Bush weighs in on Gitmo:
“The way I decided to address the problem was twofold: One, use every technique and tool within the law to bring terrorists to justice before they strike again,” he said, adding that the country needs to stay on offense, not defense. On Guantanamo, which while in office Mr. Bush said he wanted to close, the former president was diplomatic.
“I told you I’m not going to criticize my successor,” he said. “I’ll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat and I don’t believe that persuasion isn’t going to work. Therapy isn’t going to cause terrorists to change their mind.”
I, for one, am really glad Obama dropped his plan to send all of these guys to therapy instead of trying them for alleged crimes. Nice double negative, btw, Bush.
dmsilev
Demographic most happy with the Bush to Obama transition: English teachers.
-dms
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
This means a lot, to the three Independent voters in America who value George Bush’s opinion over Barack Obama’s.
CatStaff
And it appears that terrorists only have one mind between them. Who knew?
On the other hand, it’s one more than Bush has at his disposal.
Legalize
But but but, TELEPROMPTER!!!
Zandar
I’m going to get a hat right now and drop it.
Let’s see who is right.
Warren Terra
I guess Bush knows this because those 187 waterboardings in a month were an attempt inspired by A Clockwork Orange to render KSM incapable of hurting Americans?
Because, after all, no-one else has been suggesting we should cure terrorist tendencies through therapy, and Dubya must be thinking of something he heard of …
Bill E Pilgrim
Bush was impressed with himself for using “twofold” and figured that that was enough super-sophisticated fancy-pants makin’ grammatical sense and stuff for one statement.
I am actually impressed with how he’s kept off the Obama bashing bandwagon for the most part, compared to the dark lord of the man-sized vault.
Comrade Stuck
Well, here we go. It’s the George Bush “don’t not drive us all fucking nuts again” summer tour..
cleek
fuck the Washington Times.
(there’s no prohibition against fucking the messenger, right?)
fuck Bush, too. though, with any luck, giving people a chance to relive a bit of that good ol Bush magic will cause support for Obama to skyrocket.
Tom
So he is for therapy?
tomjones
I think, in Bush’s defense (now there is a phrase I never thought I would formulate!), in his reference to “therapy” he is referring to Gitmo detainees who have been – and presumably will be in the future – released to those reeducation camps in Yemen. And possibly other places, I forget.
I know that there were problems reported with the facilities in Yemen, specifically that there was no way to track the detainees once they enter the program.
But, y’know, Bush himself authorized the release of many detainees to this so-called therapy, so what the hell is he getting on about now?
El Cid
I guess Bush Jr’s plan to remain silence didn’t pay off enough, so he’s looking for some wingnut welfare?
Christian Weston Chandler
You can tell from Sonia Sotomayor’s face that she’s a long-term, heavy drinker. Follow the link for the evidence.
GregB
Back to being a dickbag again, eh George?
-G
cleek
by any chance, does W have a book coming out ?
edit: yes he does. but not until next year…
garyb50
Less than 30 seconds watching a clip of this asshole & here I am, 2 hours later, still enraged.
The Grand Panjandrum
Love the title.
Here’s a little trip down memory lane.
gbear
@dmsilev:
Second most happy: Carbon based life forms.
JGabriel
George Bush:
That should be a shoo-in for Wanker of the Day.
I know it’s early, and it’s a big country, but it’s hard to imagine that anyone will top that within the next 13.25 hours.
.
JGabriel
dmsilev:
Ever since Sarah Palin came along, I have trouble getting worked up over Bush’s grammar. I mean, in comparison Bush is merely verbally dyslexic; Palin is linguistically deranged.
Which is not to imply that her derangement is limited to linguistic matters.
.
Christian Weston Chandler
You can tell from Sonia Sotomayor’s face that she’s a long-term, heavy drinker.
Gus
Yeah, except this is in the Washington Times. Who reads the fucking Moonie Times?
Punchy
Obama’s got bigger fish to fry. He’s now got…..PETA….on his ass for–no joke–swatting a fly
By the way, can we PLEASE throw another phrase under the bus? Look how this article begins:
“flyswatter in chief”? Really?
Zifnab
And who are you going to believe, me or your lying ears?
