Former President George W. Bush said that the power of the presidency can be addictive and that an independent media is necessary to keep things in check.
“I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy,” Bush said in a “Today” show interview Monday morning. “We need an independent media to hold people like me to account. Power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive, and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power, whether it be here or elsewhere.”
Bush’s comments contrast sharply with those of President Trump, who has declared war on the mainstream media, which he has branded “the enemy of the American people.” On Thursday, Trump used a speech at a conservative conference to go on a lengthy diatribe against the media. On Friday, the BBC, CNN, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Politico were all abruptly barred from an off-camera briefing with press secretary Sean Spicer.
During his “Today” show interview, Bush said it was important for America to have an independent media landscape in order to pressure other countries into embracing the same.
“One of the things I spent a lot of time doing was trying to convince a person — like Vladimir Putin, for example — to accept the notion of an independent press. It’s kind of hard to tell others to have an independent free press when we’re not willing to have one ourselves,” he said.
“It’s hard to unify the country when the president is so split up. When I was president, you mattered a lot more because there was, like, three of you,” Bush told interviewer Matt Lauer. “Now there’s all kinds of information being bombarded out, and people can say things anonymously. It’s just a different world.”
Bush also said he wanted answers regarding Russia’s connection to the White House but wasn’t sure a special prosecutor was the correct tactic. He said he would defer to the judgment of Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on how to investigate the matter.
When asked about his thoughts on Trump’s executive order banning entry to the United States from seven majority Muslim countries, Bush said, “I am for an immigration policy that’s welcoming and upholds the law.”
“A bedrock of our freedom is a right to worship freely,” said Bush when discussing his response to the Sept. 11 attacks. “I understood right off the bat that this was an ideological conflict. People who murder the innocent are not religious people.”
Both Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, declined to endorse Trump in the general election, a striking snub of Trump when he was the Republican nominee. The younger Bush’s comments on the “Today” show came amid a series of media appearances promoting a new book, “Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors.”
“I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy,” Bush said…”
The ‘media’ YOU’RE talking about is indispensable COMMUNISM, @sswipe.
“We need an independent media to hold people like me to account.”
No, you need a COMMUNIST media to COVER UP for treasonous criminals like you.
“Bush said, “I am for an immigration policy that’s welcoming and upholds the law.”
What the hell would YOU know about upholding the law???
“People who murder the innocent are not religious people.”
Coming from one who knows this well. Bush is as ‘not religious’ as they come.
The U.S. and most of the world’s media is Jew owned and controlled. There will be no independent or fair journalism.
That’s queer. All those years dubya was in orifice and never learned the U.S.A. is a Constitutional Republic. The haaahvard kenyan had the same knack for incorrectly identifying our form of government, despite having such a “prestigious” law degree.
As far as the true culprits of 9/11 goes, he’s accurate for once.
That’s correct, the murdering Jews that did 911 are not religious.
Historically, It has been a code of ethics for no, past “president of amerika”, to comment publicly on the current potus policies.
And yet we have the boy, “dubya” who was last seen dancing,
(search the video) at the dallas police memorial of officers shot by paintball squibs giving comment on the today show.
That makes four former potus to proclaim chump incompetent in his first thirty days.
I did not believe he was real but chump has stirred the pot and will need his past security detail to stay alive.
he has breitbart and infowars in his circle.
who would have ever thought it would come to this?
wake me when it is over.
I thought this moron was smart enough to his GD mouth shut.
Apparently not.
I’ve heard virtually nothing from him for the last 8 years. And it’s been great.
But now, this traitorous, war criminal POS is pushing for the Jew owned media and a Jew-Controlled Congressional investigation into Trump’s Russian ties?
WTF?
I can think of hundreds of Congressional Investigations into G-Dub and his associates (Cheney, Rumsfeld, every Zionist Jew Neocon and/or dual Israeli/Americans).
These should take 1,000,000% priority over anything Trump is accused of.
The Bush crime family must be running scared or they wouldn’t have let this imbecile say anything in public.
No wonder the rest of the world has almost no respect for America.
They see that the Jew owned/controlled media is allowing his moron to appear to make comments in support of free speech/ free press.
What a joke.
Truer words have not been spoken this fine day. Spot on.