over the years say that they respected/sorta liked/didn't mind Bush Sr.

[whatchamacallit]

29. What do you expect in Trolltown?

[Ed Suspicious]

30. Respecting the office of the president isn't trolling. Anyone who serves as the president of my

country at least receives a grudging respect from me. http-pissing on his grave seems unproductive and republican.

[whatchamacallit]

33. Bullshit

An asshole in the Oval Office is still just an asshole. I don't owe that POS anything.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

34. Dubya's misadventure in Iraq has left thousands of US dead

tens of thousands of US wounded and between 750k and 1 million Iraqis dead.

I have no respect for whatever office he has stolen and defiled.


Did you forget that the SCOTUS helped him into office?

[Bucky]

44. I generally agree. Of the 3 most recent Republican presidents, he was the least malignant,

If the country through a democratic process puts someone in a position of managing the bulky complex sovereignty of the United States, honoring the man and the authority he represents is not the same thing as agreeing with his policies. And unlike the other recent Republican presidents, he did not authorize terrorism in Central America or torture in half a dozen client states.

[Ed Suspicious]

81. This is precisely the spirit my post was made in. Thanks for articulating your view so succinctly.

[malaise]

57. Are you serious?

So if you were German you would respect Hitler?

[hobbit709]

61. That's the same reasoning they tried to pound into me in the military.

It didn't take. If I had no respect for the clown in the funny suit, there wasn't going to be any for the suit itself.

[adieu]

32. Probably because

he's somewhat left of Obama, politically, at the moment.

[Bucky]

45. oy

The left-right nomenclature is a shortcut to avoid thinking. If Poppy were out there in the mix these days, he'd be far far to the right of Obama. His support for the Republican Party has not wavered an iota while the party has marched steadily off to kooky la-la land.

[adieu]

93. We can't say for certain

that he would march lock-step with the kooky folks on the current GOP line-up. I'm tempted to accept your hypothesis, though.

However, I'm just comparing historical presidential actions between the two presidents during their first 4 years in office. In that case, Bush had raised taxes and Obama hadn't. Obama has kept the domestic surveillance laws while Bush didn't have such laws to use, nor did he campaigned to have them. (Being a spook, I'm sure he'd love to have them, but he never asked for them, AFAIK.)

[kath]

35. And what about his bailing out of his plane, leaving his crew to die? And the October Surprise,

complete with his nifty little trip to Paris?

And NEVER forget that he is probably the ONLY person in the country (and most of the developed world, probably) who was over the age of 5 at the time who "doesn't remember" where he was on Nov. 22, 1963.

[DollarBillHines]

113. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for that stunt.

He totally freaked, bailed, and let his crew drown. My late uncle was on the boat that fished him out of the water.

But you are wrong about him being the ONLY person who could not recall where he was on 111/22/1963.

Richard Nixon was the other one.

[JDPriestly]

36. Sometimes silence is the best policy.

If you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all.

[JohnnyRingo]

38. If we're nice to him, maybe he'll make a deathbed confession..

..to being the shooter on the grassy knoll, or that he was in on the Bay of Pigs incident.

I'm no Jesse Ventura, and I cast a wary eye to conspiracy theories, but this man was there at the genesis of the CIA after WWII. His face has popped up in more of history's motley crowds than Waldo.

[Festivito]

42. His family wants him dead before Jan 1st. CIA wants him dead ASAP.

Any deathbed confession would be labeled delirium from now on.

Speaking of conspiracies. Did they exhume Arafat thinking he was poisoned with Polonium. I wonder if that stuff can cause a fever.

[LuvNewcastle]

43. He was in the middle of everything bad and was

the enemy of anything good. If people don't want to grave dance, fine, but there shouldn't be any wistfulness when such a wicked man dies.

[John2]

39. I think you

need to be more specific? I looked at his service in World War II and from what I can see, the man served with honor, unlike his son. He was also one if the Republican Senators, that signed the Civil Rights Bill of 1968. He encouraged President Nixon to resign. He made the decision to raise taxes even though it was politically suicide for him to do so. It seems to me he did what was best for the country at the time. Bush didn't hesitate when providing assistance to Americans that were out of work also. He signed the American Disabilities ACT also. HIs son and Dick cheney should be judged on their own merits and not George Seniors'. That is the way I will judge him.

[Ilsa]

54. A minor point: he was never a senator, but

He was a congressman from a Houston district.