Warren Terra
You know what I realized: You can from looking at her face that Sonia Sotomayor is a long-term, heavy drinker.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@Punchy:
So…. don’t swat flies, and don’t toss dead fish around. PETA has jumped the shark (which is cruel to sharks, BTW. Also).
kay
The problem is the “bring to justice” part. He didn’t do that.
He picked people up and held them, and when the holding facility became an international political problem, he randomly released them, depending entirely on whether he could get one or another state to take them.
I don’t know what that arbitrary and panicked hold ‘n release process he invented might be called, but it doesn’t have anything to do with bringing to justice, in the American sense.
He’s just repeating phrases. He must like how those three words sound.
Warren Terra
Obama can’t talk without his teleprompter.
Face
TPM says Coleman/Franken results could be released today. Which means that Pawlenty has about 10 minutes to formulate an excuse as to why he’ll continue to not sign the forms.
This will become Sen. Reid’s do-or-die moment; failure to act on this decision independant of Paw’s move should seal his removal as Majority leader.
Thomas Lopez
Nice Cleek!
JL
@Gus: I never understood the fascination with the Moonie Times by the right wing. Wouldn’t worshiping the owner be hypocritical?
It’s run by a cult leader. Maybe the right wing has never been approached in airports by his following.
PeakVT
One, use every technique and tool within the law to bring terrorists to justice
Excepting the technique of, you know, actually charging them with some crime. Indefinite detention != justice.
PS: And the second technique was? An unnecessary war in Iraq? Good call there, too.
Jennifer
He also said this:
“I know it’s going to be the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we’re in,” the former president said to applause from members of a local business group. “You can spend your money better than the government can spend your money.”
I guess that explains why all the people with money thought a good way to spend it would be to loan it to people who will never make enough to pay it back, for houses they could never afford to buy.
Suppose on the other hand the greedheads had been taxed 5% more, and that money had been spent to provide health care for people who can’t get private insurance. There would have been a measurable service provided in exchage for that money. That 5% would not have gone up in smoke when the bottom fell out. Seems to me that’s an example of the government spending the money better.
That outline under Bush’s jacket at one of the Kerry debates wasn’t a transmitter for a hidden earpiece; it was the box where they pull the string.
Ted the Slacker
Still a douche, no surprise.
Did however raise an eyebrow at this from the article:
He was loose and relaxed, his nose a bright red from nearly a week in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he joined his family in celebration of his father’s 85th birthday.
Seems even the moonies are ready to say he’s still a drunk.
Bill E Pilgrim
@JL:
But it’s a cult about Jeebus. That’s a good cult, many of them belong to one of those too.
JGabriel
Face:
Why?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big Reid fan.
But if Pawlenty certifies Franken’s election, then there’s nothing for Reid to act upon; if Pawlenty refuses, then Reid should take action. Either way, Reid’s actions should take place within the context of Pawlenty’s response. Not independent of it.
Unless you mean something else by independent, in which case please clarify.
.
JGabriel
Warren Terra:
That’s ironic: we get the same conclusion about you from looking at your posts.
.
Rick Taylor
I was appalled when Bush won in 2000. I was horrified when he won in 2004. But never in my dreams did I think his administration and the Republican would become a champion of torture.
JGabriel
JL:
What’s not to get? Sounds perfectly Randian to me.
.
...now I try to be amused
“…the country needs to stay on offense, not defense.”
Yep, offending the world has worked reeeeally well for us.
Comrade Stuck
@Punchy:
They are sending him a “No Kill” fly trap. Maybe he should just buy a few Endangered Lizards and declare the WH a Wildlife Preserve. Make the wingnuts go crazy.
Rey
LOL!!! Obama will be back at 70% by July 4th..
This bastard needs to go back to Texas and stay there.
JGabriel
@Rick Taylor:
Fixed. Dreams just seemed far too mild.
.
cleek
if Polenta fails to do his job, Reid should transform into a killer tank-bot and flatten the state capitol.
Scott H
W apparently failed for his “Statesman” application, so he is trying for “Demagogue.” Tough employment climate everywhere.
kay
I don’t pay him much attention, now that he’s out of power and no longer a threat.
He’s a liar.
“We do not torture”. My ass, we didn’t.
OC
What a douchebag. I’m so glad we don’t have to listen to him anymore. Now that he’s out of office he sounds no better than some doofus Republican house member.
Comrade Dread
Oh, George… you were doing so well keeping your mouth shut and staying out of the spotlight.
