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Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 192

November Surprises

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Trial Balloon · Ep. 192: November Surprises

Biden Says Not Taking More Credit Is His Key Regret

January 17, 2025 · 8:25 am ET · Leave a Comment

“President Joe Biden said a key regret of his four years in office was not taking more credit — and reminding voters — of his administration’s accomplishments, including infrastructure and Covid relief spending,” CNN reports.

Said Biden: “The mistake we made was — I think I made — was not getting our allies to acknowledge that the Democrats did this. So, for example, building a new billion-dollar bridge over the river, we’ll call it the ‘Democratic Bridge,’ figuratively speaking.”

He added: “Talk about who put it together. Let people know that this was something the Democrats did, that it was done by the party. That’s different than me writing a check and me signing a check and saying I did it.”

Bush Legacy

Voters Have Dimmer View of Biden

January 10, 2025 · 8:10 am ET · Leave a Comment

A new AP-NORC poll finds that “as Joe Biden prepares to leave office, Americans have a dimmer view of his presidency than they did at the end of Donald Trump’s first term or Barack Obama’s second.”

“Around one-quarter of U.S. adults said Biden was a ‘good’ or ‘great’ president, with less than 1 in 10 saying he was ‘great.'”

“It’s a stark illustration of how tarnished Biden’s legacy has become, with many members of his own party seeing his Democratic presidency as merely mediocre.”

Bush Legacy

Biden Agenda Sparked $1 Trillion in New Investment

November 25, 2024 · 7:38 am ET · Leave a Comment

“Expect the White House to tout a new milestone on Monday: $1 trillion of private sector money put toward clean technology and manufacturing — investments officials say are a result of Biden-era legislation,” Axios reports.

Bush Legacy

The Sexual-Abuse Cabinet

November 22, 2024 · 12:18 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Jill Filipovic: “If everyone is a sexual predator, then no one’s history of misdeeds matters (or, at least, no one needs to be held accountable).”

“MAGA Republicans seem to be having their own #MeToo moment, except here, a growing cohort of men is essentially saying: Oh, another man accused of sexual predation? #MeToo—and so what? Being accused of sexual harassment, abuse, or assault is no longer disqualifying; on the right, it has been normalized. It may even be an asset.”

2004 Campaign, 2010 Campaign, Bush Legacy, Environment, Foreign Elections, Governing, Gun Control, Political Consultants, Political Jobs, Redistricting, White House MeToo

George W. Bush Was a Terrible President

April 24, 2024 · 2:00 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Matthew Yglesias: “The wheels fell off Bushism relatively rapidly after its triumphant reelection, but the period between Bush’s inauguration and the 2006 midterms is a striking and important one.”

“It’s the only time since Reagan that the conservative movement was truly governing the country. It also falls into a weird kind of gap where the Bush presidency is too recent to be history but too distant to be vividly remembered by many. And I think it’s worth taking a look back and trying to genuinely assess his administration’s major initiatives.”

Bush Legacy

15 Years Since Bush Dodged Those Shoes

December 14, 2023 · 2:12 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Jordan Heller has an oral history of when shoes were thrown at President George W. Bush during a press conference in Iraq.

Bush Legacy

Ex-CIA Agents Say Bush Misrepresented Intelligence

March 21, 2023 · 8:00 am ET · Leave a Comment

Two former CIA officials told Insider that the George W. Bush administration misrepresented intelligence to assert a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.

In fact, the evidence assembled by the CIA suggested that no such connection existed.

Bush Legacy

A Bush State of the Union Promise That Paid Off

February 8, 2023 · 1:56 pm ET · Leave a Comment

NBC News: “This is also the story, unknown to many Americans, of how Bush — a devoutly religious man who campaigned for president on a platform of ‘compassionate conservatism,’ but whose legacy was stained by the carnage of the Iraq War and the Afghanistan quagmire — conceived of and launched a juggernaut aid program that is widely credited with saving sub-Saharan Africa from cataclysm.”

