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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObama: "The Bush family, I love personally, they are good people."
Jeb's presidential stock just plummeted in conservative circles.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-jeb-bush-run-president-2016/story?id=27693992
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)of love.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Awesomeness!
Cha
(297,317 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)admires them? Did he consider what might happen with Liberals?
I haven't noticed any torpedo effect regarding Reagan, who he said, he admired more than any other president.
Here's what the Far Right does with this kind of statement from a Democratic President, I know, I have been told directly by many of them. 'Why wouldn't even a Dem acknowledge the greatness of our Republican leaders? YOU need to get on board and admit it yourself'!
They simply take it as a capitulation to their own 'team'. It torpedos nothing, except maybe Liberals trying to erase the image that their 'team' is weak.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)Would you please care to read it again and also the context of the comments?
The actual words one says, the exact words in the exact order.....matter. Interpretation is in the ear of the listener.
CJCRANE
(18,184 posts)It's all a big love-in.
It's beautiful to watch.
madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)wildbilln864
(13,382 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)nichomachus
(12,754 posts)The Bushes are not good people. They are a horrible, horrible family.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)Ghouls, with a history that's black and bitter. And he doesn't know this and repudiate it?
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)markpkessinger
(8,401 posts). . . I mean, Obama was a great defender of Larry Summers -- the guy who told Elizabeth Warren over dinner in 2009, "You have two choices. You can be an insider, and everybody will listen to you. Or you can be an outsider, and nobody will pay any attention to you. But there's one rule if you're an insider: insiders never criticize other insiders."
How utterly venal can a person be? But he was one of Obama's top economic advisers.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)aristocracy as it were.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)so there's that
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)grasswire
(50,130 posts)"The Bush family, I love personally, Obama told ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir in an exclusive interview. They are good people. Jeb's father, George H.W. has been here many times, in some cases with Jeb. And they are a great family, wonderful people. Obviously I have a lot of disagreements with Jeb and his brother on policy. But I think they have every right to do what they think is best"
So it's worse in the context. Not only are they "good people" that he loves, but they are a "great family, wonderful people."
I cannot understand or respect someone who considers the war criminals and torturers and profiteers and traitors "good people." His sentiments are unfathomable and there is no way to spin this with generosity.
wildbilln864
(13,382 posts)grasswire
(50,130 posts)a disturbing thought
Cha
(297,317 posts)That's the context.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)And no, I'm not going to get drawn into one of those diversions built on nitpicking words that some people like to deploy here.
Cha
(297,317 posts)The fact is that he said he "loves" the Bush family....what the fuck is there to love? They are goddamn war criminals -- his statement shows a lack of integrity that is disturbing, and no amount of excuses that you make can turn what he said to something innocuous.
WhiteTara
(29,718 posts)SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I don't think quoting the relevant part of a statement to allow full context is parsing; but I can certainly understand how a personal bias may compel one to believe it as such...
NewDeal_Dem
(1,049 posts)gag.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)around the world as a War Criminal.
In my wildest dreams I cannot imagine any context in which I could give that person any kind of respect whatsoever.
Unless of course, you agreed with his disastrous policies.
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)that's ok.
When we torture prisoners, that's ok.
When we ignore terrorist threats and thousands of American die, it's ok.
When the economy collapses it's ok.
When we arm the police with military grade hardware that's ok.
When we pulled out of Kyoto that was ok.
When a CIA operative was exposed that was ok.
When we spent a trillion dollars on theIraq war but didn't give soldiers decent body armor that was ok.
I could list this shit all day, and that is just one Bush family member. Remember Neil and the S&L scandal? Poppy and the CIA? Grandpa and the NAzi's?
Yeah I like the Bush's because they have every right to do what they think is best.
You know Obama could have just not said anything. Why would anyone in their right mind discuss the Bush family like they aren't every fucking thing that is wrong with this country.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)So they are loved by their family and fellow presidents.
