The Bush Legacy

Preznit git bad review:

Decision Points flaunts its postmodernity by blurring the distinction between fiction and non-fiction. That is to say, the parts that are not outright lies – particularly the accounts of Hurricane Katrina and the lead-up to the Iraq War – are the sunnier halves of half-truths. The legions of amateur investigative journalists on the internet – as usual, doing the job the major media no longer perform – are busily compiling lists of those lies. Gerhard Schroeder has already stated that the passage in which he appears is completely false. And even Mother has weighed in. Interviewed recently on television, she said she never showed Junior that jar, but maybe ‘Paula’ did. (It was assumed we would know that Paula was the maid.)

Probably the first and last time I will see the names George W. Bush and Michel Foucault in the same piece.

‘Damn Right’, I Said [London Review of Books]

Maybe there’s a God after all:

If you plug your brand-new “Decision Points” audiobook into your Windows computer, you’ll get some pretty unexpected track titles. Why? Because in 2007, various artists made a protest album called “George W. Bush,” and the online database that Windows Media uses to fill in the track titles thinks your audiobook is their album.

There have been complaints of late — we’re guessing from someone who got a copy for Christmas — that chapter titles like “Innocent Children Die” and “Bush It” were popping up when they loaded the album on Windows Media Player.

Other replacement track titles include “The Mistake”, “Death of Democracy”, “The Weapon of Fear”, and “Iraqi Oil Production”. It might be the first time we’ve ever regretted using a Mac, since iTunes uses a different database for CD titles. Then again, we can’t think of a reason we’d ever permit “Decision Points” on our hard drive — we have a strict policy against malware.

Bush Audiobook Chapters Now Include “Bush It” For Windows Users [TPM]

IRAQI REFUGEES WHO RETURNED NOW LEAVING AGAIN. “(NEWSER) – Nearly 100,000 refugees have returned to Iraq since 2008, but many are leaving again—and for some, this may be the last time. “I was near a female suicide bomber a couple months ago. Then I was in my brother’s truck when insurgents opened fire on a bridge. My friend was killed in front of me with a knife,” one tells the New York Times, highlighting the fact that despite the improvements that induced so many to return, the nation remains far from secure.”

Decision Points, George W. Bush, 2010:

I asked each man two questions. Do you have everything you need to win? And are you comfortable with the strategy? Each commander answered affirmatively. Tommy spoke last. “Mr. President,” the commanding general said, “this force is ready.” I turned to Don Rumsfeld. “Mr. Secretary,” I said, “for the peace of the world and the benefit and freedom of the Iraqi people, I hereby give the order to execute Operation Iraqi Freedom. May God bless the troops.” Tommy snapped a salute. “Mr. President,” he said, “May God bless America.”

American Soldier, Tommy Franks, 2004:

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We were going to ignore this, but after a Stinquer tip and seeing it turn into a Twitter meme, we realized we have an editorial responsibility to clue you in:

George W. Bush’s pro-life stance solidified when he was a teenager in Texas — after his mother suffered a devastating miscarriage and showed him the fetus in a jar, the former president said in an extraordinary interview that airs tonight.

“She said to her teenage kid, ‘Here’s the fetus,'” the shockingly candid Bush told NBC’s Matt Lauer, gesturing as if he were holding the jar during the TV chat, a DVD of which The Post exclusively obtained.

Shrub’s Miss Me Yet book tour begins tonight on NBC — now with 100% less Conan!

George W. Bush bares family tragedy that changed him forever [NY Post, via JWMcSame]

Karl Rove: “The damage extended beyond Mr. Bush’s presidency. The attacks on Mr. Bush poisoned America’s political discourse. Saying the commander-in-chief intentionally lied America into war is about the most serious accusation that can be leveled at a president. The charge was false — and it opened the way for politicians in both parties to move the debate from differences over issues into ad hominem attacks.” [WSJ]

“A decade ago, U.S. government regulators warned that a major deepwater oil spill could start with a fire on a drilling rig, prove hard to stop and cause extensive damage to fish eggs and wetlands because there were few good ways to capture oil underwater.” Oh, but that was Shell, not BP. And it was 2000, before Cheney. Never mind. [McClatchy]