Bush Legacy

Cheney Never Apologized

February 7, 2023 · 7:38 am ET · Leave a Comment

Former Vice President Dick Cheney never apologized to Harry Whittington — who died yesterday — for shooting him in the face while hunting, the Washington Post reports.

Bush Legacy

The Rise and Fall of the Bush Dynasty

January 17, 2023 · 4:00 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Texas Monthly: “A status akin to royalty had coalesced in Texas, and the family set up shop—twice—in the White House. Then, as a harsher style of politics gained favor, it all fell apart. Today, a future Bush dynasty looks even more unlikely than it did fifty years ago.”

Bush Legacy

Michael Gerson Is Dead

November 17, 2022 · 9:31 am ET · Leave a Comment

Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, who later became a Washington Post columnist and vocal critic of Donald Trump, died of cancer at age 58, the Washington Post reports.

Gerson was a truly beautiful writer. His essay on dropping off his son at college is particularly memorable, especially this line: “He has a wonderful future in which my part naturally diminishes. I have no possible future that is better without him close.”

Bush Legacy

George Bush to Hold Public Conversation with Zelensky

November 10, 2022 · 2:09 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“Former President George W. Bush will hold a public conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week with the aim of underscoring the importance of the US continuing to support Ukraine’s war effort against Russia,” CNN reports.

“The event, which will take place in Dallas and be open to the public, comes amid questions about the willingness of the former president’s Republican Party to maintain support for Ukraine.”

Bush Legacy, Foreign Affairs

Ari Fleischer Quits 9/11 Tweets After Being Hired by Saudis

September 12, 2022 · 11:23 am ET · Leave a Comment

“Ari Fleischer has drawn suspicion for announcing the end of his near-annual recounting of the 9/11 attacks after being hired by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour,” the HuffPost reports.

Bush Legacy

George Bush Said Rick Perry Was Dumber Than Him

July 11, 2022 · 5:03 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Former President George W. Bush didn’t have the best things to say about his successor as Texas governor, Rick Perry, when he spoke to Mitt Romney during the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, Insider reports.

Said Bush: “People thought I was dumb. Well, wait till you get a load of this guy.”

Bush Legacy

ISIS Plotted to Assassinate George W. Bush

May 24, 2022 · 12:19 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“An alleged ISIS-linked operative in the U.S. was plotting to kill George W. Bush, going so far as to travel to Dallas in November to take video around the former president’s home and recruiting help from a team of compatriots he hoped to smuggle into the country over the Mexican border,” Forbes reports.

Bush Legacy

George W. Bush Donates to Cheney and Murkowski

February 1, 2022 · 10:04 am ET · Leave a Comment

“Former President George W. Bush gave money to the reelection campaigns of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in the final months of 2021, a show of support for two of former President Trump’s top Republican targets of the 2022 midterm elections,” The Hill reports.

Bush listed his employment as “former president.”

2022 Campaign, Bush Legacy

Dick Cheney Greeted Warmly by Democrats

January 6, 2022 · 9:10 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“Former vice president Richard B. Cheney visited the House floor on Thursday and patiently waited to greet more than a dozen members waiting to shake his hand,” the Washington Post reports.

“They were all Democrats.”

“The man who was once portrayed by the Democratic Party as the dark villain of the Bush administration, responsible for failed wars, ruinous energy policies and torturing America’s enemies in a betrayal of the nation’s values has found common ground with his onetime foes over Jan. 6.”

Bush Legacy, House of Representatives

Bush Admitted He Knew Little About Foreign Affairs

December 30, 2021 · 2:42 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“George W Bush admitted he knew little about international affairs at his first meeting with Britain’s ambassador to the US,” the Daily Mail reports.

Wrote Christopher Meyer when he met with the then Texas governor in 1998: “Bush admitted that, apart from Mexico, he did not know much about international affairs and that he would do well to broaden his experience… His world view – as he is well aware – is largely limited to the Texan and Mexican horizons.”

Bush Legacy

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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