Bush in Philadelphia: 'Welcome to my hanging'
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/12/06/art.bushportrait.gi.jpg caption=" Bush got a look at a new presidential portrait Saturday."](CNN) - President Bush has often said he doesn’t dwell on how others view him – but he spent plenty of time Saturday taking in one conception, attending the unveiling of a presidential portrait in at a private club in Philadelphia.
"Welcome to my hanging," said Bush, to laughter from the crowd.
Watch Bush at his portrait's unveiling
Artist Mark Carder painted the portrait after taking hundreds of photos of Bush this spring. In it, Bush is standing in the White House Treaty Room, looking straight ahead.
“I was taken aback by how much gray paint you had to use,” Bush told Carder in his Saturday comments at the Union League in Philadelphia. “It speaks more about my job than yours.”
The president also compared himself to another commander-in-chief. “I found it interesting that the League was founded in 1862, to support President Lincoln in a time when his leadership was deeply controversial,” he said. “I know how he felt.”
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To the poster above who said this moronic statement, "after all he has gone through…..911, Katrina, two wars, a world-wide economic depression may history show him the respect he deserves as our President"...
You might want to pay attention. In ALL of those situations, Bush proved to be a worthless fool, a terrible leader, and a man riddled with the judgment of a 4 year old.
He took the entire world's good graces after 9/11, flushed them down the toilet, and proceeded to plunge them into the septic tank.
Katrina was a place that he flew over way too long after the floods hit, and let the least of our citizenry wallow in disease-infested waters while his best batch of potential helpers (i.e. our military) were out fighting pre-emptive wars that proved to be miserable failures.
Don't even get me started on our economic depression. This fool, in times of war, annihilated our government's ability to generate revenue & contributed to the callow de-regulation of Wall Street.
Go do your homework before you try to use Bush's personal catastrophe's as benchmarks for his "respect" as "our President." And the comparison by this idiot between himself and Lincoln... unbelievable.. unbelievable..
Yeah, legacy is important and all but here's what I want to know: Was it oil or acrylic?
I don't. Every day the news media, scholars, historians and general populace show this fraud for what he has been, the better.
Keeping me safe? More like keeping me poor.
he said it right, DEATH to Him, This man is responsible for thousands of innocent lives, 4200 plus American troops and still counting, thousand of Iraqies lives and still counting, billions of dollars spent, and still counting, an economic collapse, millions of people loosen their jobs, stock market crash, this country hated all over the world b/c him and Chaney had the most outrages way of thinking about people and the world. So why allow him and that idiot Chaney just walk away from all the damage and destruction they of cost, SO HANG THAT FOOL, I say, an eye for an eye.
he probably spent more time in office getting his portrait done than actually doing any work!
the media doesn't hate him. i hate to admit this to you, but the media is a BUSINESS! and a good buisness model is to take advantage of a growing market. when that growing market is 'hatred of pres. bush' then of course they're going to take advantage of it. even fox news does this by catering to the market that supports bush. it's all marketing.
quit saying the media hates bush. the majority of AMERICANS hate bush, the media is taking advantage of that and/or representing that animosity
Did he seriously just compare himself to Abe Lincoln?
I love how Bush is innocent of EVERYTHING, and all his problems before 2006 are due to something Clinton did, after 2006 it's all the fault of the Democrats in congress, and since Nov 4. it's all been Barack Obama's fault.
I wish I had the Republicans' immense capacity for self-denial.
God, if only it were true! If there was ever a president who deserved to be put down like Sadam Hussein, it is Georgie boy.
protection of american lives shouldn't come at the expense of poor, marginalized sects of society.
bush was dealt more problems than many other presidents, but it's how he responded to those problems that pisses people off. (9/11 and bin laden, iraq, katrina, etc). he was a failure because of the decisions he made post-disaster. if you think he has protected us then you're delusional, he's made more enemies than allies
After all he has gone through…..911, Katrina, two wars, a world-wide economic depression may history show him the respect he deserves as our President
What??? Are you kidding?? This goes beyond ignorance....
1) 9/11- Remember Bush's initial reaction to Ari Fleischer?? It was "what a terrible accident". Why? Because although his national Security team knew what happened from the first moment (because they had been pleading with him to recognize the clear warning signs that he ultimately ignored) he obviously ignored his briefings.
2) New Orleans was listed as one of the three critical weaknesses in our infrastructure well before Katrina and the dangers were well understood. Katrina "happened" as we know it because there were only minimal preventative measures and Bush got caught with a crony heading FEMA when a true leader was needed.
