Bush Finally Speaks to the Ultimate Wartime Sacrifice

by: Brandon Friedman

Tue May 13, 2008 at 19:32:14 PM EDT

For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families: He has given up golf.

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

In unity and spirit with Americans who will never see a child or a parent again on account of his policies, George W. Bush made the heart-wrenching decision to take a five-year hiatus from the game.  He chose to make this sacrifice several months after the invasion of Iraq.

Bush said he made that decision after the August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which killed Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top U.N. official in Iraq and the organization's high commissioner for human rights.

"I remember when de Mello, who was at the U.N., got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man's life," he said. "I was playing golf - I think I was in central Texas - and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, 'It's just not worth it anymore to do.'"

In a just world, words like these would cause our nation's capital to come to a screeching halt.  But not in today's America.  In today's world, sacrifice is defined in terms of not being able to afford a Hummer; of having to see a few images of war on TV; and of giving up golf.

If past Commanders-in-Chief were alive, they'd wretch at such a statement from this wartime "leader."  Imagine Washington at Valley Forge.  Imagine Lincoln on the eve of the Civil War.  Imagine what Truman went through in August 1945.  And then listen to this asshole:

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

Of course, George Bush, Sr.--a combat veteran himself--was never so crass when he made the decision in 1991 to commit the most troops to combat since Vietnam.  And if he wasn't ashamed of his son before, I think it's pretty safe to assume he will be now.  

As are we all.

UPDATE: Warren Street at Blue Girl, Red State says that Bush is lying about why he quit golf:

Actually, it is far more likely that Bush quit playing golf because he was suffering from knee problems throughout the latter half of 2003.

Street then links to a CBS News article published in December 2003:

Bush, 57, will have an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) test on Thursday, Dec. 18. The body-scanning device enables doctors to see internal organs in 3D.

The MRI is being performed on the advice of the President's regular White House physician. Last summer, Bush suffered a minor muscle tear in his right calf and that injury, along with aching knees, forced him to abandon his running routine. The calf strain healed by August when he had his annual physical, but the president said in September that he suspected he had a meniscus tear.

(H/T to Cernig)

UPDATE II: Bush actually played his last round of golf on October 13, 2003.  This means that the reason he gave for quitting after the August 2003 U.N. bombing is dubious at best.  More likely, he made the story up in a clumsy ploy to gain sympathy.  In many regions and cultures around the world, this is called "lying."