The Candidates
Look no further then President George W. Bush:
US President George W. Bush said in an interview out Tuesday that he quit playing golf in 2003 out of respect for the families of US soldiers killed in the conflict in Iraq, now in its sixth year.
“I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal,” he said in an interview for Yahoo! News and Politico magazine.
“I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander-in-chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them.”
The US president traced his decision to the August 19, 2003 bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad, which killed the world body’s top official in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
“I remember when de Mello, who was at the UN, got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man’s life. And I was playing golf — I think I was in central Texas — and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, it’s just not worth it anymore to do,” said Bush.
Yes, the President of the United States actually says that his way of honoring our soldiers in Iraq is to…give up golfing. This interview reads like a bad parody of the Onion. It stands in stark contrast to John McCain’s unique perspective on what it means to make ungodly sacrifices in the name of your country. It’s depressing to read this on the same night that the Republicans have just lost their third straight special congressional election despite that fact that all the seats had been held by the GOP for decades. If that wasn’t bad enough, the GOP is now trailing Democrats nationally on all ten electoral issues according to Rasmussen.
This is like watching an impending trainwreck but being completely unable to prevent it.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I really don’t think that comment comes off that bad. But someone like Jon Stewart can make it sound really bad.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
LJ, I think you misunderstood the tone of his comments. The way the interviewer, Mike Allen, explained the interview led me to believe that the president was being very sincere. He’s saying that he shouldn’t be out having fun while his troops are loosing their lives.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
How embarrasing.
Just when W was starting to make a bit of a comeback.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Er…what was this comeback, Heath..?
May 13th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
But… Bush wants us to keep our country strong by shopping at our local malls?
May 14th, 2008 at 2:12 am
I don’t see the problem. He didn’t say this is all he’s doing. I don’t think his idea is all that bad. Give the guy a break allready.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Just with the war and stuff.
Presidents are always popular in the last six months for sentimental reasons.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:56 am
[...] a Catholic swearing off sweets for lent, our President also makes sacrifices: Yes, the President of the United States actually says that his way of [...]
May 14th, 2008 at 7:02 am
This is purely a response to what his dad failed to do. Bush 41 ridiculed his political advisers telling him not to golf the day that bad economic news was announced. This type of thing was why he lost to Clinton. The son has learned a lot of political lessons from his father.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:22 am
I agree with those that say the comment was sincere, but sheesh, its horrible politically. It gives the dems, the media and every comedian a chance to juxtapose his “sacrifice” with that of soldiers and their families. It also puts the war back on the frontpage. And finally, what can McCain say? He has to defend the president as not callous but can’t appear to agree with the president. It also gives Obama an opportunity to throw the elitist card back at the GOP - playing golf is about as elitist as you can get without a yacht.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:09 am
AMEN! We just lost ANOTHER special election…where the hell are the ideas and the leadership coming from the Republican Party? I’ve never seen such ineffective congressional “leaders”. Thank God we have McCain.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Seriously, have we run out of things to criticize the President on? This post borders on the ridiculous.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:07 am
LJ,
This is a little bit of nitpicking and it reads like you took his comments out of context.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
For those who see no issue in the Presidents wording you represent the Republican parties most loyal voters.
As Pablo Zed states: “It gives the dems, the media and every comedian a chance to juxtapose his “sacrifice†with that of soldiers and their families.” Let’s be honest this is not a fight that Republicans need to have or can easily defend this election year. Better to let sleeping dogs lie. If the same statement can easily be read as a negative by your enemies don’t say it. Ask Senator Obama. Every time he says something good about Republicans he gets blasted by his own party.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Aside from Bush’s golfing decision, the GOP brand is definitely toxic this year. Despite all the griping from the “True Conservatives,” the only kind of Republican who stands a chance of winning this year is a perceived “RINON”, and that person, fortunately, is John McCain. Let the true believes whine…McCain is the only one who could make htis election competitive.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Make that “RINO.”
May 14th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
McCain honors our soldiers by following the msm line on Abu Ghraib and Gitmo, accuses America of torture with no evidence of same, wants to make winning the war harder by requiring soldiers to come home to testify in enemy combatent OJ trials, and wants to put them at more risk my only asking prisoners their name, rank and serial number.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
LJ,
I think you should watch the video. I thought it an extremely honorable thing for him to say. He didn’t say it with pomp or elaborate on and on, he simply said it’s the right thing to do.
BTW- My thought are that McCain is the one who is going to make the GOP implode.