Quote Of The Day

Ian Welsh, reacting to this quote from the Financial Times:

The venue was the Oval Office. A group of British dignitaries, including Gordon Brown, were paying a visit. It was at the height of the 2008 presidential election campaign, not long after Bush publicly endorsed John McCain as his successor… Trying to be even-handed and polite, the Brits said something diplomatic about McCain’s campaign, expecting Bush to express some warm words of support for the Republican candidate… ‘I probably won’t even vote for the guy,’ Bush told the group, according to two people present. ‘I had to endorse him. But I’d have endorsed Obama if they’d asked me.’

[Sorry, don't have a link. FT is a pay site.]

Ian's reaction:

And why not, it’s not hyperbole at all to say that Obama is Bush’s third term. He has embraced Bush’s wars, Bush’s approach to executive power, Bush’s civil liberties doctrines and Bush’s economic doctrines. The differences exist, but they are not significant. In almost every way that matters, Obama took Bush’s constitutional order and institutionalized it, giving it a bipartisan imprimatur.

Bush would have endorsed Obama if asked

Yep, that's it in a nutshell. McCain was just a crazy guy who wanted to be President. Anyone looked good next to him, except maybe his running mate.

It's both sad and hilarious that, at this point, there are still so many people who don't see this.