"In an extraordinary — albeit veiled — attack, former President George W. Bush delivered a scathing assessment Thursday of President Trump and his policies, suggesting he has promoted bigotry and falsehoods to the detriment of the country and its values.
Speaking at a policy seminar in New York, the nation’s 43rd president never mentioned Trump by name. But his target was unmistakable.
“We have seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty,” Bush said. “We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism. Forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America.”
“Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children,” he said at another point. “The only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them.”
The remarks were an exceptional breach of the protocol governing post-presidential behavior — be seen and rarely heard — and were especially striking coming from Bush. He has gone to great lengths ignoring repeated provocations from Trump, who savaged the former president’s younger brother Jeb in the 2016 campaign and often assailed Bush’s administration.
“He has, as matter of principle, made it a point not to comment on ongoing matters of political interest. I actually heard him in person talk about this,” said Russell Riley, co-chairman of the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. “I think he wouldn’t do this unless he felt obligated to do so.”
Some who know Bush suggest he reached a breaking point and felt it no longer tenable to ignore Trump’s daily trampling of political and presidential norms.
“I think Trump has stretched the bounds of decency to a point where Bush is highly offended on the part of the nation," said Don Sipple, a political ad maker who helped elect Bush governor of Texas and has periodically been in touch with the former president. “Bush is a traditionalist, and I think he thinks the presidency is being besmirched.” LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-n...019-story.html
Never thought I'd have any admiration for that bloody smirking chimpanzee, Gee Dubya but there it is.