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George H.W. Bush, RIP
President George H.W. Bush passed away Friday evening at 10:10 pm CT at the age of 94. Bush family spokesman Jim McGrath posted the following statement to Twitter:
George Herbert Walker Bush, World War II naval aviator, Texas oil pioneer, and 41st President of the United States of America, died on November 30, 2018. He was 94 and is survived by his five children and their spouses, 17 grandchildren, eight great grandchildren, and two siblings. He was preceded in death by his wife of 73 years, Barbara; his second child Pauline Robinson “Robin” Bush; and his brothers Prescott and William or “Bucky” Bush.
Rest in peace, sir.
Update: His son, President George W. Bush, has released a statement from his siblings and himself:
Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro, and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died. George H.W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41’s life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad, and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens.
A video retrospective from the New York Times:
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Published in Politics
RIP.
My first experience in politics was campaigning for his re-election as a volunteer for the Webb County Republican Party in 1992. Ave atque vale.
A truly great man. Bless you, President Bush.
Even the New York Times has nice things to say tonight about President Bush. Long long overdue.
He was my first vote after I turned 18. I enjoyed the book that W wrote about him. A kind and decent man from a political era long gone.
I was a bit too young to appreciate President Bush. But I do remember thinking something was wrong when he wasn’t given a second term. Guess it was my earliest inkling that I would be Republican.
Be with your wife, Mr. Bush, you’ve earned the rest.
Well, I’m glad I wasn’t needed back then, but I was assigned to his funeral detail back in 2012 or so as one of the miscellaneous military officers that escort dignitaries around for the funeral. It will be interesting to see how the funeral is handled.
My first political memory is when my kindergarten teacher asked if anyone knew who the president was. Having paid attention to my parents’ conversations at dinner, I answered George Bush. She said no, it was Ronald Reagan — George Bush wouldn’t be president for a couple more months yet.
This says it all. He was not my first vote. I was 18 when George McGovern ran, and, to my regret, I supported him. But, as George W. Bush said, “When I was young and stupid, I was young and stupid.
I believe that George H.W. Bush made a few mistakes as President. But that doesn’t matter much. He was just a wonderful man, and the kind that we need as Caretakers of Liberty.
God Love You, Mr. President and Rest Easy, Now That You’ve Achieved The Peace That You So Richly Deserve.
Dana Carvey at the White House.
I’ve heard Dana tell the story of when he took the call to do this. It was after Bush lost the election. Dana never wanted to meet him because he was afraid George was mad about it. So he’s sitting at home watching TV,. His phone rings, “This is the White House calling, is this Dana Carvey?”. “Uh, yes.” “Standby for the President of the United States”.
He was just freaked. LOL
President Bush’s second run was My first vote.
I fought hard for You, President Bush, but We were just no match for the slippery slope… Slouching Towards Gomorrah.
R.I.P.
Every once in a while, the Ruling Class does something right.
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George Herbert Walker Bush often seemed to be a kind and polite person.
The two elections where months beforehand I was certain that the Republican nominee was going to win were in 1992 and 2012. Kind and polite. Yuk! Who wants that? Both elections should have been a signal that attitudes had changed and bad things were around the corner.
Back in the summer of 1987 I was manifested as crew on a flight on Air Force 2. It was the summer between my junior and senior year at the Air Force Academy. I met him and, while we were on the ground in Ohio, called my mom from his phone.
I am thankful he led us though Desert Shield and Storm.
RIP.
View image on Twitter
Above are a couple of cartoons that, I think, say what we all feel.
I will never forget that the day after the election in 92, suddenly the MSM “discovered” the recession they had been trumpeting all during the campaign, had ended in the first quarter of 92. That was a major moment of the scales falling away from my eyes.
Larry Elder refers to this all of the time.
Act accordingly.
And that says more about him than any of his political accomplishments.
Bush the First was a more honest man than most politicians, and that’s saying a lot.
However, after Reagan’s strong presidency, he was quite a let down. All he had to do is keep on, but he didn’t.
His biggest failure is that he was a hard core socialist. I was aghast that he used the FCC to control the cable TV industry. I still feel that this is patently unconstitutional. The FCC was only meant to control the use of radio frequencies to prevent overlap and interference. Especially under Bush it was used to control content and to strong arm broadcasters. At the time I was in Japan, helping defend the nation from communist socialists only to have our country do a classic communist socialist move to control broadcasters. Thus began my one man boycott of cable TV that went from 1989 to 2006.
His “thousand points of light” was also a badly disguised attempt to harness the cultural right into a machine he and his family could control. Over all, the dominant theme of Bush the First’s life is his successful effort to curtail the Reagan Revolution and protect his family’s control of an elite Republican Party that focused on their power to the detriment of individual rights and freedom.
But he was more honest than most politicians and in his personal life he was a good and decent man. For this I am grateful and respect him. Sadly though, his genteel nature and that of his son, have required a man like Trump to turn the party around and fight for us again.
I’m not saying the man was evil, I just think he and his well-off family are out of touch with the people and don’t truly understand how important freedom from government is to us. He believed in the inherent good of our nation without understanding why, and he believed that just having him and his clan in power would keep us great through their beneficience.
Some of George H.W. Bush’s finest moments as POTUS may have been for what he did not do, like when he refused the op-ed moment at the fall of the Berlin wall.
One of my favorite tributes so far is this one which probably would have made him smile proudly:
There are already search engine pages of references all over the world regarding the death of George H.W. Bush…for this man, that’s as it should be.
I agree with every single word of that @skyler.
The Ruling Class sucks and far too many Republicans don’t get how dysfunctional statism has gotten, or they simply need this level of statism to “work” for their lifestyle or their living.
Whether or not I agree with any of this is not the point. George H.W. Bush was a kind and decent man who tried his best to think well of everyone, including those who disagreed with him on things. Today is the day for remembering that about him. He did his best for the land that he deeply Loved.
I see the valid points @skyler makes (to which I’d add appointment of Souter to SCOTUS) as lessons learned for conservative American voters going forward. The 41st POTUS deserves as a person all the honor and deference he is and will receive upon his death.
We’re in a hotel in Paul Ryan’s district. It was very nice to sit at breakfast and overhear quiet, respectful conversations about the man. Most of the country is like this, something which I often have to remind myself.
The tweet from the navy is very touching.
I don’t do hagiography. My observations were respectful.
I’ll have nice things to say about the New York Times, once it’s dead.
Prayers for President Bush and his family. He served his country well through difficult times.
He literally had plans to kill himself before the Japanese captured him after his plane went down. He got picked up by a submarine instead. Can you even imagine? Being a naval aviator back then was pretty harrowing, I think.
He had good reason. All the other airmen shot down on that particular mission were captured and executed. Some of them might have been eaten.
Hindsight is 20-20, which makes criticism of the past more like an impossible counterfactual.
President Bush ’41 lived a good life, the fruits of his life and leadership are easily seen.
May G-d comfort his family, and may we be blessed to see more good men like him strengthen our communities and public offices.