I heart Bush..

George W. Bush -- our last real president -- spoke at a dinner in Mobile, Alabama night before last promoting his upcoming book Decision Points and raising $400,000 for the University of Mobile. He had some interesting observations about his two terms as president, the most piquant being:

“I loved being your president. But frankly, I’m having the time of my life not being your president,” he said. “I do not miss the limelight. I have zero desire to be in the press. I have zero desire to be on your TV screens. Eight years is enough of that.”

Somehow, that's a heartwarming sentiment from a man who endured such blistering hate and criticism from a maniacal left. I am sure it must cause them to seethe and roil but, as a man once said, the best revenge is living well.

Not only is he living well, he is making some pretty wry observations:

“In 1944, if somebody said that one day Japan and the United States will be working in concert to keep the peace, they’d have called you a hopeless nut,” he said. “But that person would not know what I have learned. That freedom is transformative. That an enemy can become an ally. And if the United States does not lose its nerve, and forget its principle of the universality of freedom, the same thing is going to happen in the Middle East. And some day, a generation of Americans is going to say, ‘thank God this generation did not lose faith in the transformative power of freedom.’”

..and something that the giggling idiot who currently resides in the White House would have not clue one understanding:

“I came to Washington with a set of values. I got those from my faith, my family and where I was raised,” he said. “And that became the cornerstone of my decision-making. You cannot lead a complex organization unless you have a set of principles that are inviolable.”

The more time that is put between those eight years and the more time I have to live through the absolute rampant incompetence and buffoonery on display in Washington since Bush's departure, the more I miss this good, quiet, decent man.

Yes, even for the warts and bumps we experienced during his second term, I believe he will go down in history as one of the better of our presidents -- except among those intellectuals who continually rate bumblers like Carter up near the top and relegate Reagan at the bottom despite economic and empirical evidence to the contrary.

Me? I kinda think the pictures below say it all about Bush versus The Child-Emperor metrosexual perpetual golfing vacationer:

For that matter, How about Bush, Reagan, and Captain Kick-Ass:

..'nuff said. God bless you, President Bush.

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