A Meet the Press roundtable talks about former President George W. Bush's recent visit to the White House for a portrait-hanging ceremony
With the unveiling of the former president's official portrait last week, the GOP has apparently come up with another strategy to win the 2012 election: rehabilitate George W. Bush.
Just today, Jeb Bush went on CBS This Morning and said his older brother will be "admired for his determination and fortitude.”
“There’s a fine line between stubbornness and the positive side of that, which is dogged determination," said Bush, the former governor of Florida. "And I think what people will begin to see is that he wasn't stubborn. He was totally determined and principled about it. And the country was safer because of it. That will be the positive legacy of George W. Bush."
Bush even said he thought President Obama should give his big brother a "little tip of the hat" for his leadership on national security and foreign affairs.
"I would argue in some ways, by reality seeping into his life as commander in chief, that a lot of [Obama’s foreign policy] is modeled after [Bush] 43," Bush said. "It would be nice — a little tip of the hat would be a nice thing."
But wait, it was President Obama who tracked down Osama bin Laden and 18 other al Qaeda top commanders and got us out of that mess in Iraq!
OK, nobody can blame Jeb for sticking up for a family member. But back in April, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) declared Bush did a "fantastic" job as president. Really!?!?
Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Sunday refused to explain how a potential Romney administration would be different from George W. Bush's administration, but insisted that the last Republican president "did a fantastic job" and his brother, former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL), would be a "fantastic vice president."
"I haven't gone through the comparison," Rubio told CNN's Candy Crowley. "I think that presidents serve in different times with different challenges. And so I think that George W. Bush, in my opinion, did a fantastic job as president over eight years, facing a set of circumstances during those eight years that are different from the circumstances that a President Romney would face."
Last week, Jeb Bush told Newsmax that he would "consider" a vice presidential nomination, but suggested Rubio was "probably the best" choice.
"Well, that's very nice of Jeb," Rubio said on Sunday. "I hope he'll say yes if future President Romney asks him," adding that the former Florida governor would be a "fantastic vice president."
Either way, the effort to rehabilitate Bush isn't going to work.
A brand new (CNN/ORC International) poll shows that even with three-plus years out of office, Bush is the most unpopular living former president, with only 43% of people surveyed with a favorable opinion (54% viewed him unfavorably).
The low positive rating puts Bush far behind his fellow living ex-presidents, including Jimmy Carter (54%), Dubya’s father, George H.W. Bush (59%) and Bill Clinton (66%).
And don't forget what the experts say about Bush's presidency. Three major surveys of presidential scholars, historians and political scientists rank Bush as the second worst president in the past 135 years (eclipsed only by Republican Warren G. Harding who served in the early 1920s).
Indeed, the Siena Research Institute of Siena College surveyed 238 presidential scholars, historians and political scientists in 2010 and ranked Bush as the fifth worst U.S. president of all-time, behind Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Harding and Franklin Pierce.
We do wish former President Bush all the best personally. But Republicans should not try to waste time trying to convince the country that it benefited from the Bush presidency.
Ed will have a lot more to say about the legacy of George W. Bush tonight on The Ed Show at 8pET on MSNBC with Joy Reid, Susan Del Percio and Thom Hartman.
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The Dali Lama loved President Bush, as a man. That says a lot. FYI: Bush's presidency didn't tank until the democrats took over congress and purposefully sabotaged the economy so that they could put their own guy into the white house.
ya so true..
That's Bull We need Obama in 2012
Some people are soo purposefully Ignorant that it is truely Amazing = The Only rehabilitation for gwb/cheney is to have them take a nice long vacation in Iraq !! and maybe have them both Actually Serve In OUR Military - seeings that they like Our Military Sooo Much !!!!
MD/MI - you got it.....hehehe.....wonder what the security was like when the Darth was gettin his heart?
been waiting for the next Bush push......look out America your gonna get a Jeb bushwack if ya ain't careful.....hehehehehahaha.....talk about scrapping the oil barrel.....hehehehahahaha.............
Do you right wing morons actually remember what caused the downturn in the first place?
The always appropriate in their minds GOP solution DEREGULATION.
It was GOP deregulation policies and Democratic let them walk all over you policies that caused it. Atleast in the real world I'm not sure about the GOP alternate dimension.
michael,
bush's presidency tanked when they sent protestors to florida to protest the recount in 2000, and he was annointed president by his daddy's friends. those protestors got high ranking jobs in the bush "administration" after he was annointed.
bush's presidency tanked when he took us into iraq. bush himself said his biggest obstacle as president was "trying to convince the american people that there was a connection between iraq and 9/11".
bush's presidency tanked when he said "i'm not that worried about bin laden". his presidency tanked when he went after saddam hussein instead.
bush's presidency tanked when he put 2 wars, one of them illegal (guess which one), and medicare part D on the credit card, and COOKED THE BOOKS. it wasn't added to the defict until President Obama put it there. w. bush lied to the american people about the cost of the wars and medicare part D. ask mitch daniels.
you are very naive if you think this economic downfall can be caused in 2 years by democrats. since nixon on, repubs are responsible for most of the deficit and for growing the size of gov't. LOOK IT UP. the only time repubs care about the size of gov't is when a democrat has the Presidency.
w. bush did most of the damage WITH REPUBS SIGNING ON TO EVERYTHING AND LOVING IT. as long as repubs are spending the money, as dick cheeeeeney and ronald reagan said, "deficits don't matter".
now that we have a democratic president, they are defict hawks all of a sudden?
