I mean literally. He joined in 2002, then didn’t post between 2004 and 2014.
I think someone might have inadvertently said his name three times in 2014.
I wouldn’t say angry. I think the Iraq War was incredibly ill conceived. I think the Bush Administration played political games with the evidence (like the outing of Valerie Plame) and the stated reason (weapons of mass destruction) turned out not to be true. It diverted attention from more important issues at the time. It damaged the U.S. both directly (in lives and money lost) and indirectly (in terms of our credibility and standing in the world). The immediate aftermath was poorly managed and we did not rule well after taking over the country (things like securing valuable sites, Blackwater, and Abu Ghraib). It created a situation in which ISIS could thrive. Oh, and we killed tens of thousands of innocent people.
So why am I not angry? I’m not sure it would do any good at this point to get angry. And I need something specific to be angry at; I don’t know if George W. Bush was evil, weak, or stupid. He’s out of office, I’ll have to be content with that.
What concerns me these days isn’t the past, but the present. We don’t seem to have come to terms with what we did. There are still Americans who defend the choice to go to war. There are others who seem to want to pretend that it just didn’t happen. During the Republican debates when Donald Trump criticized Jeb Bush’s defense of his brother[sup]*[/sup] it caused quite an uproar. Thou shalt not criticize a fellow Republican; thou shalt not admit that it was a complete clusterfuck. It seems that some people are so wedded to an ideology, so invested in the decisions of the past, that they can’t admit a mistake without their whole identity crumbling.
- The issue was about whether George W. kept the country safe during his watch. Trump pointed out that 9/11 did happen while he was president. As with the Iraq War, they do not speak of such things.
That’s some latency. I’m going out on a limb here and guess Comcast.
I’m having trouble making sense out of your post.
congratulations you have successfully passed this phase of the voight-kampff empathy test.
Thank goodness we’ve had lots of legally declared wars since GWB.
Focusing one’s anger on G.W. Bush is like blaming the monkey for misdeeds of the organ grinder. The list of those deserving more hatred and anger than Dubya starts with Dick Cheney. Paul Bremer also belongs in one of the inner circles of Hell. Don’t forget Henry Kissinger, a key Bush advisor though he had no official position at the time.
Everyone now knows that WMD’s had nothing to do with the real reasons for the War, but each of the bloodthirsty Cheneyites had different reasons for supporting the stupid adventure. Kissinger favored the Iraqi invasion because “Afghanistan didn’t humiliate radical Islam enough.”
Dude, don’t do drugs and then post on teh InnerWebz.
How do you manage to always post, word-for-word, what I was going to say? 
I mean, it happens with depressing regularity. 
U mad bro?
It would do some good to not elect one of the people responsible to be the next President.
Yes, but I don’t need to be angry in order to do that. To the contrary, I think some politicians can feed and exploit the anger of their followers to destructive ends.
Oh my. This willful ignorance also inspires fear and even hatred against the hypocrites who spout it.
First, how is sensical to conflate liars with those who believed their lies? I opposed the Iraqi War from the beginning — yet gullible me never suspected the truth, that Cheney et al were committing perjury and treason for personal profit.
Second, the Iraq War Resolution was intended to give Bush leverage in negotiating with Saddam. Senators did not yet grasp the utter evil of Cheney-Rumsfeld, that an unnecessary war would be launched when Saddam was on the verge of capitulation.
Sometimes I think I need a scorecard to keep trick of SDMB idiots. Grumman was barely a name to me, and I have no idea if you’re a left-wing idiot or a right-wing idiot. I’ve no idea if you believe your own tripe, or are just blowing smoke rooting for Trump or Bernie.
There’s an Ignore This User button, but we need a Go Ahead and Read This Post But Know that the Poster is a Moron button — it would come in handy when I see something as stupid as Grumman’s post.
Then don’t call me a hypocrite, dumbass.
You apparently think that Hillary Clinton merely being Bush’s “useful idiot” is an argument in favour of making her President. I don’t. If an Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iran ever crosses the President’s desk, I don’t trust Clinton to be the one who decides whether or not to sign it.
I put this into the Stanford Parser and my computer froze and now it won’t boot. What do I do?
In addition to the stupidity already demonstrated you now exhibit a classic Imbecile’s Logic Fallacy. You jump from my “I tolerate spinach despite its taste” to the non sequitur “So, you prefer avocados for their taste.”
Ignoring the whole question of Hillary and Iraq, do you grasp the Imbecile’s Fallacy I just gave an example of? Do you admit to applying it just now? I’d really like an answer — I’m curious whether contemplation of an important policy question just clouds your judgment … Or whether you really are an imbecile who can’t cope with trivial logic.
I’m still waiting for the Chilcot Report to come out, currently due in July. Blair is already spinning madly, so it looks like he’s not going to come out of this particularly well.
Amazing! According to this, Blair’s defense is going to be essentially the same bullshit we heard from Bush and Rummie in early 2003, stuff that has been discredited and ridiculed for 13 years. :rolleyes:
Perhaps, but given the choice between “the party that believed the lies, false assertions and manufactured evidence given by the White House in the assumed best interest of the country” and “the party that lied, gave false assertions and manufactured evidence for personal and party benefit to the actual great detriment of the country”, I know who I’d trust more.
All very interesting information here. There is also a lot of anger that it was all based on a lie yes it was basically a lie and so on actually. And what did you think of it? Any more thoughts about it?