3) Have you forgotten that Iraq was a unilteral action? Or why we are there? Or how many months of public pleas his administration made convincing us that if we didn't act, we were in mortal danger because of the WMDs. Not to mention the fact that the Taliban has regrouped in the meantime due to our lack of focus?
4) Enron, Worldcom, Tyco during admin 1 and now this and all you can come up with is poor Bush???
How about the people that died on 9/11? After nine months in office during which he convened a total of 0 cabinet level Counter-terrorism meetings, despite the tireless urging of his own counter-terrorism chief, you want people to feel bad for HIM? O the soldiers who have died or been disfigured fighting a war that was based on lie? Or the people who died in New Orleans while Condoleeza was buying shoes and Brownie was being congratulated for the job he was doing? Or the people who have lost their jobs and their homes as a result of his administrations' handling of this economy? He has been in office for almost EIGHT YEARS. It is one thing to be loyal, but another to be this closed-minded and naive. I'm sure you were this sympathetic to Clinton while Newt Gingrich was launching hostile investigations against our sitting president, crippling his power and weakening our national security. Sure you were. Do you realize that there are animals that potentially have more developed reasoning than that??
Yes he should have been hanged all right. We would be much better off.
I wonder how many people on here who joked about Bush's hanging would be appaled if the same was suggested for Obama?
One suggestion , George W. Don't come to Ohio; the 200,000 unemployed people will be looking for you. Just go to Texas and go away.
Linda wants to thanks George. Is Linda code for Laura?...I think so!
Two wars? Wait a minute. People seem to forget that the Iraq war is a war of choice for Bush of his own making. Iraq did not attack us.
Wow, Bush finally says something that gives many Americans hope, even in a metaphorical sense.
I would like to take a moment and thank President Bush for destroying my life. Thanks to globalization and deregulation of the financials I was forced to train an Indian to perfrom my job and then lost it, lost my retrirement savings and finally my career. Bush and the Republicans managed to destroy the country, but there is no remorse uttered from his lips. How does this SCUM live with himself.
Republican's know no shame. If you count the last eight years in each branch – the White house, Senate and Congress, that is 24 years. Repub's have been in charge for 22 of those executive and congressional branch/years.
And they blame this mess on the dems.
Shame on you people. Shame.
Time you step up and take ownership for the worst period foisted on the US in the last 60 years.
Love the lefty wackos out here. Why don't you get worked up over Barney and others who are really to blame? When the country is going down the tubes, I hope Bush looks at you liberals and gives you a big one fingered salute.
I'd take another 4 years of bush instead of BO. Just wait.
First and for most, both Democrats and Republicans are to be thanked for this mindless lack of governance we have seen over the last decade. Second: to honestly THANK W. for ANYTHING short of not screwing up his SECOND choice for secretary of Defense (you know the man who is the REAL REASON we have not been attacked again) is a gorse overstatement of the W's competence, morality, and common sense. We are LESS SAFE than we were when he took office! He has helped Osama Bin Laden remain a house hold name, by...well, you know NOT finding him. And lest we forget the slow, painful, decline of one of the worlds strongest economies....OUR OWN. The fact that this man is making a Joke about lynching in no surprise to ANYONE but the far, far, right, most of whom would condone such things to begin with. But i will say this ...the hard left can thank Bush for one thing...there is an entire generations who announced themselves so spectacularly to Virgina, Ohio, Florida, and a slew of other formally red states, Ladies and Gentleman say hello to the BUSH BORN DEMOCRATS. An entire generation that is OVERWHELMINGLY (not all democrat ) But VARY much against any sort of Republican rule.
So yes.. W! BANG UP JOB!
I just think that the comments he made about himself were light-hearted fun, as should be taken as such.
Bush's War may have killed almost a million Iraqi civilians. How many Iraqi civilians did Saddam kill?
I like Bush. I have always been a fan.
The Democrats and left wing press and tv hosts, etc. have denegrated him from the start. Unfortunately, the gullible public has bought this image.
He is smart amd incisive, and he is articulate.
The Bush Doctrine is having a positive effect in the mid-east. The positive turn of events in Iraq and Afghanistan will be he legacy. Already the Dems and left wing press are beginning to credit Obama with turning things around in Iraq.
No amount of revisionist history will deny Bush his legacy.
Look at Bush receiving the Nobel Peace prize around 2030.