The Daily Beast (12/3/18) marveled that discussion of the death of a US president could devolve into a political disagreement.
The Daily Beast (12/3/18) saw itself scoring easy points off TV chat show The View, chiding hosts for disagreeing in a discussion of recently deceased former president George H.W. Bush:
If there was one thing it seemed most Americans could agree on this weekend, it was that former President George H.W. Bush was generally a good man who had the country’s best interest at heart. And yet, somehow, the hosts of The View still found a way to turn his tribute into an argument.
Thus sniffed the Daily Beast, which, like numerous other outlets that engaged in soft-focus whitewash of the former president, said more about itself than anyone else.
It isn’t merely that it’s no part of journalists’ job to stoke misty visions of powerful public figures, dead or living; asserting that George H.W. Bush was America’s lovable Grandpa—that only the insolent would gainsay such an image—erases the many people harmed grievously by his actions and inactions.
But those bombarded with corporate media accolades about how “responsible and reasonable” Bush Sr. was (according to the Washington Post—12/1/18); how he, in USA Today‘s words (12/1/18), “personified a time when….careful international diplomacy was not scorned as a sign of weakness”; how as the Chicago Tribune (12/1/18) had it, we were all touched by his “modesty, seriousness and gentlemanly grace,” could find their antidotes—not mean-spirited, just clear-eyed.
Mehdi Hasan at The Intercept (12/1/18) ran down some of Bush Sr.’s “war crimes, racism and obstruction of justice.” (Bush campaign director Lee Atwater eventually apologized for the infamous Willie Horton ad; Bush never did).
USA Today‘s two-minute video “look back [at] the life of George Herbert Walker Bush” (12/1/18) devoted all of six seconds to his presidency.
Richard Prince at Journal-isms (12/1/18) reminded of the Clarence Thomas appointment, as well as Bush’s stage-managed TV set up of a DC teenager as the face of the “crack epidemic”; Steven Thrasher at The Nation (12/1/18) wrote about the “disgrace” of celebrating Bush on World AIDS Day, reminding of how he chided those dealing with the disease to just “change your behavior!”; and The Nation‘s Greg Grandin (12/4/18) reminded us of Bush’s wars in Panama and the Persian Gulf—remarkable for their “gratuitous killing.” Author Nora Eisenberg (12/5/18) elaborated at AlterNet on the myth of the “good” Gulf War, and how Bush “disinformed Congress and the public to drum up support” for it.
And before you get nostalgic for media coverage that never was, look through FAIR.org; you’ll find things like Robert MacNeil of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (Extra!, 3/93) demanding of a guest who insisted on talking about the Iran/Contra scandal, in which Vice President George Bush’s office helped funnel covert weapons to Nicaraguan terrorists after Congress made such support illegal:
Why does this issue remain important? Clearly, the public is bored with it. The polls all show that years ago they stopped being interested in it. Why not, as Mr. Bush describes in his pardon statement, why not bring in the healing power of the pardon and sweep it away and sweep the bitterness away?
Of course, Bush Sr. did some important, positive things—the Americans with Disabilities Act leaps to mind—but media who insist on “sweeping away” everything else, who reduce to a footnote all those he harmed, are revealing their own view of what and who matters…which may not be history’s, and need not be our own.
I saw an editorial cartoon the other morning which portrayed Bush as one of “a thousand points of light” in the firmament.
Fortunately, I hadn’t had breakfast yet.
It was sickening how the MSM (BBC & CNN) covered the “passing” of ex president G.H. Bush a recognized “war Criminal ” (Chomsky) .
It was even worse to experience his son Ex president GHW Bush the “war Criminal” who many believe should be imprisoned for the WAR ON IRAQ WHICH caused so much death & destruction …
Go read Matt Taibbi’s item exposing GHW Bush. The million hagiographies out there are sickening. Taibbi ALWAYS gives us deliciously honest, informed take-downs of the Elevated who are looking for a golden, haloed legacy. Sadly, more people watch and read about Washington Cathedral Funerals than read MT – or FAIR. Yup, the first Bush wasn’t as bad as what we have now but what does that say? And the choral singing was great….
Yes, somehow dead presidents become more than human, “—faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall building in a single bound,.” Sadly they also go to war and kill millions in other nations, while working with criminals to build up the military industrial complex—and procreate others like themselves, who then are so quickly forgotten, like that Dec .7th Day of infamy…..” Oh wait, that’s today. Time does march on, doesn’t it.
Does anyone remember that he headed the CIA that fought liberation movements in Africa?
How many death squads and coups did this war criminal promote in Central America and elsewhere?
The propaganda model of news rolls on, perpetuating the American myth of how criminals like Bush the elder make the world safe for “democracy.”
I’m sick & tired of the media whitewashing Bush’s legacy. The USA along with the UK bombed Iraq from the No-Fly-Zones even after the Gulf War officially ended & the UN’s Oil For Food Program restricted the amount of oil Iraq could sell & food it could buy which led to starvation & Iraq was in ruins because of constant bombing by the US & UK. I saw a woman that worked for a Catholic Relief Agency on the news years ago that talked about how bad the situation in Iraq was.
Bush bombed Panama just to find Noriega & bring him to the USA for drug trafficking charges. He was involved in Reagan’s secret war in Nicaragua & did many other awful things abroad most people don’t know about.
He was VPOTUS under Reagan & refused to fund research for AIDS because the victims were mainly gay men & drug addicts. He said homosexuals should be kept out of the military because of AIDS although not all AIDS victims are homosexual & not all homosexuals are AIDS victims & lesbians are less likely to get AIDS than other people including heterosexuals.
Don’t forget Clarence Thomas.
One can always find fault with oneself and especially with another, and even more particularly in retrospect. We all live within a space and time. To look at an earlier time and put our own current frame into the lens is to ignore the totality of an historical reality. ‘Fair’ makes just such historical blunders often and always with the justification of its role as contrarian. There are times when that valued critical perspective is simply unhealthy to self and others. Be aware of your role. It matters.
My take on my own kinder and gentler feelings toward GHWB are due to the abomination that we now have as our president. I may not have agreed with the man politically, but at least he wasn’t an embarrassment. Trump is a spoiled child whose life experiences obviously didn’t include enough people who have said, “NO!” to him. For this reason he has also, apparently, never taken to heart lessons on behaving in a more couth and less egotistical manner, rather than his uninterrupted display of boorish behavior more fitting for a third world dictator than for the supposed leader of the free world.
Thank you for this! I was particularly annoyed by the MSM’s mostly “forgetting” Iran-Contra. Not that I’m surprised–the press never seemed to take that seriously enough, at least compared to Clinton’s Monica-gate:
https://fair.org/extra/clinton-worse-than-reagan-nixon-everyone/
You left out a good one by Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/george-h-w-bush-wimp-766076/