RIP President George H.W. Bush

Between the economy turning before the election, his poor performance compared to Clinton in the town hall debate, and Perot siphoning likely Bush voters, he never really stood a chance. If he had a chance, the contrasting visual images of Clinton wearing sunglass and playing the sax on TV and Bush barfing on the Japanese PM, it was a over.

 

Yes, why would anyone in 1986 ever think such a thing?

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/korean-airlines-flight-shot-down-by-soviet-union

Speaks to the complexity of the Cold War at the time, and the international tensions of the Reagan - Bush years.

Which led to terrible things like this:

The Time the United States Blew Up a Passenger Plane—and Tried to Cover It Up

 

I wonder if losing Barbara contributed to his demise, or hastened it. I remember the year after he lost to Clinton, every time the Giants played at the Astrodome, I'd see the two of them sitting behind the backstop. She was keeping score, he was having peanuts and a beer.

 

Playing the sax on Arsenio and the Q&A stuff he did on MTV. Clinton was very proactive in reaching minority voters and first-time voters right in there comfort zones.

I was a year away from being eligible to vote during the 1992 election but I just remember the debates and thinking that Bush was standing good things, the things we should all stand for in life, but he really didn't grasp how the economic downturn was affecting people and he didn't really understand how to reach out to the next generation of voters and in some ways seemed a little dismissive of them.

That being said. He won Texas and Florida in that election but still got crushed in the electorate. That particular electoral map can show how much the electorate has changed.

 

I think it had to do with him being 94. He had some form of Parkinson's disease for a while. Much like I think Barbara's death had a lot to do with her being 92-93. We should all be so lucky to get 90+ years in life.

 

The man loved baseball and went skydiving for his 80th, 85th and 90th birthdays. How cool is that? And married to an amazing woman for 73 years.

 

There were rumors at the time that Trump nixed the release of some of the Kennedy assassination documents because some of the people mentioned — notably Bush 41 — were still alive.

I wonder if that changes now.

 

The last President to serve in the military and be in a combat theater and actually see combat. Ike, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Bush 41. All combat veterans Carter was Naval Academy graduate and served at Sea aboard combat vessels during Korea, though not in theater.
McGovern was a war hero as was Robert Dole. Mondale enlisted during Korea but never saw combat. Dukakis enlisted in the Army and served in Korea. John McCain was a veteran and POW. Gore enlisted and was in Vietnam. John Kerry was a decorated Vietnam Veteran

George H W Bush, a good man.

 

George H. W. Bush: A Kindler, Gentler Republican Is Dead - The Atlantic

 

Fucko never did anything in his life to help someone and never did not do something to avoid hurting someone.