What I heard is that he took so much heat for voting for the Civil Rights Act, he swore he wouldn't do anything like that again. In other words, the Right Thing To Do was no longer paramount.

[Lurker Deluxe]

63. But then

If he learned his lesson when he voted for the civil rights act and "would never do anything like that again" why did he do something like that again?

When he backed off on his "read my lips no new taxes" pledge he knew his second term was gone, but he did it anyways.

I am no H lover for sure, and he had his problems. But his Iraq war was nothing like W's.

And if we are blaming any POTUS for what happens around the world when they are in office and want to then call them a war criminal for it .. they are all pretty much war criminals.

[graham4anything]

41. to get Jeb nominated for the republican primary winner in 2016

before Obama's 9 steps ahead, the Bush's played the 4 step ahead better than anyone else

Jeb is a coming and they don't care about the past except to hope history repeats itself unless Hillary45 can stop him. Because Jeb will get the repub. nom(and do it for Poppy).

[condoleeza]

47. No, we shouldn't overlook any of this

despite that he's a pathetic old man who was a bad father and he's. hopefully, dying soon, before he can have any influence on his unborn grandchild. ZERO sympathy for one of the evilest of evilest nimrods who was ever elected POTUS and who sired GWB and Jab. Poppy wasn't too bright, GWB and Jeb were both a step down from Poppy.

Lord help us that American's aren't too stupid to even consider Jeb a viable contender of POTUS. but I've little doubt he'll be there, completely re-invented. So tired of this shit.

[JustAnotherGen]

51. I have empathy for him

But no respect for how he conducted himself on this earth.

[Drunken Irishman]

52. I don't want to see anyone die.

I don't personally know Mr. Bush. I just know that he was the first president I ever remember seeing as a child. So, in that regard, I've always had some fascination with him. I do think, in his private life, he's probably a good man who's done good for his family and their hearts are probably breaching right now. I've buried my father and I've buried my grandfather - it's not an easy thing to do. Will I miss Bush? Of course not. His death won't radically change much of anything because, since he left office, he's been a non-factor in most our lives. But that doesn't mean I'm going to grave dance or act happy when he passes.

I wish his family the best because I know it's never easy to bury someone you love.

[AngryOldDem]

53. I'm sorry he's ill.

But that is about the extent of my concern/sympathy.

[Safetykitten]

55. I do not get it either. But apparently he did what Obama has issues doing now...

Prosecute bankers.

You have to give him that.

[corkhead]

56. He was correct about "voodoo economics"

just sayin,

[LeftofObama]

58. I despise the Bush family and everything they stand for,

but I don't want to see anyone suffer. If he passes I hope it is quickly and without pain or suffering.

[Marrah_G]

60. Personally I don't care what happens to him.

[Flashmann]

62. What is with the sudden outpouring of respect for George Bush Sr?

Not from me....I have the same level of respect for him,that I ever did.......None.......Zero.......Zip and fucking nada.......

[leveymg]

65. Why is it that the Evil Old Men all seem to die in bed, unlike their many victims?

The biggest pass that GHW got was the Cold War. That seemed to excuse a great many bad things for Bush as CIA Director, including the Operation Condor death squads and his role in the Pinochet regime's assassinations in America (the bombing in Washington that killed Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Moffett), and afterwards.

Then there was the Safari Club arrangement with Prince Turki al Faisal that set up BCCI, armed Saudi Arabia's proxy, Pakistan, with nuclear weapons and allowed the Saudis to set up a global covert paramilitary capability that became al-Qaeda.

Poppy's professional career -- in all its glory -- including Bush family's role in financial piracy, working with the bin Laden and bin Mahfooz in multiple bank lootings and land grabs across the oil patch states which became known as the S&L Crisis . . . it's all here, with citations and sources, waiting for anyone who wants to know how America was looted and colonized by the oilogarchs.

Thank G.H.W. for the original "Safari Club" deal by which the Saudis paid for CIA covert ops
[/b
that the Democratic Congress and the Carter Administration had banned after the Church and Pike Committee revelations of assassinations, coups, and domestic dirty tricks by the CIA. So, in 1975-76, CIA Director Bush made a deal with Saudi intel chief Prince Turki al-Faisal to outsource and privatize these sorts of things with Saudi money paying for it. In exchange, the Saudis got the Bush CIA's permission to develop the "Islamic atomic bomb" through their proxy, Pakistan, along with the go-ahead to build and field their own covert operations capabilities with Osama bin Laden eventually given command over global logistics and organization. See, http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/280

