The Republican National Committee wants me to donate money. In exchange, they’ll send me an “I Miss W.” mug.
Considering how I really would like to see Bush in the dock at the Hague, I think it’s safe to say that I’m not the RNC’s target audience.
What amuses the hell out of me is why they think I should donate and get the mug. I quote the e-mail ostensibly from RNC Press Secretary Kirsten Kukowski:
“Remember when the President of the United States was more focused on the American people than on political fundraisers and his golf swing? President Obama has already attended 400 fundraisers and played 183 rounds of golf — and he still has two years left in office.”
And that’s laughably funny. See, I remember a George W. Bush who shattered all records for presidential vacations. I remember a George W. Bush who cleared brush on his ranch in Texas (which he sold as soon as he got out of office) like some sort of fake cowboy. I remember a George W. Bush who blew off a Presidential Daily Briefing about Osama bin Laden in August 2001 because he was on vacation. I remember a George W. Bush who gave up his golf game because he injured his knee and not for the reason he stated, that he was doing it in support of the troops in Iraq. I remember a George W. Bush who spent a full year out of his eight in office on vacation.
If you’re going to criticize a president for not being Bush, then time away from the Oval Office is not the grounds on which to do it. I can’t even imagine how someone could even make the comparison with a straight face.
Obama, by the way, has in his six years in office taken roughly a quarter of the vacation time that Bush did in his eight years.
As I read the RNC’s page about George W. Bush and the mug, I can’t help but feel that Republicans live in a different world entirely. “In the White House, President George W. Bush took on tremendous challenges with great courage and character. He put the nation’s best interests over his own. This is what is missing in the White House right now — and that’s why we miss W. so much.”
I don’t know how the nation’s interests were served by massive tax cuts that turned an historic surplus into an historic deficit. I don’t know how the nation’s interests were served by launching a war of choice in Iraq — and then prosecuting it lackadaisically. I don’t know how the nation’s interests were served by ignoring social problems like tens of millions without access to affordable health care. I don’t know how the nation’s interests were served by treating dissent as un-American.
I don’t know who this George W. Bush is that the RNC venerates so much, but he’s no relation to the 43rd President of the United States. That George W. Bush was an abject failure. History will render its judgment and find him severely wanting.
Suffice it to say, I’m not buying the RNC’s bloody “I Miss W.” mug.