George W. Bush Bashes Obama on Middle East

[CountryClassSF]

We miss you every day, Mr. President.

[All Along The Watchtower]

We miss you every day, Mr. President.

I thought Dubya was not conservative enough for Tea Partiers.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

We miss you every day, Mr. President.

If he'd just stand still, maybe one of those shoes would hit rather than miss.

[ingemann]

Any thoughts on the substance of what he said?

Of course not.  They also want to know why Republicans hate Obama so much.  Must be racism.

I enjoy being a contrarian as much as everybody else. But really Bush are the last person who have a right to criticise Obama's Middle Eastern policies, and you really don't need to go into his argument, he simply lack any credibility on this issue. On the other hand if it was Bush talking about USA African policies, I would listen to him.

[CountryClassSF]

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There were some issues - but he never abandoned values folks. And I miss having a President who believed in America

[compson III]

He criticizes Obama's lack of plan with ISIS and then touts his own willingness to adopt the Petraeus strategy in Iraq.  I'm guessing he's been too out of the loop these last several years to realize that his post-2006 strategy in Iraq was exactly one of the factors that created ISIS.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

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There were some issues - but he never abandoned values folks. And I miss having a President who believed in America

Like the time where Republicans controlled Congress and the Supreme Court and nothing was done about abortion?

[ElectionsGuy]

He and his neoconservative buddies have failed us. He makes Obama look like a hero on foreign policy.

[AggregateDemand]

It was the Clinton malaise that led to 9-11. I don't think Obama is quite so careless, but I can see why W Bush would have reservations. Furthermore, Israel has always been our segue into Middle Eastern intelligence. Alienating them seems like unnecessary collateral damage, especially when Iran has nothing to offer us.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It was the Clinton malaise that led to 9-11. I don't think Obama is quite so careless, but I can see why W Bush would have reservations. Furthermore, Israel has always been our segue into Middle Eastern intelligence. Alienating them seems like unnecessary collateral damage, especially when Iran has nothing to offer us.

Yeah, Clinton must have ignored that August 6, 2001 memo titled "Bin Laden determined to attack in US."

[Ebsy]

It's been well established that while Clinton failed to take out Bin Laden, he did at least try. It's also been well established that he and his national security team attempted to pass on warnings to the Bush administration that Bin Laden was not to be misunderestimated, but that Bush and his team totally ignored them, choosing instead to focus on Iraq.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

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There were some issues - but he never abandoned values folks. And I miss having a President who believed in America

Like the time where Republicans controlled Congress and the Supreme Court and nothing was done about abortion?

They did successfully pass a ban on late term abortion that was then upheld by the Supreme Court by Bush's two appointees.

I would also point out that whilst the GOP had 7/9 justices, three of the seven were pro-choice (O'Connor, Stevens and Souter) until 2005. Bush also had a Democratic Senator from 2001 to 2003. I know you didn't say this, but I do remember the talk of "six years of a rubber stamp Congress" in 2006 being tossed around when it was only four.

That said, the Bush/Frist/Delay GOP was a disaster for the party and for the nation and the four years they did have total control, they did nothing but pork up the joint and let Iraq slip into chaos.

[Senate Minority Leader Lord Voldemort]

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There were some issues - but he never abandoned values folks. And I miss having a President who believed in America

Like the time where Republicans controlled Congress and the Supreme Court and nothing was done about abortion?

They did successfully pass a ban on late term abortion that was then upheld by the Supreme Court by Bush's two appointees.

I would also point out that whilst the GOP had 7/9 justices, three of the seven were pro-choice (O'Connor, Stevens and Souter) until 2005. Bush also had a Democratic Senator from 2001 to 2003. I know you didn't say this, but I do remember the talk of "six years of a rubber stamp Congress" in 2006 being tossed around when it was only four.

That said, the Bush/Frist/Delay GOP was a disaster for the party and for the nation and the four years they did have total control, they did nothing but pork up the joint and let Iraq slip into chaos.

Technically it was "six years of a rubber stamp Senate" because even when Democrats controlled it in 2001-2003, Tom Daschle was a pushover.

Plus they had Democratic Senators like Breaux, Hollings, Cleland, and Miller.

[AggregateDemand]

Yeah, Clinton must have ignored that August 6, 2001 memo titled "Bin Laden determined to attack in US."

Did you forget that the WTC was bombed in 1993? Clinton had 8 years to do something about it. If anything, he allowed Bin Laden to become more powerful and commit acts of terror against the US.

[CountryClassSF]

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They passed the partial birth abortion ban and he constantly promoted a culture of life.   There's not much more that can be done when the court declares it a constitutionally protected right to abort in the 1st trimester. 

Conservatives have made enormous progress in the 21st century to stopping abortions. We've got a long way to go.

[dead0man]

I don't trust Iran either.  That's not to say we should never engage with them, but let's be a tad more careful.

If the US had trusted Iran for a long time, there would be diplomatic re4lations and no sanctions.

Iran is a big player in the struggle against ISIS... the Iranian government may be a piece of work, but nowhere near as bad as the pure evil that is ISIS.

Iran has murdered many many people.  Many more than ISIS has (granted, ISIS hasn't been around as long).  They might not be as pure "evil" as ISIS, but they are certainly playing in the same division.

[Ebowed]

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I mean, come on.  Bush failed to capture Osama bin Laden.

It'd sort of be like Bush criticising Obama for winning re-election with a reduced margin of victory when Bush didn't even win the popular vote the first time.  Gosh, he's even unlikeable in my hypotheticals.  But I do like how the article captures his innate manner of speech:

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[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

No surprises here, he was addressing the neoconservative base. You'd think he would have the self-awareness to keep his mouth shut on foreign policy but then again, I guess the guy's got bills to pay and that public speaking money is sweet indeed.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

No surprises here, he was addressing the neoconservative base. You'd think he would have the self-awareness to keep his mouth shut on foreign policy but then again, I guess the guy's got bills to pay and that public speaking money is sweet indeed.

You realize this was a private event, and there are many takes on exactly what was said and the context, right?

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

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They passed the partial birth abortion ban and he constantly promoted a culture of life.   There's not much more that can be done when the court declares it a constitutionally protected right to abort in the 1st trimester. 

Conservatives have made enormous progress in the 21st century to stopping abortions. We've got a long way to go.

The Republican Congressional leadership could have brought the Sanctity of Life Act up for a vote.