George W. Bush is back on U.S. television screens, thanks to an interview on ABC‘s This Week (7/7/13). He doesn’t speak to the press much, but based on this fawning interview, he might want to re-consider.
At one point he and ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl joked about how presidents tend to get criticized–but “not from you of course, Jon.” It was in jest–but also perfectly captured the tone of the piece, which was all about rehabilitating Bush’s image.
The subject matter was Bush’s ongoing charity work in Africa, which grew out of some of the policies he pursued in office, particular on combating AIDS.
“You’re something of a rock star here,” Karl told Bush. He went on to remark that Obama had called Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) policy “one of your crowning achievements. Do you agree with that?” Not exactly tough stuff.
Unsurprisingly, Karl didn’t raise any of the criticisms made of PEPFAR, such as that it “wasted much of its funds on scientifically questionable programs designed to please American religious conservatives” (CBSNews.com, 2/25/08), or that its “abstinence-only approach to AIDS prevention” led to rising rates of infection in Uganda (Voice of America, 11/30/11).
And then there was this:
KARL: I know you’re not into psychoanalysis. Some, these are your critics that say that all of this Africa work you’re doing, that part of it is, you’re trying to make up for mistakes you made in Iraq or —
BUSH: Oh yeah.
KARL: What do you say to that?
BUSH: Let them continue to babble.
KARL: Not true?
BUSH: I’m trying to think of the proper word. Absurd psycho-babble.
OK, now that we got the your-critics-might-need-professional-help question out of the way, onto other matters.
Karl asked about gay marriage, since that had come up in a press conference during Bush’s trip to Africa. Bush was asked about how same-sex marriage could co-exist with Christian values, and he said something about how “I shouldn’t be taking a speck out of somebody else’s eye when I have a log in my own.”
Karl asked if his view on the issue had “evolved at all,” and Bush refused to answer. saying he was “off the stage…unless I’m promoting something I strongly believe in, and I believe that what we’re doing in Africa is incredibly important.” In other words, interviews are to be limited to the subjects I want to promote.
As David Sirota argued at Salon.com (7/8/13), Bush’s record is still his record–and shouldn’t be swept away by TV journalists just because Bush doesn’t want to talk about it:
But the former president’s platitudes shouldn’t wipe the historical record clean of his record doing exactly the opposite of what he now preaches.
In the midst of the 2004 election, Bush announced his support for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. That year, Bush presided over a Republican Party whose get-out-the-bigot-vote effort included putting anti-gay ballot measures in 11 states.
After the election, it was much the same thing. Bush’s top strategist, Karl Rove, publicly bragged that the GOP’s anti-gay crusade “was part and parcel of a broader fabric where this year moral values ranked higher than they traditionally do.” Consequently, Bush had his administration publicly reiterate his commitment to constitutionally banning same-sex marriage.
So, in sum, 1) Bush was one of the most publicly anti-gay presidents in American history, 2) he made anti-gay demagoguery a more integral part of his electoral strategy than any president before him and 3) all of his anti-gay initiatives were fundamentally based on being “overly critical” of same-sex couples–so critical, in fact, that the initiatives championed official legislative restrictions on LGBT Americans’ basic rights.
The Washington Post‘s Dana Milbank (7/9/13) summed it up:
Karl’s interview had all the rehabilitative imagery Bush could want: clips of him in a T-shirt, painting a medical clinic in Zambia and dancing with the locals–and video of Obama asserting that Bush’s devotion to Africa has meant “millions of people’s lives have been saved.”
It should be noted that Karl got into mainstream journalism thanks to the Collegiate Network, a right-wing outfit that supports conservative campus publications and funds internships at Beltway media outlets aimed at getting more right-wing journalists into news outlets (Extra!, 6/11). But maybe that was obvious.
Can an ipecac in this amount be administered without a prescription?
Looks more like the result of an Enema.
“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” Orwell
“Karl got into mainstream journalism thanks to the Collegiate Network…”
Innerestin’. I did not know that.
This is very sad. When the press has access, much of the public hopes that actual trained journalists will ask legitimate and probing questions. I wish GW was asked about what he thinks of Texas and if he believes the US has a stated religion ( even though it doesn’t have any, ) I would like to hear his answer.
I remember looking at the art work that had he painted.Wow, there’s a subject waiting to be explored. One painting showed him kind of over the shoulder and from behind his back, but his face isn’t showing in the mirror. I was trying to figure that out, but all that kept happening was that Michael Jackson’s MAN IN THE MIRROR kept running through my head…..which I suppose is my subconscious way of saying….Yep… major disconnect…. that’s it. In a bathtub painting, his head, even in profile was missing. and his legs were floating out in front of him. I had a really strange thought when I saw that painting. : I wonder if he thinks that’s what waterboarding is?
