Bush Plans To Start Think Tank Devoted to French Political Thought
Bush Plans To Start Think Tank Devoted to French Political Thought
CBS will air a portion of its interview with President Bush on Sunday’s Face the Nation. You can look forward to this exchange:
CBS: “Have you had time to think about what you’re going to do after you’re president?â€
BUSH: “I’m beginning to think it through a little bit. I’d like to leave behind a legacy — or a think tank, a place for people to talk about freedom and liberty and the DeTocqueville model of what DeTocqueville saw in America.â€
It’s curious that Alexis DeTocqueville is Bush’s inspiration for a think tank. DeTocqueville was a French political thinker who traveled extensively around America in the early 1800s and wrote famously of his perceptions of the U.S. in a two-volume set entitled Democracy In America. A review of DeTocqueville’s writings suggests that, though he wrote in the 19th Century, he may as well have been studying the politics of the Bush administration:
“I foresee that all the military rulers who may rise up in great democratic nations will find it easier to conquer with their armies than to make their armies live at peace after conquest. There are two things that a democratic people will always find very difficult, to begin a war and to end it.†[Link]
“I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.†[Link]
“The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.†[Link]
“All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.†[Link]
“When an opinion has taken root among a democratic people and established itself in the minds of the bulk of the community, it afterwards persists by itself and is maintained without effort, because no one attacks it.†[Link] (Note: DeTocqueville never imagined the creation of blogs)
We look forward to Bush’s interpretation of DeTocqueville and the opening of his think tank. Perhaps he’ll create an institutional blog, which would provide a wonderful forum to debate his legacy.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
112 Responses to “Bush Plans To Start Think Tank Devoted to French Political Thought”
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Oh, but Mr. President, you have left behind a legacy.
CHEATING
LYING
MURDERING U.S. SOLDIERS
SWIFTBOATING REAL VETERANS WHO OPPOSE YOU
HIRING OTHERS TO DO YOUR DIRTY WORK
HURRICANE KATRINA
VOTER FRAUD
SUPREME COURT DEBACLES
ARROGANCE ON PART OF YOU AND YOUR ADMINISTRATION
HIGH GAS PRICES
UNEMPLOYMENT
MANIPULATING THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA
TRYING TO QUIET PEOPLE LIKE US
INVASION OF PRIVACY WITHOUT LEGAL APPROVAL
RACISM
SEXISM
TOO MANY VACATIONS
JUST BEING STUPID
OH, AND 9/11
ECT, ECT, ECT….
I’d go on and on but my friends here will probably continue on what your legacy has been. And boy, are we sorry we have to live through it.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:14 pmBush is a certified nut!
He will leave NO legacy behind when he is gone!
Most likely he will be remembered like Hitler as a savage!
January 28th, 2006 at 11:16 pmSee what happens when Bush’s workwife/tutor Condi moves to State.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:16 pmIf this is the foundation of this man’s beliefs, we need to move to another planet before this one is scorched.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:27 pmThink Tank? More like a stink tank. What a joke…..when he’s through, democracy will be DOA.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:36 pmObviously, Chimpy thinks “Toqueville” is some sort of obscure reference from a Brewer & Shipley song.
You know, like, “Take me to Tocqueville, Dr. Bong.”
January 28th, 2006 at 11:37 pmI’d like to leave behind a legacy — or a think tank, a place for people to talk about freedom and liberty and the DeTocqueville model of what DeTocqueville saw in America.â€
We supposed to believe he’s studied DeTocqueville?!? Oh. Kaay.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:39 pmI just picture laura ’stepford’ bush reading this to him and his reply: “Boy howdy lar, them’s some big words,re-arrange them some, and sign my name to it.” ….Chimpy, I do wish you the SAME legacy as NIXON. FORCED TO RESIGN.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:39 pmNo doubt Smirky has some deep thoughts on Camus and Derrida, as well.
I’ve heard he would also like to devote some time to crtiquing the dramaturgy of Samuel Beckett, and further developing the non-temporal, atonal music theory of John Cage.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:46 pmI think that W is more into dementia.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:50 pmThe idea of Bush thinking is amazing to me, much less him inspiring a new generation of thinkers.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:51 pmI’d like to get some of whatever Bush is smokin’. Must be really good chit.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:52 pmThis is a joke, right? The site has been hacked?
