Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Bush Breaks Silence on Obama's Gitmo Plan: 'Therapy Won't Cause Terrorists to Change their Mind'
Former President George W. Bush has been remarkably reticent since Barack Obama took office, saying that the new commander in chief "deserves my silence." Apparently, that's no longer the case. At a speech in Erie, Pennsylvania Wednesday night, Bush broke his vow in all but word.
"I told you I'm not going to criticize my successor," he said. "I'll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat and I don't believe that persuasion isn't going to work. Therapy isn't going to cause terrorists to change their mind."
The critique extended to Obama's domestic policy.
"Government does not create wealth," Bush said. "The major role for the government is to create an environment where people take risks to expand the job rate in the United States."
Asked during a question-and-answer session if he thought his successor's policies were "socialist," Bush began saying "depends on..." then stopped and concluded, "We'll see."
| Also in Politics | |||
| What Houston's Election of a Gay Mayor Tells Us About "Red State" Texas The election inadvertently revealed the dirty little secret that native (and liberal) Texans like myself have known for a long time: Texas is not a conservative monolith. Post by Amanda Marcotte. December 21, 2009. |
Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss Has No Idea What Roe v. Wade Actually Says But that's not keeping him from making absurd claims about it. Post by Jill Filipovic. December 21, 2009. |
Health-Care Debate Gets Really Weird: Coburn Prays to Smite Enemies, Whitehouse Says GOP Hearts Aryans, Dean Dials It Back, and Everybody Hates Ben Nelson Keep 100 senators on a round-the-clock schedule and you get a deal that nobody likes, plus a lot of strange behavior. But it's a deal. Post by Adele Stan. December 21, 2009. |
|
EMAIL
PRINT
17 COMMENTS
PERMALINK