Obama toasts Bush: 'We are surely a kinder and gentler nation because of you'

[East Coast Pirate]

Source: NBC News

In a rare and warm appearance, former President George H.W. Bush returned to the White House on Monday. The 89-year-old was there to hand out the 5,000th award from his "Points of Light" Foundation, but the celebration also recognized the 41st president’s legacy of charity and altruism.

In brief remarks, Bush, who suffered from a protracted hospital stay late last year and was confined to a wheelchair, thanked Obama for his hospitality: "It's like coming home for Barbara and me."

President Barack Obama credited the 89-year-old Bush with sparking a "national movement" to advance volunteerism and community service as the 41st president of the United States, joined Obama onstage.

"You've described for us those thousand points of light -- all the people and organizations spread out all across the country who are like stars brightening the lives of those around them," Obama said at the White House. "But given the humility that's defined your life, I suspect it's harder for you to see something that's clear to everybody else around you, and that's how bright a light you shine."

"On behalf of all of us, let me just say that we are surely a kinder and gentler nation because of you, and we can't thank you enough," Obama added.

Read more: http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/15/19487988-obama-toasts-bush-we-are-surely-a-kinder-and-gentler-nation-because-of-you

[Scootaloo]

1. I haven't gotten enough sleep to be reading that.

[blm]

2. INSIDE OBAMA'S HEAD: I can't believe I have to say this sh!t in exchange for immigration reform

'help' from the fvcking Bushes.

And THAT is how the Bush dog and pony show has been able to roll on for decades.

[warrant46]

44. And unless we really do something it will be Jeb Bush President #3

They are a crime family like the Corleones

[BehindTheCurtain76]

61. Jeb Bush 2016

Anyone still defending Obama might as well work for the Bush family at this point. It has become such a disgusting act to watch. Jeb Bush is having his family name rehabilitated by Obama as they literally trade power back between the Bush family and whatever B-Team sellout from the Dems side since 1980. Jerry Sandusky was one of Bush's 1000 Points Of Light by the way. Obama knows the evil things this family represents and I must consider him a betrayer of truth and all that is right by bowing to them beyond normal etiquette.

[blm]

66. Name one Dem president who hasn't.

Heck, Poppy used Carter and most of his cabinet like toilet paper. Clinton was a happy soldier for Poppy. He even got to be president when Bush had to lose because he expected to be impeached after the release of the BCCI report set to be released in Dec 1992. Gee....whatever happened to that report? Oh yeah...Clinton said to the Dems that he needed them to move on past those investigations.

[BehindTheCurtain76]

68. Clinton Sell Out Bush Ally

Exactly. Clinton was chosen when it was clear Bush would lose. He was an ally of Bush and his crimes. The impeachment was theater to pretend there were differences between Clinton and his Republican accusers but he buried all the Bush crime scandals so the nation could move on but we didn't because Clinton set stage for GW Bush exactly as Obama is doing to rehabilitate the Bush name so Jeb can be installed in 2016 with Hillary Clinton as backup in case something goes awry. These families are evil and have sold their souls completely.

[Art_from_Ark]

72. In December 1992, Bush Sr. was already on his way out

He was not going to be impeached, it was too late for that. However, he issued a lot of pardons at that time that effectively "decapitated" Lawrence Walsh's special investigation and got a lot of perps off the hook.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1224.html

[blm]

86. Bush HAD to lose in 92, and WANTED to lose BECAUSE that BCCI report was set to come out

and they EXPECTED to be impeached should he prevail in that election. Why the heck do you THINK Jackson Stephens bankrolled Clinton's primary campaign? Jackson Stephens brought BCCI to this country for his LONGTIME FRIEND GHWBush.

BTW - The BCCI report could have been put out earlier, but, Bush's side cried that it would be unfair to do it in an election year, so, it was PUSHED back to after the election.

GHWBush then proceeded to run the worst campaign ever for a sitting president. He had no fears - Stephens had the right man in place to bat clean up for them both.

[Art_from_Ark]

92. Granted, GHWB ran the worst Republican campaign since Hoover 1932

and his speech about his family at the RNC was truly a moment. However, the Republicans were on Clinton like piranhas on a capybara from the outset, and wouldn't let go, even when he acquiesced to them. It seemed pretty bizarre.

But yeah, there was Jackson Stephens-- I hadn't been aware of his close involvement with both Clinton and GHWB.

