A two-page memo that has been sent to Cabinet members and other high-ranking officials offers a guide for discussing Bush's eight-year tenure during their public speeches.
Titled "Speech Topper on the Bush Record," the talking points state that Bush "kept the American people safe" after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, lifted the economy after 2001 through tax cuts, curbed AIDS in Africa and maintained "the honor and the dignity of his office."
The document presents the Bush record as an unalloyed success.
It mentions none of the episodes that detractors say have marred his presidency: the collapse of the housing market and major financial services companies, the flawed intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, the federal response to Hurricane Katrina or the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
Reports Think Progress:
Bush has been working diligently to create a picture of a successful presidency, from a Karl Rove-directed “Bush Legacy Project” to a series of farewell interviews in which Bush has been unable or unwilling to admit a single mistake. The Washington Post’s Dan Froomkin writes, “The public has rejected him. The nation is in crisis — and eager for the massive course corrections promised by an Obama presidency. But none of this appears to have penetrated President Bush’s well-defended brainpan.”
It's been said before, but it bears repeating; making sure that George W. Bush is remembered as being as blowful as he actually was is going to be the last Bush fight. And it'll last for decades.
Bring it on.
