Memos

Want to Say Something Nice About Bush?

Suggestions from the Oval Office.

The Bush administration has kindly provided officials with a two-page memo outlining talking points about the president's eight years in office, The Los Angeles Times reports. Entitled "Speech Topper on the Bush Record," the memo was sent out to Cabinet members and other high-ranking officials. It reminds them that Bush "kept the American people safe" after 9/11; lifted the economy after the attacks with tax cuts; fought AIDS in Africa; and maintained "the honor and the dignity of his office"—an echo of a rather optimistic Bush campaign slogan from 2000. What of the economic crisis? Bush "responded with bold measures to prevent an economic meltdown." The memo, says a White House spokesman, is meant to highlight achievements that have been "purposefully ignored."