Welcome Home W - George & Laura (Dallas, Atlanta: neighborhood, school)

[hookem]

I was a little afraid to open this forum thinking that it was going to be full of hateful posts but what a welcome surprise to see such positive feedback from (almost) everyone! Glad to have him in Dallas. I wish him and his wonderful classy wife Laura the best. I bet they are so glad to be out of the spotlight! As with Cowboybootnut, I also hope I get to run into him at some point and be able to shake his hand and thank him for his service to our great country.

[Cowboybootnut]

A good friend of mine, who retired from the Marines a couple years ago and did two tours in Iraq, got to meet President Bush after the second tour. The President showed up at the base in California, thanked all the Marines and their spouses for their service. The President did this individually, and pictures were allowed. My friend's wife even got a little kiss on the cheek from the President. They both think highly of President Bush, and appreciated his visit so much.

My friend later told me (jokingly), "If it were President Clinton kissing my wife, I would have decked him!"

[Lakewooder]

OK I did not like Carter when he was president. But I would be very honored to meet him.

It's exciting to have a former president living in Dallas. I especially like Laura and the fact that she is an SMU girl.

[cobolt]

Many of us who voted for Bush weren't happy with the things he did or didn't care for him as POTUS. That DOESN'T mean we should not wish him well, welcome him back to Texas, and respect him as a human being. I'm not too happy with many of the things he did, was happy with some, but I wish him well. I'm just tired of people unloading on the guy. I'm tired of hearing Obama and his friends continually reminding us of the "mess we inherited from Bush, all wrapped up in a big, red bow." Obama wanted the POTUS job so bad. He got it. He's inherited the mess and he's whining about it, when he wanted the job so bad. Sorry for the digression.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

After reading all of the threads, I am going to add my 0.02. I am going to say this with as much civility as I can and with the understanding that alot of people aren't going to like what I have to say. I am not really happy with the job Bush did. Sure, he could go overseas and take out a dictator(or 2). With that said, I don't see alot of what he did inside of our nation. The best thing I felt he did was the war against the Taliban. Other than that, I can't say that I am happy with everything. To be honest, I felt like more time and resources should have been dedicated to benefiting our nation from the inside. I also felt other things could have been handled better but weren't. Hurricane Katrina for instance. I know that the mayor and the governor were partially resposible, but I also feel all levels of government are to blame. When your local government fails to do right by you, your state government should step in. If the state government fails to step in as it did, the federal government should step in to. Bush was slow about this. By the time help got there, it was too little too late. The war is another issue. The war in Iraq could have been fought better. I thank the troops dearly for protecting this nation. It is Bush that I am dissapointed with. The war should have been a covert war. We went into Iraq under the thinking that there were weapons of mass destruction. Did we find any? No. If it had been a covert war, well, I say it could have been done with a bit earlier.The economy also took a bad hit towards the end of the administration. I feel like I am going to get alot of backlash for these comments, but that is a risk I have to take.

Katrina

Those people were warned many days in advance to get out of that place way before the first rain bands of the storm ever came ashore that there was about to be a devastating hurricane of historical proportions hit the Louisiana coastline. The mayor didn't seem to really care or have any plan of action for his city. If it wasn't for the graciousness of Houstonians & Texans the people of New Orleans would have been up a bayou without a paddle. I won't even get into the FEMA card misuse or the crime that came along with those bad elements of NOLA.

Economy

Bush was handed down a faltering economy by none the less Bill Clinton. We didn't ask for 9-11 it just happened. Clinton could have done something about it when he was in office after the first attempted attack at taking down those towers, but was too busy getting what little balls he did have fondled in the Oval Office.

[grindin]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Katrina

Those people were warned many days in advance to get out of that place way before the first rain bands of the storm ever came ashore that there was about to be a devastating hurricane of historical proportions hit the Louisiana coastline. The mayor didn't seem to really care or have any plan of action for his city. If it wasn't for the graciousness of Houstonians & Texans the people of New Orleans would have been up a bayou without a paddle. I won't even get into the FEMA card misuse or the crime that came along with those bad elements of NOLA.

Well, a lot of "those People" were too poor to afford a way to get out of the city. Must be nice for people to sit on their high and mighty selves to make that observation. Everyone doesn't have the luxury to have a vehicle and stock up with bottles of water and leave for days on end. Like I said, must be nice to sneer at "those people," since most were poor and black, so less of them for the rest of society to worry about if they all drowned in the storm...


That being said, Mayor Nagin should have been a lot more proactive at getting a significant portion of the city populace out of there, but this is New Orleans we're talking about, and that's not a city that is known for efficiency and organization. Even Gov. Blanco was a bumbling mess during that storm. I'm no fan of Bush and his politics, but he can't be entirely blamed for what happened down there, but IMO, more could've been done sooner.

However, the Katrina evacuation was one of the largest evacuations ever in history. Plenty of people had warning and took action and got the hell out of dodge.

[padcrasher]

Oh I will not be putting up any rude signs...but since this is a forum....where people have posted their opinions....I'll just say the man is a disgrace and will go down in history as our worst President bar none.

I was over in Highland Park the other day and those signs made me wince. Shamefull. If we were to truly follow the Rule of Law in this Country, either him or those close to him would be charged with commiting torture just for starters

[cr1039]

Originally Posted by padcrasher

Oh I will not be putting up any rude signs...but since this is a forum....where people have posted their opinions....I'll just say the man is a disgrace and will go down in history as our worst President bar none.

I was over in Highland Park the other day and those signs made my stomach turn. Shamefull.

[momojojo]

I wish the Bush family nothing but peace and happiness and would like to thank the President for keeping us safe. What a job. You couldn't pay me to do it. I hope they enjoy their new home in Texas.

[cr1039]

The arrogance of George Bush has cost precious lives, treasure, public confidence and American good will around the globe.
From his delayed fly-over of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to his refusal to listen to the likes of Colin Powell on the dangers of going to war in Iraq, Bush’s arrogance has been catastrophic to our nation. Bush’s narcissism and self centered personality flaws is borderline psychotic. The damage to those who suffered from Bush’s impairment is incalculable.
It’s not just the dead and wounded from his “I’ll prove Daddy was wrong” war in Iraq, but also the resulting financial burden his refusal to pay for this folly will have on every child in America. His arrogant disregard for massive deficits resulting from tax cuts for his rich friends (remember when Bush jokingly referred to his rich friends as ‘my base’…it was no joke) has added more red ink to the nation’s accounts then all Democratic presidents in history combined!
Arrogance may be justified in successful presidents with concrete results to justify certain haughtiness, but with an incompetent chief executive like George Bush such unjustified egotism can adversely affect millions.