George H.W. Bush

I have waited what I think is an appropriate time to address some of the less savory aspects and legacy of George Bush I.

Although he has recently passed away and I generally think he was a decent person, I did not ever have a positive attitude towards his actions and policies. In fact, there are certain issues that still bother me and before there is an attempt to deify him, I think I should express them.

What got me started on this? I recently saw a quasi-documentary called “Dark Legacy”. The reason that I refer to it as a quasi-documentary is that it, like so many other of the same kind of product, does not seem to be satisfied with the facts speaking for themselves. The documentarian had to jump to conclusions that his evidence did not support. Specifically, in this case, was his assertions regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the person or persons directly involved. When that is examined and found wanting, the conclusion of his “documentary” falls by the wayside.

Thus it would be easy to ignore some significant issues presented in the documentary that are worth further thought. The most interesting, for this article, is that George H.W. Bush seems to have been involved with the CIA in the early 1960’s if not the 1950’s. That is interesting because, based upon sworn testimony when he was being vetted for the CIA Directorship, he swore he had no prior association. Why did he find it necessary to lie? Could it be that he might have been one of the CIA’s liaisons with the anti-Castro paramilitary groups that the CIA was illegally involved in, as suggested by the documentary? Hmmm! That and the association with good ol’ E. Howard Hunt may be why he was not so keen on discussing this time in his life.

If that were the only thing I had going, given the source, I would probably dismiss any disabuse of his legacy, but this is not all.

The most blatant nastiness that is known to most everyone is the racist smear campaign with the Willie Horton, a person who while on furlough of a life sentence committed assault, robbery, and rape before being recaptured. This was laid at the doorstep of Dukakis’ campaign, claiming that his administration was soft of crime. This was even though the furlough program had been in place for years. But that was just dirty politics as per normal wasn’t it? Except that the way the advertisements were presented, making sure to feature Willie Horton as a crazed black man. No racism here, now was there?

We cannot forget either that all apocryphal evidence seems to point to the fact that Georgie was the Reagan Administration’s point man on the Iran-Contra deal. Even though Oliver North took the major hit, falling on his sword by admitting to treasonous acts in Congress, he did not act autonomously. His acts were directed and if H.W. was in charge, he committed treason as well. And he was not granted immunity nor was he pardoned.

However, the strangest thing I have against Bushy boy is something that he did not do when he should have. He did not invoke the 25th Amendment when it was obvious that Reagan was mentally impaired. Invoking the 25th Amendment in those circumstances is not a judgment call. If the President is impaired, the Vice President needs to step in. I do not care who was covering for Ronny. I do not care what it meant for the powers that be. Ronald Reagan needed to be replaced when he could no longer function normally. For H.W. not to do so is unforgivable. I am sure some apologist in the future, when the scope of Ronny’s disability is finally revealed, will come up with some altruistic, positive reason. It have better be a doozy because right now it is unforgivable.