Inexcusable. We now assist with the rewriting of history. Not the fucking change I voted for.

[pgodbold]

President Bush "thank you," Biden said, looking directly at the camera. "You've honored these guys, you've honored these women, you've honored these troops. And I've known you your entire eight years as president. I've never known a time when you didn't care about what happened. We disagreed on policy, but you deserve a lot of credit, Mr. President."

article
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100909/pl_yblog_upshot/biden-thanks-bush-troops-on-the-colbert-show

[VMI Dem]

1. Hey, there are patriots on both sides of this issue.

[G_j]

3. what are you saying?

who is a patriot?

[Fumesucker]

4. How many Republicans are there on our side of this issue?

[WinkyDink]

34. Bush isn't a patriot, FGS. He's an AWOL coward, a lying war criminal, a CIA-agent-outing TRAITOR.

Biden is on CRACK.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Drale]

5. I think

bush did love the troops, at least while they're doing his biddings.

[G_j]

6. that's why he attended their funerals... nt

[Raspberry]

24. How many troops' funerals

did FDR attend? Or LBJ? Or Obama?

This is the ONE issue I'm willing to cut Bush some slack on. Had he (or FDR, LBJ, or Obama) attended any funerals, the funeral would have become a media event. Out of respect for the families of the deceased, presidents need to stay away.

[LWolf]

39. Bush gets no slack from me. nt

[tabasco]

8. That's a fucking laugh.

He JOKED about lying them into war - looking in his office for the missing WMDs.

Hahaha motherfucker.

Bush considered soldiers expendable.

[WinkyDink]

35. Yeah, right. I'll just bet he loved them---especially those with bald heads he could rub.

[GSLevel9]

7. and who's surprised?

All the lemmings lept over the cliff on promises and smoke and mirrors.

Truth: All of these politicians are cut from the same cloth. They belong to the same clubs, golf together and exchange cigars and salutations in the same back rooms.

Face it... we'll NEVER really have a "President of the People".

[AtomicKitten]

9. Why is graciousness so difficult for some people to understand?

Joe B was on the Colbert Report last night and Stephen (although probably being facetious) led Joe by the nose to the answer which some are finding objectionable. Joe was VERY specific in saying that Bush cared about the troops. Although I question that (what with the cuts in services, etc.), Joe was simply being gracious.

This anal retentive parsing of every word here is ridiculous and frankly tiresome.

[G_j]

10. what is tiresome

is defending war criminals

[AtomicKitten]

12. That's not what he was doing but feel free to writhe about in your jacked-up outrage. nt

[G_j]

19. you don't have to feel outrage over war crimes

that's your business.

[AtomicKitten]

22. I think it's a huge mistake to not prosecute for war crimes, but that's not what this is about. nt

[yowzayowzayowza]

26. Outrage junkies gotta have their fix!!! n/t

[G_j]

31. can one imagine saying that here, while Bush/Cheney were in office?

I guess all is forgiven.

:puke:

[yowzayowzayowza]

33. Itza comedy show...

ffs!!!

[sabrina 1]

40. Outrage over war crimes needs to be 'jacked-up'?

[AtomicKitten]

42. I found it extraordinary that some people are incapable of compartmentalizing their issues.

This is about a U.S. Troop Colbert Nation Hoedown. By satellite, the show was hooked in to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Joe Biden was asked a leading question by Colbert, and he did the right thing as VP of the U.S. I issued a pronounced "ugh" when he said it, but I realize he handled himself with grace mindful of the audience he was there for, the troops.

This isn't about prosecution of war crimes. On that issue, I believe the U.S has abdicated it's moral authority in not prosecuting the Bush/Cheney cabal. But, again, this isn't about that and I'm not going down the rabbit hole of others' misplaced anger. Stephen Colbert and Joe Biden did a show specifically for the troops. As Joe B would say, BFD.

[sabrina 1]

46. Thank you f or the context. I did not see the show and I appreciate

the explanation.

[AtomicKitten]

49. Cheers. nt

[tnlefty]

21. And a liar, one who ordered torture

and laughed about trying to find the missing WMDs. I find it nauseating, but I need to lose about 5 pounds, so that may be the silver lining. :puke:

[Fumesucker]

11. Show us the "gracious" Republicans...

When you are consistently gracious to people who want to see you dead then you have a backbone problem.

[AtomicKitten]

13. Graciousness is not given nor measured according to reciprocity. nt

[Fumesucker]

16. I see one side bringing graciousness to a gun fight..

That's even less use than a knife..

[G_j]

20. I think someone once tried that

with Hitler

[yowzayowzayowza]

25. Score anuther one for Godwin. n/t

[WinkyDink]

38. War criminals have often been decent to people they neither wanted killed nor sent to kill.

[AnArmyVeteran]

32. I disagree, no one honors troops by sending them to be killed based entirely on lies.

And when Laura Bush said "no one suffered more than her husband" during the war is just another sign that the Bushes have zero capacity for empathy or compassion. If Bush 'honored' the troops would he have crawled around in the Oval Office floor joking about not finding WMDs while our soldiers were being killed looking for weapons that didn't exist? Bush, Cheney and the rest of the evil thugs in that horrible regime could not care less about our soldiers, before, during or after battle.