If it weren’t for my plummeting home value and the spike of homeless people around my office and neighborhood, I might have forgotten about you.
Ash Can
@cleek:
Hmm. That could be interesting timing. Maybe the economy and the health care situation will have stabilized by then, and maybe the DoJ will be a little cleaner and more competent by then (see earlier thread). With the administration then able to focus more closely on such things as closing Gitmo once and for all and maybe, just maybe, prosecuting torturers (especially in the wake of the Congressional hearings on torture), W picks that time to come out of hiding and go on a book publicity tour. The only thing that would make a scenario like that more convenient is if he were to wear a big lightning rod on his head.
Up to now, I’ve commended the little weasel on making a graceful exit from DC, then going away and staying away, and keeping his head down and his mouth shut. I have to wonder if he can keep it up forever, though.
gnomedad
Fixed.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Christian Weston Chandler:
No one needs to see your face to know you’re a giant douchebag.
gnomedad
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
I’m pretty sure his face was in there somewhere.
jibeaux
O/T
Ad #5 on my page is a lovely promotion for a nighttime film, food, and wine event in the mountains of NC. It looks like a very pleasant way to spend a weekend. Is there any way to bump this ad up the page so I can look at it instead of Pam’s hooters? Pretty please?
Warren Terra
For the record, the disgusting comments posted using my handle were not from me – for some reason, the particularly vandalism-inclined troll sometimes known as Christian Chandler, who frequently spoofs other commenters to defame them, seems to have a particular animus for me. I would appreciate it if John or someone could try to ban the twerp, but so far as I know there’s not a whole lot anyone can do, other than to hope that the nimrod finds another hobby sooner rather than later.
El Cid
@Christian Weston Chandler:
The New Republic:
Obsidian Wings:
Matt Yglesias:
* – Not the real one, a troll copy
Man, somebody is just not giving value in their sub-minimum-wage wingnut welfare blogging job.
drumwolf
Just a little note about “Christian Weston Chandler”:
This troll has taken his name from a real person named Christian Weston Chandler who is mentally disabled and has become quite an infamous Internet celebrity for a long string of insane non-political antics. The real Christian is not particularly political, although his parents are right-wing rednecks.
So when you’re addressing the troll here who goes by “Christian Weston Chandler,” make sure to put his name in quotes. He’s not the real Christian Weston Chandler, although I think it’s fitting that he should be using the name of someone who’s a retard.
Ash
@El Cid: Oh…….dear.
Brick Oven Bill
You cannot fight an offensive war on Islam unless you either:
1. Wage a war of annihilation; or
2. Fight the war as Ataturk fought it. Ataturk was smarter than Bush and Obama combined.
Ataturk’s victory is being lost by the day. This is because, while Ataturk was smart, Mohammed was smarter.
The correct way to wage this war, if we do want to wage it, is defensively. Control Muslim immigration, do not concede to religious demands, get out of the Middle East and stay out of the Middle East, use our own shale oil, stop paying the Jizya, and let the divisive Belief System consume itself.
Eric U.
Moonies spread a lot of money around to the fundamentalist churches. Funding the Washington Times as a republican propaganda outfit made a lot of friends. But that scam stopped working from what I can tell.
Michael Scott
Thank God that fucknutz Dubya is no longer running anything but his mouth . . .
JGabriel
Warren Terra:
Apologies for the smart-ass remark I directed at you above. Clearly it should have been aimed at your impersonator.
.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
@JL:
Since when has the GOP frowned on cult leaders? Wearing white Nikes and thumbing a ride on a passing comet would be fine with them, as long as you could kind of see something that vaguely resembled Jeebuz’s face in the comet’s tail if you squinted hard enough.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Brick Oven Bill:
Oy.
Is this the one who everyone thinks is just pretending to be a complete idiot?
A good spoof of a human being, in any case, intentional or not.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
@drumwolf:
Does the real Christian have a brother named Bill who enjoys baking?
MikeJ
Frapped your taco.
Face
@JGabriel: I meant that if Reid refuses to sit Franken b/c Pawlenty refuses to sign the cert despite a favorable ruling from the MSSC, he should resign both his testicles and his leadership position.
