Topic: Newsmax
The release of former President Bush's new book has given Newsmax's Ronald Kessler a new reason to fluff his favorite president, a opportunity he has already taken advantage of. Apparently trying to prove that too much fluffing is not enough, Kessler does it again in a Nov. 17 column by taking the bizarre approach of chiding Bush for not taking enough credit for his administration's successes:
In his book “Decision Points,” former President Bush failed to mention that Saddam Hussein admitted to FBI agent George Piro that he was planning on resuming his WMD program, including development of a nuclear weapon.
Why would Bush omit such an important point when addressing the pros and cons of taking down Saddam? As noted in the Newsmax piece "'Decision Points' Brings Out the Real George W. Bush," while Bush made the right decisions to prevent another terrorist attack, he often neglected to communicate well to the American people, undercutting his agenda. The failure to mention such an important point in his book spotlights that tendency.
Kessler's goal is still making his hero look as good as possible, asserting, "Now that Bush is going on the book circuit, people are getting a glimpse of what a decent, humorous, and articulate man he is." He even quotes an anonymous "close friend of Bush" to give a positive spin on one supposed failure of the presidency:
I asked a close friend of Bush why he so neglected the communication side of his presidency.
“I believe President Bush is very focused on results,” he said.
As for not mentioning that we practice waterboarding on our own troops, he said, “I imagine it was enough for the president that his lawyers said waterboarding is legal, and I imagine it would have angered more people than it softened to point out that we subject our own troops to it.”[...]
Ironically, we now have in the White House a president who is a master at communicating, but so many of his policies are weakening the country. In contrast, Bush’s policies kept us safe after the 9/11 attack, but he didn’t explain them well.
Ideally, we would have a president who is a good communicator and a good president, as was Ronald Reagan. But given a choice between the two qualities, I’ll take the latter any day.
A good fluffer, right to the end.
