Bush Passes The Buck On Iraq Mistakes And Economic Failures: They’re Not My Fault
Bush Passes The Buck On Iraq Mistakes And Economic Failures: They’re Not My Fault
In his latest exit interview, President Bush continued to shirk any responsibility for the problems in Iraq or for the severe economic recession. When CNN’s Candy Crowley asked whether the problem with pre-war intelligence was “a matter of interpretation” or “a matter of just bum information,” Bush admitted “it was just bad analysis” — done by others, not himself. In fact, he lamented the bad intelligence not because it led to a misguided war but because it made it harder for his administration to promote the war:
CROWLEY: Did you find out what went wrong? Was it a matter of interpretation? Or, was it a matter of just bum information?
BUSH: I think it was just bad analysis. But, it wasn’t just our CIA. It was intelligence services all over the world that believed the same thing. And you know, obviously it made it harder to sustain the public in the — support in dealing with Saddam and in Iraq. … It was just afterwards that it was difficult to sustain support when we didn’t find any weapons.
Bush also refused to take any responsibility for the economic downturn. Crowley specifically asked where the “blame” lay. Bush pointed at “the housing market,” and people who invested “without understanding the nature” of financial products, before settling on “the whole system.” Of course, he leaves himself and his administration conspicuously absent from those deserving blame. Watch it:
Bush’s “pity party” about the “bad analysis” ignores the fact that the bad analysis was conducted by him and his administration. In his desire for war with Iraq at any cost, the Bush administration deliberately ignored warnings that the weapons of mass destruction they so frequently cited to scare the American public probably did not even exist. Beyond that, he and his team actively fabricated “intelligence” that provided the justification they wanted to invade Iraq.
As far as the economy goes, Bush “ignored remarkably prescient warnings” about the collapse of the financial system, eliminated key financial checks and regulations, and bankrupted the country with massive tax cuts for the wealthy while waging two unending wars. Moreover, his hardly-veiled finger-pointing at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a conservative trope that has been thoroughly debunked.
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Worst.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:09 amPresident.
Ever.
Dumber than a wet sack of toe nail clippings.
And even less useful.
As my machinist co-worker used to say:
“that guy could fcuk up an anvil in a desert.”
December 17th, 2008 at 11:12 amCandy Crowley disgusts me on so many levels. The last straw is letting Dinkledonk get away with revisionist history.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:12 amHorse Hockey! Welcome to the sorriest role model for American leadership.
The buck stops elsewhere, preferrably at levels below my appointed friends.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:16 amBush blamed people who invested “without understanding the nature” of financial products.
Bush bragged about financial innovation on Wall Street. Those instruments ratcheted up returns in a rising market. They turned into razor blades on the way down.
Some of those products were vaporware.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:21 amBush: “Ya know, I had the deciderer stuff right all along. The Murkin people wouldna supported military acshun in Iraq if theyd aknown there were no WMD. See, when they found out that there werent none, my approval rating went inta the toilet. Proof that I was right bout their cryinteria for supporting the war on terrr. So, like a good deciderer and co-man-der in chief I made sure the Murkin people understood that there were WMD in Iraq. The strategery of lead-er-shhhip.”
December 17th, 2008 at 11:21 amsay = saw
December 17th, 2008 at 11:22 amBush blamed people who purchased dangerous Chinese products for not understanding the nature of toys and blood thinner medicine.
Bush blamed 7 million people who lost health insurance for not working for companies that provide the benefit.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:22 amBush Passes The Buck On Iraq Mistakes And Economic Failures: They’re Not My Fault»
– - Bush is Chauncey the Gardener, incarnate.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:22 am“With great power comes great responsibility”
Apparently, Dubya never say Spiderman.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:23 amwell, it’s obviously a full-force, full-court, full-whatever,
p.r. job on rewriting history and polishing a turd…
they have nothing to lose – why is the press going along with it?
or are they ALL? how much longer?
can’t wait for the floodgates to open in january.
and they damn well BETTER.
i just want everybody to know what I know… not sure if i’ll add in a “told ya so”, occasionally… … probably.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:24 amHow can the reporters not laugh in his face?
December 17th, 2008 at 11:29 am“What buck?” – George W Bush
December 17th, 2008 at 11:29 amGeorge Eddie Haskell Bush.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:31 amGee, Mrs. Cleaver, some other kids must have made this mess!
Even if everything he said had any factual basis it doesn’t change the fact that he was president while all of these disasters took place. If the intelligence was bad he was the fool who followed it. If the mortgage meltdown was caused by people failing to understand the investments he was the fool whose Treasury failed to warn or regulate. The absolute best possible picture this pitiful effort at revisionist history paints of Bush is as an ineffectual boob drooling in his playpen in the oval office while the country went to hell around him. That is setting the legacy bar awfully low to the ground.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:32 amHarry S. Truman: “The buck stops HERE!”