January 28th, 2006 at 11:59 pmIt’s not what he is smoking, all the taps on the second floor of the White House dispense vodka. Rinses out the Scotch and ciggies and makes an excellent Highball when mixed with Jack Daniels, neat.
January 29th, 2006 at 12:03 amThe obvious choice to head the institute? Jeff Gannon.
January 29th, 2006 at 12:05 am“Alexis de Tocqueville once observed that it is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.”
January 29th, 2006 at 12:16 ammaybe w HAS been studyin’ some…
We can only take solace in Bush’s accomplishments. From his business ventures to the presidency, all failures.
January 29th, 2006 at 12:16 amAll right, I have to say it:
One Tocque over the line.
January 29th, 2006 at 12:17 amNow what would one do with a Think Tank that only has one book, called The Pet Goat?
Hmm whats it about?
The author, Siegfried Engelmann, is a retired professor who taught special education at the University of Oregon
Seems Duhbya has found his true calling…
January 29th, 2006 at 12:30 amOK, I’ll have to say it: If W ever starts a think tank, it’ll run on empty.
January 29th, 2006 at 12:32 amfrom daily show site, jon’s guest a few days ago: “Bernard-Henri Lévy, author of American Vertigo (:Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville) talks about traveling across America”…
January 29th, 2006 at 12:33 amw’s inspiration? Levy has been making the talk show rounds with his book…
#21, I saw that show. That guy seemed to be a crackpot. I’m sure Tocqueville was a ton smarter than him. He seemed to be at the Bush level of intelligence.
January 29th, 2006 at 12:36 amAlexis de Tocqueville once observed that it is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.
Bloggers observed that the World does not like being lied to choosing to accept complex truth.
January 29th, 2006 at 12:40 amBush go Fuck Yourself!!!! And you wanna know where the wmds are, they’re in my backyard, along with osama bin laden hahahahahahahahaha!!!
January 29th, 2006 at 12:41 amcould be…here is an amazon review:
“In 1831, an aristocrat from France arrived in America to study its prison system. Soon Mr. Tocqueville expanded his study from observations about American jails to America itself. His subsequent book, “Democracy in America” (1835-1840) became a prophetic classic with its essays on the divides within a democracy. After 150 years, it remains in print. Now another Frenchman has decided to “follow in the footsteps of Tocqueville” with “America Vertigo”, translated from the original French edition.
Mr. Levy wrote his book to explain America to his countrymen but he should have left the Tocqueville conceit out of the title. First of all, Mr. Levy did make it to the Iowa State Fair and California (stops not on Mr. Tocqueville’s itinerary since he did not travel to the wilderness beyond the Mississippi River — Louisiana and Michigan was as far west as he went). Second, “America Vertigo” is a collection of travel vignettes and cultural insights with minimal political commentary, unlike Mr. Tocqueville’s analysis of the party system and slavery. Judged on its own merits, “American Vertigo” is a breezy read — an entertaining book the reader can put down for a while and pick right back up. “
January 29th, 2006 at 12:42 amBush can’t be making this crap up, one of his lackies saw the Daily show, told pickles and she spoon fed him what Cheney, Rove or Rice said. Just more Bush Sh** to keep the masses busy while they pull off something else. Maybe keep everyone busy and not thinking about his radical right wing judge Alito..Blessings
January 29th, 2006 at 12:46 amwell, hopefully they caught the show with Reza Aslan (the next night or so) and passed on the word that iran is no immediate threat to anyone…worth a listen:
January 29th, 2006 at 12:53 amhttp://www.comedycentral.com/ shows/ the_daily_show/ videos/ celebrity_interviews/ index.jhtml
Bush and “think tank”??? We’ll, at least the “tank” part fits him.
January 29th, 2006 at 1:01 ami recently visited the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock and it was inspiring to see a story of someone who became President through genuine merit, who rose from humble beginnings and reached the top. it made me wonder what travesty the George W. Bush Presidential Library will be. it’s hard to imagine many books besides Mein Kampf, The Prince, and My Pet Goat, and as for personal achievement, will there be a box of Saudi money and the caption - “My start in politics”
And what of the security? No doubt to reflect W’s brand of government you will be beaten and tortured for the slightest unorthodoxy in the exact in every particular recreations of Abu Graib and Gitmo.
