So apparently, we're not allowed to talk about George W. Bush anymore.

[underpants]

Judging Bush era has just begun
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/1000200.html

So apparently, we're not allowed to talk about George W. Bush anymore.

I found this out recently after opining in this space about a newspaper report documenting the use -- actually, the uselessness -- of Bush-approved torture on a supposed al Qaeda terrorist. In response came notes from a handful of Bush dead-enders that might fairly be summarized as follows:

``He's been out of office over two whole months. Stop talking about him. You're living in the past. Move on.''

And you know what? One day soon, we will add it all up -- gaffes like that one, accomplishments, scandals, controversies -- and begin to construct a picture of How It Was during the Obama era.

We will sift through it all in search of such lessons as might prove valuable down the road. That is precisely the process that is going on now with regard to our 43rd president. And it also is precisely the thing some of his faithful seem determined to forestall. They say the time is past to be talking about the Bush administration. But for goodness sake, we are still debating the Reagan administration! So it is hard to see why a presidency that ended barely three months ago is somehow off limits to critical scrutiny.

More to the point: The Bush White House is widely regarded as the most secretive in history, its mania for furtiveness aided and abetted by a compliant and unquestioning Congress.

Thus shielded, Team Bush, like a futuristic virus in some science fiction movie, set out to overwrite the DNA of government in its own image: extralegal, unhindered by fact or precedence, and ideological to the bone. That combination -- secrecy and misdeeds -- virtually assures that damning revelations about the last administration will be dripping out for the foreseeable future.

So yes, there is much more to come. And much more at stake, frankly, than the feelings of an unpopular president or his partisans. By which I mean that need to get the lessons of history front and center -- in this case, to document the dangers of overreach, political expedience and ideological extremism. Bush has left us, unfortunately, many such lessons to learn.

The best advice I can give his partisans, then, is to settle in for a very long ex-presidency. They think it's time we stopped talking about him?

With apologies to The Carpenters, we've only just begun.

[MADem]

1. I agree--we have only just begun. And the big part of the reason is BECAUSE of the secrecy.

You can't assess without knowing what's behind doors number two and three. It will take awhile to dig that shit up.

There are arguments for "official secrets" at times. However, Bush made everything a secret. That fostered an environment of fear and paranoia--like living in the old USSR. Very unpleasant, that.

Bush really tried to make us more like the UK. They don't admit it, but they really do spy on their own people. A LOT.

[Lasher]

2. This is common among Republicans or whatever they're saying they are these days.

It's pretty often I see an attempt by them to close down discussion of the GWB presidency. It comes as no surprise that they don't want to talk about it and don't want you to either. They want to pretend it didn't happen so they don't have to face the consequences of their failed ideologies. I don't let them get by with it. Sucks to be them.

[MineralMan]

3. Yabbut, the freepers are still talking about Bill Clinton...

In fact, he rarely leaves their minds.

[Berry Cool]

4. You know, if I killed someone, and was arrested for it,

and my only defense was "But I killed that person IN THE PAST. It's time to move on"...what it would get me?

A nice prison cell, for some number of years, if not the death penalty.

But somehow, we're expected to forget all about the Bushco crimes, because they happened IN THE PAST, and caring about them is LOOKING BACK too much. :shrug:

There really is a double standard for certain people in this country. It's disgusting.

[underpants]

7. There are only three instances when it is NOT okay to criticize the Bush administration

BEFORE they screw up (like we did before the war)

WHILE they are screwing up (Katrina)

AFTER they screw up (see two examples above and now)


That would be a novel defense Berry. I am sure it would make all the papers ...under "News of the weird"

[dtotire]

5. George Santayana quote

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

a paraphrase:

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

[southernyankeebelle]

6. YOU ARE RIGHT

FUNNY HOW BUSH COULDN'T STOP BLAMING CLINTON FOR EVERYTHING THAT WENT WRONG ON HIS (BUSH) WATCH. UP TO THE LAST MONTH HE STILL WOULDN'T TAKE RESPONSIBLITY FOR HIS FAULTS. REMEMBER SAYING HE WAS HANDED A RECESSION WHEN HE CAME INTO OFFICE. LIES, LIES. LIES.