George W. Bush takes a break from painting.

[pmv]

Oh, he is to blame for a great many things. But, he was quite clearly called a racist up until recently. Somehow Bush went from being the Devil on the Right, to an okay guy just calling out how bad Trump is.

As for 9/11 no disagreement.

As for flood plain, some small amount of disagreement. Insurance companies should be able to charge more when people live in higher risk areas. That will mean some poor people cant afford there, but that is just life.

It's simply that Trump makes almost all previous Presidents look good in comparison. Also there are different levels of racism. I used to think Trump was just an unthinking racist-by-default, who had no explicit ideological racist beliefs, but was the type to go along with others racism because it would take conscious effort and involve a political cost to oppose it.

But now I think he is a much more conscious racist (what with all his musings about 'German blood' and 'racehorse breeding', and his reluctance to condemn swastika waving). Dubya never seemed to be that.

 

[realibrad]

It's simply that Trump makes almost all previous Presidents look good in comparison. Also there are different levels of racism. I used to think Trump was just an unthinking racist-by-default, who had no explicit ideological racist beliefs, but was the type to go along with others racism because it would take conscious effort and involve a political cost to oppose it.

But now I think he is a much more conscious racist (what with all his musings about 'German blood' and 'racehorse breeding', and his reluctance to condemn swastika waving). Dubya never seemed to be that.

Bush did a horrible job on the day of 9/11, fucked up Katrina, expanded the deficit, brought back explicit torture ect. So by no means was I then or am I now a fan of Bush.

That said, what made him racist? He has many failings but being a racist was not one of them from what I saw.

 

[mect]

Absolutely not, and its weird that is your takeaway. People saying Bush was a racist is not a black and white world.

From some of your other posts, I think I see what you're after now, and I agree that there is a limitation to the language used. It would be nice if we as a nation developed a term for the type of subtle racism exhibited by someone like Bush to separate it from the overt racism exhibited by Trump.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Until Trump starts a war based on lies that wastes trillions of dollars and kills people in the six to seven digit range, Bush should stick to painting.

 

[realibrad]

From some of your other posts, I think I see what you're after now, and I agree that there is a limitation to the language used. It would be nice if we as a nation developed a term for the type of subtle racism exhibited by someone like Bush to separate it from the overt racism exhibited by Trump.

But what subtle racism was Bush doing? Bad leader sure, but racist is confusing to me. I think most dismissed Obama being a racist because there was no evidence, but what evidence was there of Bush?

But yes, I think you are starting to understand my stance. People are far too willing to label someone at the extreme of something which dilutes its meaning. It would be like when the Right went after Obama for his bowling comment and the Special Olympics. Reasonable people can see that its something, but they would not say he is anti-disabled people.

 

[mect]

But what subtle racism was Bush doing? Bad leader sure, but racist is confusing to me. I think most dismissed Obama being a racist because there was no evidence, but what evidence was there of Bush?

But yes, I think you are starting to understand my stance. People are far too willing to label someone at the extreme of something which dilutes its meaning. It would be like when the Right went after Obama for his bowling comment and the Special Olympics. Reasonable people can see that its something, but they would not say he is anti-disabled people.

I think the main evidence people cite is the response to Katrina, and I think that is the main time people were accusing Bush of being racist.

 

[realibrad]

I think the main evidence people cite is the response to Katrina, and I think that is the main time people were accusing Bush of being racist.

And to me Katrina was an example of how bad he was as a leader, and not because people were black. Calling him a racist in that situation diminishes when others are called racist. That is because many people in the political middle do not think Bush's response to Katrina was racist but rather proof if his poor leadership. He does not need to be racist to be a poor leader. In fact, I would argue there is far more evidence of his shitty leadership than him being racist.

That said, people for sure were claiming he was racist up until very recently. Once he became anti-Trump (easy to be) the left stopped calling him racist and seemed to have forgotten doing so.

 

[nickqt]

The only difference between Strongman Trump and a sane Republican party member is that Strongman Trump says the stupid bullshit the base believes out loud, in public, to delighted imbeciles who also believe the stupid bullshit.

The sane ones use their inside voices appropriately.