Omigod, i can't stop laughing.
"Defecits don't matter"
-Dick Cheney former Vice President and Dark Lord of the Sith
Now what he really meant was defecits don't matter until there's a democrat in office then it's treason.
I laugh when "constitutionalist fiscal conservatives" like Rick Santorum or Boehner, Cantor, McConnell or any other of the Republicans who were there throughout the whole Bush administration and voted for every budget busting measure. So don't give us that you're fiscal conservative line we have the records.............but of course should be no surprise since their nominee is the man who never found a single issue he has had a single opinion on while running for office
If I was Ed, I too would be graping for something to say that would draw attention from mown abject failure. Ed my man, you bet on the wrong horse. You're betting wrong now too.
Gw tanked before he stole the election in Florida. He only pretended to be president, because in truth he was never elected. Then Rove and dirty tricks stole the second one......Boo gw, boo. he wasn't president he was a corrupt bozo.
OBAMA 2012, BACK IN THE WHITE HOUSE AGAIN.
No, the Bush "presidency" tanked from the moment the problems arose in FL in 2000. And, unlike most people, I don't ignore the shenanigans in Ohio in 2004. Face it: Bush AND Cheney AND Rumsfeld should all be wearing orange jumpsuits for the rest of their lives.
Michael7X~~The dems do not do those evil things like the gop does, and is doing now. Everything in their power (including lying)to make this president look bad.
Romney raised more money this month than Obama! Wow, what a shock to the Democrats as they see this election running away from them. Obama needs no help making himself look very stupid. :)
Obama superior grass roots effort with most money from smaller donors, romney almost none from small donors
obama more people influence on political process(federalized democracy)
Romney very few people influence political process(oligarchy)
Guess the right wing morons will have to stop talking about the evil giant Obama money machine......well no reality has never stopped them before.
ABO!!!!!!
Anybody BUT!! Obama!! 2012!!
I'm still waiting for you righties to name the 60 Democratic Senaters you say we had to control congress.
Please explain how the Democrats were able to pass Obamacare with a GOP filibuster while they controlled both the House and Senate. Simple math (votes) and rules. Why no focus on jobs jobs?
@larry74,
Here's your list.
1. Mark Begich - Alaska
2. Blanche Lincoln - Arkansas
3. Mark Pryor - Arkansas
4. Dianne Feinstein - California
5. Barbara Boxer - California
6. Michael Bennet - Colorado
7. Mark Udall - Colorado
8. Christopher Dodd - Connecticut
9. Joe Lieberman - Connecticut (Dem until running Ind. Caucuses with Dem)
10. Ted Kaufman, Chris Coons - Delaware
11. Tom Carper - Delaware
12. Bill Nelson - Florida
13. Daniel Inouye - Hawaii
14. Daniel Akaka - Hawaii
15. Richard Durbin - Illinois
16. Roland Burris - Illinois (‘til 11/29/2010)
17. Evan Bayh - Indiana
18. Tom Harkin - Iowa
19. Mary Landrieu - Louisiana
20. Barbara Mikulski - Maryland
21. Ben Cardin - Maryland
22. Edward Kennedy, Paul Kirk - Massachusetts (‘til 2/4/2010)
23. John Kerry - Massachusetts
24. Carl Levin - Michigan
25. Debbie Stabenow - Michigan
26. Amy Klobuchar - Minnesota
27. Al Franken - Minnesota (from 7/7/2009)
28. Claire McCaskill - Missouri
29. Max Baucus - Montana
30. Jon Tester - Montana
31. Ben Nelson - Nebraska
32. Harry Reid - Nevada
33. Jeanne Shaheen - New Hampshire
34. Frank Lautenberg - New Jersey
35. Bob Menendez - New Jersey
36. Jeff Bingaman - New Mexico
37. Tom Udall - New Mexico
38. Chuck Schumer - New York
39. Kirsten Gillibrand - New York
40. Kay Hagen - North Carolina
41. Kent Conrad - North Dakota
42. Byron Dorgan - North Dakota
43. Sherrod Brown - Ohio
44. Ron Wyden - Oregon
45. Jeff Merkley - Oregon
46. Arlen Specter - Pennsylvania (from 5/29/2009 after changing parties)
47. Bob Casey - Pennsylvania
48. Jack Reed - Rhode Island
49. Sheldon Whitehouse - Rhode Island
50. Tim Johnson - South Dakota
51. Patrick Leahy - Vermont
52. Bernie Sanders - Vermont (Ind but caucuses with Dems)
53. Jim Webb - Virginia
54. Mark Warner - Virginia
55. Patty Murray - Washington
56. Maria Cantwell - Washington
57. Robert Byrd, Carte Goodwin, Joe Manchin - West Virginia
58. Jay Rockefeller - West Virginia
59. Herb Kohl - Wisconsin
60. Russ Feingold - Wisconsin
@larry74,
You will not tell me where my list was inaccurate. You keep challenging people to come up with your 60 Democrats list and when they do, you won't dispute it.
