The chilling spectacle of watching the political class redeem a criminal, again.

[kpete]

George W. Bush Can’t Paint His Way Out of Hell

I am not an art critic, but I don’t think George W. Bush’s new portraits are very good. They inspire nothing but malaise and communicate a dilettante energy. Painting is to Bush what politics used to be: a hobby for a wealthy man. Yet there is something revelatory about them, though this may be unintentional on the part of the artist. For his new book, Out of Many, One, Bush has selected immigrants for his subjects. Most are well-known, wealthy or established in some way, as if the American dream requires an M.B.A. One is Henry Kissinger, whom Bush describes as a “good friend.” Kissinger is by rights a war criminal, responsible for an American bombing campaign that murdered tens of thousands of Cambodian civilians. Here Bush’s hand slips, just a little. Amnesia is as beneficial to Bush as it is to Kissinger. Bush’s body count may even exceed that of his friend were they ever to compare notes.

The reality of the Bush legacy is at painful odds with his post-presidential reputation. That discrepancy isn’t news. Here is what we know about Bush. Ever so eager to establish himself as the avatar of something he calls “compassionate conservatism,” he is responsible for torture and death on a mass scale. Because these abuses did not occur on American shores, did not target American citizens, the political class has decided to pretend the death does not matter. Bush has assumed the role of elder statesman, a sensible voice in a Republican party gone mad. His complicity is fading out of view.

...............

...Trump and Bush are more alike than they are different. “Compassionate conservatism is first and foremost springing from the heart,” Bush said during his first run for the presidency. The heart contains multitudes. Malice can spring forth from its depths, too. What does it mean, after all, to be compassionate and then to be a conservative? Bush set the example. To be a compassionate conservative was to oppose marriage rights for LGBT people and abortion rights for women. To lie as recklessly as Trump ever did and lead the country into illegal war. To torture. Bush can condemn the January 6 insurrection and Trump’s rhetoric along with it, but he’s hardly an innocent. Years after Bush left office, Trump would take a middling position against the war in Iraq — and reaped the reward. Trump built on a foundation Bush laid.

..............

Perhaps Trump will take up painting some day — the devil only knows what his subjects would be: landscapes of his properties, portraits of his immediate family, a still life of a dollar bill — and the power of the presidency will launder the reputation of an evil man. We’re already watching it happen.


more:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2021/04/george-w-bush-cant-paint-his-way-out-of-hell.html?__twitter_impression=true

[Kaleva]

1. It's already been done. Some just don't want to accept reality.

The Clintons, Obamas and Bidens get along well with Bush. And as I've mentioned before, it's telling the Biden informed Bush of his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan before the news was made public.

[Silent3]

2. Bush was certainly a horrible president, no doubt about that, that hasn't changed.

But almost everyone looks better with Trump available for comparison.

For all of Bush's huge flaws, those flaws are flaws shared by great swaths of humanity. Many other people would have caused the same death and suffering if put in a position of power. That doesn't excuse it, of course, but it makes it more understandable.

Trump is a whole different beast. He is utterly lacking in basic humanity, even basic flawed humanity.

Like a normal human, Bush can laugh, even at himself. The closest Trump comes to laughing is sneering while being happy about sneering.

Bush, unlike Trump, can actually express sympathy, and at least fake sympathy even when not sincere. Trump can't even fake sympathy, because the concept is entirely alien to him.

Bush may not exhibit great knowledge or intellectual curiosity, but he's downright scholarly compared to Trump.

I don't remember Bush ever being as monumentally self-centered and self-absorbed as Trump, so desperate to draw all attention to himself, being surrounded by so many sycophants, or being maniacally driven to make every event and every discussion and every occasion about himself.

[RKP5637]

3. K&R!!! n/t

[Demsrule86]

4. I agree with you...he was a terrible president but not even close to the monster Trump is...

Besides, if Michelle Obama likes him, he can't be all bad.

[Midnight Writer]

5. One parallel between Bush and Trump Administrations is their method of selecting appointments.

They both went for loyalty rather than expertise or competence.

I was just reading recollections by Tom Kean of the 9-11 Commission and he described the Bush worship he witnessed in the White House. People were put into positions of great power not because they were capable and responsible, but because they were effusive in their praise of Dear Leader Bush and they were deemed sufficiently loyal by Rove and Cheney.

Nary was heard a discouraging word.