xtcian

The one thing I can say for W is that he has kept still and out from under our noses since taking his dirty laundry back to Texas.

Unfortunately the *real* president from those Bush years has been more visible (and audible) than ever. The former VP reminds me of a country song that went something like "How can I miss you when you won't go away?"

So that's a no?

I don't miss him being president. I do think that he was a hapless upper-class twit who was a tool of a bunch of much uglier characters. Not that his cluelessness excuses his crimes, but he didn't really THINK of all the stupid shit he did -- people were feeding him his lines.

I do miss the unmistakable creamy center of goodness he couldn't hide. Wrong-headed, ignorant, incurious though he might be, he loved dogs. He was a rich Texan who respected and sympathized with Hispanic folks, instead of fantasizing about hunting them for sport.

In his own ridiculous Mr. Magoo way, he tries to live by Christ's example. In that I believe he's sincere and I can't but respect that.

When I compare that to the current crop of bullet-headed dead enders who pass for Conservatives, I can't help but miss him just a little.

I just think he'd be a hero if he'd run a car dealership and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. As it is, it's hard not to hate the man, despite his better qualities. But if I listen to my own better angels, I don't hate him, I hate the cohort of ugly, soulless plutocrats that put him in the Presidency.

Nobody rants it better. Thanks for this, Ian.

What Kent and your mom said.

There's a special place in hell for Dick Cheney. It looks a lot like Casper, Wyoming. Except much windier.

Right on, Tammy!!! And a little more grudgingly, Kent. You've got some SERIOUSLY strong "better angels." I'm not there yet, but at least MY "better angels" asked me to give yours a listen. Baby. Steps.

Mom - "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away" by Dan Hicks (and his Hot Licks):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW9-FOLG-iA

I probably inflicted this on you back in the 70s -- Dan Hicks LPs were in heavy rotation in my room. Especially "Where's the Money" http://tinyurl.com/ycnvrbc -- which coincidentally, was recorded live in the same Los Gatos theatre in which Amici Della Musica used to perform.

Dan Hicks is an interesting character. He was actually in a jug band with Jerry Garcia before the Dead, but he always seem to cast a jaundiced eye on the hippie world...

Kent, your ability to see good in people is truly astounding. I see Bush and all I can feel is revulsion and seething fury for what he put us through. I suppose, for me, he is the embodiment of the misery the world is suffering right now, which is probably only partly fair. But hopefully your better angels will have a conversation with mine on occasion, and just a little bit of your grace will rub off on me.

P.S. Ian, nice Police reference.

Don't hold back now, Ian...

Seriously, I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE THE PICTURE at first. Maybe it's the pressed suit and the combed gray hair. I remember his hair as browner and always touseled, adding to the kid-from-the-Mad-Magazine-cover look he always had.

Or maybe I've just succeeded a bit in blocking all memory of that little chimp from my brain.

You know who I miss? William Brennan and William Douglas.

i miss W every time i see that arrogant neophyte socialist prick you guys elected on television. thank god for the sensible working people in massachusetts.

the "war on success" has failed, thank god.

lots of god references above. i don't even go to church. just like stirrin' the pot sometimes...

Wow. That's great.

Cue the Hitler 'stashe and the red devil horns.

And the unfortunate thing is that you can't even be mad at someone calling the President of the United States a prick, because your own name-calling was just as bad. This is why I always come down so hard on you for calling Bush a monkey. It's difficult to find such hatred for America and it's institutions shocking when you won't rise above the name-calling yourself.

Nothing that Craighill wrote can be defended. You can't prove arrogance, he is light years from being a political neophyte, he doesn't come close to resembling socialism, but fortunately, he's proven himself an utter ass by including the same kind of name-calling he found disgusting under President Bush, so we can just ignore the whole thing as so much juvenile noise.

This is why "Cheney is responsible for War Crimes" is a useful sentence, and "Bush is a slobbering goon" isn't.

You know they say a Massachusetts Republican is considered a Democrat in much of the country, and I think Scott Brown has proven that theory correct. Have you seen what the right-wingers are calling him today?

Damn myself! I knew that course in Sensitivity Training wouldn't take.

you're right sean. marxist would be been more accurate than socialist given obama's hatred for capitalism. my bad.

sensitivity is overrated.

