Among many other things, I've long been bothered by this aspect of the Bush Administration: the preference for creating an image of doing something, rather than actually doing it. This has now reached new lows of lunacy -- apparently, there's an effort afoot called "The Bush Legacy Project."
It's been hard enough these past two decades dealing with the sort of people who think merely canonizing Ronald Reagan is insufficient. I realize now that despite approval ratings lower than Dick Nixon's when that blight on American history resigned from office, there are going to be any number of the truly unhinged who will make it their business to parrot the talking points from Rove, Hughes, et al, about how W was actually a good president. In addition to the ongoing efforts to portray everything that Bush is responsible for as Obama's fault -- you've probably already heard of "the Obama recession," right? -- and to claim that Bush laid the groundwork for every success and repair job that Obama will accomplish, we are sure to face a concerted effort to revise history, starting now.
This is a fight worth having. Without going all Santayana on you, the only good that can possibly come from the past eight years is searing those lessons into our collective memories. The Bushian penchant for secrecy, the preference for cronyism and loyalty and ideological purity over competence, the disregard for allies, the dismissal of the Constitution, the squelching of dissent, the wholesale war on science, the smugness of ignorance and lack of culture and intellectual curiosity -- these are just a few things which when we recall, we must always follow up with Never Again. As tiresome as it may feel to have to repeat for the kabillionth time the litany of George W. Bush's failings and crimes, we cannot let the wingnuts get away with whitewashing.
But, we don't always have to be sourpusses about it. To that end, I pass along a recommendation for 23/6's Madlibs for the Modern Era: The Defending Bush's Legacy-O-Tron.
(h/ts: Chez Pazienza and Bob Cesca)
(WPE = Worst President Ever, if you hadn't already figured that out)
[Added] And speaking of Bush as opposed to Nixon, don't miss 23/6's related post.
[Added] Related to the main topic of this post, see Blue Texan on Nooners. And Ken Layne on Wonkette, for an even harsher take.
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