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I Survived the Bush Presidency
From “Brownie” to the beleaguered author of The Pet Goat, Part III of The Daily Beast's Farewell Chronicles presents an oral history of the shell-shocked survivors of the Bush administration.
The Bush administration was notable for claiming dozens of political victims, only some of whom were Democrats. We interviewed the survivors who feel particularly burned by the Bush brand—everyone from the last New England Republican to a fired U.S. attorney to a children’s author whose book about a goat became fodder for Osama bin Laden. Their reflections on the last eight years are below.
Former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee voted against the war in Iraq and the Bush tax cuts. And yet the Republican brand was so toxic that he lost in the 2006 midterms—the elections Bush called a “thumping.” Chafee is no longer a Republican.
The old joke about “how do you tell when someone’s lying? Their lips are moving”—the joke became reality for the president. The other thing is I think that history will look back at these eight years and say they were the Cheney years ultimately.
I was there for the first six of them and he was the one who stood up in the Republican caucus and said forget about that campaign promise about regulating carbon dioxide and a big cheer went up from the Republican caucus. [Bush] said we were going to regulate carbon dioxide, but Cheney made sure it wouldn't happen, and on and on it went. The real muscle and brains of the last eight years has been the VP Richard Cheney and I think the president has just been a hapless cheerleader. That was his reputation back in school—a rah-rah guy, a cheerleader, and he was good at it. Ducking the shoe—that's his strength.
“Part of me kind of wants to scream, ‘I told you so,’” says former FEMA Director Michael Brown.
Michael Brown was the FEMA director who will be forever remembered by President Bush’s salute in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: “Hecukva job, Brownie.” He became an administration scapegoat and resigned in September 2005.
In a word, it's disappointment. From the beginning of the creation of the [Homeland Security] Department, it was like Homeland Security became almost a stepchild and regardless of how dysfunctional it was it was like the White House just no longer cared. So there was this chance to reform and make a lot of changes and it just didn't happen. Part of me kind of wants to scream, "I told you so," but I won’t do that.
Look, I don’t dislike the guy. Am I mad? Frustrated? Disappointed? Sure, as he probably is with me. Having said all those things, he has some good qualities. He is a caring individual—I can think of times being in the car or in a meeting and actually having a good, fun time.
In 2006, Connecticut Cong. Chris Shays became the “last New England Republican”—the only GOP representative left in the region. Over the next two years, he deviated from the party line and yet was still defeated by his Democratic challenger in 2008, rendering the entire New England caucus Republican-free for the first time since the founding of the party.
I have resisted what seems to be the popular thing, which is to find every reason to criticize George Bush. The bottom line to it is he had opportunities that he didn’t seize. He did some things wrong and he did some things right. I voted with him less than 50 percent of the time and the last two years I voted with him about 35 percent of the time. I really tried to represent my district but I wasn’t going to fall into the tempting position of just beating up on him. Because frankly the last two years people have been able to succeed politically not by not coming up with solutions but just by bashing Bush.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
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I wonder why anyone would bother talking to Brownie. The only qualification he had for the job was he was one of GWB's loyal Texas toadies. "Your doing a heckuva job, Brownie." I happened to be watching CSPAN and heard that unforgettable comment. It demonstrated the higher premium Bush put on personal loyalty than simple competence. Brownie had been slinking shamefaced alongside George during the visit to some Katrina-ravaged city. Brownie knew. As for Chafee, voters finally figured why not put a real Denocrat in office rather than a spineless RINO and beneficiary of the new American tradition of political nepotism.
Without Bush, America would not be ready for the great changes we are about to undergo.His role was to lead us to the edge of the Great Abyss so that we could see the error of our ways. He was the penultimate straw straining America's back. He played his part.
http://www.SayGoodbyetoGeorge.com
The arrogance of Christopher Shays continues to amaze me. Never once have I read or heard anything from him that acknowledges that he had a role in his own downfall. What mattered to the people of Connecticut was not the percentage of times he voted with Bush, but the issues he chose to support. (Starting with his appalling position on Katrina.) Mr. Shays seemed to forget he was elected to represent the people of Connecticut and chose instead to pursue his own political agenda. Like most politicians who stay too long in Washington, he began to think he knew what was best for the people, and that he was irreplaceable. During the last election, he brushed aside questions as if he, too, were part of the Bush administration. A far cry from the man who went door to door on his bicycle to get elected.
There was a time that Mr. Shays might have been a moderate republican and he says he represented his district more than he supported bush; but, whenever I saw him in a hearing (via c-span) he was coming from wingnut country. I was glad to see him go and I don't even live in the land of Lieberman.
Not fair to put Zig Engelman in this group.He was my college professor and has done more to get disadvantaged kids to read than anyone.Just crappy luck that those kids had to be reading from his curriculum.
Douglas Feith is incorrect. The Iraq War IS based on a lie. Bush's cronies attempted time and time again to tie Saddam Hussein to 9/11, which was NOT true. They then kept insisting he had WMD, which could be used against the US and its allies, even after weapons inspectors said there was no proof of this. They used intelligence that was known by several intelligence agencies to be false to try and convince us of nefarious doings by the Iraqis.