George WANKER Bush: “I PASS the buck.”
December 17th, 2008 at 11:32 amWHY, as Jonathon Turley so eloquently put it last night, is the American public letting this slide?? This makes Watergate look like a summer picnic !!
Chimpy passes the buck as always and Cheeeeny ADMITS to committing war crimes – PUBLICLY ! WHAT’S UP WITH THAT?????
December 17th, 2008 at 11:37 amCould someone point me to the “RESPONSIBILITY” that Shrub said he was gonna return to govt ?
December 17th, 2008 at 11:45 amWow! Bush just blamed people who live in houses for the economic depression, and he blamed the whole world for the Iraq disaster!
That means there is only one person on the planet who is not to blame for anything that has occurred in the past 8 years!
December 17th, 2008 at 11:53 amBush will have plenty of regrets this time next year, when he’s having trouble finding causes to promote, like all presidents do. I think even the NRA might find him unusable.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:53 amAs Bush walks into the Sunset (Blvd), we hear him exclaim “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up”.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:56 amAnd we expected Chimpy to take responsibility for anything …why??
December 17th, 2008 at 12:00 pmI saw Crowley parading hand in hand with chimpy… Big smile, all is peachy peachy when you have access.
From that moment on, you know that the interview will be laced with lies and revisionism. She should be fired and he should be tried for war crimes.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:05 pmA true psychopath ends his term in the White House. We all know now something about how it feels to sit in a courtroom and watch the man who raped and murdered your child smirk and sneer. History will judge the chimp harshly, but it won’t matter to this wretched excuse for a human being. In the middle ages there were special punishments reserved for killers who lacked conscience. I turned green reading about them and can’t write about them here, but I think about them now. Too bad.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:07 pmWhoop! Whoop! Whoop!
Revisionist History Alert!
Bush Legacy Team at Work!
Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!
Will this never stop?
December 17th, 2008 at 12:08 pmIt doesn’t matter what HE thinks, he can still be procecuted after he’s out of office.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:09 pmCandy Crowley has been in bed with Bush since the Florida recount.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:10 pmCOProgressive Says:
Will this never stop?
______________
No… of course, those disgusting sex torture photos from Abu Ghraib will never go away either.
Botch – America’s first S&M president.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:12 pmIsn’t Candy a stripper name?
December 17th, 2008 at 12:12 pmBush is rewritting history in his own mind. So be it. He will have to do that to stay sane as the horrific damage he’s done gradually seeps into his conscience. However, the rest of us and the world know the truth. We will never forget.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:13 pmCon artists never admit the con.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:13 pmAnd willing “marks” like Candy C. won’t either.
The only way he’ll ever take responsibility for anything is if he’s forced to, through prosecution. Otherwise he’ll simply point the blame elsewhere.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:24 pmHow cute! The SOB, spoilled bastard Bush is trying to wash his hands off just like he is not responsible for nothing!
December 17th, 2008 at 12:43 pmIsin’t he the DECIDER? THE DEAR LEADER? THE COMAND-IN-CHEIF? THE WAR PRESIDENT?
Bush should be made to see all the footage where he made these statements! Handcuffed and frogmarched to HAGUE!!!!! I hope who ever has a Bush surname suffers for the rest of their miserable lives!
The United States better prossecute these WAR CRIMINALS. If they are ever serious of restoring America and have a government of CHANGE! Obama, the world is watching to see what are you going to do with America’s War Crimes and its War criminals!
December 17th, 2008 at 12:46 pmDubya is like the promiscuous husband caught philandering, never admit, never admit, never admit.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:48 pmGet Muntazer Al-Zeidi to interview the WAR CRIMINAL IN CHIEF! TO ASK REAL QUESTIONS! …AND TO MAKE HIM EAT SHOES!!!!
December 17th, 2008 at 12:49 pmDid he mention KATRINA on the interview?
December 17th, 2008 at 12:51 pmBush is a liar (and fact-checking assertions w/ the Internets is so cool).
fish-in-a-barrel easy…
1) CNN — 3/22/04
I think it’s clear that in March, when the invasion took place, the evidence that had been brought forward was rapidly falling apart,” Hans Blix, who oversaw the agency’s investigation into whether Iraq had chemical and biological weapons, said on CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.”
Blix described the evidence Secretary of State Colin Powell presented to the U.N. Security Council in February 2003 as “shaky,” and said he related his opinion to U.S. officials, including national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
“I think they chose to ignore us,” Blix said.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:51 pmOh, he’s so cute; stupid but cute in his own way.
Boy oh boy, if it was just that simple. Bush is the king of wishful thinking.
He can crap in one hand and wish in another and see which one fills up first. The problem is this, Bush always craps in both hands at the same time.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:55 pmJust like a little kid, “The dog ate my homework.”
Worst, Most Criminal, War Criminal, Stolen Presidency Ever.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:55 pmBush the War President, the one wearing a cod piece during Mission Accomplished is refusing to take responsibility?
