The Respectfully Republican Conversation

They showed the new swearing in on Fox News this morning.  I dont know if it was the whole thing, I was listening while I was getting ready so I only heard parts.  I gotta say I loved it when Obama had to stop and wait.  Not for a bad reason, for a good reason, cause I was watching and when the Judge read that very long sentence I was thinking "Good gosh, the only part of that I would remember is my name, no way I could remember the rest"  So when Obama stalled I was like "YES!!!  I am normal!!!"  So he actually made ME feel better!  LOL

Well, I can do nothing but give him a chance as he is duly elected!!  But I do not have to wish him success in dismantling what I feel are vital policies...

And actually I felt bad for him that the oath was messed up on inauguration day. That is embarrassing for anyone in front of millions of people.  Especially since he obviously had it memorized and it was messed up when it was said to him and I'm sure there was that nanosecond of 'what do I do?'  And as it is the only official rule of inauguration, I felt sorry that it didn't go off well. 

abinneb,.......OH! (said in a long southern draw)  Well like I said, I was only listening (and in another room too) so wasnt positive at what was exactly on Fox News, thanks for clarifying. 

I did not see the Biden goof.  What was it??  I heard/saw replay of his wife's goof, but I didnt now about his.....do tell.... 

I really believe Obama was trying to be respectful of the Chief Justice and Biden just opened mouth and inserted foot

I guess it is the difference between class and trash...

On Plane to Texas, Critiques of the Speech

By PETER BAKER

Published: January 22, 2009

WASHINGTON - On the plane, no longer Air Force One but now Special Air Mission 28000, they talked about the speech. George W. Bush, the former president, was heading home to Texas with his inner circle, having just left the west front of the Capitol, where his successor first thanked him for his service and then proceeded to trash it.

The Bush team had worked assiduously to make the transition smooth for incoming President Obama and stayed out of the way as he used the post-election period to take leadership of the economy even before being sworn in. And now, as far as some of them were concerned, the new president had used his inaugural lectern to give the back of the hand to a predecessor who had been nothing but gracious to him.

Mark McKinnon, the political consultant who helped elect Mr. Bush twice and was on the plane Tuesday, described the mood as one more of equanimity than resentment. In an essay on The Daily Beast, the new web magazine started by Tina Brown, Mr. McKinnon said there were good wishes for the new president and "an absence of malice one normally sees among the constituencies of the vanquished." But he also said there were "some critical reviews of the speech, complaints about taking unnecessary shots and grousing about borrowed ideas."

Mr. Obama never directly mentioned Mr. Bush's name after the ritual thank you at the beginning of his Inaugural Address but the context of some of his remarks was lost on no one. He criticized "our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age." He promised to "restore science to its rightful place." He rejected "as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." He assured the rest of the world "that we are ready to lead once more."

Some writers, including David E. Sanger of The New York Times , concluded that it was the first time since Franklin D. Roosevelt took over from Herbert Hoover in 1933, that an incoming president used his Inaugural Address to so evidently repudiate his predecessor as he headed for the door.

Mr. Obama quickly followed words with action. The day after the inauguration, on his first full day in office, he instructed military commanders to draft a plan to withdraw combat forces from Iraq and on Thursday he plans to sign executive orders closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and reversing Mr. Bush's policies on interrogations.

Mr. Bush knew that was coming as he winged his way back to Midland, Tex., on Tuesday. Aboard the big blue-and-white jet that afternoon were some of his most loyal confidants - Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, Dan Bartlett, Andrew H. Card Jr., Donald Evans, Joshua B. Bolten, Ed Gillespie, Margaret Spellings, Clay Johnson, Alberto Gonzales, Harriet Miers and others.

Mr. McKinnon described Mr. Bush's spirits as high. "While I expected the president's mood to be defiant, bitter, defensive or vengeful toward his critics, he was anything but," Mr. McKinnon wrote. The passengers were shown a 22-minute film produced by Scott Sforza and edited by Laura Crawford celebrating the Bush presidency.

When Mr. Bush landed, as Jim Rutenberg reported in The Times , the former president told a waiting crowd of supporters that he left Washington with his head held high. "When I go home tonight and I look into the mirror, I'm not going to regret what I see," he said.

But if Mr. Bush was not eager to lash back at his critics, some of his loyalists were. In the hours since the Bush plane landed and the former president began his new life out of office, his defenders have begun pushing back. Two of his former top aides, Mr. Rove and Marc A. Thiessen, the former chief White House speechwriter, have newspaper columns out Thursday morning implicitly rebutting Mr. Obama.

