Blame Game...
 

There is an interesting characteristic about George W. Bush and his administration that I don't recall ever seeing in another administration. That characteristic is the refusal to accept responsibility and instead play the blame game...

For along time I have heard conservatives complain of people that never took responsibility and instead looked to blame others; they would blame their problems on their parents or their government. Often I would hear conservatives claim these people should accept the responsibility for their own situation. Now these same conservatives have a conservative government that looks to blame others instead of accepting the responsibility for their own situation. How ironic that the conservatives never accept the responsibility but like the little people that they complain about look to blame others...

The Bush Administration regardless of the problem always blames others. When the economy is bad, they blame the Clinton Administration. When it is good they take credit as if only the good they are responsible for...

For Osama bin Laden they blame the Clinton Administration. Since the 9-11 attacks the Bush Administration has had the full support of both the American people and the United States military and they still can't get bin Laden but they blame the previous administration when there was little or no support to get him. If you want to blame previous administration it really is how far back you want to go. You could blame the first President Bush for bin Laden since what set him off against the United States and caused the 9-11 attacks was Bush One putting a United States military base in Saudi Arabia, President Bush One, to monitor Saddam Hussein put troops in what bin Laden considers the sacred land of Mecca. The 9-11 attacks, the Cole attack and the attacks on the United States embassies were all due to U.S. troops being stationed in Saudi Arabia and through the whole Clinton term not once did the Clinton Administration blame the previous administration. The Clinton Administration never laid blame but instead took the responsibility and did what they thought was right, unlike the current administration that constantly blames others rather than accepting responsibility for their actions...

The current Bush Administration blamed Saddam Hussein on the Clinton Administration's inaction, when it too is the result of the first President Bush. It was Bush One's Iraq Ambassador that when asked by Saddam what the U.S. relationship with Kuwait was, the ambassador said there was no relationship. That led to Saddam invading Kuwait and eventually led to the current occupation of Iraq by the current President Bush. One can always blame the previous administration but great leaders accept responsibility, poor leaders lay blame...

For the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the Bush Administration blames poor intelligence, when in fact the intelligence was inconclusive and the Bush Administration played that fact down leading up to war...

For the Iraq resistance to the American occupation the Bush Administration blames foreign fighters and terrorists but the military didn't have enough numbers to secure the country. It was the Bush Administration that occupied Iraq with too few troops to keep foreign fighters and terrorists from entering the country...

On the Iraqi prisoner abuse the Bush Administration blames a small number of National Guard troops when in fact the methods used including attack dogs are used in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. It is quite likely that the orders came from the highest levels of the Bush Administration but as usual this administration never accepts responsibility for its actions...

Eventually the American people will see Bush for what he is, a low life lacking the honor and courage to take responsibility for his own actions and just another run of the mill politician playing the blame game...

Abraham Lincoln once said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." We know the people you can fool, live in one of those red states...

Quotes/links please. Seems your just repeating what everyone else is saying that the Bush people are saying but I never hear the words actually getting said by the people who are said to be saying them.

This in particular seems contrary to what I've heard Rumsfeld say.

better walk my talk

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...oogle+Searc h

There's a precident of some thirty or forty odd Presidents playing this same game before. That's a bold statement my friend.

imo, the question is not so much one of responsibility, but of accountability. as Albed points out, Rumsfeld has certainly taken responsiblity for various things, but the Prez is clearly unwilling to hold him (or anyone else, for that matter) accountable for their mistakes. the long series of miscalculations made with regards to intelligence, strategy, planning, policy etc. in Iraq are apparent and yet no one has been held accountable for them. you have a war started that affects millions, Americans sent off to die, billions of borrowed dollars spent, thousands killed, and all of these monumental decisions were made in an apparently consequence-free vacuum.

so it's quite easy for Rumsfeld to sit in front of Congress and take responsibility coz there are no personal consequences for his bad judgment. responsible? yes. accountable? no.

In reality you really can't make people that high up face consequences unless they're outright criminal. Pride in one's integrity or competence is a considered a weakness in modern politics and being ashamed is inconceivable.

Bush's obsession with loyality would lead him to go down with his own rather than sacrifice one for a greater good.

As Mazer pointed out, blaming others is hardly new to politics and Repo's feigned suprise is contradicted by his later statement: "just another run of the mill politician playing the blame game...". Still a lot of his stuff is made up. Bush is usually accused of blaming terrorism for everything that's gone wrong.

Hitting the nail on the head.