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REPUTATION REPAIR

George W. Bush Still Popular Somewhere

Lithuanians hold ex-president in high regard

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by David Mark

Editor-in-Chief t

Then-Presidents George W. Bush of the United States and Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania at the airport in Vilnius on Nov. 23, 2002. Image: AP.

Vilnius, Lithuania - Former George W. Bush left office with record low approval ratings, from which he has scarcely recovered. But the 43rd president still has fans in a few places.

Take Lithuania. A plaque at Vilnius Town Hall, in the heart of the Baltic nation's capital, commemorates a Bush presidential visit in November 2002. Riding high after a bit more than a year after 9/11, and following big Republican wins in midterm elections, Bush declared "Anyone who would choose Lithuania as an enemy has also made an enemy of the United States of America."

Bush created a fan base in Eastern Europe, or, as then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put it, "new Europe". Bush pushed missile defense to reign in the Russians and helped provide considerable aide to the former Soviet bloc countries friendly to the United States.

And while Bush is a reviled figure in much of the rest of Europe, he's still got admirers to the south and east. The prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, in October 2009 called the ex-president a "great friend of our country." Such warm feelings are a result of the Bush administration's second-term Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.

And even liberal celebrities in the U.S. have cut the ex-POTUS some slack. At least when it comes to praise over his for his leadership in promoting AIDS relief around the world, particularly Africa.

Politix reporting.

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @woodtick57 - He will be considered a saint for being the last president to be able to hold our unemployment rate at 4%. From here on out, with obama's terrible precedence, we will have chronically 8% and above unemployment for the rest of our existence.

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  • bsking
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    translation " we lefties have to wait until Obama is done screwing the pooch so we know how much of Obama's failures we need to put on bush"
  • PNWest
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    History will be kinder to Richard Nixon than GW Bush. 2 recessions including nearly pushing the economy into a second great depression, 2 wars one of which was based on totally fabricated 'evidence', ignoring at least 28 warnings prior to 9/11, sitting in a kindergarten class for 7 minutes reading My Pet Goat after being informed of the attacks, taking a budget surplus and destroying it, failing to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. The list goes on and on. Bush was the worst President we ever had.
  • u
    ctc
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    @PNWest You forgot my favorite part....flying off to Offut AFB and shimmying down a spider-hole while he handed off the reins of power to Dick Cheney. ;)

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    CaryNickel
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    George W. Bush's low popularity is a liberal myth created by the nutty far-left, and spread by the willing lap-dog leftist media. In reality, Bush's popularity is split pretty much along party lines, close to 50/50 in the United States. It's been rising since Barack Obama became President, as Americans now have a point of reference to compare too. Give it 4 more years, and when Obama's brand of big-government socialism doesn't work, and the nation is in tatters, Americans will be longing for the "good ole' days" of President George W. Bush. Millions already are.
  • ST_Louie_Sue
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    From your lips to God's ears. I don't remember the left ever being so obsessed with a former president in all my 62 years. Except Kennedy of course only because he was assassinated and a skirt chaser. But that's OK. As you stated, keep Bush's accomplishments in the forefront so the Barry from Kenya fan club can have something to compare a socialist to a God fearing patriot.
  • DerivePI
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    Under W, we had an average deficit of "only" $250 billion per year ($850 for every man woman and child per year). Our current president is averaging over $1 trillion deficit per year (over $3,400 per year). Popularity is a comparative sport.
  • DerivePI
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    @woodtick57 - and Obama has doubled (actually quadrupled) down on those policies (if he lost the election, Obama would have taken W's position in your statement above). I'm not interested in defending any big goverrnment policies, but some perspective based on reality is in order.