I was not alone in shedding a tear for the pre-Bush America, sat in the theatre at the Clinton Library. karl rove might like to spout crap about the Dems being in a “pre 9/11 mindset” but i hope we see a day with him sat in a jail cell, adjusting to the American people’s brand new post-Dubya mindset.
January 29th, 2006 at 1:04 amHe’s a tanked thinker. If he thinks at all. Does an impeached president even get to have a presidential library?
January 29th, 2006 at 1:17 amyeah, he gets a Presidential Library, and if he gets his way, attendance will be compulsory.
January 29th, 2006 at 1:23 amW# is not an idiot, he’s not that intelligent.
January 29th, 2006 at 1:26 amBush is stupid enough to believe that a think tank can fire depleated uranium projectiles. Damn, I’ve just opened myself up to an illegal NSA wiretap.
January 29th, 2006 at 1:26 amSo Bush wants to start culinary think tank based on the DelTacoville model.
January 29th, 2006 at 1:30 amHeck, I had to get spyware blockers from Europe.
January 29th, 2006 at 1:30 amextreme - that reminds me…my daughter and i drove to austin tx from illinois to meet with family for thanksgiving…i wanted to visit the clinton library on the way, but it didn’t work out…we did stop and look around - it was 6pm, just after closing…and then i had to pee so very badly (you ladies of a certain age will understand) and the only place i could find was behind a low wall between some bushes, next to the school of public service (!) …well, i related this story to my bushie lovin’/clinton hatin’ sister and her husband and they remarked that it was most appropriate to p-ss on clinton and i answered that i was sure he would understand and even get a good grin out of it…i know i was most grateful for that wall ! …i also know i want to go back and visit it properly…it was impressive, even from the outside…thanks bill…
January 29th, 2006 at 1:39 amquite a lull…
January 29th, 2006 at 1:55 amwell…it was supposed to be a funny story…sorry if i offended ya’ll…
whodda thunk it?
it’s late…g’nite…
Seriously, I burst outlaughing after reading Bush’s quotes in this piece. This country is in trouble my friend…
January 29th, 2006 at 2:00 amhttp://pinhut.blogspot.com/ 2006/ 01/ somewhere-special.html
katy, here’s a few pics of the library i took - clinton’s presidential cowboy boots are awesome!
January 29th, 2006 at 2:08 amfrom daily show site, jon’s guest a few days ago: “Bernard-Henri Lévy, author of American Vertigo (:Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville) talks about traveling across Americaâ€â€¦
w’s inspiration? Levy has been making the talk show rounds with his book…
Comment by katy
You are probably right. The French scare Bush. A French waiter was rude to him once and it traumatized him for life. The story about Clinton was funny, it’s a football weekend so traffic is slow here.
January 29th, 2006 at 3:12 amI think Chimpy is confusing DeTocqueville with Tomas De Torquemada…..
January 29th, 2006 at 5:17 amDeTocqueville? De Sade, he means.
Bush is a mass-muderer and a war criminal. He’s not going to have a nice post-career and a presidential library with all the fixings.
The Bush Bastille must fall. Lafayette gave Thomas Paine the key of the Bastille as a trophy of freedom from the cruel and capricious negligent incompetence of a royal and his dungeon. Take that key, tie it to Benjamin Franklin’s kite, and stick it to this Louis (*after trial, of course). He’s toast.
January 29th, 2006 at 5:27 amGood Morning. Think Tank. Isn’t that a little bit of an oxymoron? If it does happen it will be classified, so we probably will never hear about it. Can you imaging the torture little towns will have to endure from the private stooges coming to screen the local “folks”. What was that guys’n name in Colorado that pulled the people out of an event because of a bumper sticker that said No blood for Oil, Forester, wasn’t it? The President will become bubble boy right after he gets his first real good couple of 2-3 thousand protesters welcoming him to retirement. I bet he’ll want a cabinet position, like Interior, or he will never leave Texas. Thanks for the pulverizing week TP.
January 29th, 2006 at 6:52 amHell, Nixons got library why not bush.