[blm]

93. GOP's dog and pony show on Whitewater 'investigation' was to get into Rose Law Firm.

Last edited Wed Jul 17, 2013, 12:47 PM - Edit history (1)

Jackson Stephens was Rose Law Firm's biggest client. That place had all its files scrubbed from top to bottom for Poppy Bush and Jackson Stephens, and then, eventually, closed. No wonder it took 2 years.

[Art_from_Ark]

97. I guess I should have been paying more attention

I had been extremely interested in Arkansas politics (had been a Poly Sci minor at the U of A) but I had thought a lot of that was just RW spew (the person I knew who talked most about that sort of thing had "Rush is right" and "The Dope from Hope" bumper stickers on his car). But yeah, that might explain why Clinton became buddy-buddy with GHWB.

[ronnie624]

69. Eloquent post.

[Orsino]

82. I like to imagine Obama using air quotes. n/t

[Skittles]

3. I understand his need to be civil

but that is ass kissing

[Divine Discontent]

8. nearly word for word!!! what I just said to someone

it nauseates me to no end he'd ass kiss that bastard like that. sickening. I hope we see a front page graphic, because it deserves one. the BFEE is perverse and destroyed this country.

"but that is ass kissing" - TRUTH!

[riqster]

4. As Neil Young said...

http://m.

&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dy9SMXkpowo0

[lunasun]

55. the thousand points of light crap always put the hair on my neck up......asshole #1 will we get #3?

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
.......
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
.............

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world


Thanks for remembering this one

[Jackpine Radical]

58. I always said that the thousand points of light

was the homeless poor cooking over candles.

[Maedhros]

5. Meh. Obama is a politician.

He says what he needs to say, how he needs to say it, to elicit the proper response from his target audience.

[Demeter]

12. This was not needed...by anyone. And he won't get the desired response, anyway.

So it is not political, it is craven. Ass-kissing is the politest term for it. Futility is the proper description.

[think]

6. Yikes...

Last edited Mon Jul 15, 2013, 08:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Just one example of yikes:

Wikipedia:Halloween Massacre

The "Halloween Massacre" is the term associated with the major reorganization of U.S. President Gerald R. Ford's Cabinet on November 4, 1975. Several prominent moderate Republicans in the administration were replaced by more conservative figures. The changes were:

Henry Kissinger was fired as National Security Advisor (Kissinger retained his post as Secretary of State), and replaced by General Brent Scowcroft.

William Colby was fired as Director of Central Intelligence and replaced by Ambassador (and future president) George H. W. Bush. Colby was offered the post of U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO, but declined.

James Schlesinger was fired as Secretary of Defense and replaced by Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld's deputy and protégé, future Vice President Dick Cheney, moved up to be the Chief of Staff.

Under pressure from Republican Party conservatives, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller announced that he would not run for election as Ford's running mate in 1976.

Subsequent to these events, Rogers Morton was also replaced by Elliot Richardson as Secretary of Commerce.

Political commentators quickly dubbed Ford's sweeping changes the "Halloween Massacre," reminiscent of President Richard M. Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre" in October 1973.[1] Historians allege that President Ford's decision was not one of his own design and historically two theories are postulated to support this allegation. First, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney manipulated their appointments to advance their own agendas within the American political arena. Or, secondly, Rumsfeld and Cheney convinced Ford to make these changes in order to improve his election prospects against his primary Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan.[2]

Veteran political correspondents and commentators initiated newspaper and magazine articles immediately fingering Donald Rumsfeld as the manipulator of these events despite Ford's protestations that he, himself, made the decision alone.[3] The historiography of the "Halloween Massacre" appears to support these allegations.[4]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_Massacre

[tblue]

7. I wonder if President Obama believes it.

I hope he was choking back bile. If he believes the words that came out of his mouth, boy, that would be sad.

[Divine Discontent]

9. let's go with sad.

I think the president should always be taken at his word. his words here are sad, and bile inducing in this instance.

[Enrique]

10. it's really one speechwriter toasting another

"thousand points of light" was Peggy Noonan, "kinder and gentler" was another speechwriter, and Obama's words are yet another speechwriter.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, just imho it doesn't have much to do with Poppy or Obama.

[Divernan]

19. Are you saying Obama just reads the teleprompter like that San Francisco newscaster?

His words - he owns them.

[Fearless]

91. Mmmkay

[wordpix]

38. "thousand points of light"---that one always makes me choke

It means nothing but it really put ol' Peggy on the map

[valerief]

11. Desert Storm was so kind and gentle. nt

[ConcernedCanuk]

62. yep

.
.
.

shot the Iraqis in the back as they retreated from Kuwait.

bombed the shit out of Iraq from afar in Bush 2's invasion

And remember this?



