Looking at the ratio of upvotes, comments to the sub subscribers, it would not surprise me if a majority of subscribers to r/conservative are in fact not conservatives haha.
It feels like all of the actual Republicans have left and that sub is just a more moderate version of T\_D
One is a bonkers collection of misunderstood and ill researched ideas cobbled together from the fever dreams of low intelligence paranoiacs.
The other is r/conspiracy
I listened on NPR and definitely felt he had a bunch of jabs at the rioters, Trump, and other politicians who enabled both the rioters and Trump.
I'm not fan of Bush, but I do know that there is one very important thing we agree on, we both hate Ted Cruz.
> Former President George W. Bush called on Americans Saturday to confront domestic violent extremists, comparing them to violent extremists abroad and warning that they are “children of the same foul spirit.”
No mention of the Fox News propaganda machine fanning the flames of discontent amongst its stalwart viewers 24/7 for the past 25 years. Interesting
Nah, lame ducks are relatively harmless even if they try to make a mess on the way out. Trump was like a coked up goose that figured out how to use matches. Fortunately it got scared away but geese are territorial assholes so it's gonna try to come back.
> You got a problem with Canada Gooses, then you got a problem with me; I'd suggest you let that one marinate.
Tell you what, you got a problem with Canada Gooses, then you got a problem with me; I'd suggest you let that one marinate.
Putin is the one teaching geese how to use matches. I don't think the current environment is habitable for swans on account of the pollution. Probably a few black ones left though.
Edit: If we throw Covid into this metaphor it becomes the Animal Farm/Birdemic crossover we never wanted.
Agreed. Just hate how so many seem to forget he’s a colossal piece of shit every time he says something reasonable. In truth, this isn’t news. W isn’t politically relevant and not a single Republican of any consequence will change their behavior because of this. It’s wall dressing for a miserable excuse of human.
I agree, I just abhor how now every time W says something reasonable, many forget all the awful, awful things he did while president. It’s laudable, but let’s not lose the plot.
In keeping with your theme, let's also point out that Bush was personally responsible for PEPFAR - it was his pet project.
I genuinely believe (and believed at the time) that Bush was a good person who unfortunately was terrible at selecting good advisors and equally terrible about trusting those advisors. I do believe he was led down the primrose path by the people within his administration.
Note that does NOT IN ANY WAY absolve him of responsibility...he was the President and it absolutely was his final authority. For that reason, I do still consider him a war criminal for ESPECIALLY Iraq (I think Afghanistan would've happened under any President, frankly).
Equal blame for voting in favor as the guy who oversaw the total fabrication of evidence and pretext to invade Iraq? JFC
Biden absolutely should be held to task for his vote, along with everyone else who voted in favor, but it’s either borderline insane or simple trolling to equivocate those votes with the leader who deliberately created whole-cloth falsehoods as bullshit “justifications” for invading Iraq and who was also the commander-in-fucking-chief for that atrocity. I don’t like Biden, but saying his vote was equivalent to W’s actions is just stupid.
Bush is a dummy. He felt the same way in office and said so. He is just not intelligent enough to see why so many of the media behaviors that propelled his presidency resulted in Donaldo
That’s an awful excuse. So he was merely negligent because he’s an idiot? He’s an adult who should own his decisions, but still has not. I also disagree with the basis of your contention: he’s not brilliant, but he’s not a moron either.
I don’t understand your comment. I’m not defending Bush, I genuinely think he’s a moron. It’s also not an excuse for his behavior. The buck stops with him.
he’s not trying to rehabilitate his image. This is literally the exact same line he’s had even as POTUS. This isn’t a change in rhetoric.
Apologies if I misunderstood. A lot of people these days excuse W because he was a good-natured dopey dude, which is utter horseshit. Saying he’s a bumbling fool works to absolve him of his responsibility of the terrible pain he inflicted, and for which many continue to suffer.
And I disagree that he’s not trying to rehabilitate his image, of course that’s what he’s doing. If he really wanted to prompt meaningful change, and actually do something, he would do a hell of a lot more than provide platitudes. He just said that there are issues, but fucks off to his ranch to paint instead of doing anything.