Oh, I’m fully aware of what his excuse will be: he doesn’t want to answer to the screeching of the Righties saying “Justice hasn’t run its course! The appeals are not dead! Wolverines!”. But that makes him a chickenshit, and a gutless front man.
Yes, we’ll need to wait and see how this plays before I slam him further.
Anne Laurie
George has sixty-plus years of personal experience at gauging how long he needs to lie low after his latest FUBAR. Ask any alcoholic — that kind of bone-deep social instinct can’t be matched by a couple decades hiding out in the permanent Repub bureaucracy spiced with short stints as a big-bidness CEO. Cheney still wants to “rehabilitate” his own reputation; Dubya knows to settle for not actually getting arrested when he shows up among his cronys and snipes a little at the new guy.
Zifnab
@tripletee (formerly tBone):
Or hypocrisy for that matter.
The Moonie Times and the GOP have this happy little symbiotic relationship where they print what conservatives want to read and the conservatives give them money to read it.
I enjoy a similar experience when picking through Asimov, Wes and Hickman, or Rowling. /nerd
Classic business practice. Nothing wrong with it. The sad and bizarre moments occur when wingnuts start parroting lines from WaTi like they have any grounding in actual facts or current events.
Jay B.
Thankfully, we have so few Americans willing to kill Americans at the drop of a hat that our murder rate is the envy of the free world. And the diminishing numbers of murderers we currently hold in our “prisons” (more like country clubs masquerading as detention facilities) enjoy the freedom and rights of every other citizen.
And, even then, of course, there’s a story in this week’s dead tree edition of the New Yorker which argues persuasively that you CAN change the mind of jihadists and terrorists (as it’s worked with gangs in various cities and many people see similar dynamics at work in terror cells) by talking with them — with collective punishment as the threat, not martyrdom. Sure that’s not as butch as shredding the Magna Carta and eviscerating the Constitution, but it makes illiterate, ahistorical, conservatives feel better.
Which is a form of therapy for those dead enders.
R-Jud
@cleek:
Yep. I look forward to coloring it in.
SpotWeld
I got to drop a little outrage here:
Therapy!? Therapy!!
I’m betting this is going to be the buzz word of the week for Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh despite the fact that no one (No One!!) has said anything about “therapy” anywhere.
Then Fox News will run the Header “Obama’s Therapy Better than Interogation?” Then a “serious” talking head show will ask the visiting Republicans to dicuss why they think that’s a bad idea.
Why isn’t any actual newscaster just flat out saying “Stop wasting my time with this therapy nonsense. It’s not even suggested”
What is the failure with the news system that even lets such nonsense float to the top?!
And that’s my rant quota for the day.
Tsulagi
Nope, no problem with a fat Korean guy who thinks he’s the messiah here on Earth to fix Jesus’ failure. As long as he tells them what they want to hear and campaign contributions, it’s all good. Diaper Dave Vitter? He’s a real American family values guy. Wingnut math 101.
Mario Piperni
Bush’s silence over the last 5 months has nothing to do with paying respect to Obama. It’s that he doesn’t have a clue what to say. He spent 8 years being told what to think, what to say and what to do.
He is incapable of expressing a single original thought.
DonkeyKong
Does that mean the massage parlors with happy endings for terrorists will be closed down?
What will we tell the children?
jrg
My favorite from shrubbie’s address is:
Maybe he should talk to his boys at Halliburton about that. I don’t think they got the memo.
The Moar You Know
@Christian Weston Chandler: Links to ED? Jesus, what a newfag. Chris-chan? Paulie Corbone? What are you going to do next, post a link to Chuggo’s video?
It’s 2009, my child, the internet has moved on.
Lurk moar.
Death By Mosquito Truck
Someone must be liquorboarding Danger Monkey.
jake 4 that 1
Yes, you helped make sure of that.
I started seeing this a few years ago, when it became plain that BushCo knew it had mistreated the prisoners, knew the prisoners had a right to be pissed, knew there’d be no way to stop these people from talking once they got out, and as a result, BushCo was afraid to let them go.
Xanthippas
He would do better to stop reading right-wing blogs.
Xanthippas
Who let the 4chan freak in?
DBrown
Bush the asswipe shows his true color – full of shit.
JM
“Therapy”?
Bush must be drinking again.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
Oh, wow – is this a trial balloon by the rightards to see if they should resume admitting Bush exists?