January 29th, 2006 at 7:00 amSure Bush can have his own library - with various reading rooms featuring My Pet Goat, a couple torture rooms, and a water-boarding “Think” Tank….:) Perhaps it should be built on a very rural setting so he can spend his retirement years “clearing brush” - a task he seems much better suited for than his current employment.
(and it’s extremely ironic that he’d choose to “model” a “think tank” after a french political thinker - what, after the “freedom fries” crap? go figure.)
January 29th, 2006 at 7:53 amI believe that this was the old frat-boy Bush talking here trying to get some laughs from his old buds. As usual, the joke’s on him: its “De Tocquevelle” not “De TOKE-ville”.
January 29th, 2006 at 8:04 am“In a democracy the people get exactly the government they deserve”
Alexis de Tocqueville
January 29th, 2006 at 8:22 amAt least this “tank” will provide some comic relief.
“Stay the course” is not a strategy. It’s a slogan.”
-Carl Levin
January 29th, 2006 at 8:27 amPlunger, here is a good book with an awesome chapter regarding the Neocons. Sorry it doesn’t have all the spicy cartoonish adjectives you might want but it neatly surmises your theories. “The War for Muslim Minds” by Kepel. Enjoy.
January 29th, 2006 at 9:09 amMy god we are in one helluva place …. Someone needs to take this man out to the farm err ranch… are they going to call it Vulcan Spin? Damn bush is planning on destroying our Consitution and rewriting it.
bush will be in Nashville Tn on Feb1 @ Opryland Hotel speaking to the Correction Corp Of American(on the success of privatizing prisions and profits). Time 10:0 to 12:30 grab aplane grab a car walk,run, whatever it takes come and help protest the stooge in the empty suit.CCA had a huge scandal in the late 90’s guess bush is going to pin a medal on Smerling the past owner for profits.
January 29th, 2006 at 9:16 amW ,should study the works of marechal Lyautay would was to pacify Morocco after WW1.He did it in his own words :
January 29th, 2006 at 9:40 am” Not by the sword but the plow “.
He entered in conversations with the arabs , conquerers and occupiers of Morocco since the 5th century and the kabylls , native of Morocco who were of of Judeo religion . They were defeated , the ususal moslem way ,promise of peace , then slaughtered into submission and conversion and pushed to live in the Atlas mountains . There is no love between the Kabyls and the hated arabs . Lyautey used that division and put the masses of unemployed to build Morocco.
The subsequent french occupiers were not so smart a la W . and were ask to leave after WWII.
To lose democraty here at home is to apply the principles set by Tocqueville and not emulate Lyautay . Yes W.,would do well to study the french and not be a throw back of the 19th century unruly capitalists.
#47 - plunger
Good questions. Bush&Co don’t want to explore the truth about 9/11. They just want us to believe what they tell us.
If everything they tell us now is lies, then it makes sense that the first big lie was what was fed to us about 9/11.
January 29th, 2006 at 10:05 am#
January 29th, 2006 at 10:08 amWhere is the outrage? I know this is off topic, but we should be emphatically denouncing Alito’s confirmation, and making it known that future political support and contributions will be contingent upon the senator’s opposition to Alito. In other words any senator who fails to vote “NO†on Alito will be opposed in future elections.
George should read the history of France that preceded the French Revolution. The ruling elite had gone too far placing the burden of supporting the country on the backs of the masses who could no longer sustain that burden, The arrogance shown by the french aristocracy is strikingly similar to that shown by that of the ruling elite in DC at this time. While the storming the Bastille is out of the question, the powers that be are in for a surprise in November, and far too many moderate republicans and independents no longer believe the party line so a campaign of terrorism and we’ll lower your taxes will fail. what people are crying out fro is lower utility bills, gas prices, health care. A savings account will do no good for the millions losing their pensions and the health care that went alone with it.
January 29th, 2006 at 10:17 amBush is name dropping ‘Intellectual’ books
Heres YET another Chicken Dropping
or ‘Chicken Kiev’ Wimpdom;
Goldberg talks to the former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, whose book, “The Case for Democracy,” came to national attention when George W. Bush told the Washington Times, “If you want a glimpse of how I think about foreign policy, read Natan Sharansky’s book.” In the book, Sharansky criticizes Bush’s father for a speech he gave in 1991, in Ukraine, opposing a break with the Soviet Union — a speech critics labelled “Chicken Kiev.”
