It’s all coming into place. My hope that America would be reminded that the mess our country is in is a direct result of George W. Bush’s administration is actually coming true. I know the grand poobahs of the GOP have kept George locked in the basement for almost two years. I was pushing for President Obama and Congress to make a point to tell America that they are trying to clean up the mess they were left with via Bush & Cheney, but they’ve been ineffective on that front. I’ve written about it and so have many other bloggers, but who would have thought that it would be Republicans and George Bush himself who would lead the charge?
“Monumentally bad timing.”
According to former Bush aide Matt Latimer, that’s the Republican reaction to the news that former president George W. Bush will release his memoir, Decision Points, the week after the 2010 midterm elections. Yes, the races will be decided by the time the book hits stores, but as with any major print release, a slew of excerpts are sure to be leaked in the weeks prior to Nov. 2. Latimer gives his take on The Daily Beast, reporting on Democrats who are “gleeful” at the news, Republicans who are on the fence about it, and what Bush himself might be thinking:
The former president, who I knew to be an often “misunderestimated” politician, may indeed think his book will help his party–by setting the record straight. (There are parts of that record that can use some plain old Texas clarifyin’.) Undoubtedly some people will look more kindly on the Bush years now than they did at the time, particularly on national security. But the problem is that Bush himself will not be able to make his case before the elections. As with most high-profile books, W. will likely be embargoed from talking until his book is released–far too late to change the minds of any voters.
I love this reaction to the news that the Bush Memoirs are being released in November:
One prominent conservative compared the Bushies’
public-relations savvy to LeBron James.
Last night a fan at a Cleveland/Yankee game had to be escorted out of the stadium because he wore a LeBron Miami Heat jersey in Cleveland. Here’s the reaction.
I hope this is the same reaction Americans will have to ‘The Bush Book Bomb.”
In the meantime, if the Obama administration has their way in the media, the weeks before the election could be about revisiting issues the party still has nightmares about: Why didn’t we find WMD in Iraq? Did the Bush administration drop the ball on Afghanistan? What did the administration do to stave off the collapse of our economy? Was Alan Greenspan right that the Bush-led Republicans “deserved to lose”? Not to mention Katrina and “Heckuva job, Brownie” and prisoner-abuse scandals and on and on—discussed by the same cast of characters from Rove to Perino to Gillespie who presided when Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama came to power in the first place.
How soon will it be before Rahm Emanuel and James Carville circulate excerpts of Decision Points to major media outlets to get that conversation started? Maybe they’ll even co-host the former president’s book party.
My hope is that Meet The Press, Face The Nation, FAUX News Sunday, This Week and many others will have George Bush on for a lengthy interview so he can tout his book. Keep your fingers crossed.
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