--imm
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)shanti
(21,675 posts)He's part of the 1% too.
Cha
(297,317 posts)theaocp
(4,241 posts)include torture? I imagine W thought it was "best".
Cha
(297,317 posts)theaocp
(4,241 posts)Your quote indicates they have the right to do what they think is best. W did just that. What am I missing here?
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Don't you know ... The seating POTUS is supposed to call everything bush all kinds of vile names because that is what statesmen do!
The comments here have me wondering if most of the folks commenting on the thread have lived a day in real life.
choie
(4,111 posts)n/t
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Many of us have learned, in real life, we do not have to say what we might be thinking.
choie
(4,111 posts)Right - it takes such integrity to say that you love a war criminal.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)choie
(4,111 posts)Thanks!
loyalsister
(13,390 posts)I blame the broadcast news for that. People have gotten the impression that in order to be a President with a spine, Obama should act like a liberal shout em down, name calling, new personality. He's classy and when he uses the word love, he is using it in the way Martin Luther King Jr. used it when he talked about not hating one's adversary.
MADem
(135,425 posts)That so many people commenting on a political board seem to be so unaware of the nature of that which is politics!
grasswire
(50,130 posts)He could have chosen his words differently, but apparently he really DOES love war criminal family.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)keep your day job, whatever it is, because being a political figure (inside politics or not), as President Obama is, wouldn't suit you well.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)choie
(4,111 posts)If Bush said he loved Pinochet..as usual it's always different for Obama...
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)because I live in the real world where people, particularly, politicians say sh!t to the media.
choie
(4,111 posts)That doesn't pass the smell test. And the "real world" as you call it, must be a place where morality means nothing. Real politique, just like Henry Kissinger, eh?
bhikkhu
(10,718 posts)People are basically good, and families are basically good. That doesn't mean every person is suited to the presidency, or plenty of other jobs that involve heavy responsibilities.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)"Wonderful people."
bhikkhu
(10,718 posts)I've known a lot of people who were in and out of prison; it doesn't really tell you much about the person. Of course, "war criminals" is a different thing, but my point is that every person has a good side. Some people have smaller good sides than others, but its always there. And the best sort of people will see that good side, and consider a person's good points more worth noting and talking about than their bad points. That doesn't mean being gullible or naive, its just a way of relating to people.
Kali
(55,014 posts)- said of many horrible criminals.
alarimer
(16,245 posts)We know what the Bush family has actually done. They are NOT good people or a good family. They suck as human beings, like all Republicans.
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)bhikkhu
(10,718 posts)As long as you can hang on to a bit of the innocence you were born with, all the wrongs and hard things of life haven't defeated you. A little naivete might cost you now and then but it gives back regularly; while an excess of cynicism will whittle you down to a dull nub predictably.
On the political side, I've always held that the fundamental basis of a Liberal philosophy is the belief that people are basically good; all else follows from that.
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)kaiden
(1,314 posts)He is very polite, respectful, and kind to me, a lowly bottom feeder.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)in the Civil War. They're not called the BFEE for nothing. It is a family that should be extirpated root and branch from America.
And as for Obama's comments:
He will doubtless join The Club in a couple of years and be even more handsomely rewarded for services rendered to TPTB than the Clintons were. They will even teach him the Secret Handshake.
NewDeal_Dem
(1,049 posts)NewDeal_Dem
(1,049 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)made a fortune in manufacturing war materiel. Mostly selling to the Union. It was the basis of the family fortune.
840high
(17,196 posts)join the Club. Those people will be his best friends.
Bandit
(21,475 posts)Mike Nelson
(9,959 posts)"Jeb is a lovely man."
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)Awesome.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)Didn't read the whole article, but that sentence makes me
spanone
(135,844 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)Other than that, they cut their cronies in on the deal.