January 29th, 2006 at 10:42 amWell the last time Bush was asked this question, he said, “we’ll all be dead”. I suspect this is really how he feels.
But probably Rove or Laura got on his butt and told George that he needs to do some thinking and come up with a better response. Laura is the reader in the family. Perhaps she wants a job after his Presidency.
“George W. Bush, when asked by Bob Woodward “how is history likely to judge your Iraq war?” replied, “History, we don’t know. We’ll all be dead.” (Woodward Shares War Secrets, CBS News, 60 Minutes, April 18, 2004).”
This is the first president, that I can remember in my lifetime, that is more concerned about his own personal legacy than doing the job he has right now. Perhaps if he would think more about doing the job he has right now right, that the legacy would come. You can’t buy a true legacy, it is hard work; it has to be authentic. You have to live it and it has to be part of your core.
To me, Bush’s legacy will be his joking about not finding WMD’s. Who in their right mind jokes about WMD and war… On the one hand we went to war because we had an eminent threat, a mushroom cloud, but on the other hand, then shortly after they scared us to death to go to war, they joked about it! Although, his actions and his facial expression when he rushed out of the room in China and could not open the door was the Universe trying to tell us something. Speaking of symbolism… this has to be the symbolism President (”mission accomplished”, pre-screened events, military backgrounds, flight suit, etc., etc). Which brings up, is there anything real about Bush. Or, it might be the culture of corruption, lack of leadership, never using the veto, the destruction of the environment, the mixing of church and state. Or, it might be the secrecy, presidential powers, admonishing debate and Ari Flesher saying things like, “…people had better watch what they say.”, and who can forget Katrina and the dead Americans lying in the streets. You don’t have to be a Democrat, Republican, or Independent to see the truth. Truth is nonpartisan.
Watch what they do, not what they say…
January 29th, 2006 at 11:16 amThe Morphing President
http://www.theillustrateddailyscribble.com/ daily.scribble.pages/ 07.21.04.html
http://www.theillustrateddailyscribble.com/ daily.scribble.pages/ 07.12.04.html
January 29th, 2006 at 11:31 amBush is a lunatic, so his Think Tank idea is just one of his rants! He is Bi-Polar so one minute he thinks everything he does is for the people, then the next minute he wants to torture everybody!
January 29th, 2006 at 11:46 amDeTocqueville is simply a name on a post-it that Bush memorized to give the impression that he has a brain allowing him to read with comprehension.
January 29th, 2006 at 11:53 amThink Progress, isn’t it still a bit early for an April Fool’s joke???
Some Bush wisdom as to what his ‘think’ tank wll be like…
“As you know, these are open forums, you’re able to come and listen to what I have to say.”
“I’m also not very analytical. You know I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things.”
“I wish you would have given me this written question ahead of time, so I could plan for it… You know, I just — I’m sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn’t yet.”
“Sometimes, words have consequences you don’t intend them to mean.”
“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”
“I’m trying to figure out what else I can say that you — I didn’t say yesterday that sounds profound to you without — without actually answering your question. ”
“Actually, I this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I like it. When I’m talking about when I’m talking about myself, and when he’s talking about myself, all of us are talking about me.”
January 29th, 2006 at 11:55 amSure the chimp gets a presidential library. They build it themselves, have a committee do it, from donations.
I can see the bush library now. God, what an edifice. It will reach into the sky, probably become the worlds tallest building.
Topping off the grand edifice will be a statute of bush. He will have on a cowboy hat, and a cape. In his left hand, closest to his heart will be the shredded constitution. In the other hand, MY PET GOAT.
The bush library will be open 24 hours a day and serve pop tarts and dunkin donuts to all who donate $20 or more. There will be millions of books in the library, no presidential papers though, the administration had to burn them all.
In order to fill all this space Bush will order the Library of Congress to be moved to his library situated next to Crawford, Texas. The library will be so big that it will have its own zip code. In fact they will name the town BUSHVILLE.
