It's not merely willfull ignorance, its in the name of greed.

He's happy to look the other way in order to enrich the guys who enriched him and will do so again once he's left office.

I'm actually comparing to two past presidents with terrible reputations -- Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter. Hoover didn't create the Great Depression, and Carter didn't cause the energy crisis of '79. OK, I'm not going to say they did great jobs of resolving the problems, but the problems weren't of their own making. And not exactly forecast.

With no disrespect to Carter, Hoover was an amazing individual in the public and private spheres before being elected. This, from wikipedia, is notable in comparison to GWB:

In the spring of 1927, the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 broke the banks and levees of the Mississippi River. The governors of six states along the Mississippi asked for Herbert Hoover in the emergency, so President Coolidge sent Hoover to mobilize state and local authorities, militia, army engineers, Coast Guard, and the American Red Cross. He set up health units, with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, to work in the flooded regions for a year. These workers stamped out malaria, pellagra and typhoid fever from many areas. His work during the flood brought Herbert Hoover to the front page of newspapers almost everywhere.

Connie, I hope you don't feel ganged-up-on. There's nothing wrong with feeling sympathy for an individual.

Hell, no. I keep having to smack down the self-righteous part that wants to feel superior, because I agree with 99% of what all of you are saying. The size of the offense does make sympathy difficult.

Hubby doesn't like Carter, but that's because he agreed to give up the Panama Canal. Hubby agrees that Carter is probably the best damned ex-president that ever was. Watching Carter on TV, as old as he is, with exact dates and figures for whatever he's discussing right to hand, is a joy.

I do wish Carter could have gone directly to the ex-presidency and skipped that messy president part. While I like the idea of a president who's not part of the Washington establishment, Carter's administration was an example of how that can go terribly wrong.

True, bon bon. He also did an amazing job organizing food supplies in Europe right after WWI. He just turned out to be the wrong president at the wrong time.

As opposed to Nixon, who caused some things (Watergate, Cambodia) and had some things thrust on him (Vietnam, the '73 energy crisis).

Last year, Carter was in Cuba giving a speech, and he gaev the whole speech in Spanish. Now, it was terribly accented Spanish, and complex enough that it was certainly scripted for him and he read the speech rather than extemporaneous; but when you listen to a guy make a speech in a foreign language, you can tell whether or not he understands what he's saying, and by gum Carter understood what he was saying. And that was so cool.

The stereotype I always liked about Carter was the one from SNL -- that he would hold weekly fireside call-in shows, and people would ask him about the bizarrest obscure things, like the handle you have to jiggle on the Super Froominator Stamp Machine, you know model 123-X-1? And he would be able to answer these questions off the top of his head.

Like, he was so gosh-darned nice that they couldn't bear to do any biting satire of him!!

Cute pix, David! Such a pretty little girl!

Also, given the timing of my visit, I'm assuming I need to figure out exactly when I'll be there and reserve a room tout de suite. I've never been to Austin, any recommendations?

Hip, in the middle of things, but pricey: The Hotel San Jose

Green, out of the way (you will need a car), and a little pricey: Habitat Suites

Beyond that, just ask me.

Oh, on the Bush thing, some conservative commenters on Matt Zoller Seitz's blog have been talking about their belief in personal responsibility and how it affects their viewing of The Wire. I don't get where conservatives say they believe in personal responsibility, but somehow find a loophole for Bush and his ilk while rushing in to discuss the personal responsibility in the limited choices made by fictional children born into the most dire circumstances in the US (poor, mostly parent-less, surrounded by drugs, abandoned by the education and social services systems). Must be hard to hold that many contradictory thoughts in your mind at one time, unless, that is, you have a Wile E. Coyote-like ability to remain unaffected by the things you don't examine.

The stereotype I always liked about Carter was the one from SNL -- that he would hold weekly fireside call-in shows, and people would ask him about the bizarrest obscure things

"Now, Billy, do you have any Allman Brothers?"

Peanut farmer or no, the man is in fact a rocket scientist.

(Not literally, to be clear, but damn close, with graduate studies in nuclear physics. Smart man.)

t hearts Jimmy

This was the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States

That's a pretty strong statement. There has to be some others, Vietnam comes to mind as a competitor. Central American policy hasn't exactly been brilliant, but Iraq seems worse than that. There's the backing of the Shah and Hussein that probably has produced a lot of anti-American sentiment in the area. I don't know the events leading to the Civil War very well, but I guess that would be more political rather than strategic. I can't think of anything right off the top of my head that definitely trumps it.