The Other Steve
If George Bush had spent as much time fighting terrorism as he did fighting strawman, this war would have been over 5 years ago.
Fencedude
@Xanthippas:
This guy is an insult to respectable /b/-tards.
harlana pepper
@JM: I was *convinced* he was still drinking pretty much throughout his presidency. That is, until he ducked the shoe. That was some seriously good reaction time. After he ducked the shoe, I had to admit I was wrong.
The Moar You Know
@harlana pepper: I suspect that after all these years with Laura, his ducking skills are pretty much automatic.
Impessive, though. I’ll definitely agree with that.
Joshua Norton
Dude cannot put more than 4 words together without skidding off into the shrubbery. Mark my words, he’ll be wearing Depends and being spoon-fed pudding sometime within the next 4 years.
TenguPhule
If George Bush had been working as much as he’d been vacationing, I dunno…I got nothing.
Is idiotic neglect as dangerous as hands on stupidity?
jibeaux
i wants a new thread i gots a thank you that i don’t want to die a lonely death down here please JC
Sloegin
I’d much rather see these members of the previous administration tried for their alledged crimes than sent to therapy.
Wait… which terra-rists are we talking about again?
YellowJournalism
Well, at least we know the “Bush has been so classy since Obama took office” narrative has been thrown out the window.
Sadly, it was one of the few positive things Republicans had going for them as of late.
Comrade Darkness
I donnwanna critiSIZe you fer standin’ in that shit pile I left ya.
heh heh heh heh
/shrub
bago
@TenguPhule: No.
Bubblegum Tate
OT but too funny to leave unposted: Twitter unleashes deluge of sarcasm on Republican Congressman
All about people capping on Pete Hoekstra for comparing House Goopers to Iranian protestors. Some highlights:
“mike_bosworth @petehoekstra I got a sunburn last weekend. Makes me think of Hiroshima.”
“ceedub7 @petehoekstra I got a splinter in my hand today. Felt just like Jesus getting nailed to the cross.”
“benhuh @petehoekstra I had to sit in the last row of our corporate jet this morning. This is what Rosa Parks must have felt like.”
gex
@cleek: Actually, our capitol is quite a nice building. Anyway we can take out the governor’s mansion instead?
Colette
@TenguPhule:
There’s no way to answer this based on the example of the Bush administration due to the synergistic effect of practicing both simultaneously.
Bad Horse's Filly
I got nothing to add, except R-Jud FTW! And whatever or whoever the creepy troll is, he makes me long for BoB and IQnot.
Also, completely OT and selfish, but I’m having a crappy day that started at about 5:15am. So I’m petitioning for Tunch and Lily pictures sometime today. Just to even things out for me. Thanks John.
JosieJ
@R-Jud: OK, that was win!
Comrade Darkness
@The Moar You Know: And you know, watching the video, he enjoyed ducking the shoe.
His sloppy grin is all “finally! something I’m good at!”
kay
He didn’t criticize his predecessor just like he didn’t torture.
Words, just words.
RememberNovember
@Warren Terra:
ah the ‘Prompter argument.
Neither can any talking head….
why don’t you just say he’s a” big -eared doodyhead”, that has more gravitas.
Warren Terra ( War on Terror) hah I get it…
Clever. The WoT should have been called War on the Boogeyman for al it’s efficacy and vaunted PR-stamped title.
Hob
@RememberNovember: Pretty sure that’s the name-stealing troll again, not Warren.
This guy went on a rampage at Obsidian Wings last week, posting the lamest shit in the world under the names of a bunch of regular commenters. A good rule of thumb for now would be, if anyone other than Brick Oven Bill says anything really stupid and offensive, assume it’s the troll and not whoever’s name is on it.
(Wait a minute… hey everyone, now’s your chance to act like idiots and take no blame! Yee ha! Just make sure you don’t say anything clever by mistake or they’ll know it’s not the troll.)
Mike G
“I’ll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat…”
I belive Crawford Cretin’s original quote was “terrists who kill at the whim of a hat”.
Presumably after making the pie higher and putting food on their family.
Seriously, this worthless criminal garbage needs to just shut up and drink himself into obscurity.
Jim-Bob
I’ve never actually seen GW Bush’s birth certificate. Have you?
Comrade Bukharin
Hey, X-Pretzelnit
Asuncion is nice this time of year.