Wow, George W. Bush is really taking this whole “legacy” thing seriously. This kind of amazes me, since he’s never really taken anything in his whole life seriously (well, maybe executing people when he was Texas governor).
Anyway, this article in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times says Bush Administration officials are distributing a two-page “talking points” memo on all the good things Bush has done for us while he was president. “The document presents the Bush record as an unalloyed success,” wrote Peter Nicholas. The memo, which the Times says it obtained but did not post online, says Bush’s good things include cutting taxes, keeping America “safe,” curbing AIDS in Africa and upholding “the honor and dignity of his office,” whatever the hell that means. Other matters like Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, the global credit crunch and torture at Abu Ghraib are apparently not in the memo for some reason.
Have no fear! The good people at the Center for Public Integrity have been busy compiling their own run-down on Bush’s legacy. You can read it here, in all its glory. (You can also still check out ProPublica’s look at Bush’s record here.)
Anthony Pignataro 