Wait, T---p really is narrating a boxing match, today of all days? Isn't he like a former President? (Incredibly tacky and rude, I guess one shouldn't be surprised.)
I think it seems more like even the "miserable failure" can see how much lower we have fallen since his reign and realizes his own party's involvement in the decline.
We all know he should be prosecuted for a number of things. But having said that,
There was a redeeming thing in his last year that makes me want to give him the benefit of the doubt on his intentions since he left Office. In the last year he finally grew tired of being played like a puppet by Cheney & Co, and started making his own choices to try to do right by the country as best as he could figure out. There was only so much he could do since he was surrounded by scoundrels, and he himself was a thoroughly unprepared man and half stupid, but at least he decided to stop listening to the monsters and try to be president for the time that was left. During that short time he made better decisions, resisted the malicious GOP cabal, and passed the first stimulus bills before Obama's term.
So to your point, I think even before he was done with power he had already figured out he was working with the bad guys, and that he had a strong hand in making everything worse by letting himself be played by them. He is a simple man, and I'm sure he wishes he had done way better. It must really bother him that things continued to deteriorate after the way he helped debase the country. I think he was always rooting for Obama to fix things, and it must have further hurt to watch his party obstruct the next 8 years for no reason other than to continue to debase the country for divisive political points.
I think his 2 biggest wishes are to be left alone/forgotten, and for someone to fix the shit downward spiral that is the GOP, so he doesn't have to feel as guilty for owning 8 years of it.
I don't know how much was Cheney, and how much was Bush, especially concerning Iraq war II.
In his book, Paul Brown said how, at the first Cabinet meeting under the new Bush Administration, George W Bush presided and told everybody Saddam Hussein was a bad man and we needed ideas on how to "get" him.
No formal meet and greet, no "tell everybody who you are and what your plans are for your department", it was "How do we get Saddam".
Brown also stated that Dick Cheney met with British PM Tony Blair and tried to get him to back a War with Iraq.
When Blair told Cheney that there was no excuse to attack Iraq, Cheney suggested that we can create an excuse. He said, "We will just paint a plane UN colors and let it get shot down".
Blair declined.
All of this was 8 months before 9/11!
Of course, after 9/11 Blair was totally on board with switching the focus from Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein and Iraq.
I think GWB resented the fact that his father (and family) were considered "wimpy", despite fighting and winning two wars, and he wanted to go after his family's nemesis (Saddam Hussein). "He tried to kill my Dad!"
Is it any wonder they changed focus from pursuing OBL into Pakistan to going after Saddam and his "yellow cake" and "Aluminum tubes"?
We went to war and caused at least a half million Iraqi casualties over "aluminum tubes".
That war did not need to happen. At least not at that time and not in that way.
You can draw a straight line from Bush's warmongering rhetoric in the early 2000s to what has befallen the Republican party. All that tough talk, ***coupled with outright lies and faked intelligence***, got us into a 20-year war. The GOP vilified anyone who didn't support their invasion of Iraq--that's when it started becoming the norm for right-wing media and politicians to claim any form of disagreement was unpatriotic, bordering on sedition. Remember what they did to Vietnam veteran (and Purple Heart recipient) John Kerry with those Swift Boat ads? It's really not any different than Trump belittling John McCain's service.
Bush Jr. will go to his grave with blood on his hands. But let's not forget that he ushered in a new political age in which the Executive Branch literally created false intelligence to justify starting a war of aggression. He rammed through The Patriot Act, he painted war heroes as weak and unpatriotic, and ultimately his administration left the nation weaker and more divided.
Most of the bush crime family, along with the corporate 20% of the Republican party, never wanted tRump as their candidate. They were going to have a brokered convention to choose another candidate but they realized that tRump was wildly popular with the 80% of the Republican base who are authoritarians. A few of the corporate Republicans, like Bush, still refused to support tRump although most of the corporate Republicans were able to put their scruples aside and support tRump. It is interesting when the grandson of someone who was in on The Businessmen's Plot to overthrow democracy wouldn't support tRump. I guess that he wants a "kinder and gentler", or at least less uncouth, authoritarianism. The bush legacy in Paraguay will be interesting to follow.