It was all WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG. This war has claimed the lives of over 4,000 Americans, and God knows how many 100,00s of Iraqis (a fact hardly ever reported - why are American casualties more important than Iraqi civilians?). And TO WHAT END????
We have utterly decimated the deep and profound respect held for us for generations by countries around the world and plunged ourselves deeper and deeper into economic and humanitarian nightmares thanks to ignorant war mongering jackholes like Douglas Feith, Richard Cheney and George W. Bush. As my mother used to say GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH!
Brownie? Why would you interview the ultimate hack, Brownie? The guy then says, "I can think of times being in the car or in a meeting and actually having a good, fun time."
What? "a good fun time"?
What does this have to do with being an effective president, or, for that matter, a decent human being. Brownie, you're continuing to do a heck of a job. "...a good fun time"?!?!?! Does that include New Orleans in 2005?
Douglas Feith STILL doesn't get it. It wasn't just "poor PR" that turned Americans away from supporting the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq; it was finding out that it was based entirely on falsehoods, cooked "intelligence", and mendacious scare tactics. It was knowing that our blood and treasure was wasted by an out of control group of ideological maniacs who would shake in their boots if they were ever in combat themselves. Feith has family, I suspect. How does he face them knowing who and what he is?
David Kuo: Bush "gives a widely heralded inaugural speech, one of the best of the 21st century."
Since the only two inaugural speeches in the 21st Century were given by Bushie, makes sense that his was "one of he best."
Feith's comment's epitomize why many people have had such a problem with the Bush administration -- the problem isn't the actual policies that were implemented they feel the real issue is that the 'spin' wasn't quite right (even Laura Bush, who is normally above the fray, said recently the reason we had a problem with Katrina was because of an inflated media report of how many people were affected .....not the incompetence that ensued?????)
Another issue that is often espoused regarding Bush is that well, gosh darn it, he is such a nice guy....you know he probably is a nice guy but frankly he was elected for the office of President of the US -- not 'America's Best Pal' so when his administration screwed up on issues such as the economy, the Iraq War, Katrina, etc, etc a reasonable retort is NOT -- "Well I know he made some pretty horrific decisions on that issue, but you know he really is a good guy....."
Finally, and really most importantly there is the total lack of accountability for anything that didn't go as planned...I'm sorry but this administration had no problem claiming victory in Iraq (can you say Mission Accomplished) but when things went badly it wasn't their fault -- it was that Americans weren't patriotic enough (maybe GWB should have had Cheney from poppy's regime on his staff -- you know the Cheney who told the US public the reason we could NOT go into Iraq was because we would not be able to get out easily.....Cheney does know that we currently don't destroy news footage from the 80's and 90's...????)
Bush somehow even claims credit for the fact there were no acts of terrorism during his watch (oh, except that pesky 9/11 thing) -- he couldn't be accountable for that!!
He has said that he feels no regret for anything he has done regarding the economy...in a recent interview he felt that it was something that happened 10 or so years ago that caused this...case closed.
If it was good, then it was because of him and if not, well.....
Anyone who supported the Bush administration and got burned can't be a victim... because they supported the Bush administration.
In all the scenes of malfeasance depicted in the HBO film Recount, the Brooks Brothers Riot was the one that made my blood boil the most. To hear that Roger Stone has had some sleepless nights over his participation in that shameful moment in our history actually makes me feel better somehow. I'm not happy for his suffering, but I am glad to hear some sense of awareness and the ramifications of participating in this 8-year nightmare. The soul-searching won't bring back all the human lives lost to the Bush administration's hubris, but it's a start.
Washed up liberal congressmen and losers making benign comments to denigrate GWB don't deserve much contemplation.
When the "A" team starts to write their memoirs, I'll pay closer attention.
What a bunch of cheap shots from The Beast.
I still love this Web site, though.
Fieth should be in jail awaiting trial for his role in this war. Instead, he is out yammering on. As for Stone, he is guilty and I hope that he does not find the relief that he seeks. Those who died and those they left behind deserve it.
Doug Feith is a neo con opportunist - just the kind of self-important people we do not need in DC anymore. And Roger Stone, give me a break - who cares what Black, Manafort, Stone or Kelly thinks - they make millions regardless of who is in office from foreign governmetns - they are modern day white collar mercenaries who only think of themselves. The notion that Stone cares about one kid killed in Iraq is a joke.
So Bush's first inaugural speech was one of the best of the twenty-first century was it, David? Good heavens--it was the first one of this century! And I'm sure it will be surpassed by a mile next week.
"There's still this certain measure of disbelief that things could have turned out as poorly as they did. Obviously, [Bush] comes off a wickedly divided election and gives a widely heralded inaugural speech, one of the best of the 21st century"
lol
thats like saying that A is the best first letter in the alphabet
doug feith needs to shut the hell up.
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