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  • Dan_Tien
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    The incidents that are reported in the article above are the type that fade in time. Bush Jr's associations with negative events like the 9/11 security fail, lying about WMDs to justify the war in Iraq and the near collapse of the US economy under his administration will be remembered far longer. How many people remember corruption during the administration of Warren G. Harding like the Teapot Dome scandal, or that he died in office? How many remember his endorsement of African American rights, the first child welfare program or that he was the first to use the term "Founding Fathers"?
  • UnCommonBoston
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    Or Johnson's determination to get the equal rights legislation passed. He did so much good, but we just see the bad. After he got all that he promised done, he turned to Martin Luther King for some sort of recognition for his hard work, but got blasted about the war. Aparently this was one of his saddest moments. The real problem was Kissinger. He wanted a job with the next administration, so he needed the peace talks drawn out. There was a peace agreement reached while Johnson was pres. Later the jerk got a Nobel Peace Prize with the person from Vietnam --- who did not show up becasue he felt was undeserved. Why do we still he is wondeful? I hope and pray history gets it right with W.
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    RobertJHarsh
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    I am a conservative and Bush II makes me cringe. It's people like him, and his Xitian Fundie buddies and other assorted neocon trash, whom have wrecked the Republican party to where it is likely not going to recover.
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    scotta
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    I FEEL HIS REPUTATION IS STILL ONE OF THE TOP PRESIDENTS. RONALD IS STILL NUMBER "1" IN MY BOOK. BUSH IS "2ND" AND THE "BAMMER" IS DEAD LAST. WE NOW KNOW JIMMY "I AM BILLYS BROTHER"SMILES BIGGER EVERY TIME "THE BAMMER" IS ON TV, BECAUSE HE KNOWS HE IS NOT THE WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY. BILL SMILES BIG AND BRIGHT ALSO WHEN HE HEARS "THE BAMMER" Is in another problem. wait does this make me "BAD" a hatter for using my right of "FREE SPEACH"?
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    Libertyiskey
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    Could you tell me his policies that make you view him as our greatest president in regards to Reagan and what policies makes Bush Jr. the second greatest president? I can tell you why I don't like Obama or Bush and I can also tell you I'm not a huge fan of Reagan for giving us the "war on drugs" causing us to spend trillions of dollars on non violent crimes. I see you feel very strongly so just wondering why you feel that way?
  • UnCommonBoston
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    Someone posted one of Ron's speaches on facebook, but did not say the source. It was immediately blasted as trash from a "black Muslim" After a long series of rants, the source was revealed. Reagan's views were closer to Obama's than Romney's. I doubt he would have approved of Bush II. While he is not my favorite president, the right should take a close and long look at what he stood for.

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  • PoliticalSpice
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    In politics a few tears is forever, people will forget, and he will do a few things to get good publicity, so yes it will. But those who follow politics will never forget what he really did. He committed treason by putting u.s. troops in harms way to launch an unnesseary war. He failed to uphold his oath to protect the u.s. from attack by ignoring warning memos and thereby not doing all he could. If had the attackers likely would have been stopped, as happened in the clinton era with the plans to attack la airport. He violated the oath to protect and iphold the constitution by pushing for and signing the patriot act and creating dept of homeland security, which gave him short term political gain, but did little to enhance the security or fight terror, oh yea, and he let bin laden escape in tora bora, and put his family on planes out pf the country after 9/11 failing to question them, opting indtead to violate the geneva convention and use torture on many people who probably knew far less. I could go on, but with regard to what I think of W, I think people get the idea...
  • Mercury34
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    I highly doubt Bush's rep will recover soon. A lot of countries despise him because he was a war mongerer. The main reason lot's of countries like Obama is because he isn't Bush.
  • Ashstop
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    Yes, I would love to see his likeness on the new dollar coin, we didn't realize how good we had it till he was replaced!!
  • ST_Louie_Sue
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    OK folks let's have a little lesson in names and succession one more time:

    George Herbert Walker Bush, aka "Sr.", "Daddy", "Bush I (0ne)", "the elder", "41", etc.

    George Walker Bush, aka, "Jr.", "sonny boy", "II (two)", "W", "the younger", "43", etc.

    Look, they have 2 different names. The elder, father, "41" has HERBERT in his name. Therefore JR & II (two) are incorrect for George Walker Bush. Until you understand the difference and learn to properly identify each man with the right description you look like a bunch of uneducated hillbillies. Lefties I'm sure are clueless to the difference nor do they care. But since GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH is my 9th Cousin that doesn't make his son GEORGE WALKER BUSH the same. GEORGE WALKER BUSH is my 9th cousin ONCE REMOVED. Get it? If not please go read a genealogy book or get one on audio tape if reading is beyond your IQ.
  • Keyjo
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    Were you trying to give us a grammar lesson, or did you just want to brag (or complain) publicly, that you are related to the Bushes?
  • ST_Louie_Sue
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    @Keyjo Just common knowledge on how the line of succession works. Young people and those who don't give a darn or are too dumb to think it matters would question my post. Which are you?
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