Glad to see him go

Juan Cole has numerous choice words as Bush prepares to depart:

... W. was just another spoiled rich kid who refused to grow up and threw up on the shoes of the rest of us while singing the praises of brutal militarism and unrestrained capitalism.

...

W. is a frightful combination of ignorant, dull, and pigheaded when to succeed in the Middle East he needed to be well-informed, bright and intellectually agile.

Those were my stomping grounds; I knew them the way W. knows Houston. But when I objected to his policies at this little weblog, my mailbox was flooded with hate mail from people who thought W. knew best about the Middle East. As if you could get experience, knowledge and wisdom about the world from 20 years of bar hopping in Texas. Did the man even have a passport?

It is a rather wonderful, if dispiriting, tour of the Bush legacy. I believe we need to lay these word to heart.

We have the opportunity now, to choose truth over propaganda, responsibility over recklessness, compassion over brutality, altruism over self-interest, and ability over incompetence. We have the opportunity to repudiate the past 8 years, and to transcend them once and for all, to redeem ourselves as a nation.

Savor the writing by reading the whole thing here.

--the BB

A philosophy that is compassionate and decent

"It's very important for our party not to narrow its focus, not to become so inward looking that we drive people away from a philosophy that is compassionate and decent," said Bush, probably the most narcissistic occupier of the White House in history.

Text in bold and red is mine, the rest came from David Sunday's post at Crooks and Liars.

That creature would not know compassionate if it walked up and bit his nose off. And what he has done to the political structure of this nation, and to the safety and health of the American people, and to the environment, and to the world at large all combines into gross indecency.

His "compassion," if it exists, is limited to his cronies. He takes very good care of them and bugger the rest of us.

Less than 7 days and 22 hours and not soon enough.
--the BB

Worst. President. Ever. - updated with link

SusanG at Daily Kos cites a Boston Globe article then adds her own comments:

WASHINGTON—The United States and its partners have shortchanged Afghanistan by focusing on short-term goals pursued without a cohesive strategy or a clear understanding of the way the poor, decentralized country works, an independent study concludes.

Here's what's striking about this statement: You can substitute nearly any issue handled by the Bush administration and this paragraph pretty much sums up everything that's gone wrong. Try it:

"The United States has shortchanged _______ by focusing on short-term goals pursued without a cohesive strategy or a clear understanding of how _________ works."

Er, yes. One can name almost any topic whatsoever.

So much for the "legacy tour" trying to fabricate a new record (while the real one goes down the memory hole).
--the BB

A retrospective of eight miserable years

Provided by CornSyrupAwareness



--the BB