Gay Chicago Boys See the Light, Recognize Decency of W
While I frequently disagreed with the domestic policies of the immediate past president of the United States, I regularly call him a “good man,” in large measure because of the abundant evidence of his decency. Around the time of his fortieth birthday, he gave up alcohol for many reasons, but primarily to preserve his marriage. Hiw wife delivered a ultimatum to the then-lush, “It’s Jim Beam or me.” He sent Jim back to Kentucky so he could keep Laura in Texas.
Shortly after that good man took office in 2001, he invited then-Ted Kennedy and the Massachusetts Senator’s son Patrick, a congressman from Rhode Island, as well as other members of that celebrated Democratic family to the White House for a screening of the movie Thirteen Days, a dramatization of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was the first such screening at the presidential residence during that Republican’s Administration. Later, he would praise the Massachusetts Democrat referring him a “great American” whom he had “come to admire” and calling the liberal firebrand “a smart, capable senator.”
Not only did he praise his political rivals, he also offered them a helping hand as the image below shows.
Well, some lefties are starting to take notice of that good man’s fundamental decency. A number of readers alerted me to a post of a reformed Bush-hater who commenting on how his fellows “RAILED against Bush in 2000…and how we RAILED against the surge in support Bush received post-9/11 when he went to Ground Zero and stood there with his bullhorn in the ruins on that hideous day.” Upon learning what that good man and the woman (who remains his wife because he jettisoned Jim) did this past week, those Chicago gay boys realized that they had been wrong about the former President:
As we will always be grateful for what George and Laura Bush did this week, with no media attention, when they very quietly went to Ft. Hood and met personally with the families of the victims of this terrorist attack.
FOR HOURS.
The Bushes went and met privately with these families for HOURS, hugging them, holding them, comforting them.
If there are any of you out there with any connection at all to the Bushes, we implore you to give them our thanks…you tell them at a bunch of gay Hillary guys in Boystown, Chicago were wrong about the Bushes…and are deeply, deeply sorry for any jokes we told about them in the past, any bad thoughts we had about these good, good people.
They don’t ask people to become blind followers of the Republican merely because of his personal decency, but only that people refrain from personal attacks:
Criticize their policies academically and intelligently and discuss the Bush presidency in historical and political terms…but you mess with the Bushes personally and, from this day forward, and you’ll answer to us.
Finally, they regret that they didn’t “appreciate” W while that good man was in office, but are grateful they’ve “wised up and can see the good” he is “doing, under the radar, today.” It says a lot about George W. Bush that when he went to meet with the families of the victims, he and his wife did it “under the radar.” He did it to ease their pain, not to score political points. H.W. and Barbara, you raised a good boy. And Laura, you helped him become a better man.
We could use more such men.
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It was an interesting read, especially for the deeply entrenched gay community in Chicago to wake up and realize that President Bush wasn’t a bad guy after all. I guarantee that people will do a lot of waking up over the next several years and realize that the hate for the man was misplaced.
Comment by Nick — November 12, 2009 @ 2:11 am - November 12, 2009
And on the flipside:
http://tinyurl.com/ybhbg3p
Comment by ThatGayConservative — November 12, 2009 @ 3:23 am - November 12, 2009
It was refreshing to read a liberal recognize at least part of the truth about the Bushes albeit belatedly. And odd at the same time because they still admire such a deeply corrupt couple as the Clintons.
Baby steps.
Comment by American Elephant — November 12, 2009 @ 3:33 am - November 12, 2009
Daniel,
HillBuzz has acknowledged W’s decency for at least a year. The only blogs I found praising Bush at the end of his presidency last December and January were HillBuzz and Gay Patriot. Also, I hope you are aware of how hard the HillBuzz men worked for McCain/Palin in 2008 and how quickly they leap to the defense of Sarah Palin, whom they love and respect.
Comment by Cynthia Yockey, A Conservative Lesbian — November 12, 2009 @ 4:21 am - November 12, 2009
#4
Hmmm. Perhaps I should check HillBuzz more often. I did not know that. I knew they were virulently anti-Obama and checked in there and PUMA once or twice during the campaign season.
That’s what I thought when I read the part about putting the Bushes on a level even with the Capital Hillbillies.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — November 12, 2009 @ 4:45 am - November 12, 2009
I think that if you read through the Hillbuzz blog the guys are not liberals. They have been reflecting conservative values. They like Sarah Palin and you better not say anything bad about Sarah Palin to them.
I have been reading their blog for several months and it makes for a good read, but that post was their most powerful.
Comment by straightAussie — November 12, 2009 @ 5:09 am - November 12, 2009
Once again – the difference between a class act and trailer park trash
Comment by PatriotMom — November 12, 2009 @ 6:13 am - November 12, 2009
Time for a sidebar that could be controversial. That is the only method of dealing with alcoholism that ever works. The spouse/family recognizes how the lush is betraying them and offers a choice: quit or else. The lush then decides that taking personal responsibility and quitting for good is the way to go, much better than losing family membership. The rest of it (treatment centers, disease talk, recovery-ism, 12 stepping, therapy) is a lot of hand-waving that millions of people successfully recover without, and that may harm many as it tends to confuse the issues involved and furnish people with excuses for their bad behavior. (Patrick Kennedy, anyone?)