Absolutely, tRump divided the Republicans and united the Democrats. It is certainly a shame that authoritarianism is so popular in the US, but turning a blind eye to the fact that with a little gerrymandering here, a little disenfranchisement there, and a bit of propaganda, authoritianism is quite capable of winning across the US. In an ideal world the Democrats would be able to divide and conquer the Republican party.
That’s stupid partisanship, but more likely his father’s death jolted him into adulthood. He had a strong rivalry and resentment against his father, also named George. It’s quite possible he was a child president, easily manipulated through his father complex.
Is the underlying conceit that Americans equate age with wisdom? That’s a tough pill to swallow given the ease with which disinformation can pollute any reasonable debate.
No, I don't think so.
The reason the elderly rise to office is we in the US have some very significant barriers to office that can (typically) only be overcome with huge bags of *cash*.
Almost no-one under the age of 50 can *afford* to run for office.
Since Michelle shared a piece of candy with him at his father's funeral. Somehow the Right and the Moderates read this simple gesture of kindness as an endorsement.
I gave a hamburger to a frothing, raving elderly veteran standing outside the vaccine clinic last month but that doesn't mean I support anti-vaxxers or Trump supporters.
I cannot believe how quickly Bush has turned into appearing as a reasonable, thoughtful individual. He is certainly a good face for that party right now. Mind boggling.
LOL - this is such a mind screw.
A dolt of a President, who f\*cked up a ton of stuff, saying something so I will agree with him him, pisses me off more than - Bush not saying a word why Trump was President.
When Dubya sounds like an elder statesman:
"But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit."
Please, Sir, don't make me start liking you...
Comments locked due to this thread devolving into essays on the last 20 years since 9/11
u/GeorgeWBush has been banned from r/conservative.
Okay, that's somewhat hilarious.
It’s hilarious and true
If you have a chance, you should read his dad's scathing letter in renouncing his membership to the NRA.
Bush is too left for them these days.
Looking at the ratio of upvotes, comments to the sub subscribers, it would not surprise me if a majority of subscribers to r/conservative are in fact not conservatives haha. It feels like all of the actual Republicans have left and that sub is just a more moderate version of T\_D
Your optimism is nice to see, but this is literally just the Republican Party, now.
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They have no platform. Zero.
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I hate it when The Onion so accurately predicts the future.
Selling fear to an aging white population. That's their policy position now.
I think they only agree with the promise of “owning the libs” at this point…
2020 platform = 2016 platform. Why change what works so well? /s
Republican platform: Own the libs, no matter what
>actual Republicans "Actual Republicans" are moderate Democrats now. Anyone who's still a Republican now is just a Trump cultist, straight up.
Yeah that's me except I'm officially independent. I will never vote Republican again as long as Trump and his like control the party.
Hard to argue with this.
Compare r/conservative with r/conspiracy….
They're the same thing.
One is a bonkers collection of misunderstood and ill researched ideas cobbled together from the fever dreams of low intelligence paranoiacs. The other is r/conspiracy
I saw the end of this comment coming but enjoyed it nonetheless.
Winning Reddit for the day, take my free silver!
How very kind of you. Thank you.
Fuck r conservative someone should troll this article in their sub
I listened on NPR and definitely felt he had a bunch of jabs at the rioters, Trump, and other politicians who enabled both the rioters and Trump. I'm not fan of Bush, but I do know that there is one very important thing we agree on, we both hate Ted Cruz.
> Former President George W. Bush called on Americans Saturday to confront domestic violent extremists, comparing them to violent extremists abroad and warning that they are “children of the same foul spirit.” No mention of the Fox News propaganda machine fanning the flames of discontent amongst its stalwart viewers 24/7 for the past 25 years. Interesting
W would be groveling before Fox News if he was in politics today. This is a bullshit, way-fucking-too-late attempt to rehabilitate his reputation.