That arrangement morphed into CIA Operation Cyclone that brought hundreds of Jihadists into the U.S. for training and safekeeping in the secret war against the Russians and the Serbs that continued right up to 9/11 - despite repeated Jihadist killings of Americans during the 1990s, that sort of entry was so routine that the State Department and INS looked the other way when a bunch of Saudis with known terrorist ties were given visas and allowed entry into the U.S. in the two year period leading up to the attacks. Every time the FBI came close to busting up these cells, the Agency pushed the Bureau away, as was SOP. In 2001, things got so hot that even the CIA Director was alarmed enough to make personal visits to the President, but as always, the Bushes refused to do anything that might antagonize or embarrass their patrons, the Saudis, who by that point owned a large chunk of corporate America and were the primary funders of the Republican Party. See, http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/308

The Saudis still have a huge slush fund, "al Yamamah" (The Dove) used for intelligence and influence buying operations in the US and UK - basically, the Saudis have bought protection from any accountability or interference using petrodollars and kickbacks from arms purchases, corrupting and blackmailing vast swaths of top officials in both both governments. See, http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/303

UBL was "our man" (really the Saudi GID intel service and their primary US liaisons, the Bush family) in Khartoum and Kandahar long after the Soviet Union collapsed. The Saudis never really abandoned him or the fight against the Russians over oil. It was obviously in both our and the Saudis mutual interest that UBL never testify about what his actual role was in that war. See, also, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/04/810764/-Erik-P...

[steve2470]

66. you should make this an OP nt

[leveymg]

67. I will. There's lots more. Here's another piece of it.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/13

G.H.W. Bush-BCCI-Kamal Adham (Saudi Intelligence)
Posted by leveymg in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Mon Mar 27th 2006, 11:00 AM
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/a...
The BCCI-Bush connection is, it could be argued an ‘accidental’ one, but it’s highly unlikely even if it is difficult to track, But the seeds are all there, including GW Sr’s CIA connection (as head of it) in the 1970s and the links to BCCI as well as his long time association with James R. Bath an investor in Arbusto. Bath, was a Houston businessman and old friend was also an investor in BCCI. Essentially, BCCI was a convenient ‘channel’ for moving money through to fund the various illegal enterprises being undertaken at the time including, Iran-Contra, the Iranian arms sales, CIA money laundering operations, connections to powerful Middle Eastern businessmen, the Vatican and its right-wing connections through BNL.

Perhaps this extract from "Texas Connections" http://www.thedubyareport.com/txconnect.ht... gives you an idea of the reach:

"… Sheikh Abdullah Bahksh of Saudi Arabia, a 16% shareholder in Harken Energy at the time, was represented by a Palestinian-born Chicago investor named Talat Othman, who served with George W. Bush on the board of Harken Energy. Othman made at least three separate visits to the White House to discuss Middle East affairs with then President George Bush. At about the same time, and just prior to the Gulf War, Harken Energy, with no previous international or offshore drilling experience, was awarded a 35-year petroleum exploration contract with the emirate of Bahrain.

Sheikh Bahksh emerged as a co-investor in the Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI), a criminal enterprise since dissolved, that existed primarily as a mechanism for obtaining political influence using Middle Eastern oil money. Bahrain's prime minister, Sheik Khalifah bin-Sulman al-Khalifah, was a major investor in BCCI's parent company, BCCI Holdings, of Luxembourg. Through its commodities affiliate, Capcom, BCCI was used as a money laundering service by drug traffickers, arms dealers, etc. BCCI's front man in the U.S., and the person chiefly responsible for its takeover of First American Bank in the U.S., was Kamal Adham. Adham is referred to in the Kerry Committee report on BCCI as having been "the CIA's principal liaison for the entire Middle East from the mid-1960's through 1979." He was also the head of intelligence for Saudi Arabia during the time George Bush Sr. was Director of the CIA."

[steve2470]

68. thanks for this too nt

[DollarBillHines]

115. Spot on, levymg

My family has been adversaries of the Walker/Bush carpetbaggers since they came to Texas.

The Bush reputation as oilmen is the joke of the patch.

Your research appears to be very complete and on the money.

I look forward to your post when the old vulture pukes up his last bone.

[Carolina]

107. Thank you for this post!

Too many people have no clue about the real GHW Bush. A pre-mortem revisionist whitewashing is occurring all over this board; however, the truth is that GHWB was was anything but noble, honorable or even patriotic. It's not called the Bush Familly Evil Empire (BFFE) for nothing.

