Our 43rd president of the United States has been taking a beating since before he was elected - and for good reason: people judge you by how you carry yourself, how you behave, and how you speak. George W. Bush lacks in all three areas. As I reported last week, I voted for him, so I’m not trying to hammer those who put him in office, but when you really look at things and reflect upon the past eight years, you’ll likely come to the same conclusion: Big Mistake.
I feel the Afghanistan invasion was warranted and justified, but we didn’t keep our focus there long enough to attain the desired effect, which was to eliminate the Taliban, crush Al Quaida and kill Bin Laden. Instead, we turned our attention to Iraq and we’ve yet to turn away. I was on board with invading Iraq; in fact, I feel it should have been done when Clinton was in office and Hussein refused the U.N. inspectors. Of course, with the way things turned out, clearly this war was not thought through. I’m guessing that our “leaders” thought it would be a downhome ass-kicking like it was in the early nineties. Boy, were they wrong.
But back to Georgie - we put him there, so we have no one to blame but ourselves. That being said, let’s take a close look at the “words of wisdom” he spouted during the months leading up to his swearing in:
“I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together.” -Bartlett, Tenn., Aug. 18, 2000
“I don’t know whether I’m going to win or not. I think I am. I do know I’m ready for the job. And, if not, that’s just the way it goes.” -Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. 21, 2000
“We don’t believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans.” -Scranton, Pa., Sept. 6, 2000
“Listen, Al Gore is a very tough opponent. He is the incumbent. He represents the incumbency. And a challenger is somebody who generally comes from the pack and wins, if you’re going to win. And that’s where I’m coming from.”
-Detroit, Sept. 7, 2000
“That's Washington. That's the place where you find people getting ready to jump out of the foxholes before the first shot is fired.” -Westland, Mich., Sept. 8, 2000
“This is what I'm good at. I like meeting people, my fellow citizens, I like interfacing with them.” -Outside Pittsburgh, Sept. 8, 2000
“The best way to relieve families from time is to let them keep some of their own money.” -Westminster, Calif., Sept. 13, 2000
“A tax cut is really one of the anecdotes to coming out of an economic illness.”
-The Edge With Paula Zahn, Sept. 18, 2000
“It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas.” -Beaverton, Ore., Sep. 25, 2000
“One of the common denominators I have found is that expectations rise above that which is expected.” -Los Angeles, Sept. 27, 2000
“I will have a foreign-handed foreign policy.” -Redwood, Calif., Sept. 27, 2000
“I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.”
-Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000
“I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can’t answer your question.” -In response to a question about whether he wished he could take back any of his answers in the first debate. Reynoldsburg, Ohio, Oct. 4, 2000
“Our priorities is our faith." -Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 10, 2000
“If affirmative action means what I just described, what I’m for, then I’m for it.”
-St. Louis, Mo., October 18, 2000
“Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.”
-LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000
“I don’t want nations feeling like that they can bully ourselves and our allies. I want to have a ballistic defense system so that we can make the world more peaceful, and at the same time I want to reduce our own nuclear capacities to the level commiserate with keeping the peace.” -Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 23, 2000
“It’s important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It’s not only life of babies, but it’s life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet.” -Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000
“That’s a chapter, the last chapter of the 20th, 20th, the 21st century that most of us would rather forget. The last chapter of the 20th century. This is the first chapter of the 21st century.” -On the Lewinsky scandal, Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000
“It's your money. You paid for it.” -LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000
“They said, ‘You know, this issue doesn’t seem to resignate with the people.’ And I said, you know something? Whether it resignates or not doesn’t matter to me, because I stand for doing what’s the right thing, and what the right thing is hearing the voices of people who work.” -Portland, Ore., Oct. 31, 2000
“The legislature’s job is to write law. It’s the executive branch’s job to interpret law.”
-Austin, Texas, Nov. 22, 2000
“Dick Cheney and I do not want this nation to be in a recession. We want anybody who can find work to be able to find work.” -60 Minutes II, Dec. 5, 2000
“The great thing about America is everybody should vote.”
-Austin, Texas, Dec. 8, 2000
“Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods.” -Austin, Texas, Dec. 20, 2000
“I do remain confident in Linda. She’ll make a fine labor secretary. From what I've read in the press accounts, she’s perfectly qualified.” -Austin, Texas, Jan. 8, 2001
“If he's - the inference is that somehow he thinks slavery is a - is a noble institution I would - I would strongly reject that assumption - that John Ashcroft is a open-minded, inclusive person.” -NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw, Jan. 14, 2001
Honestly, fine reader, I could go on and on - and I will, another day. Bush is a president we’ll all be talking about for a long, long time to come. Expect to read more of W’s misspeaks in the months preceding his removal and replacement. Hopefully, we’ll get it right this time - or at least get lucky.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and in no way reflects the opinions of this publication.
(Editor's Note: Ash Lee is a contributing columnist for the Carriage Towne News. Feedback can be sent directly to Ash
by e-mailing him at: Ash@IsItJustAsh.com, or by visiting www.IsItJustAsh.com )