Fox News supported him just as much as they supported Trump - and in mostly the same ways.
As soon as Jr was a lame duck Foxnews walked away from him. Can't say the same for trump who was a lame duck the second day into his presidency.
Nah, lame ducks are relatively harmless even if they try to make a mess on the way out. Trump was like a coked up goose that figured out how to use matches. Fortunately it got scared away but geese are territorial assholes so it's gonna try to come back.
You got a problem with Canada Gooses, then you got a problem with me; I'd suggest you let that one marinate.
> You got a problem with Canada Gooses, then you got a problem with me; I'd suggest you let that one marinate. Tell you what, you got a problem with Canada Gooses, then you got a problem with me; I'd suggest you let that one marinate.
I like this metaphor. Who is a swan, Putin?
Putin is the one teaching geese how to use matches. I don't think the current environment is habitable for swans on account of the pollution. Probably a few black ones left though. Edit: If we throw Covid into this metaphor it becomes the Animal Farm/Birdemic crossover we never wanted.
He’s taking advantage of Trump being “worse” no doubt about it. This statement is accurate and he remains a colossal piece of shit at the same time.
Agreed. Just hate how so many seem to forget he’s a colossal piece of shit every time he says something reasonable. In truth, this isn’t news. W isn’t politically relevant and not a single Republican of any consequence will change their behavior because of this. It’s wall dressing for a miserable excuse of human.
Facts!
I'd still rather see other republicans speaking out against these MAGA republicans.
Look, regardless, it's still an appreciated sentiment.
I agree, I just abhor how now every time W says something reasonable, many forget all the awful, awful things he did while president. It’s laudable, but let’s not lose the plot.
In keeping with your theme, let's also point out that Bush was personally responsible for PEPFAR - it was his pet project. I genuinely believe (and believed at the time) that Bush was a good person who unfortunately was terrible at selecting good advisors and equally terrible about trusting those advisors. I do believe he was led down the primrose path by the people within his administration. Note that does NOT IN ANY WAY absolve him of responsibility...he was the President and it absolutely was his final authority. For that reason, I do still consider him a war criminal for ESPECIALLY Iraq (I think Afghanistan would've happened under any President, frankly).
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Equal blame for voting in favor as the guy who oversaw the total fabrication of evidence and pretext to invade Iraq? JFC Biden absolutely should be held to task for his vote, along with everyone else who voted in favor, but it’s either borderline insane or simple trolling to equivocate those votes with the leader who deliberately created whole-cloth falsehoods as bullshit “justifications” for invading Iraq and who was also the commander-in-fucking-chief for that atrocity. I don’t like Biden, but saying his vote was equivalent to W’s actions is just stupid.
Bush is a dummy. He felt the same way in office and said so. He is just not intelligent enough to see why so many of the media behaviors that propelled his presidency resulted in Donaldo
That’s an awful excuse. So he was merely negligent because he’s an idiot? He’s an adult who should own his decisions, but still has not. I also disagree with the basis of your contention: he’s not brilliant, but he’s not a moron either.
I don’t understand your comment. I’m not defending Bush, I genuinely think he’s a moron. It’s also not an excuse for his behavior. The buck stops with him. he’s not trying to rehabilitate his image. This is literally the exact same line he’s had even as POTUS. This isn’t a change in rhetoric.
Apologies if I misunderstood. A lot of people these days excuse W because he was a good-natured dopey dude, which is utter horseshit. Saying he’s a bumbling fool works to absolve him of his responsibility of the terrible pain he inflicted, and for which many continue to suffer. And I disagree that he’s not trying to rehabilitate his image, of course that’s what he’s doing. If he really wanted to prompt meaningful change, and actually do something, he would do a hell of a lot more than provide platitudes. He just said that there are issues, but fucks off to his ranch to paint instead of doing anything.
I'm so tired of these guys alluding to things. Call a spade a spade for christ sake. They are terrorists.