USA ain't changed much

Are we next??

We got oil.

(sigh)

CC

[valerief]

81. It's not about the oil. It's about the money. Any way the bastards can get it. nt

[Lint Head]

13. Bull shit on a stick. The Bush crime family has damaged

this country beyond repair. What is this? Kiss a Bush's ass month? I no longer have respect for anyone in DC. Apparently torturing, murdering and robbing the poor is the new thing to do. Then you get awards and respect from the powers that be. The message they are sending to the young today is "Come join the military. Fight and die for rich and powerful killers so they can live forever in comfort. "

[roody]

15. +1.

[Divine Discontent]

16. hear hear... :(

[PlanetBev]

14. Just when I thought I couldn't get more depressed from this week's events

I have read this crap.

[bahrbearian]

17. Gag me with a Spoon

[Divernan]

18. Way to give Jeb Bush, via his father, a boost in his planned run for the presidency!

Ya know, burnishing up the public image of the Bush Family legacy!

[Spirochete]

20. Greasing the wheels for jeb in 2016?

Or turning the teabaggers against the Bush dynasty, since they hate everything he approves of?

[Deep13]

21. Just thinking how much better off we would be if Dukakis had won. nt

[warrant46]

45. Worked on that Campaign---It was tragic

[RussBLib]

23. nauseating

And on top of this, NOBODY BELIEVES YOU, OBAMA!

Your Democratic base is insulted by this kind of pandering, and the GOP thinks you're lying and up to no good.

Why fucking bother?

[tomm2thumbs]

24. was it read with a question mark at the end?- is there a sound bite of it spoken?

I know sarcasm when I hear it - but read on paper it might not be obvious

[Brewinblue]

25. Obama has no issues with old school Republicans.

Why should he? Ideologically, he is one.

[warrant46]

88. Looks more like that every day

[searchingforlight]

26. And then she fwoowed up. n/t

[LuvNewcastle]

27. Too bad this isn't an Onion article.

[Sunlei]

28. O. seemed to 'credit him' and speak kindly about only the old Bushes "Points of Light" Foundation.

I wanted to add this to the end of President Os respectful, kind statement.

[TDale313]

29. I heard this. Was yelling at my teevee.

Been doing that a lot these last few days. Maybe time to turn off the news for a bit. Sigh.

[ladjf]

30. You aren't speaking for me Mr. President. nt

[L0oniX]

31. The following action is occuring with great thrust and gusto...

[rhett o rick]

32. I wasnt sure if I wanted to rec this thread. Poppy is in good part responsible for the horrendous

damage done to our nation in the last 30 years.

[Theyletmeeatcake2]

33. Maybe goes back

Last edited Tue Jul 16, 2013, 04:49 AM - Edit history (1)

To 50 years some think!

[rhett o rick]

35. I didnt have that many fingers. nm

[Theyletmeeatcake2]

76. Ol bush

Has had a lot of fingers in a lot of pies!!

[sakabatou]

34. *twitch*

[avaistheone1]

36. Obama is speaking Lies, Lies and Damn Lies.

Thanks for all the ingenuousness President Obama.

I didn't need to hear about your wet kiss to Prez Bush.

[Courtesy Flush]

37. Where is the kinder? Where is the gentler?

Forget politics. Forget who was president in the past, and who is now.

Who the fuck can look around and see a kinder, gentler nation?

[Divine Discontent]

46. very good point!

[forestpath]

39. A toast almost comical in its over the top obsequiousness.

[formercia]

40. All I can say is....

[DCBob]

41. I think he had his fingers crossed behind his back.

Surely a polite fib to make the old man feel good.

[olddad56]

42. Obama can now officially be declared a lair and a patsy?

[zeemike]

43. Obama has a job to do.

And that is to rehabilitate the Bush brand after W fucked it up.
And he will do it to secure his family's place in the oligarchy just like Clinton did before him by become GHW Bush's buddy.
That kind of work pays really well.
It started in Africa last month, and expect to see more of it as we go along....in a few years I would not be surprised to see an aircraft carrier named after the chimp.

[warrant46]

47. LOL

The Chimp will have a carrier some day

I wonder what the insignia symbol will be

Here is Daddy's




I wonder where this photo will be on the insignia

[KoKo]

87. It will be a "Drone Craft Carrier"...since they just sucessfully landed

the first one.

