Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Bush 43 speaks out for free press and for an inclusive immigration policy

George W. Bush went all the way through eight years of Barack Obama's presidency without saying anything critical of his decisions.   However, this week, in an interview with Matt Lauer on the "Today" he said that:

   "I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. . . . We need an independent media to hold people like me to account.  Power can be very addictive, and it can be corrosive."

He said he recalled spending time trying to convince Russian president Vladimir Putin to "accept the notion of a free press. . . . It's kind of hard to tell others to have an independent free press if we're not willing to have one ourselves."

Bush also talked about the immigration ban, saying that the right to worship freely is a "bedrock of our freedom," in the context an obvious reference to the blocking of refugees coming from Syria, most of whom are Muslim.   Saying that he understood that the immigration ban was an "ideological conflict," Bush reiterated that "I am for an immigration policy that is welcoming and upholds the law."

And in an interview with People magazine, Bush said:  "I don't like the racism and I don't like the name-calling and I don't like the people feeling alienated. . . .  Nobody likes that."

Bully for Dubya.   I never thought I would be nostalgic for the days of his presidency, but I would swap Trump for him in a New York minute right now.

Ralph

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