Classic case of:
The dry drunk syndrome. A rotten eaten up brain from years of alcohol abuse…. not to mention the sociopath torturous characteristics he already had as a child.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:04 pmI will be sorely disappointed (and just a little pissed) if Obama plays the “let by-gones be by-gones” card. I want to see these evil bastards prosecuted.
We need to hang at least one of them as a message to any future sociopath who wants to mureder our soldiers and disgrace our country for his petty little ego.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:04 pmBush is not only a disaster but a national disgrace as well. I would have never imagined a country like the US allowing such a failed loser rule for so long.
All this for an additional bunch of devalued dollar bills in the wallets of the ‘have mores’. It’s going to take years to wash off the SHAME! The idiot has left this country DRENCHED IN SHAME!
December 17th, 2008 at 1:15 pmBob Says:
The only way he’ll ever take responsibility for anything is if he’s forced to, through prosecution. Otherwise he’ll simply point the blame elsewhere.
For the sake of healing, around the world and the US, he and the entire Bush Crime Family needs to be made accountable.
As long as we continue to turn a blind eye, We the People appear complaisant and just as guilty.
If we do not make them account, I fear those around the world will sooner or later make all of US account.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:18 pmAh, the Bush Administration, where the Buck Never Stops!
December 17th, 2008 at 1:21 pmSociopaths never see fault in themselves. It’s always someone else fault. Just like the serial killer blaming his parents or third grade teacher for his killing people.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:29 pmAmandaBlow Says:
Bush is not only a disaster but a national disgrace as well. I would have never imagined a country like the US allowing such a failed loser rule for so long.
All this for an additional bunch of devalued dollar bills in the wallets of the ‘have mores’. It’s going to take years to wash off the SHAME! The idiot has left this country DRENCHED IN SHAME!
December 17th, 2008 at 1:30 pm““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`
Word!
The buck doesn’t stop at the Bush Oval Office, so you can’t corner him there.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:31 pmdbad @31
December 17th, 2008 at 1:32 pmthanks, the mental image of Candy Cowley sans clothing spoiled my lunch
luckily in this economy lunch is Ramen noodles, not much to lose & no sharp pieces coming back up
Of course he’s absolutely right, as always…best president
December 17th, 2008 at 1:35 pmever, and number 2 best president ever was dad…nobody could
have ever predicted 9/11, Katrina, Abu Ghraib, politicization
of the Justice Department, mortgage crisis, un-employment,
failure of wall street, republican corruption, etc on and on,
“It wasn’t me, it was everybody telling me stuff that wasn’t
true!” Thank God it’s almost over.
Wow, I think Ive developed a Pavlovian response to hearing bush talk. Everything he says these days seems to make me boil up and turn red in anger. Regardless of what he is talking about.
I dont seem to get that with Obama, yet. But for now I enjoy not losing my mind when I hear the president elect speak.
I think we should be thankful for the one thing the bush team has taught us. if you scare the hell out of enough people you can use it get whatever you want. See a pattern?
That eight year nightmare, you know the one where you are screaming and no one can hear you? I think its almost over folks.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:42 pmBush Passes The Buck On Iraq Mistakes And Economic Failures: They’re Not My Fault
Heckuva job Barbara Bush.
Your son is a bonafide callous spoiled brat beyond belief.
Shame on you for completely failing as a parent, for not preparing the Shrub to grow into a man who thinks and accepts responsibility, LIKE A GROWN MAN SHOULD.
But then again, you’re just an equally spoiled fcukwit.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:01 pmIf this country fails to deliver Bush/Cheney et al to a war crimes tribunal for their war crimes, then there is NO God, NO justice. There will be justice ONLY when these war criminals are dangling from the gallows.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:13 pmOf course, he leaves himself and his administration conspicuously absent from those deserving blame. Watch it:
Watch it? WATCH IT??? I just ate lunch, have mercy.!
December 17th, 2008 at 3:16 pmAre we to somehow feel better that at the end of this eight-year hemorrhoid Bush is now admitting he and his administration are really just idiots and sloppy with their data? And it’s OK to blame everyone else, because they are idiots, too?
Is THAT supposed to make me feel better?
Or am I to shrug my shoulders and think, “Well, this kind of thing is perfectly understandable and could happen to anyone” and then forgive and forget?
Here is whatwill make me feel better: Indict, Prosecute, Convict, Sentence.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:21 pmGeorge W. Bush is the most repugnant American politician I have ever seen in my life.
I will be proud to lead the lynch mob.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:45 pmActually, the intelligence services all over the world were told to take the Bush administration’s word for it. Same with Congress and the American people at large. There was like TV and newspapers back then and everything.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:51 pmThe ol’ “the gun didn’t know I was loaded” defense.
-AF
December 17th, 2008 at 8:44 pmAndrew Sullivan Is A Fraud