Revising History, Just In Time

(Editorial cartoon by Mike Luckovich and published 4/23/13 by the Atlanta Journal Constitution.  Click on image to enlarge and then return.)

George W. Bush's presidential library is opening just in time for the GOP to revise history further.  After all, there's an election coming up in 2014 and an even bigger one coming up in 2016.  The Bush name has to be burnished for a return by the family.  W has spent the last four plus years quietly and far beyond the ken of the people in this country.  That really hasn't been much of a problem, especially since Obama has pretty much continued with the agenda initiated by W and his NeoCon buddies.

Since then, Bush has absented himself from both policy disputes and political battles. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that the passage of time and Bush’s relative invisibility have been beneficial to a chief executive who left office surrounded by controversy.

Days before his second term ended in 2009, Bush’s approval rating among all adults was 33 percent positive and 66 percent negative. The new poll found 47 percent saying they approve and 50 percent saying they disapprove. Among registered voters, his approval rating today is equal to President Obama’s, at 47 percent, according to the latest Post-ABC surveys.

Majorities said they still dis­approve of Bush’s performance on the Iraq war and the economy, but his economic approval numbers nearly doubled between December 2008 and today, from 24 percent to 43 percent, with 53 percent disapproving. Iraq remains the most troublesome part of his legacy. Today, 57 percent say they disapprove of his decision to invade, though that is down from 65 percent in the spring of 2008, the last time the question was asked. ...

Last week’s Boston Marathon bombing was a tragic reminder of the episode that changed Bush’s presidency. After 9/11, Bush implemented aggressive anti-terrorism policies, many of which were embraced by the Obama administration, though not the controversial interrogation measures authorized under Bush. A recent report by the Constitution Project concluded that those policies resulted in torture of some detainees.   [Emphasis added]

Obama may not be authorizing water boarding, but he is obviously OK with keeping Gitmo and force-feeding its current inhabitants, many of whom are innocent of the charges under which they are kept.  And Obama is still backing and supporting the odious provisions of the Patriot Act and warrantless searches.  Is it any wonder that the GOP is finding it relatively easy to rehabilitate W?

And that means Jeb Bush's son will run for a state post in Texas in 2014 to test the waters, and then Jeb himself will be persuaded (ha-ha) to enter the 2016 primaries to save the Republicans from themselves.

See?  Easy.