I also would have liked the reporting person to have asked him the difference bewteen Soooter and his outting of the CIA people, and snowden and Booz Allen’s lack of security, and how could Scooter that rate that pardon and get a get out of jail card? I would have loved him to define what a whistleblower is, although, since it was Geirge Bush, maybe he would answer by whistling Dixie.
It would have been great to ask him what he thinks about the Fourth Amendment too. Sometimes though, even when he was president, I wondered if he had Reagan’s Disease, as Bush always seems so disconnected from the world.
It is good that he’s helping Africa, but Haiti needs a lot of help, and so do half the families in this nation.
I also would have asked him WHY he said, before he left office , that the next president would have to end the war. What kind of answer was that? But then, ABC has such simple call letters, which is maybe why they attract such simple minded reporters.” Oh… the humanity..” and all the lost opportunities to really report. That was a very sad attempt to give any real information. That’s a FAIL to you, abc.
rehabilitating Bush’s image?.Give me a break. He needs to be in a rehabilitation Center like Levenworth.along with Cheney. Both War Criminals and murderers
The word Persona had signified an actor’s mask; later it was applied to the part played by man in life; finally it came to mean the man himself – as if to say that we can never know a man, but only the part he plays, the mask, or masks that he wears.
Here’s what I would have asked him: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=593829307306550
This reminds me of how the corporate establishment right wing “mainstream” press did the same for Nixon so that when he died he had and elevated status from liar and warmonger to elder statesman.
Shows us just how so many in the world sees us as, Christian Conservatives even when most of us aren’t.
“Smack, smack, smack!” I love the sound of Washington (and New York) journalists kissing the hidden anatomical parts of big-shot politicians.
If I was doing the interview, my first question:
Me: Five thousand American soldiers died and 30,000 were wounded in a war you initiated against Iraq. 200,000 Iraqis were killed in that war. There is no evidence that supports Iraqi involvement in 9-11 and there were no weapons of mass destruction found in that country. Do you feel you should apologize to the American people for conducting a war that had nothing to do with our security?
This from an Eisenhower Republican. Bush Jr. has a high degree of personal integrity yet remains an ignorant frat-boy without a shred of geo-political savvy or sense whose family bought him a presidency.
Looks like Obama is doing his best to rehabilitate
George W. Bush’s reputation as well.
Oh no, I need my “professional help” but I can’t afford it!! Is arrogance by politicians and MSM covered by insurance, maybe there is hope for these guys at least.
It looks lame to me. Bush should be on trial. Interesting that Snowden is grounded in Moscow while a war criminal like Bush can make a transcontinental flight with no worries. There is now proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Bush knew there were no WMD in Iraq, but attacked anyway, just after calling off the dozens of inspectors who weren’t finding any. That attack was the US’ signature war crime, one for which we should daily repent. However, we dare not search our consciences; how the poor people in Iraq must hate us now! The blithe attitude of the US masses is breathtaking.
Worst U.S. president in history.
Funny isnt it that he is showing as “more popular” in most polls now than Obama.I didnt vote for him because I thought him generally unqualified.Then along comes Obama with zero qualifications.So Bush is winning?Easy to see why.Obama is no longer trusted.To walk the walk and talk the talk.To do what you say,and say what you do.Obama in short is a liar..Bush for all his faults(and there were many)is a stalwart man.He never disseminated his views for political gain.He was a standing target.Easy to hit.Obama is as slippery as an eel,always lying,because he knows his views are not those of America.He means to remake America in an image no one recognizes.Maybe hoped for by those who are not the producers.The users of this country.Willing to be dependent on an all powerful mommy and daddy Fed.And America is more sick of that than a Texan who espoused strongly- some views they could not agree with.Obama is the lying little weasel who wont admit his baseball broke the window.Bush says damn straight I broke it.Two very different approaches yet similarly bad for the country.Today Bush stays silent in respect to his predecessor.Something I hate more than anything else about him.Because it is the one time he has faltered.It is to this tea party conservative- a black mark against him.To join the good ol boys club with a man(Obama)who means to remake America…in a failed progressive image.Understand this.If Bush wanted to at this point he could launch a massive PR move that would rehabilitate his image.He could attack Obama mercilessly.He could cherry pick all he wants.Yet he stays silent.And allows the gnats to pick at him.Lucky for you I say.Lucky for Obama who is riding on what is proving to be the worst presidency in our history bar none.But dont worry my little socialist ,liberal ,progressive gnats.Obama will be saved to.As we crawl from the wreckage of his presidency as we did Bushes,let it make you happy to know they will all be playing golf together.Yucking it up.
Lets compare this interview with the Frost Interview of Nixon, back then no major broadcaster would accept these kind of ground rules and Frost only saved the day at the last episode of his paid for TV interviews. Now the “main stream broadcasters” have signaled that they are easily willing to do soft ball PR interviews. My how the journalistic standards have disappeared…. errr changed…