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George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States, Dies At 94 (washingtonpost.com)
George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, has passed away tonight at the age of 94. As The Washington Post reports, he was "the last veteran of World War II to serve as president, he was a consummate public servant and a statesman who helped guide the nation and the world out of a four-decade Cold War that had carried the threat of nuclear annihilation." From the report: Although Mr. Bush served as president three decades ago, his values and ethic seem centuries removed from today's acrid political culture. His currency of personal connection was the handwritten letter -- not the social media blast. He had a competitive nature and considerable ambition that were not easy to discern under the sheen of his New England politesse and his earnest generosity. He was capable of running hard-edge political campaigns, and took the nation to war. But his principal achievements were produced at negotiating tables.
Despite his grace, Mr. Bush was an easy subject for caricature. He was an honors graduate of Yale University who was often at a loss for words in public, especially when it came to talking about himself. Though he was tested in combat when he was barely out of adolescence, he was branded "a wimp" by those who doubted whether he had essential convictions. This paradox in the public image of Mr. Bush dogged him, as did domestic events. His lack of sure-footedness in the face of a faltering economy produced a nosedive in the soaring popularity he enjoyed after the triumph of the Persian Gulf War. In 1992, he lost his bid for a second term as president. Bush's spokesman Jim McGrath announced his death on Twitter, but didn't provide the cause of death. In 2012, he announced that he had vascular Parkinsonism, a condition that limited his mobility.
UPDATE: George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, has issued a statement on the passing of his father: "Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro, and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died. George H. W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41's life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad, and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens."
Despite his grace, Mr. Bush was an easy subject for caricature. He was an honors graduate of Yale University who was often at a loss for words in public, especially when it came to talking about himself. Though he was tested in combat when he was barely out of adolescence, he was branded "a wimp" by those who doubted whether he had essential convictions. This paradox in the public image of Mr. Bush dogged him, as did domestic events. His lack of sure-footedness in the face of a faltering economy produced a nosedive in the soaring popularity he enjoyed after the triumph of the Persian Gulf War. In 1992, he lost his bid for a second term as president. Bush's spokesman Jim McGrath announced his death on Twitter, but didn't provide the cause of death. In 2012, he announced that he had vascular Parkinsonism, a condition that limited his mobility.
UPDATE: George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, has issued a statement on the passing of his father: "Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro, and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died. George H. W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41's life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad, and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens."
He was famous for saying, "Read my lips, no new taxes." and then raising taxes. Awful liar.
In retrospect, that was a fairly harmless lie compared to what's come since.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
McCarthy was Congress, Hoover wasn't exposed yet, FBI was SOP for the day. Typically the oversight role was Congress and the courts. The best you can do is go re-read your books with both eyes open.
George HW Bush ushered in the era of Republican smear campaigns, that's his legacy.
You might want to read up on Richard Nixon. He was a master smearer, but even he did not originate the artform.
His smear describing his 1950 senate campaign opponent, Helen Douglas, as "Pink right down to her underwear" is a classic.
Dick Nixon was, of course, the target of plenty of Democratic smears himself.
Seriously, there isn't even a hint of a tech or geek angle to post this story on slashdot.
GHWB lived most of his life before computers or the Internet were widespread, but he wore glasses, was socially inept, and few women found him attractive. I always felt he was a geek in his heart, the "Calvin Coolidge" of his time. In many ways, he was "one of us".
Set the stage for the 2003 homicide spree in Iraq (Gulf War II).
No he didn't. He very eloquently and clearly explained why "going to Baghdad" would have been a supremely stupid thing to do in 1991. Everything he said applied just as much in 2003.
It is not his fault that his son was a moron.
His son was not the reason why Dick Chaney and corporate America made it a priority to invade Iraq instead of going after Pakistan and the Taliban. At the time Sadam was continuing to manage to ship oil on the sly to Asia and work in conjunction with Pakistan to develop strategic nukes. If Sadam had managed things better then things might have been different, he would not have been caught with his pants down and might have even clobbered the shit out of Dick Chaney and company if he had taken the help that was offered to him on the sly by China and some of the disaffected crowds in Russia. That is why Chaney was in such a hurry to take out Sadam, he was starting to effect the worlds oil supply again and was slowly building up support in Asia and Russia that would soon have made it impossible for the US to control.
No the second gulf war was a war to make certain that oil would only flow to China largely through companies approved by the real oil cartels which are run by the major corporations. Chaney made certain that the big payoff for the US in undertaking the second Gulf war was the sudden dominance in world wide oil patch industries by Halliburton. In Canada Halliburton then swallowed up all sorts of major corps like Schlumberger and the like as a direct result of all the cash they were paid to do the logistics of the second Gulf war. In case you are interested at the time Canada started to ship more oil to the US than any other country or region on earth so the US was not that interested in how Iraq oil effected the world market only that Sadam would stop making his money from it.
The Bush era was and is the era of big oil and the consequences of not diversifying the energy economy fast enough in the US. This is the real legacy of the Bush presidencies, the inability to wean the US off fossil fuels quickly enough. GM and others have finally seen the writing on the wall, as does anyone with half a brain except the petro chemical industry which still runs the United States and far to much of the worlds economy. The legacy of the Republican party and the petrochemical industry in the US is what history will remember the most about the Bush family. And the fact that the oil industry controlled the presidency of the US and led the world down the path to what has is essentially corporate despotism culminating in the presidency of the complete moron puppet that is now in power.
Bush Jr. invaded Iraq, Bush Sr. invaded Kuwait. He made two big mistakes. Telling the Iraqi Shi'ites to rebel against Saddam and then didn't back them...they never forgave the U.S. for that. The other mistake was giving Kuwait back to the fat boys in the robes. What should have happened to give Kuwait to the Palestinians. It would have removed the biggest threat to Israel, paid the Kuwaitis back for being such fuck ups, and given the Iranians and Saudis their own private Palestinian problem. It have been an easy sell to the PLO, Arafat was always a sleaze and it comes with its own oil supply.
George H.W. Bush was instrumental in undermining the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro ... and then bullshitting about it, calling the US a "global leader" for the climate in a speech.
After having got a letter from his buddy Ken Lay at Enron before the event, he made sure sure that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's mandatory emission cuts were replaced with voluntary measures. He also got it changed that developing nations would be exempt. For many nations, including the US -- the world's biggest polluter -- this meant no change at all. Also, that China -- then (and for some inexplicable reason, still ) classified as a "developing nation" could increase its emissions.
Greenpeace called him a "environmental degenerate" and a "highway robber".
It has been said by many researchers that have looked back, that if it hadn't been for Bush in '92, the world's climate would have been in a much better state than now.
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
The US basically tricked Iraq into invading Kuwait. Kuwait was pumping oil from Iraqi oil fields (horizontal drilling). When they refused to stop, Saddam Hussein met with American diplomats to ask if the US would have any problem with an Iraqi military action against Kuwait. The US told him that it wouldn't be a problem since we don't get involved in regional conflicts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Glaspie