December 9, 2018: Long Time Ago, Toad on a Log, Out to Sea

This week witnessed the passing of George H.W. Bush, forty first President of the United States.

It is a bit too early to assess his presidency, especially in light of what has followed, but the eulogies that accompany each President must be seen in light of the event rather than the light of history.

H.W. Or “Pappy” Bush as he was known stands now in the pantheon a much larger figure for compared to his idiot son and the clown that followed, his stature has risen since that November day in 1992 when he was summarily dismissed by the electorate.

Pappy, best known for breaking the pledge to enact “no new taxes”, because the country's finances were still hemorrhaging from the ill-advised tax cuts enacted by his predecessor is otherwise remembered for his much-fabled “thousand points of light” beckoning a “kinder, gentler America” than that left in the wake of Reagan and his draconian budget cuts. It seems like a long time ago.

It is difficult to measure the man, for although he was a one-term-er, he was limited to only four years in office by the independent challenge of Ross Perot who, gathering 20 million votes, denied Bush his second term. Clinton, who succeeded Bush, never won a majority of those voting, for Perot was to enter the race again in 1996 again skewing the results by taking votes from the conservative candidate—in this case Robert Dole.

But for all the rhetoric, all the wise public policy—as best a conservative Republican can advance wise public policy—there were darker sides to his legacy.

It was Pappy who brought along the Roger Stone's, Paul Manaforts, Karl Rove's and Lee Atwaters of this world, giving them access to the highest levels of his campaigns and political strategies. Atwater, famously, apologized to the victims of his gutter politics before he died, but the remainder—all of them brought into the adult political arena from the kindergarten of the Young Republican organization by none other than Richard Outhouse Nixon. It was Reagan and Bush who primarily resurrected their careers after the train wreck of Watergate and this legacy must be held to account.

“He stooped so low, to reach so high” I have written previously, parroting U2. Willie Horton became a national figure in 1988 as Pappy, desperate to head off a much more competent Michael Dukkakis, resorted to smear and base racism. Whenever one evaluates the man, the fact is that no measure of George Bush can be made without reference to the depths he would go in order to win. He made his pact with the devil—in this case Atwater and his acolytes—and he must now forever live with it.

And, one must remember, that the man was forever lost in the eternal predicate. Bush introduced the practice of speaking in incomplete sentences, always in the predicate a practice later perfected by his son and in whose hands we now are burdened with the word salad that continually emits from the mouth, if not the ass, of our pretentious Caesar.

He did have the wisdom of not committing this nation to a long ground war in the Middle East. He did have the wisdom to assemble a real coalition in support of the war—unlike his son, whose coalition consisted in the militarily powerful Estonia, Poland, and Costa Rica. One can give him credit here if one overlooks that it was this administration—this President—who told Saddam Hussein through our ambassador to Iraq that it was a matter of no concern to this nation what Iraq did with Kuwait—bringing on the crisis in the first place.

George made his mistakes. They all do. But he was man enough to own most of them.

At his funeral the likes of James Baker and the younger George, our 43^rd president, spoke about the man and his times. Sitting in the front pew on the isle sat our Caesar Disgustus, scowling like some kind of irritated toad on a drifting log. The contrast could not have been more stark.

Meanwhile, on Facebook, memes appeared mocking our Disgustus, some showing fireworks and celebrations the time comes when the country learns that our current Caesar will have passed. I posted that indeed there will be dancing in the streets, suggesting that when his time comes his body will not be brought from tRUMP tower or Mar-a-lago to Washington to lie in state, but instead will be retrieved from his solitary confinement in a federal or state prison to be loaded on the next garbage scow heading from New York City out to sea.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.