George W. Bush has emerged from reputation rehab:
Former President George W. Bush described the modern-day GOP as “isolationist, protectionist, and to a certain extent, nativist” in an interview Tuesday that was packed with implicit criticism of the most recent Republican president.
“It’s not exactly my vision” for the party, Bush told NBC’s “Today” show in a rare live TV appearance. “But, you know, I’m just an old guy they put out to pasture.”
Still, Bush remained hopeful that a more moderate Republican — one who supported reasonable gun reform measures, increased public school funding and a path to citizenship for undocumented workers, among other measures — could succeed in the party’s 2024 presidential primary.
“I think if the emphasis is integrity and decency and trying to work to get problems solved, I think the person has a shot,” he said.
Bush, who was on hand to welcome 30 new U.S. citizens from 17 different countries during a naturalization ceremony on Rockefeller Plaza, also decried the divisive rhetoric that has surrounded the immigration debate in Washington — and reached new levels of hostility under former President Donald Trump.
“It’s a beautiful country we have. And yet, it’s not beautiful when we condemn [and] call people names and scare people about immigration,” he said. “It’s an easy issue to frighten some of the electorate. And I’m trying to have a different kind of voice.”
Oy. Only Donald Trump could make Bush look good by comparison.
In truth he had a nasty streak almost as wide as the Orange Menace. Almost — he did do some things, like go to a mosque after the 9/11 and call himself a “compassionate conservative” particularly when it comes to immigration, but his tenure was marked with cruelty in ways that are even worse than Trump’s.
He legalized torture. Not that Trump wouldn’t have gleefully done the same and even put it on television, but so what? Bush did that. It was one of the most uncivilized decisions this government has made in centuries.
He started a war on false pretenses and led the country during one of the most authoritarian, militaristic periods we’ve ever experienced. We are still in Afghanistan, 20 years later.
Bush is yet another example of how the Republicans keep defining deviancy down. Each successive leader is less and less humane. I shudder to think what comes next. Marjorie Taylor Greene?
And by the way, tell me how this is really any better than Trump? He just usually hid it a little bit better:
In the week before [Karla Faye Tucker’s] execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. “Did you meet with any of them?” I ask. Bush whips around and stares at me. “No, I didn’t meet with any of them,” he snaps, as though I’ve just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. “I didn’t meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with [Tucker], though. He asked her real difficult questions, like ‘What would you say to Governor Bush?’ ”
“What was her answer?” I wonder. “Please,” Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, “don’t kill me.”
Tucker Carlson conducted that interview, by the way. He said at the time that he was startled by it but has later shrugged it off, saying he didn’t really see anything wrong with it. Imagine my surprise.