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Ear to the Ground

Bush’s Regret

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Posted on Jun 10, 2008
Mission_Accomplished
From ThinkProgress.com

President Bush says he is now reconsidering the swaggering cowboy image that he adopted early on in his presidency. “I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric,” he tells the U.K.’s Times Online as his time in office ticks out.


Times Online:

In an exclusive interview, he expressed regret at the bitter divisions over the war and said that he was troubled about how his country had been misunderstood. “I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric.”

Phrases such as “bring them on” or “dead or alive”, he said, “indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace”. He said that he found it very painful “to put youngsters in harm’s way”. He added: “I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain.”

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By Reubenesque, June 12 at 1:13 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

In Daddy(GHW) Bush’s case we’d have all been much better off if his emission had not been accomplished sixty-odd years ago.

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By Gerry, June 12 at 10:00 am #

It is not his ‘tone’ or ‘rhetoric’ that is the problem, it is his actions!

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By Don Stivers, June 11 at 8:52 pm #

All of you out there.  “Google” Iraq war civilian casualties pictures.  Even the torture pictures.  Then decide whether to be proud to be an American with a lapel flag pin.

Bush should get the same treatment he gave the Iraqis.
Go ahead.  Look at the pictures....if you can.

It will break your heart.

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By Gold Star Father, June 11 at 5:49 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

..."He said that he found it very painful “to put youngsters in harm’s way”. He added: “I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain.””....
I lost my son to this Madman’s war in 2005. Bush never tried meet me, comfort me, or console me. Probably moreso due to the fact that the Secret Service have me on one of their lists. Bush only meets with the sympathetic to his delusions families of those KIA in Iraq.
Then he claims that “most of the gold star families agree that the war must be won”. Many of us are very sick that we lost our children in this war, magnified by our utter bewilderment that bush and cheney have not faced impeachment for their crimes.
Why has this country not followed its own rules of law?

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By Arabian Thoroughbred, June 11 at 2:51 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

By troublesum, June 11 at 1:48 pm #

Arabian Thoroughbred
HATRED IS HELL
=======================
Well, troublesum, I know that hatred is not a pleasant feeling; however a well-placed hate for someone or something is also a proof that love exists. Without hate for what deserves to be hated, we will not know the true meaning of love for what deserves to be loved! Feelings are most understood when they’re contrasted against their opposites.

Also true, in my way of thinking at least, that loving someone who does not deserve love, is a kind of prostituting your feelings and selling them cheap. Love, in my dictionary, is conditional, and so is hatred; it’s earned. That’s why all humanity and cultures have standards for love and hatred and all other human beings. For example, charity is one of the greatest human values, yet I will not extend a charitable hand to someone or some animal who is known to bite the hand that feeds him / it!

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By Spike, June 11 at 2:38 pm #

Mommy should have kept the Baby.  We all would have been better off.

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By troublesum, June 11 at 1:48 pm #

Arabian Thoroughbred
HATRED IS HELL

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By purplewolf, June 11 at 7:17 am #

Every company Bush ever owned he bankrupted and destroyed. Did you think it wouldn’t happen to the whole country? Look at his past track record, and this is from a person who supposedly studied business in college. And now this person somewhat regrets his past actions and deeds. Only about a year ago, when asked if he regreted anything he did in his terms in office, Bush said no he couldn’t think of anything. Could he maybe have finally learned to read, and then read the writing on the wall, that yes, he will be known for his legacy alright. But not the one he dreamed up in his deluded coacaine-alcohol induced haze of euphoric madness of ruling the world. Is reality finally and actually setting in on what is left of his tiny little brain that has managed to maybe escape the ravages of Mad Emperor Disease?

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By Fred Evil, June 11 at 7:09 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

The man would have to have a CONSCIENCE before he could have any regrets.

And Pelosi is destroying her own future with Independents by blocking legitimate and proper impeachment hearings.

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By reason, June 11 at 6:59 am #

Bush is one sorry excuse for a human being (let alone President of the United States). What was it Nixon said; you’re not a crook till you’re caught”. I am also sorry to say that it appears the republican party’s only regret about the last 8+ years is that they probably will not be able to screw the country again in this election. Normally I am a forgiving person but one must ask for forgiveness and be genuinely sorry for their transgression(s); not just sorry they are caught. I am neither republican or democrat, I am for for whoever or whatever is going to turn our country around from the madness we have had to endure under Bush and his cohorts. I’m sorry I cannot find any reason to forgive them now or in the future.

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By dick, June 11 at 6:35 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Bush is the best, for them, president the power elite ever put in office, and the worst president the masses had to suffer under. Expect more of the same to continue.

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By Arabian Thoroughbred, June 11 at 6:34 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Too little, too late, EVIL BUSH!
Whom are you trying to deceive this time when the whole world knows that you’re evil through and through?!

I am in the process of writing a parody of Dante’s “The Divine Comedy.” If I am given time and energy to complete this work, you and your generation of evil politicians will all be placed in the lowest rung of the Hellfire to roast; this is the least pay off for all the killing, suffering and destruction you brought to this world.

“I’ve never hated any one the way I hated you; rather before I became conscious of how much I hated you, I thought that hate is a relative term that only existed in the realm of concepts,” is a phrase from my preface to this work.

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By jatihoon, June 11 at 6:17 am #

So did Attila the Hun, who used to say where ever my horse will trample, “grass will never grow."Bush says,"whenever I open my mouth bad breath will blow."He never shut his mouth up.