Perhaps in a decade there will be a Drone Craft Carrier named after our current President...He certainly will deserve that honor at least.

[on point]

48. What a effing sell out lie!

[The Great Dadda]

49. Presidents always watch out for each other

That's normal. I do not condemn Obama.

[Scurrilous]

65. Yes it is normal and expected.

Welcome to DU.

[ronnie624]

71. Of course.

President Obama is a product of the existing power structure, and as such, he will advance the status quo, just like any other president. Expecting something different is unrealistic, sans any solid reforms to our political process, like the elimination of private funding from political campaigns.

[DeSwiss]

74. Exactly.

That's why nothing ever changes. Except for the worse.

- Thank you for all you've done.

[center]

[/center]

[GliderGuider]

50. None us can see inside Obama's mind. The thing that concerns me most is this:

What if he meant it?

[cantbeserious]

51. I Rest My Case About Obama

eom

[Pterodactyl]

63. We'll see how the jury decides, then.

[wundermaus]

52. ... I'm speechless

and disgusted.

[OnyxCollie]

53. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[blkmusclmachine]

54. One Republican fellating another Republican.

[Beacool]

56. "Kinder and gentler", yeah that's what pops into my mind when I think of the Bushes...........

[firenewt]

57. In some ways Obama is worse than Romney. We knew what we would get with Romney. What

we thought we were getting from Obama turns out to be Romney Lite. He has betrayed us, plain and simple.

[indepat]

59. Tho' kinder and gentler the nation might be, the verdict in Sanford, FL this weekend suggests

it does not appear a kinder and gentler nation for a segment of our population.

[FailureToCommunicate]

60. Can't think of many "good" things GHW Bush did...maybe this one:

[roamer65]

90. I can think of one good thing he did.

Leaving office on January 20, 1993.

[blackspade]

64. WTF?

No words....

[RobertEarl]

67. Just read every comment here

And it makes me glad to know most every DUer here has wisdom.

It's too bad Obama could not just let Bush fade away quietly and without comment. But no, he had to flap his jaws. The country has real problems and Obama praises one of the biggest founder of our problems. WTF?!

[adirondacker]

70. Legacy. FAIL. nt

[DeSwiss]

73. 'We are surely a kinder and gentler nation because of you'

That statement can be taken in more than one way, you know. Because it is technically true that so far, Obama hasn't killed nearly as many people as this guy or his son did. They started wars and Obama mostly shut those wars down. And since they don't count dronings as war and mercenary hits don't count in the official tally, he's golden. Now he has bugged and surveilled a shitload of us, but there you are. Give the man credit, because he sure as hell knows his eleventy-dimensional chess, no doubt about it.

- So we are a kinder and gentler nation. From a certain point of view......

[yurbud]

75. I'm not happy with a lot of stuff Obama has done, but this is just standard DC BS

they spend half their time patting each other on the back with one hand and taking bribes with the other.

[idwiyo]

77. On behalf of myself let me say I am going to vomit after reading those words.

[Judi Lynn]

78. Oh, to be sure. What a prince George H. W. is, after all.

Now I'm starting to think President Obama just might be a foreigner! Otherwise, how could he not know how destructive that scum bucket is, how bloodthirsty, crooked, and treacherous?

Maybe it just means he's actually a Tea Bagger who's been in disguise all this time.

[panzerfaust]

79. Its over folks. Just go on home.

"Kinder and gentler nation ... can't thank you enough" Did Bush scratch him behind the ears after this untrue and fawning praise?

[Turbineguy]

80. The universal problem with being in politics

is that you have to invent nice things to say.

[Orsino]

83. And we aren't.

We are meaner, more ignorant and militaristic, in no small part due to Poppy's escalations of the class war.

[Solly Mack]

84. Snicker.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

85. That's called politics

And he more or less, had to say something nice. Face it folks, this is the way our system runs.

[roamer65]

89. Nixon on Babs Bush.

"That woman sure knows how to hate."

Tricky Dickie got that one right.

How Obama can sit there and say this stuff with sincerity is beyond me.

[adirondacker]

94. That should be on her tombstone. nt

[Steerpike]

95. a blatant and terrible lie

"On behalf of all of us, let me just say that we are surely a kinder and gentler nation because of you"

The President supports and respects the Murder and Rape of Women and Children?

Maybe I'm just being too sensitive...

[hopemountain]

96. i imagine he'll be getting some

silent treatment and nothing else from michele for a few days.

sheesh. that was a pretty high price of bullshit to pay for decorum, mr. president.