[Iggo]

69. Dead man walking, that's what.

[sendero]

70. Maybe it's because...

.. compared to his idiot son he was a saint.

[Carolina]

108. No, his son

is fruit of the rotten tree that was Prescott, GHW Bush and all those Bush ancestors... evil spawn begotten from even greater evil

[JNelson6563]

71. I really think it's about death.

Some people fear EVERYTHING about death. They focus on achieving life after death a good deal of the time by trying to avoid upsetting their god of choice.

Another thing is fear of what is left behind. Will people trash talk me when I'm gone? Will they remember me fondly & say nice things about me?

Well, if you are a staunch member of the only-say-nice-things-about-the-dead club you not only get to wrap yourself up in a thick blanket of self-righteousness if any of the non-club members speak out, it might contribute to the they'll-only-say-nice-thing-about-me insurance policy.

That's just my guess. I also think much of it takes place on a sub-conscious level, like a lot of fear-based behavior.

Just throwin' that out there.

Julie

[tanyev]

72. I don't understand why my local news feels the need to make it their top story every day,

with 5 full minutes of (non) updates delivered with their serious faces/serious voices before they get back to cutting up with each other for the next 20 minutes.


Please feel free to imagine air quotes around the word news.

[Coyotl]

73. I had not noticed this. Of course, I don't watch any M$M, none at all

and have no T-V.
No mind control devices, no Bush.

[Odin2005]

74. The Republican Party has gotten so insane...

That Poppy looks like an angel in comparison. And given that he is CIA scum, that's saying a lot.

[WI_DEM]

75. Ford actually gave us Cheney he was his Chief of Staff

[slackmaster]

76. Respect for elders, respect for veterans, respect for the Presidency.

I recommend all of them.

[randr]

77. I agree slackmaster

Respect as a human attribute is on the decline and is lacking on both left and right sides.
I had always thought of the left ,Democrats in particular, as having more respect since they always defended the moral high ground.
Not sure I can still defend that position.

[riderinthestorm]

119. Its dangerous historical revisionism and whitewashing to smooth Jeb Bush's presidential run

GHW Bush was a major global manipulator who wreaked havoc through dangerous and malicious un-American actions. His son GW Bush enabled those policies and whitewashing GHW Bush's career is only facilitating Jeb's own power grab.

Enough.

Let the truth be exposed so no one forgets.

[fadedrose]

79. He made mistakes for sure

But he wasn't evil. Some of our guys, the good guys, some of our best, made mistakes too, and we acknowledged it and forgave them if they also did some good for the country.

And George raised taxes, a brave thing to do that got him out of office.

I'm saving my lack of empathy for the people who run the NRA, the gun manufacturers who have no sympathy for those affected by gun killings, and the teaparty folks who have no feeling for the the poor and hungry, who depend on the goodness of Democrats to keep them alive until jobs become available.

[Atman]

80. C'mon...he's an old, dying President. He is due some respect.

I didn't like the guy. I would guess most of us here on DU didn't like the guy. But he was President and he served his country. And himself, and his family. *sigh*. Okay, I'm trying to find a reason to be magnanimous here...Presidents are due a certain level of respect. PEOPLE are due a certain level of respect. If it was your dad dying, you'd understand. Fuck his politics. A family patriarch is dying and his family is obviously saddened. I don't have to love GWB to respect that.

[Ed Suspicious]

82. Right on. As the party that is more for humanity, I feel we don't need to lose ours.

[Rex]

83. People are showing their true colors.

IMO.

[Whisp]

85. he is a crook and a warmongering killer and liar.

why should I have any respect for him because he fought in a war. That is absolutely crapy nonsense and I can't stand to hear McCain and all his hero shit either. There are far more worthier 'heroes' that battle every day to keep their families safe and fed and clothed than those rich fucking assholes that milk worship from the stupid.

[Paladin]

86. His Use Of Lee Atwater In The 1988 Election More Than Erases Any Good He Did. (nt)

[DavidDvorkin]

88. De mortui nil nisi bonum

I've never agreed with that, but it's a common feeling.

Almost mortui, too.

[JReed]

90. No respect here

He's responsible for too much misery to chronicle. At the very center of numerous evils.

[Generic Other]

91. I wish him to fall off the fiscal cliff before he kicks the bucket

Lose the tax cuts. Leave a smaller inheritance for the vermin younger generation. Don't tell me Junior hasn't been praying for the old man's early demise.