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)Administration? I recall reading Halliburton and Parsons did well.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Cha
(297,317 posts)bighart
(1,565 posts)"But I think they have every right to do what they think is best.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)What a disappointment
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Have to be torn to shreds before it can be a statement by anyone and interrupted by so much spin. Even John McCain corrected a statement made to him while running for president against Obama. Get over the spin, we don't have to RW spin everything.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)White House officials did not list the meeting on the president's schedule but released a photo on Flickr. According to the photo's time stamp, the meeting occurred shortly after 5 p.m., about the time the president returned to the White House from a fundraiser.
When asked what the men discussed and why it wasn't on the schedule, the White House released a statement saying, The three men enjoyed a personal visit in the Oval Office as they have done on previous occasions when President Bush is Washington.
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/01/obama-hosts-george-hw-and-jeb-bush-at-white-house-112638.html
Obama could have "hung out" with a lot of people on the left and give them press instead he chose BUSH.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)of DUers get his words twisted.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)... going around with a chip on your shoulder hating on them doesn't affect them as much as it affects YOU.
You can severely dislike what their policies are while focusing on non-political stuff in your private interactions with them. It really is the only reasonable choice in a Democracy/Republic.
I really wonder what fellow DUers are thinking sometimes. Do any of them go off hating and ranting at every Republican they know in real life whenever they see or interact with them? Is that how they spend their lives? What kind of life would that be for anyone.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)SamKnause
(13,108 posts)Facts matter.
The Republican party is know for lying, cheating, redistricting, suppressing, supporting torture, protecting torturers, starting illegal wars, supporting those who start illegal wars, stealing tax dollars, suppressing social services, etc.
The Bush family are not good people.
The Republican party can not be allowed to hide behind their ignorance.
Republicans are either on a whole not good people or ignorant of Republican policies.
Why would President Obama think they are a good family ???
Does he think the family improved this country ?
Does he think the family improved the lives of its citizens ?
Does he think they should be forgiven for illegal wars ?
Does he think they should be forgiven for allowing the U.S. to torture ?
Is President Obama helping the Bush family rewrite history ??
The schmoozing is nauseating.
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)Just
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)It isn't just that George W. Bush is an idiot
or that the brothers have been getting away with crimes since the savings and loans debacle
. or what Prescott Bush did with promoting fascism
No, it's none of these things that make me sick to think about that statement
It's what it says about the law, and how some animals are more equal than others when they keep breaking it over and over again
the whole LOT of them.
The only thing worse than a family of psychopaths are people who enable them.
SamKnause
(13,108 posts)How can you respect or admire a person who loves the Bush family.
It makes absolutely no sense.
The facade is nauseating.
The 1% just do not care anymore.
They have made it perfectly that they law does not apply them.
They have each others back.
It is basically a big Fuck You to the citizens of this country.
There are going to be rough times ahead.
Calista241
(5,586 posts)"They're all a bunch of good for nothing jackasses!"
That would go over well with the media. We have 2 more years of the Obama Presidency, and he probably wants to do something more than be peppered by questions by the media about his relationship with the Bush's.
Can you imagine MTP with Chuck Todd after Obama went of on the Bush's? I think i'd kill myself by trying to set my TV on fire.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)"If Jeb Bush chooses to run for president, he will run a vigorous campaign, and he has every right to run."
He didn't have to endorse the family.
olddots
(10,237 posts)Is it ? I would be pissed off if the Bushes raved about thier love and admiration for Obama...oh please don't let that happen .
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)TheNutcracker
(2,104 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)Between that, and Cuba, Jeb might as well just go back to Barclay's!!!
gollygee
(22,336 posts)News at 11.
m-lekktor
(3,675 posts)is a tad beyond and above just being diplomatic!
Vinca
(50,278 posts)Feral Child
(2,086 posts)Immediately after that joke?
ann---
(1,933 posts)Obama is republican lite
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)grasswire
(50,130 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)At least from my experience.
on point
(2,506 posts)ladjf
(17,320 posts)judgment. nt
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Let him try peddling that nonsense to people who have been hurt or even killed by the Bush's policies.