In Defense of George W. Bush - from a member of "the angry left"

Well not as much a defense as a little bit of human compassion for a man who is being hurled overboard like Jonah. And it seems that the people most anxious to hurl him into the sea are the members of his own party.

Now that the great ship of the US economy is caught in a tsunami, the crew has decided that instead of drowning they are going toss the pariah. It's amazing what happens when a ship is going down.

Don't get me wrong, I doubt that there are many people who have been more critical of the policies and actions of George W. Bush than I. But then again, I was never a fan to begin with.

What has happened to the members of the religious right who proclaimed that Bush 43 was: "god's chosen leader"; "the only Christian choice"; and, "the man who would restore integrity to the White House"?

What has happened to all of the campaign strategists who spun his every move, staged every public forum and used every natural and man-made disaster for political advantage? Weren't these people always telling him how devoted they were to his cause?

What has happened to his second in command and his body guards in the Justice Department who repeatedly convinced him that he was untouchable, invincible?

What has happened to his friends at The Fed, on Wall Street, in the oil industry and in Saudi Arabia who were giving him economic advice and kept telling him that the economy was in great shape?

What happened to Iraqi oil paying for the Iraq war?

What happened to "trickle down economics" and the philosophy that "the market" will correct itself?

What has happened to all of the "K" Street lobbyists who begged for and got virtually everything that they wanted for nearly eight years?

What has happened to all of the heads of private contracting firms like Haliburton, KBR, Blackwater, et. al., who've made a fortune from Bush policies?

What happened to all of the Republican politicians who grabbed those Bush coat tails after 9/11 and road them like a rented mule?

Will none of you stand with the President now?

George W. Bush certainly hasn't run Washington by himself for nearly eight years.

So, I have just one question for all of the politicians, pundits, political advisors, members of the religious right and the GOP who are now busy leveling so much criticism on "Washington" for the way that the economy has been managed over the past seven plus years ..

What took you so long to speak up?

How many times did you take the President aside and suggest another course of action?

How many times did you take the President behind closed doors and flat tell him he was wrong?

How many times did you put your own self interest aside and stand up for what was right for the country?

Just how many times in the past eight years did you really put "Country First".

And to John McCain and Sarah Palin --

If you've known how to reform Washington all this time why couldn't you share this information with the other members of your party?

"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming
to where he was baptizing, he said to them:
"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?"
-- Matthew 3:7