In 2000, when then-Texas Governor George W. Bush officially became the President-elect, he said that he was “optimistic that we can change the tone in Washington, DC.” But now, after eight contentious years in the White House, Bush is admitting that he failed. During a discussion at the American Enterprise Institute today, Bush said that though he came into office “with the idea of changing the tone in Washington,” he “didn’t do a very good job of it.” Watch it:
DUH !!
¶ AIO
December 18th, 2008 at 1:32 pm“Bush admits he didn’t ‘do a very good job’
This is the legacy of his whole life.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:33 pmYea, but you sure changed the tone of the rest of the world against us, Fool.
R_B
December 18th, 2008 at 1:35 pmSo he still gives himself a “C”.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:36 pm… Bush is admitting that he failed.
oh no, he DID change the tone in washington…
December 18th, 2008 at 1:38 pmand did a GREAT job of trashing that “tone”… and everything else.
Now now, that’s not true. He changed the tone for the worse: fear, lies, bullying. Worse than Newt.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:38 pm“I don’t want to be a self-serving fellow, but I have never used my position as president to personally denigrate someobdy,” he sais. Bullshit. Halloween, 2006, Bush said, “If the Democrats win, America loses.” He used his position as president to personally denigrate at least half, if not most of the American electorate.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:40 pmFunny, because I believe this is actually one area where he was genuinely successful: He made the tone more partisan, less willing to compromise, catapulted the propaganda to a whole new level, and allowed corruption to run amok.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:41 pmThis just in, water is wet and, additionally, fire can burn. Impeach! There’s Still Time!
December 18th, 2008 at 1:45 pmYou didn’t do a very good job of anything, you retard.
“I’ll miss the petty name calling.” That’s the Freudian slip of the century.
At least he’s moving to Dallas where I’m sure he’ll get a lot of free lunches from Texas oilmen.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:52 pmHe may feel some disappointment and regret, but he doesn’t believe that he contributed to the greater divisiveness that exists in our country today, not to mention the global hatred for America; he and his team were destructive, and politically motivated to aid themselves personally, at the expense of the American citizenry.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:54 pmThey truly suffer from group think in his White House – they believe they are victims of circumstance, they pat each other on the back, they exist completely in a parallel universe.
A bubble.
“WHY DON’T PEOPLE RESPECT ME AND MY FRIENDS? sure we lied and it costs billions of dollars and thousands of lives, sure we seem to have no remorse or regrets about this, sure we legalized torture, sure we disappeared habeus corpus, sure we’re fighting an unwinnable war on terrorism, sure we place rhetoric above facts… but what’d we do that was SO wrong”
these people don’t realize that people respond to their actions. they also seem to forget the overwhelming support they had (and squandered) after 9/11… they worked hard to earn the disrespect.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:55 pmHere are a few choice quotes from Chimpy BEFORE he was (s)elected Presnit. Seems he was lying his @ss off well before being sworn in:
“American foreign policy must be more than the management of crisis. It must have a great and guiding goal: to turn this time of American influence into generations of democratic peace.”
“Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.”
“I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.”
“Give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s wages. Tell the truth and be honest. Don’t cheat or steal….And always remember: You are responsible for the decisions you make.
- George W. Bush, address at Texas A&M University, April 6, 1998
Maybe if he had adhered to his pre-Pres. statements and not spent six years ignoring the opposition party and the last two belittling them and the rest of the world this Country might not be in as bad a shape as we currently find ourselves. He has no one to blame but his own pig-headed arrogance, incurious and self-serving nature. PLEASE MAKE IT GO AWAY!
December 18th, 2008 at 1:55 pmIt’s true that Bush did a lousy job of “changing the tone” in Washington. But it would be a mistake to infer from Bush’s remarks that he failed to change it, even though that’s no doubt how he’s trying to spin it.
The tone in Washington HAS changed. Partly by Bush, but a great deal of the credit must go to Cheney. Signing statements have gone from occasional use to the primary way Bush thumbs his nose at Congress. The Department of Justice has become the personal lapdog of the executive branch. Congressional subpoenas are treated with less respect than parking tickets. Federal agencies that once had a record for getting things done (like FEMA) have become so beset with cronyism as to make Harding blush. And that’s just the start of the list.
Bush succeeded in changing the tone. Unfortunately, it’s going to take a long time to change it back.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:57 pmI would say he did change the tone… to a very negative tone.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:58 pmHe certainly did change the tone. It went from bad to worst.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:03 pmHe has proved himself to be a catastrophic success!
December 18th, 2008 at 2:08 pmBush ran the biggest “bait & switch” operation in history. His final corporafornication involved America’s financial sector.
