BREAKING: Sometimes Famous People Die

[The Man]

George H.W. Bush dead, age 94. He seemed like one of the last few mostly decent Republicans, and certainly the last Republican president who wasn't horrible. Not the sort of person I'd have voted for, but not a complete embarrassment to the country. R.I.P.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Tombstone text suggestion: Died just in time for the migrant caravans his CIA tenure helped cause.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

On the other hand.

In 1995, former president George H.W. Bush resigned as a Life Member of the @NRA because he objected to the leadership's extremism: https://t.co/JH9KbPmLEt pic.twitter.com/WNBQ7Db2r7

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) December 1, 2018

[fragment]

Yeah nah, he might have been not as shitty as some but still pretty shitty.

Here's one take, for example:
It’s a Disgrace to Celebrate George H. W. Bush on World AIDS Day | The Nation

[Ari]

Frankly this whole recent set of presidents is going to get the Trump boost. In 100+ years time all their bad will be remembered through the lens of Trump, WWIII and how he sided with North Korea because he liked their hats.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Jimmy Carter outlives another one / Boing Boing

[JoeP]

[specious_reasons]

Betty White deserves to outlast the entire set of current living Presidents.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

I kind of figured HW might be at least as ambivalence inspiring as say, half a Hugh Hefner.

Here's some more on this Schrodinger racist:

George H. W. Bush discussing undocumented immigrants (Houston 1980) via @TIME

RIP Mr. President pic.twitter.com/Ijk1TEfKRZ

— Antonio (@AntonioArellano) December 1, 2018

[Kyuss Apollo]

And here's more assholishness on the part of Poppy Bush.

This time? Setting up a high school senior for an 8 year prison sentence so he could announce his phase of The War on DRUUUUUUUUUUGS!

Fucktard.

President George Bush wanted to show America what crack cocaine looked like at his first Oval Office address on Sept 5, 1989. He wanted to show you could even buy crack in front of the White House. That’s how bad the crisis had gotten. That’s how Bush announced his War on Drugs. pic.twitter.com/exGGPxJ6f2

— Joshua Clark Davis (@JoshClarkDavis) December 1, 2018

(click for thread)

[Kyuss Apollo]

George Bush on Support for the War in Iraq and...

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

I kind of figured HW might be at least as ambivalence inspiring as say, half a Hugh Hefner.

I'm on the ambivalence train. He was the last competent GOP president, but just because he could run a functioning government doesn't mean I approved of how he ran it.

He had the mild advantage of being more moderate than Reagan or his GOP successors, and he was probably the last President before the current hyper-partisan era. Nostalgia for a better functioning democracy is probably making my memories of him a little more rose-tinted than they would have been in the 1990's.

I'm not exactly up for honoring him, but there are many things I respected about him, while simultaneous disliking a lot of what he did.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by Kyuss Apollo

And here's more assholishness on the part of Poppy Bush.

This time? Setting up a high school senior for an 8 year prison sentence so he could announce his phase of The War on DRUUUUUUUUUUGS!

Fucktard.

President George Bush wanted to show America what crack cocaine looked like at his first Oval Office address on Sept 5, 1989. He wanted to show you could even buy crack in front of the White House. That’s how bad the crisis had gotten. That’s how Bush announced his War on Drugs. pic.twitter.com/exGGPxJ6f2

— Joshua Clark Davis (@JoshClarkDavis) December 1, 2018

(click for thread)

All comes back to white supremacy, don't it?

Willie Horton is not just a footnote in George Bush's otherwise storied career. The 41st president consistently supported racist political positions.

He opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, saying, "It was passed to protect 14% of the people. I'm also worried about the other 86%."

— Rebecca J. Kavanagh (@DrRJKavanagh) December 2, 2018

Another thrad to click on.

[Qingdai]

I don't have any good memories of Bush 1 or 2. Lots of Portland people were arrested, tear gassed and so on, every time they came here to suck money from the teats of the elite that sucked money from us. O Hello Nike, Intel, Adidas
et al.

Welcome to Little Beruit. "Staffers of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush used to refer to Portland as Little Beirut because of the protesters he encountered during his visits"

Nicknames of Portland, Oregon - Wikipedia

I'm glad you're dead. The rest of your family is welcome to rest in peace.

[lisarea]

Yeah, I'm with that. It's not that I don't feel a tinge of nostalgia for hating Republicans like Poppy Bush, but talking about him as though he was an honorable man moves the Overton window pretty far from where it should be.

As far as Reagan, Reagan was an actor. He WAS Bush and Thatcher. The fact that reasonable people are reminiscing over the age of the civility they were reigned over is kind of horrifying. I want the normal where the Bush family were the among the worst we could imagine.

[Ari]

I think a portion of it is nostalgia and a portion is just not having the same visceral reaction because they were younger and didn't understand. I know I'm that way with Bush I. I knew so little at the time besides that he was our president and he liked army things. So in some ways I have good feelings for him, but they are in that general also legos are awesome and have you seen these connex things area where I knew both Bush was president and we had access to advanced lego and water gun technology and thus the world was awesome. White people who have the privilege to need not explore beyond that about Bush Senior can easily see him as being a fine president.

[specious_reasons]

Time for a true tragedy, Ken Barry:

Ken Berry, TV sitcom actor, dies at 85 - CNN

The family enjoyed "The Cat From Outer Space" even if it's a patently stupid Disney live-action movie. I never liked "Mama's Family" but I always thought of him as a congenial presence in everything I saw him in.

[Stephen Maturin]

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

I'm on the ambivalence train. He was the last competent GOP president, but just because he could run a functioning government doesn't mean I approved of how he ran it.

Yes. After all, "no matter how shitty you think a president might be, he does a few things that you think aren't bad. It's like if you're fucking a porcupine's asshole, and, once every ten thrusts or so, you don't get a quill in your dick. At the end of the day, you're still fucking a porcupine's asshole."

And, as the author of the linked pointed out, we should take a bit of time from the vacuous nostalgia to remember Rep. Tom Foley and Sen. George Mitchell. The overwhelming majority of actions for which people are praising H.W. were Dem initiatives that ol' George had to go along with thanks to the Dem Congress.

[erimir]

George H.W. Bush was from a more dignified era that has long since ended, a time when Republican presidents acted with honor and decorum, and grabbed women by the buttocks, and not by the pussy.

[Stephen Maturin]

.................................................. ....................

[specious_reasons]

Time to put on "Singles Going Steady".

The Buzzcocks's Pete Shelley died at 63.

I didn't really know about the Buzzcocks until fairly recently - I missed them in my teenage punk phase, which is a shame because they probably would have been a lifelong love rather than yet another band I listen to less often than I'd like.

[erimir]

His orgasm addiction finally caught up with him

[Kyuss Apollo]

Actress and director Sondra Locke.

[slimshady2357]

Film director and TV star Penny Marshall dies aged 75 | Film | The Guardian

[Ensign Steve]

Aw man.

Remember A League of Their Own?