The size of the person is directly proportional to the size of the person or thing that upsets them!

George Bush was on Hannity promoting his new book, Decision Points.  Bush did not need a Teleprompter to tell us what he thought.  This is a very capable man, far removed from the incompetent boob portrayed in the main stream media.  But what was really stunning was the interaction between George Bush and his former staff.  The George Bush that they described in private was the same George Bush we saw in public.  It was easy to see why these people admired him and respected him.  Dana Perino said it best. She said it was an honor to be the spokesperson for a President who made decisions based on his values.  She said she did not need to worry about what the New York Times said the next day because he did not make his decisions based on his personal popularity.  She said he was a man of integrity who made decisions for the right reasons.

There were numerous times when Bush showed a graciousness and humility that was clearly genuine.  He talked about meeting an Army Sergeant who had lost both legs in Iraq.  Bush visited this soldier in the hospital and in an attempt to encourage him invited him to run with President Bush sometime.  Bush said he was shocked when he got a message that this soldier had received state of the art artificial limbs and was ready to take Bush up on his offer.  There were pictures of Bush and this man running on the South Lawn of the White House.  It was clear that Bush was deeply moved and he was humbled by the experience.  But the most remarkable comment was by the soldier who said that President Bush was a humble man.  He meant it.  Bush was President of the United States, but he treated that soldier as an equal and was genuinely inspired by him.  In Bush we had a President who took the job, not himself, seriously.  No one, watching that show, could possibly doubt the sincerity or the depth of compassion demonstrated by George Bush.  He said that the reason he was so proud to be Commander in Chief was that he was able to come in contact with so many of the outstanding people who serve in our military. 

This image of Bush was far removed from the way he was presented in the main stream media.  This caused me to wonder why Democrats and their supporting liberal main stream media went so far out of their way to destroy this man.  It clearly wasn’t just because Bush is a Republican or even a conservative.  It wasn’t because of the war in Iraq.  It also wasn’t because of an abrasive personality.  Even his enemies acknowledge that George Bush is friendly and warm if you meet him in person.  I finally realized that they hate him for the same reason they hate Sarah Palin.  Bush represented something that the liberal left cannot tolerate.  He is a moral man.  He does not pretend to be perfect, but he is a man who tries to make decisions based on moral values.  Bush sees the world in terms of right and wrong.  He does not subscribe to the principle of moral equivalence.  Liberals see the world in shades of gray and they are deeply intolerant of people who see things in terms of right or wrong.

I believe that some of this is also carry-over from Bill Clinton.  When the Monica Lewinsky story broke, a majority of Democrats in the Senate said that if Bill Clinton had lied under oath that they would vote for impeachment.  However, at some point they decided that it was better for them politically to vote against impeachment.  They justified this on the basis that when Clinton lied it was just about sex and “everybody does it.”  In order for them to justify excusing what Clinton did, they had to convince themselves that all other politicians are the same.   They had to convince themselves that all politicians are corrupt and immoral. 

Then Bush poured salt on the wound by promising to restore dignity and honor to the Presidency.  Liberals were outraged.  If there was a need to restore dignity and honor to the White House, then how could they justify their support of Bill Clinton?   Democrats had to either destroy Bush, or to endure a brutal self-assessment of their own moral character. 

Suppose there is a group of students who decide to cheat on a test.  But one student refuses to go along because he thinks that would be morally wrong.  The cheaters could tolerate him saying he didn’t want to participate because he didn’t want to risk getting caught.  But they cannot tolerate him saying he won’t do it because it is wrong.   They become angry and accuse him of being self-righteous.  This is because when one is wrong and one knows he or she is wrong, it is very disturbing to be confronted with a moral person.  At that point one has to either confront his or her own lack or character or convince themselves’ that it’s ok because the other person is equally flawed.

The liberal left and the mainstream media had to destroy Bush.  They had to convince themselves that he was equally corrupt.  This is why they accused him of doing special favors for big oil in exchange for some vague personal financial gain, although there is no evidence of that.  That is why they felt he had to be abusing the terrorist surveillance program for political purposes although there is not one single example of that.  That is why they had to believe that he had some ulterior motive for ordering the invasion of Iraq even though there is no evidence of that either.   It is why they had to accuse him of lying about the intelligence prior to the war when they knew he was telling the truth.  It was not enough for them to disagree with him on issues, they had to hate him.  They had to attack him the most vicious personal way possible.   Bush then infuriated them even more by failing to respond in kind to the politics of personal destruction.   He could have at least had the decency to lose his temper and launch some personal attacks of his own.  But Bush never did that.  I cannot find a single example of Bush launching a personal attack on anyone.  He frequently disagreed with people on policy issues but he never made it personal.   That made the liberal left even angrier:

Proverbs 25:21-22

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:  For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.

I strongly believe that one of the reasons the liberal left hated George Bush was that deep down they knew he was a kind and generous man.  When he refused to lower himself to their level, he heaped coals of fire on their head with kindness.

They are doing the same thing with Sarah Palin.   Liberals fear Sarah Palin for several reasons.  As a result of that fear, they must hate her.  They fear her because she is a skilled politician with an incredible ability to connect.  They also fear her because she sneers at their value system.   One of the big problems we have today is with RINOs who abandon their principles in their desperate search for approval by the cultured elite.  Sarah Palin does not make that mistake.  She literally told the liberal press that she neither sought nor wanted their approval.  Liberals and the cultured elite are not upset because Sarah Palin is not one of them, but rather because she does not care what they think. 

I do not hate Barack Obama.  I think he is a lousy President.  I also think he has dangerously radical values.  I think he is doing great damage to the country, but I do not hate him.  I wish him and his family good health and prosperity.  I would just like to see him removed from a position of power which enables him to do great damge to a lot of innocent people.

I strongly believe that the size of the person is directly proportional to the person or thing that upsets them.  Basically, that means don’t sweat the small stuff.  It also means don’t sweat the small people.  I have had to remind myself of that on more than one occasion.  I eventually realized that if I allowed myself to be obsessed with hatred because of what someone did or said, I was just lowering myself to their level.  The only way I could hope to prevail was to not let small people have a big impact on my life.

George Bush and Sarah Palin understand that.  Their liberal opponents who feel compelled to hate them and launch never ending personal attacks don’t.    

TDM