Mr. Rove, who was on the plane to Texas, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that as his former boss departed Washington, "in a last angry frenzy his critics again distorted his record, maligned his character and repeated untruths about his years in the Oval Office," adding that "nothing they wrote or said changes the essential facts."

Mr. Rove went on to define Mr. Bush's legacy as the two of them see it. The former president, he wrote, was ultimately right about Iraq and right about his tactics in the war on terrorism. He cut taxes "for every American who pays taxes," appointed conservative judges, began an unprecedented campaign to fight AIDS in Africa, expanded Medicare to cover prescription drugs and introduced the No Child Left Behind education accountability program

"He didn't get everything right - no president does - but he got the most important things right," Mr. Rove wrote. "And that is enough."

Mr. Thiessen, in The Washington Post, focused his argument on the fact that terrorists never struck American soil again after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, calling that Mr. Bush's singular legacy. "If Obama weakens any of the defenses Bush put in place and terrorists strike our country again, Americans will hold Obama responsible - and the Democratic Party could find itself unelectable for a generation," he wrote.

The opening shots signal what could be a sustained debate in the coming months and years between Bush and Obama partisans over the nature of the former president's record and what he left his successor to deal with.

Mr. Bush himself has said he plans to stay out of "the klieg lights" and let the new president govern without criticism. His defenders took no such pledge. They understand that victors write the history, but they are determined to make sure they get a crack at shaping that narrative themselves.

Paulette, that was a great article. I am so glad that Bush's defenders will not remain silent. I applaud Bush for being respectful to obama and not critcizing him, but it really is appalling the way obama surreptitiously bashed bush in his address. The world will soon find out that this man is just a man.  I will continue to pray he does the right thing for the American people and not tax and spend us into socialism. It just really scares me when he keeps saying the system is broken blah blah blah. It is not the system that is broken that is the problem. It is the people who are all working the system who are the problem. How is he going to Change that? He could not even get his loyal followers to put their mess in a garbage can after his coronation. As usual, his followers leave their mess for someone else to clean up. I thought they called themselves the green party?

Yeah, Laura I also find it interesting that we can only talk about religion, show our president in church, and use God's name if we are democrats. George Bush was never seen in church because he knew it would draw critics and he did not want church services to be politicized. I bet we see the Obamas going to church every Sunday.

Sorry - keep forgetting to sign - I'm Amy.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this thread.  Have been reading voraciously but haven't jumped in till now. !

Amy

well, okay, I admit it...I did have a little lapse in judgement when I was a teenager and decided that Carter was doing a good job on something and I wrote him a positive letter and rec'd one back.  What was I thinking?????  I promise, I haven't strayed since.  Can I come home now, all is forgiven...???? 

Amy

I think it is shameful what is happening.  I heard a report - I can't quote it because I don't have the facts - but they were discussing how many detainees that have been released have been caught back on the battlefield.  I just don't understand.  My dad was a WWII vet and I know how disappointed he would be with everything going on right now.  He was very serious about the protection of our security.  It is what he said he fought for in WWII.

You mean 'help, I've fallen and I can't get up' sounding Helen Thomas?

And - if Fox News is sooooo biased, how come my blood pressure goes up routinely when I'm watching some of the guests?

They've found a place for the terrorists awaiting trial:

http://www.investors.com/editorial/cartoons/CartoonPopUp.aspx?id=316726155324879

I don't know if you all heard about this, but he's closing all the secret detention centers around the world also.  So where do we put the terrorists we round up?  Or have we just stopped rounding them up?  Well, we all talked about not being able to sleep at night, and by this time next year, we won't be.

Instead of taking care of domestic business as his first act of business, he is putting us in serious jeopardy. 

I think the tax on soda is fantastic. OMG, I am agreeing with dems! It is one of the poisons that I no longer consume, so tax away.  They can add fast food, Duritos, and beer too. Now if they start taxing my chocolate, I may have issues!

Loved that Cartoon Rosemary. There are lots of rooms in the house so they should have plenty of room for the head choppers.

My goodness, if Pepsi goes down, what are they going to do with all their obot logs?

Really...I hope they do all of that and more (obiewankanobies administration with fast food, etc.)because it will inconvenience everyone even his voters...LMAO, you voted it in there now you can pay for it!

I personally like my stuff grilled at home on the grill and I gave up soda a loooooooooooonnnnnngggggggggggg time ago so no prob! But...some of this crap will screw up the economy even more than it is now...I guess Bo wasn't kidding when he said this is not an easily fixable problem because he knew where he was going with screwing up the rest of the economy! Hey I forgot to mention what all that fat tax will do to the stocks of those companies. If ya' have it, get rid of it!