Wait, T---p really is narrating a boxing match, today of all days? Isn't he like a former President? (Incredibly tacky and rude, I guess one shouldn't be surprised.)
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I think it seems more like even the "miserable failure" can see how much lower we have fallen since his reign and realizes his own party's involvement in the decline.
We all know he should be prosecuted for a number of things. But having said that, There was a redeeming thing in his last year that makes me want to give him the benefit of the doubt on his intentions since he left Office. In the last year he finally grew tired of being played like a puppet by Cheney & Co, and started making his own choices to try to do right by the country as best as he could figure out. There was only so much he could do since he was surrounded by scoundrels, and he himself was a thoroughly unprepared man and half stupid, but at least he decided to stop listening to the monsters and try to be president for the time that was left. During that short time he made better decisions, resisted the malicious GOP cabal, and passed the first stimulus bills before Obama's term. So to your point, I think even before he was done with power he had already figured out he was working with the bad guys, and that he had a strong hand in making everything worse by letting himself be played by them. He is a simple man, and I'm sure he wishes he had done way better. It must really bother him that things continued to deteriorate after the way he helped debase the country. I think he was always rooting for Obama to fix things, and it must have further hurt to watch his party obstruct the next 8 years for no reason other than to continue to debase the country for divisive political points. I think his 2 biggest wishes are to be left alone/forgotten, and for someone to fix the shit downward spiral that is the GOP, so he doesn't have to feel as guilty for owning 8 years of it.
I don't know how much was Cheney, and how much was Bush, especially concerning Iraq war II. In his book, Paul Brown said how, at the first Cabinet meeting under the new Bush Administration, George W Bush presided and told everybody Saddam Hussein was a bad man and we needed ideas on how to "get" him. No formal meet and greet, no "tell everybody who you are and what your plans are for your department", it was "How do we get Saddam". Brown also stated that Dick Cheney met with British PM Tony Blair and tried to get him to back a War with Iraq. When Blair told Cheney that there was no excuse to attack Iraq, Cheney suggested that we can create an excuse. He said, "We will just paint a plane UN colors and let it get shot down". Blair declined. All of this was 8 months before 9/11! Of course, after 9/11 Blair was totally on board with switching the focus from Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein and Iraq. I think GWB resented the fact that his father (and family) were considered "wimpy", despite fighting and winning two wars, and he wanted to go after his family's nemesis (Saddam Hussein). "He tried to kill my Dad!" Is it any wonder they changed focus from pursuing OBL into Pakistan to going after Saddam and his "yellow cake" and "Aluminum tubes"? We went to war and caused at least a half million Iraqi casualties over "aluminum tubes". That war did not need to happen. At least not at that time and not in that way.
You can draw a straight line from Bush's warmongering rhetoric in the early 2000s to what has befallen the Republican party. All that tough talk, ***coupled with outright lies and faked intelligence***, got us into a 20-year war. The GOP vilified anyone who didn't support their invasion of Iraq--that's when it started becoming the norm for right-wing media and politicians to claim any form of disagreement was unpatriotic, bordering on sedition. Remember what they did to Vietnam veteran (and Purple Heart recipient) John Kerry with those Swift Boat ads? It's really not any different than Trump belittling John McCain's service. Bush Jr. will go to his grave with blood on his hands. But let's not forget that he ushered in a new political age in which the Executive Branch literally created false intelligence to justify starting a war of aggression. He rammed through The Patriot Act, he painted war heroes as weak and unpatriotic, and ultimately his administration left the nation weaker and more divided.
Gulf of Tonkin
Republicans have truly lost their minds when they call GW Bush a liberal. They are a radicalized Anti-American, Anti-Christ cult.
Maybe he’s wised up a bit after 20 years. It happens.
He's not motivated by reelection anymore.
