President Bush believes that history will support his decision to invade Iraq. But early reviews of his presidency by historians certainly aren’t favorable. For what it’s worth, an informal survey of 109 historians by the History News Network found that 98.2 percent of them considered Bush’s presidency a failure. What’s more, 61 percent of the historians ranked Bush as the worst U.S. president ever, while another 35 percent put him in the bottom fourth of presidents.
The CQ Politics blog noted the quiet start to Kansas’ Senate race this year between sitting GOP Sen. Pat Roberts and challenger Jim Slattery. The latter has a Web site — on which he says “together we can reclaim our country, we can restore Kansan common sense and independent judgment to the U.S. Senate” — but so far has declined media interviews. Because the former 12-year congressman for northeast Kansas is a “cut above the little-known candidates on whom the Democrats would otherwise have had to rely” in Kansas, CQ Politics has changed its rating of the contest from “Safe Republican” to “Republican Favored.” It explained: “The new rating means that Roberts is still regarded as very likely to win, but that the idea of a possible upset is plausible.”
Besides Roberts’ incumbency and 1st District familiarity, Slattery has another problem: the nearly $3 million Roberts has in campaign funds, compared with $250,000 so far for the Democrat.
Vice President Dick Cheney emerged from his undisclosed location into the spotlight Wednesday, donning his now-famous sunglasses and fishing hat to fill in for President Bush at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C. Some of the laugh lines:
“You’d be amazed at how many guys want to go fishing with me these days.”
“Obviously, you’re not the kind to look down on a bitter man who clings to his guns.”
“I have no doubt, none at all, that we are in the midst of global warming, or as I prefer to call it, spring.”
“Every time I’m rushed to the hospital, I insist on a hybrid ambulance.”
“At breakfast today, I asked Lynne if deep down it bugs her that people have taken to calling me Darth Vader. She said, ‘Not at all. It humanizes you.’”
Hillary Clinton “confused the Bosnia trip with the time I took her hunting.”
“Once upon a time, you became famous because you ostensibly had some talent most of us lacked or because you did some heroic thing. That day is long gone. Fame has devolved. It has been dumbed down,” Leonard Pitts wrote about the six Florida girls who videotaped their assault of another girl because they wanted to be famous.
“The kids got their wish,” Pitts observed. “They are famous. One hopes that someday, they will be intelligent enough to recognize and lament what they are famous for.”
President Bush believes that history will support his decision to invade Iraq. But early reviews of his presidency by historians certainly aren’t favorable. For what it’s worth, an informal survey of 109 historians by the History News Network found that 98.2 percent of them considered Bush’s presidency a failure. What’s more, 61 percent of the historians ranked Bush as the worst U.S. president ever, while another 35 percent put him in the bottom fourth of presidents.
