Bush must be held accountable for the wars he started and mismanaged. However, he must also be given credit for PEPFAR, the program to combat AIDS in less developed countries.
Yes, if we're going to argue on consequentialist grounds that Bush wasn't one of history's worst presidents, I think that we need to first make a case that PEPFAR is phenomenally important. Dylan Matthews makes exactly that case at https://www.vox.com/2015/7/8/8894019/george-w-bush-pepfar.
I worked on a private event where Bush Jr spoke a few months ago. He was one of the most charming funny old guys I have ever come into contact with. He was up on stage just talking about his paintings of immigrants and cracking everyone up.
Trumps vile personality seems to be damaging our national psyche in a unique way, probably especially for children coming into political consciousness during this time. But Bush’s, and perhaps even Obama’s, insidious monster lurking beneath the surface of a friendly face seems like seems to have been an equally unhealthy status quo that we all grew used to.
It is extremely disturbing to see that highly educated liberal Democrats who lived through the first years of this century now look fondly on George W Bush as a kindly old man with whom they may have disagreed – but it wasn’t a big deal, they seem to think.
Something to add to the roundup: I thought Kelsey's appearance on the podcast Frames of Space to talk about AI was interesting. I particularly liked her rant at the end about AI boosters giving AI credit for things it hasn't done yet, like curing cancer.
"George W. Bush, for instance, made sincere efforts to display a high level of personal morality — no affairs, no personal financial corruption, and a public commitment to his faith."
Let's not automatically attribute people's virtues, such as they are, to "efforts to display ... morality." In some ways, people's lives simply are what they appear to be. I wouldn't want my no-affairs, no-corruption life chalked up to efforts.
Bush must be held accountable for the wars he started and mismanaged. However, he must also be given credit for PEPFAR, the program to combat AIDS in less developed countries.
Yes, if we're going to argue on consequentialist grounds that Bush wasn't one of history's worst presidents, I think that we need to first make a case that PEPFAR is phenomenally important. Dylan Matthews makes exactly that case at https://www.vox.com/2015/7/8/8894019/george-w-bush-pepfar.
I worked on a private event where Bush Jr spoke a few months ago. He was one of the most charming funny old guys I have ever come into contact with. He was up on stage just talking about his paintings of immigrants and cracking everyone up.
Trumps vile personality seems to be damaging our national psyche in a unique way, probably especially for children coming into political consciousness during this time. But Bush’s, and perhaps even Obama’s, insidious monster lurking beneath the surface of a friendly face seems like seems to have been an equally unhealthy status quo that we all grew used to.
It is extremely disturbing to see that highly educated liberal Democrats who lived through the first years of this century now look fondly on George W Bush as a kindly old man with whom they may have disagreed – but it wasn’t a big deal, they seem to think.
What happened to “worst take of the week”? It was a valuable feature.
Haha, in my song, "Let Love Live" I call him the ORANGE ELEPHANT. Here's a link to the video/song. ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrkJFKhna2w Eric
Something to add to the roundup: I thought Kelsey's appearance on the podcast Frames of Space to talk about AI was interesting. I particularly liked her rant at the end about AI boosters giving AI credit for things it hasn't done yet, like curing cancer.
Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kelsey-piper-on-whether-ai-will-kill-us-all/id1756833505?i=1000758919309
Being churlish here, maybe, but...
"George W. Bush, for instance, made sincere efforts to display a high level of personal morality — no affairs, no personal financial corruption, and a public commitment to his faith."
Let's not automatically attribute people's virtues, such as they are, to "efforts to display ... morality." In some ways, people's lives simply are what they appear to be. I wouldn't want my no-affairs, no-corruption life chalked up to efforts.