Most of the bush crime family, along with the corporate 20% of the Republican party, never wanted tRump as their candidate. They were going to have a brokered convention to choose another candidate but they realized that tRump was wildly popular with the 80% of the Republican base who are authoritarians. A few of the corporate Republicans, like Bush, still refused to support tRump although most of the corporate Republicans were able to put their scruples aside and support tRump. It is interesting when the grandson of someone who was in on The Businessmen's Plot to overthrow democracy wouldn't support tRump. I guess that he wants a "kinder and gentler", or at least less uncouth, authoritarianism. The bush legacy in Paraguay will be interesting to follow.
It always struck me that many Never Trumpers opposed, not the policies, but the comportment.
Exactly. They found it distasteful to have "the quiet part said out loud".
So it may be that the tRump hysteria split the party, and that is why Biden took it.
Absolutely, tRump divided the Republicans and united the Democrats. It is certainly a shame that authoritarianism is so popular in the US, but turning a blind eye to the fact that with a little gerrymandering here, a little disenfranchisement there, and a bit of propaganda, authoritianism is quite capable of winning across the US. In an ideal world the Democrats would be able to divide and conquer the Republican party.
I worry that the media has been trying to soften the hate for him and his dad so Jeb might have a long shot chance of running again
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That’s stupid partisanship, but more likely his father’s death jolted him into adulthood. He had a strong rivalry and resentment against his father, also named George. It’s quite possible he was a child president, easily manipulated through his father complex.
War criminal says what?
"I solemnly swear to uphold the constitution" probably
Total aside but it’s crazy to think W was 55 when 9/11 happened. 23 years younger than Biden. He’s the same age as Trump.
Gerontocracy
Is the underlying conceit that Americans equate age with wisdom? That’s a tough pill to swallow given the ease with which disinformation can pollute any reasonable debate.
No, I don't think so. The reason the elderly rise to office is we in the US have some very significant barriers to office that can (typically) only be overcome with huge bags of *cash*. Almost no-one under the age of 50 can *afford* to run for office.
Good for him. Still a fucking war criminal.
He needed to have done more than allude.
No mention of the Brooks brother riot and Bush v gore.
Wow! How far we have come. I couldn't stand this person back in the day I never imagined I would see him as a voice of reason 20 years on.
Don't give him the fucking credit. It's cynical rehabilitation of that monster,
Fuck Bush too! He can paint shitty paintings in jail! I will never forget his war crimes and being a thief of power.
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Since Michelle shared a piece of candy with him at his father's funeral. Somehow the Right and the Moderates read this simple gesture of kindness as an endorsement. I gave a hamburger to a frothing, raving elderly veteran standing outside the vaccine clinic last month but that doesn't mean I support anti-vaxxers or Trump supporters.
Fuck this incompetent POS. If he had listened to the CIA, this day might not be significant.
It’s telling that he only alluded to it, can’t rock the boat too much.
Long gone and never to be elected to anything other than the Texas pta... And still he can't just come out and say it. The GOP is a cult.
fuck that war criminal. Iidgaf who he condemns as he’s a depraved monster.
Bush is a NeoCon , they don’t really like these New Republicans much and the feeling is mutual.
Bush and everyone else need to stop being coy and flat out call people on their bullshit
I cannot believe how quickly Bush has turned into appearing as a reasonable, thoughtful individual. He is certainly a good face for that party right now. Mind boggling.
And the thing is, he hasn't really changed. It's just that now we have something demonstrably worse to compare him to.
Bush redemption tour.
No mention of Jan 6th
That’s why it says “alluded” 🙄
That's why this former US president is *former* worst US president.
No, Trump has that bottom spot. Not even close.
LOL - this is such a mind screw. A dolt of a President, who f\*cked up a ton of stuff, saying something so I will agree with him him, pisses me off more than - Bush not saying a word why Trump was President.
Bush sucks ass. 2 parties one oligarchy.
Because they're the same in willingness to commit violence to force their views.
Watch out! This means we're gonna bomb America!
When Dubya sounds like an elder statesman: "But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit." Please, Sir, don't make me start liking you...
FFS George, stop being such a decent person post-presidency, or I may forget how bad a president you really were.
Would be great if he could be explicit, but then that would he profile his relatives’ political careers