Where Does Jeb Stand on W’s Wars?

[DonViejo]

Michael Tomasky

The ex-president’s brother thinks he shouldn’t have to address all the bloodshed his brother caused. Sorry, Jeb: That’s insane.

I wouldn’t want to talk about the past either, if I were John Ellis Bush. I trust you caught that little moment last Friday, when he said, in response to questions about his “major foreign policy speech” coming this Wednesday, that running for president is not about “re-litigating anything in the past.”

Right. As Daniel Larison pointed out, no one running for president should be allowed to get anywhere near the Oval Office without giving voters a very full understanding of their assessment of American foreign policy in these last tumultuous and sanguinary 15 years. But for someone named Bush, that goes triple. It would be like Bernie Madoff’s brother trying to get a seat on the stock exchange while insisting that the past was irrelevant.

All right, Madoff is a bit of a stretch, I guess. But only a bit. We—the United States of America, under George W. Bush and his lieutenants—unleashed oceans of mayhem on the world, leading to many tens of thousands of deaths; leading to the rise of ISIS, which grew directly out of the failure of our favored government in Baghdad to deal reasonably with the Sunni population; and leading, finally, to some of the most shameful moments in modern American history (torture, black sites, and the rest). Gee, now that I put it that way, I think I actually insulted Madoff, who only stole money. The George W. Bush government did that too, in essence, with its $2 trillion, off-the-books war, on a scale Madoff could never have dreamed.

Now, Jeb Bush is of course his own man and is not his brother. But by God you’d better believe that voters have a right to know whether he thinks the wars his brother started were just, whether they were prosecuted intelligently or badly, what the particularly egregious errors were, and most of all what lessons he takes away from it all. Hillary Clinton is going to be asked, and asked, and rightly so, about her vote for the Iraq war. Jeb didn’t cast any such vote, true. But at the same time, one doubts he sat around the Christmas dinner table in 2001 trying to persuade his brother that invading Iraq was a lousy idea.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/16/where-does-jeb-stand-on-w-s-wars.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. What does it really matter what either Jeb or Hillary think about anything?

They're going to be shoved down our throats, they're not going to differ that much (especially in foreign policy), and we're all just going to go through the motions of "choosing" one or the other.

[deminks]

2. Jebbie was a charter member of PNAC.

So, how would you think he would react to questions about his "brother's" wars? He was right there calling for them. People have to know this about Bush 3.0.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026230034

He doesn't want to re-litigate the past? It has never been properly litigated in the first place. He has a good reason not to litigate the past.

[onecaliberal]

3. If Jeb thinks he will not have to answer this

legitimate question, he's kidding himself.

[hollowdweller]

4. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

For posting a negative thread about Bush.

I think Hillary could be more progressive but it troubles me that there are more threads on this forum that criticize Hillary than Bush.

Makes me think it's a paid attack by the RNC to try to discourage turnout in what will be a close election.

I'd like to at least see an equal or slightly greater number of threads attacking republicans on this, a Democratic board.

[libdem4life]

5. Like Hillary should not have to answer for Bill's infidelity, Jeb should not have to answer for GWBs

wars...unpopular as that may be. He needs to state clearly his own position and be held to it. Should we hold him to "No New Taxes"? There were some good things that happened on Clinton's and Bush's watch...regardless. Seems the next in line is only held to the scandals.

[Gothmog]

6. Jeb has a ton of baggage including his brother's wars

This will be an issue if Jeb is the nominee