As you approach the library, off to your left will be a huge pedestal with a military fighter jet perched atop it. The placque will say that this was the jet fighter craft that Bush flew during the Vietnam war, defending the Gulf of Mexico from the huge Vietnam Air Force. Someone will discover that the jet perched atop that pedestal is a jet that was not even in service at the time bush half served in TANG. The MSM will keep it quite however.
One thing will be missing in this huge temple to this faux God. His list of accomplishments. There will be too few to list, but Roverboy will spin it the other way, there were just too many to list in one place.
Oh God, what did we ever do without him?
January 29th, 2006 at 11:58 am#58, What? We can’t storm the White House with our torches and pitchforks? We can’t put them on carts to the guillotine in the public square?
January 29th, 2006 at 12:03 pmI so want this arrogant and ignorant cabal punished in public. But in light of a more sophisticated populace than the French revolutionists, I will be satisfied with impeachment, removal from office, and trials in court, followed by life in cell blocks for them.
This should be followed up by the media. Someone should try to have a real discussion of de Toqueville with him and see how far it goes before the little man is intellectually de-pantsed. He could just for the sake of form learn to pronounce Mr. de Toquevilles name correctly.
January 29th, 2006 at 12:06 pm#69 No Marie but in November we can start telling them to GET A REAL JOB and to stop living off of us, at least those who are up for renewal of their contract. To most of them the prospect of actually having to go to work with no pampering and perks will seem very similar to what you describe. Shame we can’t make a reality show for TV come next Jan. showing these clowns for the hollow SOBs they are.
January 29th, 2006 at 12:20 pmThis should be followed up by the media. Someone should try to have a real discussion of de Toqueville with him and see how far it goes before the little man is intellectually de-pantsed. He could just for the sake of form learn to pronounce Mr. de Toquevilles name correctly.
Comment by Patrick Howe — January 29, 2006 @ 12:06 pm
Yes! Yes! His response would probably sound something like the ’sovereign’ commentary…
“Tribal sovereignty means that; it’s sovereign. I mean, you’re a — you’ve been given sovereignty, and you’re viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities,”
So, you don’t like the way he says nuc-u-lar either?? :)
January 29th, 2006 at 12:34 pmWhat? We can’t storm the White House with our torches and pitchforks? We can’t put them on carts to the guillotine in the public square?
Comment by Marie — January 29, 2006 @ 12:03 pm
If they keep jerking the military around as they have been, you might just get your 21st century version…
January 29th, 2006 at 12:36 pm“DeTocqueville model” my Aunt Fannie. Do you ever get the impression that when Bush explains something weighty to the public, he’s just learned to pronounce it five minutes before that?
January 29th, 2006 at 12:47 pmMaybe he thought it was de Toke Ville!
January 29th, 2006 at 1:33 pmPresidential Primary Poll
Evan Bayh 9%
January 29th, 2006 at 1:57 pmJoe Biden 1%
Wes Clark 13%
Hillary Clinton 7%
John Edwards 6%
Russ Feingold 11%
Al Gore 45%
John Kerry 4%
Tom Vilsack 0%
Mark Warner 4%
Total votes: 493
Maybe Bush should read Democracy in America. The ideology that ADT celebrates in that book (which i studied extensively in college) is so far removed from America, circa, 2006, primarily due to the evil cabal in Washington, that Bush would celarly think it was ancient history. Maybe he needs to find another model to base his think tank on; how about Gerald L.K. Smith?
January 29th, 2006 at 2:04 pmLet’s parse the comment more closely.
He’d like to leave behind a legacy? Well, duh, everyone does, for bad or ill, simply by making an impact on the world.
A legacy OR a think tank? One of the most unintellectual presidents of our time wants to leave behind a think tank? It’s pathetic. As pathetic as those list of books he is supposedly reading, when everyone knows they’re fake, yet they’re reported as gospel every time: Our Noble & Glorious Leader Has Chosen These Inspiring Texts.
A think tank where people talk about freedom and liberty? Now, that’s profound, and certainly there’s nothing at all like it in the country, let alone the entire universe.
People talking about “the DeTocqueville model of what [he} saw in America”? More nonsense. Why devote an institution to studying political observations that are 150+ years old? And besides, he didn’t come up with a model.
