Memo from NYC

So a dancing proudly gay TV talk-show host named Ellen DeGeneres sat next to a former conservative Republican President named George W. Bush at a football game -- where they talked and yukked it up together, and declared that they are friends.

Isn't that great? 

People on "both sides" can find "common ground" and "come together" and "be friends" and "respect each other" even if they don't always agree or share the same "beliefs."

But what if those beliefs kill people? What if those beliefs terrorize the weak, the poor, the marginalized -- denying them their humanity, robbing them of their dignity, making them suffer even more?

As Governor of Texas George W. Bush sent people to be executed.

As President, he lied about and started an endless and illegal war killing thousands, botched the response to Hurricane Katrina, scaled back environmental regulations, made it harder for women to exercise their reproductive freedom, exploded the deficit while grossly favoring the rich, worked hard to deny gay people their civil rights, and ran for a second term smearing the service of a war hero.

George W. Bush is a bad man -- and his actions as president were terrible. There's a reason he left office hated, there's a reason you don't see Republican candidates campaigning with him, there's a reason his failures and destruction as president left a leadership vacuum in his party to be taken over by a con-man like Trump. Just because he's been out of office for 10+ years, staying quiet and painting, and another Republican president is currently terrorizing the country doesn't lessen the horror show that were the Bush years.

So, sorry Ellen, your friendship with this man is sleazy and your plea that we should just "be kind" to each other is offensive to everyone he hurt.

This situation, sadly, is example of something bigger than politics -- it's about wealth, power, fame, and privilege. It's about a greater corruption, about how people, once they crack a certain glass wall, become immune to the vagaries of mean spirited policies, are protected from consequences.