At the end of the day, both the Dems and Repubs sound like my tattling 4-year-old. Although I love me a good angry rant and an equally well-written witty retort, no one ever proffers a good solution or a fix for the problems they like to rail about in general.

I get that the far left thinks Bush was a boorish, bullying mouth-breather who set our world diplomacy back 20 years.

I get that the far right thinks Obama is an elitist Muslim who wants to redistribute your wealth and can't produce his birth certificate.

But how do you fix health care?

How do you fix the economy?

How do you resolve the two wars we've got going on right now?

I'm tired of the tattling and the name-calling. Show me the smart fix, the smart resolution of the problem, independent of political motivations, and then let's see if that can be accomplished when people quit worrying about the stats.

You guys and gals on this list are smart and have the knowledge base to weigh in with real possible solutions. Let's see those kinds of posts and leave the bumper sticker zingers at home.

Unless they're really funny bumper sticker zingers.

@GFWD: With all due respect (don't you love that condescending disclaimer?), I don't come to xtcian to read wonky policy debates. There are plenty of other sites where I can, and in fact do, indulge that taste.

I come here for the purely colorful prose and pull-no-punches tirades that Ian posts.* They make me laugh, nod my head, and wish I'd said that. And that. And that too. Or that I had the balls to say "that" on a public Web page.

(*And of course for the Lulubeans/Tessa posts and the nostalgia posts and and and....)

And does anyone think that Jenna Bush Hager is the worst NBC correspondent in the world?

Anne, you might as well have just said, "bless his heart" to me. The Southern version of "with all due respect". Smile.

No, I love me a good Ian rant. It's when others respond to his rant with their rants that I think--hmmm, why don't you two just apply the same verve and intelligence to a tangible problem.

Plus, I know some of my friends who like to stir the debate on here are really smart and have good ideas they could use to start a less ranting dialogue.

Poor Ian probably needs Bush to kick around now that our beloved Heels are fading into oblivion.

GFWD: Good idea, let's get it rolling.

1. Amend / Scrap the constitution to fix the following a) Federalism is a joke given the current reading of the commerce clause - fix it. b) corporations as humans---- simple fix in the constitution c) gerrymandering -- oldest political problem in our system and it just keeps getting worse d) Federal elections - weekends only or make the day a mandatory federal holiday.

2. Health care - Simple fix - pass law that no health care provider may charge more to for any service to an uninsured person than they charge to for the same service to as an average to the insurance companies they chose to service.

3. Taxes - everyone pays - non-profits, churches, etc. Under no circumstances will anyone pay less than twenty five percent of their income in taxes.

4. Education - It is what it is. Some will rise to the top some will sink to the bottom, all should be given an opportunity to achieve but none should be allowed to prevent the cream from rising.

5. Illegal immigration - Stop the madness - get in place immediately guest worker program with minimum protections, minimum intrusions, and minimum redtape. We need the immigrants as much as they need us.

etc etc etc.

Where does the idea that Obama 'hates capitalism' come from?

I agree that name-calling doesn't really get us anywhere in a practical sense. But "cackling lemur"? C'mon - that's gold!

Tregen for Prez.

Tregen, appreciate your attempt but your health care fix will not do the job. It's a reasonable idea but it is just scratching the surface, I'm afraid.

It does make me nostalgic for the days when I knew with absolute certainty that I was smarter than the president.

oh my god - craighill... hahahaahhhaha.

really? really.... really?

marxist..."war on success"... socialist (no really I have to stop laughing)

you guys are too funny. you just keep it up, huh? no shard of reality ever pierces your bubble. truly amazing. you must get taken for a ride every day of your life if you believe all the shit that's fed to you from the right.

keep it up. truly impressive.

Now how in the heck did I miss out on this one? Gotta check back more often I guess. If you paid anything for that course in Sensitivity Training, you'd be perfectly justified in asking for a refund.

Do you mean "... some other cruel f*ck to trick Americans into voting against their self-interests again..." like Barrack Hussein Obama? We conservatives may be angry, but I don't think you can hang that one on us; you've only got yourselves to blame.