And if Bush gave a damn about the troops why did he rush them off to war without bullet proof vests or armored transports to take them around Iraq? Soldiers' families had to have hometown fund drives to buy vests to protect their children. And soldiers had to improvise by using sandbags in their deathtrap Humvees to try to protect themselves from underground bombs.

Bush is a sociopath and a psychopath who is directly responsible for the deaths of almost 5,000 American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. He also led the nation as the governor who presided over the most executions than any other state in the country while saying if someone is on death row they are guilty, even though hundreds of inmates have been found innocent of the supposed crimes they were locked up for.

And Bush gave 830 exemptions to the worst polluters in the state of Texas which made Texas number one in the nation in air, water and soil pollution. Because of Bush thousands of Texans with compromised immune systems died as a result of Bush selling them out to corrupt chemical and oil companies.

So NO, Bush does NOT care about our soldiers at all. All he cares about is selling out to his corporate pimps which controlled every one of Bush's evil acts.

[AtomicKitten]

43. I agree, but again Colbert and Biden were doing a show especially for the troops.

I agree with much of what you've said, however, this wasn't about that. <<<< I repeat, this wasn't about that. >>>> It was about the soldiers, a funny guy, and the Vice President communing on a half-hour cable comedy show. Joe Biden was mindful of his target audience, the troops, and when asked a leading question, he chose to be gracious. Under those particular circumstances, I'm okay with it.

[AnArmyVeteran]

47. You're right. I agree completely now.

I didn't understand the circumstances but in that situation it was the right thing to say. To say anything political would have been in bad taste and created an incident.

[AtomicKitten]

48. Cheers. nt

[m00nbeam]

14. Perhaps it was meant as a backhanded compliment

Kind of in a Southern "Bless Your Heart" sort of way.

[blondeatlast]

18. That's how I read it--and Biden's a master at that sort of thing. nt

[napi21]

15. Oh come on. Joe was puton the spot and had to say something.

Had he said anything less, he'd have sounded fake and not like Joe.

[lumberjack_jeff]

17. It's a big club, and you're not in it. n/t

[CBGLuthier]

23. I wonder if Biden had the decency to vomit in his mouth a little when he said it.

Or maybe this is another of his famous gaffes. He meant to say, "George Bush, You are a real piece of shit."

[lame54]

27. Like my grandma used to say...

"If you don't have anything bad to say about Bush, then shut the fuck up."

[msongs]

28. obama and biden are gonna have their own issues to answer for so they stick together with bushco nt

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

29. Colbert made it a point to show Biden wasn't saying Bush was right

When Biden said, "We disagreed on policy," Colbert stuck his head in front of the camera and interjected, "I never disagreed!" The point he was making -- by the deft use of satire -- was what Biden was not saying, which was, "Bush was right in attacking Iraq." Absent Colbert's remark the GOP could twist Biden's words into an endorsement of Bush's decision to go to war. In addition, by jumping in so quickly Colbert was making it difficult -- if not impossible -- for Faux News to edit the interview to support their view. All it takes as a rebuttal is, "Showing only that clip is clearly taking Biden's comments out of context -- let's view the next three seconds..."

Nevertheless, Biden's remarks are being printed online without Colbert's comment: http://tinyurl.com/32jus9j under the headline, "Biden thanks Bush, troops on ‘The Colbert Show’."

What I heard was Biden being very careful in the words he chose.

Having served in the military (Air Force) I know how essential morale is, and that a person in a position of responsibility does not appear in front of an audience of military men and women who have served in combat and say that their commander-in-chief lied to them, and therefore their sacrifice -- and those of the buddies they lost -- was in vain. This is especially true if you are the vice president, who is a heartbeat from the presidency (a point that was made humorously when Biden was serving hot dogs to the troops). To be told that this war was illegal would mean the president -- any president, then, now or in the future -- didn't give a shit about them, their buddies or their families, and that is not how you build and maintain an effective and cohesive military subject to civilian control.

[Fumesucker]

30. Wanna bet that the Republicans won't be so scrupulous?

They take every conceivable opportunity to criticize Obama and the Democrats, troop morale be damned.

And this is hardly a new phenomenon, recall when Jesse Helms said Clinton should beware coming to a military base in NC?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

36. "..disagreed on policy"? Biden voted FOR Bush's war.

[WinkyDink]

37. Psychopaths do not "care about" ANYONE ELSE. Bush LIED to send soldiers to an ILLEGAL war!

He ACTED like he "loved" the troops, but have you all forgotten the GD PLASTIC TURKEY? SYMBOLIC.

[BrklynLiberal]

41. -puke- ad infinitum

[bvar22]

44. Protecting War Criminals....

...IS a War Crime.

The Executive has NO CHOICE.
Investigation and Prosecution is NOT an option. It is mandatory.
The USA is bound by several treaties to investigate and prosecute possible War Crimes.
The Bush Administration has openly admitted ordering TORTURE.
THAT is a War Crime.

Invasion and Occupation (Aggressive War) of a country that did not and could not threaten the US is a WAR CRIME.

[JoeyT]

45. Hooray.

Now not only are they not prosecuted, but we're expected to cheer as they're granted new credibility?
I think not.