dishonest and contemptable behavior preceeds both Dubya and Bubba by a long, long time ... recounting how much I feel that I've seen this sort of behavior grow in every segment of society makes me feel old and grouchy ...
I take a certain amount of hope from a newspaper editorial I read 30 years ago ... I lived in SoCal at the time and the Register reprinted this particular editorial from a Philidelphia paper ... in it, the writer went on a great length, excoriating the president for his unethical, and even illegal actions and urging voters to consider these things on election day come fall ...
It was with no small surprise that in the fine print at the end of the editorial, I noticed the article was NOT talking about RMN as I and all the other readers had thought ... this particular reprint was from the year 1804 and the sitting president under fire was Thomas Jefferson.
I guess the author had no idea that Jefferson was destined to be regarded as highly as he is, with his visage on Mt Rushmore, the $2 bill and the nickel ... this is not to say that either Bubba or Dubya will find themselves regarded as highly as Jefferson now is, but to say that historical perspective has a way of often being a lot different than the short view ... in my lifetime, I've seen the view of Truman, Kennedy and Carter change greatly from that which prevailed while they were in office, although a lot less so for Ike, Johnson, Nixon or Ford. It remains to be seen how the presidents since them will be viewed, given a longer perspective, but it's pretty safe to say that all of them will look better in the rear view mirror than they did in the harsh light of real time.