[tabasco]

95. Trolls

and idiots.

[Carni]

99. Everyone dies...

This *piece of work* has lived longer than I will and has enjoyed enormous wealth and optimum health care on the taxpayers dime so that he can achieve a ripe old age.

My opinion of this *person* has not changed since 1980-whatever...we should all receive such excellent health care, so that we can hang on UNTIL HIS AGE and OH BTW be so arrogant as to jump out of planes with a handler at 90.

Young people fighting cancer (with no insurance) and this stupid old bag doing the parachute thing?

Not admirable...just ARROGANT.

Not shedding tears here, SORRY!

[BigDemVoter]

100. You're certainly NOT hearing it from me. . . .

I cannot tolerate that man. The fact that he's sick is totally beside the point. He's STILL a criminal.

Honestly, it's not that I wish the man harm. . . . But I will feel no sorrier when he dies than I do when I swat a fly. I'm really indifferent to anything to do with him or his horrible family.

[Purveyor]

101. Can't wait (not) to hear the commentary on this forum when Jimmy Carter passes.

You all know it is coming since he never 'kissed' the israeli ring...

[Sunlei]

102. I think it's more respect towards any very old person. He probably doesn't even remember what he did

Remember he spent years 'clearing brush' on his ranch? They use a lot of chemicals similar to round-up, agent orange to kill that brush.

That parkensins in his legs that crippled him may be because of that exposure. He should donate rest of his life to science to advance study and a cure for parkinsins..it would be a nice legacy. He needs a lot of points for Heaven.

[Carolina]

110. not all old people deserve respect

some are outright evil.

Consider an 88 year Rush Limbaugh or Mitch McConnell or Wayne Le Pierre...

Age alone does not garner respect.

[WinkyDink]

117. THANK YOU. SOME have stayed way past their "due" date.

[Sunlei]

122. I meant like clean diapers, regular feeding and liquids 'respect', not love or sorrow when he goes

He should be sent home with a nurse to care for him.

[justiceischeap]

103. You don't have to respect someone to have empathy for them

I've been an asshole to people in my life, done some things I wish I hadn't but I hope when I die, someone will feel bad about my passing.

[PDJane]

104. The reason he enlisted in WWII was to save the family reputation

after Prescott Bush was indicted under the Trading With the Enemy act. He's a tool of the military-industrial complex. Yes, his sons are worse, but they are still out there, doing their usual thing.

'I may have wept that any should have died
Or missed their chance, or not have been their best,
Or been their riches, fame, or love denied;
On me as much as any is the jest.
I take my incompleteness with the rest.
God bless himself can no one else be blessed.'

[riqster]

106. If you compare him to his idiot kid

Bush the Elder looks a lot better. That's my theory.

[Hotler]

109. This is DU3 not DU2. n/t

[spanone]

111. it goes along with the job.

[Raine]

112. Because refraining from dumping all over the sick & dying makes us a more civil

society. I have mixed feelings about it because just being sick & dying doesn't make you noble, doesn't mean you deserve respect. Still I'll follow my father's advice "when you have nothing good to say, say nothing". Anyway at least till he's dead and buried for awhile and history sets the record straight.

[cbrer]

114. Hey, even if he sired Satan

He was a decent man (for a politician), as well as a true hero. His bio is available, and has many verified events of his heroism during WW2.

The failure of Conservative philosophy is traceable to greed and corruption. Two facts that remain in US politics today.

[baldguy]

116. De mortuis nihil nisi bonum

[DonCoquixote]

118. Undoubtely he, as a GOP did bad things

And no,we should not lionize him, however, we can also see that as much as he was a GOP type, he was also destroyed by the modern GOP that turned on him when he tired to raise taxes. Yes, they used his own son to do it, but W. was genuinely stupid enough to ignore that the very people that made him are the same people that attacked his dad.

Hey,can anyone who coined the phrase "voodoo economics" be 100 percent bad.

[Kalidurga]

120. I just don't care all that much.

I don't get the respect thing. Perhaps he earned, perhaps he earned it then unearned it whatever. I don't think respect should be automatic just 'cause someone dies or is sick. If that person is in your care though treat them well. Even if you hate them with the white hot hate of a thousand suns, because that is your duty. But, he is not in my care so I can care as little or as much as I want. I choose to not care.

[Swede Atlanta]

121. No, we do not let things slip.....

He is/was an evil man. His passing means one of Satan's soldiers has been eliminated from the face of the earth. Enough said!!!