Bush: 'The Wrong Man?'

"... Bush’s life experience of underachieving privilege..."


Bush: 'The Wrong Man?'
By Robert Parry
July 9, 2003

George W. Bush’s combative exhortation to Iraqi resistance fighters to "bring ‘em on" by launching more attacks against U.S. troops reminded his supporters why they see him as a war-hero president, what former aide and author David Frum dubbed "The Right Man" to lead the nation through post-Sept. 11 hostilities.

But Bush’s tough-guy rhetoric may instead be leading the nation into a maze of dark alleys from which many Americans, especially young soldiers dispatched to a string of conflicts, will never emerge. There is a growing sense that Bush’s life experience of underachieving privilege might make him entirely the wrong man for addressing the complex challenges the nation now faces.

Because of his family connections, Bush has never confronted the physical dangers that come with war, nor even the consequences of personal failure as an executive who’s made bad decisions. His father’s powerful friends have always been there to help, whether keeping Bush out of Vietnam or bailing out his sinking businesses or sparing him from a full vote count in Florida.

Even as a young man, Bush could say one thing and do another. He said he was for the Vietnam War, but accepted a home-side slot in the Texas Air National Guard arranged by his father’s friends. He then appears to have shirked even that duty with still-unanswered questions about why he failed a flight physical and whether he went AWOL for a year.

According to the Boston Globe , "In his final 18 months of military service in 1972 and 1973, Bush did not fly at all. And … for a full year, there is no record that he showed up for the periodic drills required of part-time guardsmen." < Boston Globe , May, 23, 2000>

In his early-to-mid adulthood, Bush continued to live a kind of risk-free life, benefiting from the generosity of his fathers’ friends who bankrolled his failed business ventures and then set him up with sinecure positions on corporate boards. While other businessmen faced genuine risks of failure, Bush lived the charmed life of a n’er-do-well who could only fail up.

When it came to democracy and the fundamental right of American citizens to have their votes count – and be counted – Bush again didn’t dare take any risks. He preferred the sure thing of a fix by his father’s friends than winning or losing based on the actual ballots cast by voters. - http://www.consortiumnews.com/2003/070903a.html

jebbie to be president..and since neil got caught screwing chicks in asia he`s out of the picture....i bet jebbie runs for president in the future...

It's been told before but it's always good to hear anyway.

I Live in Florida and I am to the point that name makes me sick!

the polar opposite!