UBS execs get distressed assets as their bonus. The Fed will buy this under their trade secrets umbrella. Phil Gramm will get his bonus propped up by the Federal Reserve bank. Amazing,
December 18th, 2008 at 2:09 pmMy apologies, it’s Credit Suisse doing the junk asset executive bonus compensation. Phil Gramm’s gets a pass.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pmLOSER
December 18th, 2008 at 2:16 pmOf all the damage he did in his 8 sick years in office, he did accomplish one thing; he turned the Repugs from a MAJORITY to a minority party!
See, there is sometimes a diamond inside a pig turd!!!!
December 18th, 2008 at 2:17 pmBush didn’t fail in changing the tone in Washington. You can NOT fail if you did not even try, indeed, it was their INTENTION to be as arrogant and acrimonious as possible.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:21 pmWhat exactly has Bush done well while in office? I’m stuggling to see where exactly he’s done more good than harm. He’s attempting to re-write history – so much so that you’d think his presidency began on Sept. 12, 2001.
He’s – once again in typical Bush form – a failure. Usually Daddy Bush would bail him out. This time he let him swing, and unfortunately, we’re all paying the price for the Idiot President.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:38 pmOh he changed the tone in Washington all right. In fact, everything he did dramatically changed it in the exact opposite of what he said he wanted to do.
“Didn’t do a very good job” is a misunderstatement.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:38 pmEverytime this man becomes “introspective” he makes things worse……..Bush, you did change the tone in Washington….to a funeral march….WOW, clearly not clear on the concept of how remarkably moronic and self serving he is….What a f*&king victim!
December 18th, 2008 at 2:39 pmHe did change the tone in DC, people now are more leary of morons, chimps can no longer be trusted, Michelle Bachmann gets way too much face time on national TV, and most of the world holds us in contempt. Thanks for nothing Dumbya.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:49 pmThat should help the millions of Americans who lost everything they worked for in their lives. What Bush isn’t saying is the plan worked very well as it started with pushing Bill Clinton out of office. Americans were doing very well and got sucked in to the lies/scams and even God name can in to play for the GOP. This was the biggest Crime in US History as each Crook did his/her thing. The smart move by Cheney was to pay off Democrats like Pelosi, Feinstein and Schumer as well as Harry Reid. Now that’s how you committ a successful crime. Even Dodd took advantage of the free money and now lost his memory of the hold thing. I loved his answer when asked how he got 200,000 dollars he said he didn’t know it was wrong. Right!!
December 18th, 2008 at 3:06 pmWhen have Republicans ever intentionally done the good things they say they want to do? All they ever do are bad things that they say are good things, bad things they haven’t said they would do, and bad things that they say that we would do if we were given the power to do them.
December 18th, 2008 at 3:06 pmHeh. Deciderboy has a real talent for understatement.
*eyeroll*
December 18th, 2008 at 3:13 pmAs fukwad in chief, he’s an amazing success!!
December 18th, 2008 at 3:24 pmWhile he “didn’t do a very good job of changing the tone in Washington,” he did do a good job of changing it in the rest of the country; thereby, leading to Obama’s victory!!
December 18th, 2008 at 3:35 pmBush never used his office, duh, how about . .
VALERIE PLAME
He really is in a Bubble!!
December 18th, 2008 at 4:24 pm*
He’s disappointed how the process has treated his friends? Do you have any idea how much it saddens me that you’re disappointed, George?
December 18th, 2008 at 4:33 pmNO SH*T, SHERLOCK.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:14 pmGump ratcheted up the partisanship the moment he got into
December 18th, 2008 at 5:20 pmWashington his arrogance and petulance GAURANTEED the tone in Washington would deteriorate. That isnt even accounting for his stubborness coupled to his unreal stupidity. The man is the whole hog of disaster.
Maybe he didn’t change the tone well, but he did a great job of being a “uniter and not a divider” and leveraged that to restore honor and dignity to the WH while raising the world’s opinion of the USA !!!!!
December 18th, 2008 at 5:24 pmI serous doubt if this guy can wipe his own ass. Please haul your stinky ass out of town.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:44 pmBut so what, he covered up very well what really happened on 9-11, and got his wanted hoax wars of terror.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:49 pmJeezus. Out of ALL of the monumental embarrassments, fukc-ups and failures of the past eight years, “failure to change the tone in Washington” is the ONLY one he’ll admit to?
WPE
December 18th, 2008 at 5:53 pmI honestly believe he’s drinking again. Look at the slouched body position, the occasionally slurring, etc. It’s almost pitiable.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:55 pmShortly after Bush took office in 2000, Ari Fleischer was asked if Bush would govern in the bipartisan spirit he promised during his campaign. Fleischer replied “It depends on how bipartisan the Democrats are going to be.”
When he took office, his people wore suits to work and declared that the “adults” had moved back into the White House. It turns out they were just 8-year-olds wearing dad’s clothes.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:34 pmBush admits he didn’t ‘do a very good job’ of changing the tone in Washington.
He should have ended that sentance after the word job… the qualifying clause was unnecessary.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:59 am