The entire comment is riddled with inanities, and utterly fake.
January 29th, 2006 at 2:29 pmBush must have heard the Name “De Tocquelle” mentioned that very morning and he wanted to impress someone. LOL
January 29th, 2006 at 2:35 pmThis is one point that I actually thought he’d tell the truth about–I thought he’d say he wanted to ruin baseball, er, become commissioner of major league baseball.
January 29th, 2006 at 2:36 pmHaving a President who responded to terror attacks rather than a limp wristed, half-hearted lob of a few cruise missiles is a legacy of strength and determination. The only things I see the left willing to do to confront terrorism is appeasement - and duck and hide.
January 29th, 2006 at 2:42 pmDrinking Game tonite! Count how manmy time Chimp say uh - will be drunk in 5 minutes!
January 29th, 2006 at 3:30 pmI propose that the building of his think tank have the following emblem on the front.
January 29th, 2006 at 3:45 pmI hate to think how many years or even decades it will take to unravel the mess this country is in and then to re-establish something that resembles real debate and policy that can even make me feel hopeful again-if it’s not too late.
January 29th, 2006 at 6:26 pmI would love to be there when someone tells W. that “Democracy in America” is a BOOK, without pictures.
He wanted to use his dog-eared Classics Illustrated version as the basis of his think tank. After all, it took his entire concentration to read!
January 29th, 2006 at 6:50 pmI think Sharon’s comment above is spot on — someone on Bushie’s staff keeps tabs on the Daily Show and saw Mr. L`evy the other night, so Bushie memorized the name of a Frenchman from the 19th century who made astute observations in America. Why else would the Texan who allowed his party to rename French fries, who let French wines be poured down sewers without comment, who let his Sec.of Def. deride the French and all of “old Europe?”
January 29th, 2006 at 7:05 pmI think this was a reaction to the Daily Show.
Bush wouldn’t have a clue about Alexis DeTocqueville — someone should ask him so we can all see him squirm.
The Bush presidential library will include the bikes he’s fallen off of, the Segway he fell off of (even though it has a gyroscope), the couch he fell off of, the tree that hit him, the pretzel he choked on, the little box he wears on his back that people pretend isn’t there, the WMD that weren’t there, his military record for service in Vietnam (oh wait that isn’t there either).
It will be a tourist attraction that will make Prairie Dog Village and the Corn Palace look like top educational destinations.
January 29th, 2006 at 8:51 pmBush, like every alcoholic I know likes to thumb his nose at everybody he knows..I’m smarter than you etc. Tocqueville also said It would be interesting to see which would win out…American’s love of freedom or greed. I think Bush’s big joke is he is an important part of greed destroying our country. I’m sure he laughs over this frequently. He truly does hate America.
January 29th, 2006 at 10:02 pmI can’t wait for the Bush II presidential library because I would like to take a big piss on it.
January 29th, 2006 at 10:42 pmmarie - this evening on cspan2 “book tv” (?), a re-broadcast show from earlier this week, featured Bernard-Henri Lévy, author of American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville, in a debate (?) (discussion?) with William Kristol (Weekly Standard) about Tocqueville and his book Democracy in America…i didn’t see/hear the whole thing, but it’s interesting that bush SAYS he wants to base his legacy on the “Tocqueville model”- very different from Kristol’s vision…
January 30th, 2006 at 12:06 am…did that make sense? i wonder when that cbs interview was taped - it’s all b.s. anyway, just for show…
[…] Well, well, who would have thought? In spite of American right-wingers’ ongoing hate-speak of all things French, it appears that George Bush Plans To Start A Think Tank Devoted to French Political Thought: CBS: “Have you had time to think about what you’re going to do after you’re president?†[…]
January 30th, 2006 at 12:51 amActually, pamphleteering, the low-tech version of blogs, was well-known and practised at that time.
Cheers,
January 30th, 2006 at 1:34 amShrubs library might be built by them but the public maintains it, as they do all those crappy places. Why do they build them? Got me, all politicians know how to do is get elected most of them are not extraordinary thinkers, more like manipulators and criminals and for this we honor them? We better get a grip and soon.