Even Hope42012 said in his post earlier tonight,
"During most of Obama's first year in office and for a few weeks this year, 58 Democratic senators and two Independents who normally vote with them held a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate."
C'mon larry74, where was I inaccurate?
Drill...
You actually think he is man enough to answer you?
You do realize not all the republicans voted against don't you?
But wait that doesn't have anything to do with it since it has no bearing on whether it's modeled after GW or not. Reality is it's true, success at it is irrelevant. His strategy is most like GW's as opposed to any other president. So fake outrage. Bush had drone strikes, Gitmo, patriot act, abuse of state secrets privilege, Iraq and Afghanistan, fight al qaeda. Obama has drone strikes, Gitmo, patriot act, considerable use of state secrets privilege.
Bush had the nerve to create the unconstitutional patriot act, the most dangerous and anticonstitutional measure of recent years if you think Obamacare is the most unconstitutional you haven't read the patriot act or you're full of "mitt".
Bush had the nerve to create it Obama didn't have the nerve to stop it.
As we speak our governoment has the legal authority to declare any one of us not citizens and detain us indefinately with charges. Not right wing conspiracy insanity....notice I didn't mention communists, muslims or the illuminati so it's not tea party rhetoric. This president has had many successes in security and foreign policy however there are also many illegal dangerous things going on as well.
g bush was the most corupt president ever, he lied to the to the american people and the world about many issues, iraq, afganistan, gave his business buddies a tax break ,cheneys haliburton made billions rebuilding these countrys
Can you be specific and tell us what "lies" GWB told the American people and made him "corupt" vs. the CIA report to Congress and White House? I'm interested in learning more. You sound so smart.
No you are not you are just another paid Koch disruptor trying to earn his 5 cents a word.
To paraphrase on my order US military has began attacking taliban in Afghanistan. The president can't order a long term military engagement aka a war. Congress must do that first, so illegal declaration. The war powers act gives them room on much smaller shorter actions not things that have lasted a decade.
The patriot act. The administration introduced a corrupting influence with that shall now never go away. The guy who starts it should get a bit of the dare I say most of the blame.
Domestic warrantless wiretaps
Waterboarding has been considered a form of illegal torture by this nation. We executed captured Japanese soldiers who performed it.
Dick Cheney shot a guy in the face, granted not GW but come on he shot a guy...in the face....consequences? Zero. If Joe Biden shot someone in the face instead of just shooting his mouth off like he usually does the neo-cons would demand action.
And then there's the multitude of totally/mostly legal stupid things that happend.
I find something to be very curious...If Halliburton was such a corrupt company according to the Left, why did the Obama Administration allow most, if not all, of the contracts with Halliburton to be renewed?
Maybe the Obama Administration is corrupt?
Just saying...
Why ? I will answer this question ... The bush administration and his neocons have built a private army of mercenaries that can take any government down including your owns.. They built this army illegaly and your taxes paid for it. this army is blackwater ! they are made of superstitious and dangerous right wing mercenaries and there are 20 000 of them !
Funny how this is never talked about in the medias.
Poodle...
So what you are saying is that either Obama is in on the corruption or he does not have the backbone to stand up to them for the good of the country. Which is it?
Just saying...
Well you can't drop out of a contract you've already signed just because the an election...but that's irrelavent as it's clear the Obama administration has continued the civil liberites abuses of the patriot act that Bush/Cheney started
as will ou wver wins the next election and one after that....it never ends once it begins
He was the worst president in history. Worse even than Herbert Hoover, the last businessman to hold the office. We've had businessman Hoover and businessman Bush, care to go for the trifecta?
ANYBODY BUT OBAMA!!! George we miss you!
Sorry no one misses GWB.
The Bush admin. put together false intel. to gather support to invade Iraq. Remember the mushroom cloud speech? WMD'S? Sadam was behind the 9/11 attacks. That off the top my head. There's MORE.
Yeah...remember all those Democrats who talked about the WMD's that were in Iraq?
Just saying...
Hahaha ! Bush kept the country safe ??? Oh really ??? how about 911 ?? did it happen under president Obama's watch ???
When I hear lies like this, I want to scream ! The neocon party makes me want to puke !
President Obama HAS KEPT the country safe and Bush, HAS NOT ! Oh and President obama got bin laden, Bush did not !
America is very unsafe under gop rule, and that is a fact ! How many more dead do you need ?
Guess Ed scrubbed all the Wisconsion sights,must have been too painful!