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By Jim Yell, June 11 at 6:13 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Bush is now trying to distance himself from Bush. I guess he will now stop looking in mirrors.

This man/child is sorry, but not the way he claims.

Without Bush/Cheney being punished for their crimes there can be no future for this country or democracy. He broke his oath of office, he has destroyed the lives of Americans and Iraqi’s all for his willful ignorance, his overwhelming arrogance, his cowardice. He should be made to pay out of pocket for every use of Air Force One, none of his travels have been of use to our country or the world in general. He could have F’ed it up just as well by saving the cost of aviation fuel. He deserves nothing but censure.

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By randolph blanc, June 11 at 6:02 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

so many lifes are currently lost in vain, will be lost in vain.  votes will be cast in vain.

Democracy has not proven itself-an experiment in vain!

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By Purple Girl, June 11 at 5:45 am #

Facinating how quickly they can boot you off.
What Fun!
Sad thing there are Other Americans Willing to do this ‘Dirty Deed’ - or has this been outsourced too?
Who is it that you Serve?
do you think they actually give a rats ass about You?
Come On they’ve proven they have no morals ethics or Soul. Time to Look in the Mirror and decide if You see any Patriotism or Humanity left in the reflection

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By Landing, June 11 at 5:40 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I trust Bush. He is an honest person and agree with his decision to topple Sadam Husain’s brutal regime.
Iraq will be a model of democracy in Middle East.

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By Purple Girl, June 11 at 5:38 am #

Ignorance and Misguidance are NO EXCUSE- nor plausible explanations.
guilty of Numerous High Crimes agansit US and the Rest of Humankind.
You will go down in History as the New image of Evil- Move over Hitler, you’ve just been Trumped.
I for One am well past the mercy of Impeachment. I am gathering all the Recycled paper Plates I can find- since The Sivler paltters are Far too Good.Your Defense is falling on Deaf ears- much like our Pleas have been ignored during, not just Your Reign of Terror, but all Those who have come before You as servants to the Oil Organized Crime Syndicate.

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By hippy pam, June 11 at 5:10 am #

HOW SORRY IS “shrub”?????And WHAT IS HE SORRY ABOUT??
Certainly NOT THE LIES HE HAS TOLD-To AMERICANS..And DEFINITLY NOT FOR THE POSITION HE HAS PUT AMERICA[as a country]IN TO..[healthcare-taxes-jobs-national debt-murder-extortion-etc..etc..etc..

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By skulz fontaine, June 11 at 4:19 am #

In “retrospect”, Bush shouldn’t have lied the U.S. into his illegal war. In “retrospect”, the Supremes shouldn’t have handed the presidency to President Killa’ in the first place. In “retrospect”, there shouldn’t have been the rush to war after 9/11/01. Why oh why didn’t the ‘powers that be’ allow the Manhattan Detectives to investigate. That moronic “High Commission to Investigate” didn’t, and we still to this day do NOT have the truth. In “retrospect”, there shouldn’t have been the rendition, the detention, and that freaking torture. In “retrospect”, media should have NEVER bought into that stupid ‘war on terror’ crap-o-la! In “retrospect”, Bush’s assault on basic human dignity has been and is at present, a war of terror. American terror unleashed on a world hardly equipped to defend itself. In “retrospect”, John Yoo should now be in prison. Scooter Libby, that Franklin buffoon, and Karl Rove for being smarmy! In “retrospect”, Congress shouldn’t have been so spineless. In “retrospect”, Nancy Pelosi should be investigated for not allowing “impeachment” to proceed like in ‘due process’ and Denny the Kuch, is a little too late. In “retrospect”, our world may never recover from the eight nightmare years of Bush and his happily corrupt gang of war criminals. That gang of war criminals is to include Congress, the Supremes, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. In “retrospect”, it was so obviously easy to stand idly by while Bushy-bush-bush went genocidally insane and dragged the American people down a sewer-hole of immoral war crimes. In “retrospect”, Congress is STILL standing there, blinking like that proverbial deer caught in the headlights. In “retrospect” what we have here is, failure of the American dynamic to be dynamic. Gosh and in “retrospect”, how would David Brooks stand up to being ‘waterboarded’?

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By Aman ibrahim, June 11 at 3:55 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Its pity that you will be remembered as the best President of US for fabricating lies, initating a war that no professional diplomat would ever think of, going back to the UN for an endorsement on IRAQ after the damge - bending the rules to your fancy, murdering the thousands of innocent Americans thru the IRAQ war and worst of all turning your back to your own citizens in times of Hurricane Katrina.

If you ever sit back and recall then you will see the candid image of yourself “Mission accomplished”
only to yourself and not to the world cos you were never part of a winning team. U failed to focuss on your mission.

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By stevelaudig, June 11 at 1:55 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I certainly hope that some of the European countries indict Bush and members of his cabinent and administration for war crimes. Otherwise in another 30 years, after the Iraq abomination was been forgotten there will be another U.S. regime that thinks it can go to war on another country with impunity. They may not ever spend a day in prison as they should but Rice, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Libby, Bush etc. won’t be able to travel to civilized countries and when their names are googled it will show up with other war criminals. That may be the best the planet can hope for in deterrence.
Impeah, nah. Indict, yeah!!

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By secretmojo, June 11 at 12:56 am #

Damn, does this guy ever get out of campaign mode? Since when does choosing softer words to present yourself as a man of peace offset the fact that you’re currently executing 2 wars?

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