January 30th, 2006 at 6:22 amBush would deserve an actual toilet for his library. After all, I’m sure the top of the tank could hold all the books he’s actually ever read…
January 30th, 2006 at 9:20 amA Bush inspired “THINK TANK”?
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaa!!!!!
sh****t!
January 30th, 2006 at 9:23 am#99,
January 30th, 2006 at 11:17 amCheck out #20.
Check out #20.
Comment by WaltTheMan #99
LMAO
hahahahahahaha!!!
You got that right!
January 30th, 2006 at 12:34 pm#93 - Katy - while you were watching C-SPAN did you get a chance to see the segment on the book “Jawbreaker” by Gary Bernsten and Ralph Pezullo?? An intriguing book about the CIA and military hunt for bin Laden, Bernsten, (during a Q & A session), also dealt with the impotent response of the previous administration to the first WTC attack, the bombing at Khobar Towers, the East African embassy bombings, the attack on the USS Cole, etc. Funny, I never expected to use the word “impotent” when discussing the former President.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:42 pm#82, He tried to become Commissioner of Baseball before running for President. He didn’t get the job.
#70, You’re absolutely right. I’m sure if Bob had asked his three questions designed to force him to elaborate, he’d have been crying like Mrs. Alito over being called out on his “word of the day”.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:54 pmno, aphro, i missed that one…but i did give you the opportunity to use you rapier wit and dark humor with your “impotent” remark…you’re welcome.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:54 pm“We look forward to Bush’s interpretation of DeTocqueville and the opening of his think tank. Perhaps he’ll create an institutional blog, which would provide a wonderful forum to debate his legacy.”
Clinton should start a blog of his own where we could debate his legacy of rampant oral STDs in grade and middle schools and of course the ever popular flavored cigar.
January 30th, 2006 at 2:38 pm[…] This post inspired by Bush Plans To Start Think Tank Devoted to French Political Thought at Think Progress. […]
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:54 am[…] Bush had earlier indicated his desire to create a think tank “to talk about freedom and liberty and the DeTocqueville model of what [French political philosopher Alexis] DeTocqueville saw in America.” […]
November 27th, 2006 at 9:37 amThe only way Bush can leave a favorable legacy is if he pays for it with bribes and extortion.
November 27th, 2006 at 9:54 amAs for him and Alexis De Toqueville, I doubt he can even pronounce the name much less comprehend the writing.
Two people named “Marie” posting today. Similar thoughts and comments, but we are not the same person.
November 27th, 2006 at 9:57 amOnly 98 and 99 are the same person — We should make a distinction between us, Marie.
November 27th, 2006 at 9:58 am“Bush is very popular in Dallas.” -Article
Bush: 346,246 50.35%
Kerry: 336,641 48.95%
Man, that’s really popular when 48% of the county voted for a “Michael Dukakis” type Democrat.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:00 amAlways nice to see Bush plan for something… especially a think tank. The very thought of it makes me laugh.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:33 am[…] I could fill you in on all the details of both the future library and think tank here on this post, but there are plenty of other sites you can go to for the gory details who are far more in-the-know. Here are a few to get you started…Think Progress…The Huffington Post…Daily Kos…etc. […]
November 28th, 2006 at 8:10 am[…] But the cherry on the sundae is this little gem: CBS: “Have you had time to think about what you’re going to do after you’re president?†[…]
November 28th, 2006 at 8:36 am[…] “Misunderestimating the President Through Cartoons” runs through March 18 at the Political Cartoon Gallery in London, its only stop. Bush and De Toqueville: here. Comments » […]
January 5th, 2007 at 6:35 amRalph Wiggum
Wow, nice blog.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:05 ammexico cruise vacations
Interestingly, this was on CNN last week.
March 22nd, 2008 at 7:03 amPee Public Pee Public Pissing
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
March 24th, 2008 at 9:06 amGay Incest Gay Cumshots Gay Jock
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
March 27th, 2008 at 7:50 pmPee Female Pee Pee Hole
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
March 29th, 2008 at 4:48 pmYoung Girls Young Teens Angus Young
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
March 31st, 2008 at 12:53 amFaxless Payday Loans
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:20 amFrench Property
Can it be that your server is infected with a virus - I get an Virus warning when I open your site with Firefox - Just for your Info.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:26 pm