I have a theory that Bush’s way of dealing with his own bad behavior is one of the reasons that certain lefties have hated him so much. The ones I have in mind, don’t want to think about personal responsibility. They don’t want to see a man who successfully made short work of his confusion, errors and addictions and got his act together.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — November 12, 2009 @ 9:42 am - November 12, 2009
BTW for more information on quitting addictions, see here: http://www.rational.org – (to which I have no affiliation)
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — November 12, 2009 @ 9:45 am - November 12, 2009
[...] the liberal bloggers at the Hillbuzz blog, who admittedly made fun of President Bush for years (via Gay Patriot): If you have been reading us for any length of time, you know that we used to make fun of [...]
Pingback by George and Laura Bush’s visit to Fort Hood « Sister Toldjah — November 12, 2009 @ 10:04 am - November 12, 2009
Wow. I’m speechless.
Comment by John — November 12, 2009 @ 10:38 am - November 12, 2009
I was one of those Bush haters when I was a Women’s Studies minor in college. I regret that now.
I don’t agree with some of what his policies were, but I do believe he was a good man who was in office during an extremely tumultuous time in our country’s history.
I owe Mr. Bush an apology.
Comment by Valerie — November 12, 2009 @ 10:41 am - November 12, 2009
Not all of us Chicago boys were Bush-hating fanatics to start with. =)
Comment by Blake Flint — November 12, 2009 @ 11:05 am - November 12, 2009
I am gay guy and I actually miss George Bush.
When he was President, I had a job, felt more free (how could that be? he is so homophobic you know!) and felt safer.
Comment by Discarded by Hope and Change — November 12, 2009 @ 11:30 am - November 12, 2009
Not only did the Hillbuzz guys thanks president Bush, they also thanked VP Cheney, as being the highest official in the land to support Same Sex Marriage.
That will get them thrown out of Gay Inc. instantly.
Comment by Leah — November 12, 2009 @ 11:34 am - November 12, 2009
Leah:
Touché! Nicely done… and I love “Gay, Inc.” May I appropriate it for my own use? lol
Comment by Richard — November 12, 2009 @ 12:55 pm - November 12, 2009
OK, Dan, I have to nit-pick a bit. You know I love your stuff. Makes me think (ouch – my brain hurts), but man, you gotta lay off the “that good man” and “that good woman‘ stuff. Stylistically, it gets repetitive and boring. And we already know that you hold them in high esteem from the context of your post, you don’t kneed to keep reinforcing the point. Sometimes, it almost seems like you’re trying to convince yourself that this person IS truly a good person.
Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.
Comment by Sonicfrog — November 12, 2009 @ 2:04 pm - November 12, 2009
Kudos to Laura and George. . .but did ya ever think that the Bush clan needs to be a tad bit discreet in their outings, since they are under SS security.
I am very happy that they were able to meet with the families of those who were visciously attacked.
Comment by rusty — November 12, 2009 @ 2:59 pm - November 12, 2009
“I have a theory that Bush’s way of dealing with his own bad behavior is one of the reasons that certain lefties have hated him so much. The ones I have in mind, don’t want to think about personal responsibility. They don’t want to see a man who successfully made short work of his confusion, errors and addictions and got his act together.”
– ILoveCapitalism
I never thought of it that way. Bush did decide to alter his life and he took responsibility for his actions and never played a victim. Isn’t this the hatred of the good for being good?
I disagreed with several of his policies but I sure miss him now. He is a good guy. I would love to shake his hand one day.
Comment by CattusMagnus — November 12, 2009 @ 4:17 pm - November 12, 2009
No. If he wanted the Ft. Hood visit to be a photo op, it would have been. This is nothing new or surprising as he met with many families during his presidency and he didn’t make it all about himself, like another President we know.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — November 12, 2009 @ 4:35 pm - November 12, 2009
Haha – yes.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — November 12, 2009 @ 6:18 pm - November 12, 2009
Richard, credit Michael Petrelis for ‘Gay Inc’, but that’s where I got it from. So by all means, spread it on.
There are gays, who are a diverse group of people.
Then there is Gay Inc. professional gays who make their living and get invited to cocktail parties based on how they can exploit the first group.
Comment by Leah — November 12, 2009 @ 6:22 pm - November 12, 2009
I’ve lurked off and on at that site over the past six months and it was really cool to see them honor the former president and first lady. I’m really glad to see there are some who don’t necessarily agree with conservatives that can still recognize we’re not all monsters who want to rule the world.
Comment by Mad Monica — November 12, 2009 @ 6:43 pm - November 12, 2009
What I think was most important about that post is what they said and what many of the commenters said about how they always used to trust the media but now they are seeing the realities of the media. So much of the hatred against Bush was because of the media’s treatment of him.
If the Democratic primary brought us anything good, the best thing it brought us was Democrats seeing the light when their gal was attacked.
Comment by Mitchell Blatt — November 12, 2009 @ 10:31 pm - November 12, 2009
Oooh! I wanna get paid for being gay (and not have to stand on a street corner to do it).
Comment by ThatGayConservative — November 13, 2009 @ 2:59 am - November 13, 2009
and not have to get in bed (literally and figuratively) with liberal trash.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — November 13, 2009 @ 3:00 am - November 13, 2009
TGC – The restrictions you have placed on the criteria of the job definitely leaves you disqualified!!!
Comment by Sonicfrog — November 13, 2009 @ 3:27 pm - November 13, 2009