Why I am Thankful to President Bush..

A past post discusses Bush's achievements and failures, to read click here - but two achievements I am extremely thankful for are his commitment to Protecting unborn life and his commitment to protecting our freedom and keeping us safe from Terrorists. May God continue to bless him and his family. Here are some great excerpts from articles that express my thoughts as well --

"Thank You, President Bush

The Pro-life Movement salutes you for eight years of outstanding pro-life service as President.

Thank you on behalf of all the unborn children you have saved by your pro-life leadership, policies, and legislation. These children are a living tribute to your presidency.

Thank you, too, for appointing two new Justices to the Supreme Court who have already cast key votes to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. They are likely to be an important pro-life legacy of your presidency well into the future.

Your strategy of prohibiting government funding for stem cell research which requires the killing of human embryos and funding instead of the more promising ethical alternative of stem cell research which does not require the killing of human embryos has already begun to prove itself. Major research breakthroughs in adult stem cell research which requires no killing have been made during your Administration. This is another major pro-life achievement of the Bush presidency and is proving to be the most promising way of really finding cures. Thank you for your respect for the sanctity of life. ...

You are an example to all of us of how to stand strong and speak the truth about abortion in spite of being attacked. ...

Your message to America was loud and clear. "Unborn children should be welcomed in life and protected in law." You will be remembered for those words and the dedication and determination behind them. Your pro-life words at the public signing of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, as well as your public speeches at major White House events you hosted on key life issues, all helped Americans focus more clearly on the life and death struggles to protect unborn children. ...

Your defense of life was strong and courageous, but it was also compassionate."

excerpts from a letter to President Bush from Darla St. Martin - the Co-Executive Director of National Right to Life.

"Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your president," said President George W. Bush in his farewell address from the White House Thursday night. The president's signature achievement is keeping the U.S. free from terrorist attacks since September 11. Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom are directly responsible. "As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did," he said. "Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe." He added, "There is legitimate debate about many of [my] decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil." He didn't claim all the credit, though. "This is a tribute to those who toil night and day to keep us safe -- law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, homeland security and diplomatic personnel, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces."

The president closed with hopeful words, quoting President Thomas Jefferson, who said, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." President Bush spoke of his "unshakable faith in America" and reminded us that "with the courage of our people and confidence in our ideals, this great nation will never tire, never falter, and never fail." Indeed, God bless America."

from Bush's Farewell address.

Miller states on this clip:‘That's what I admire about him (Bush). He's willing to be hated for the rest of his life to do the right thing. And I just want to look in the camera. This is the last time I’ll be on this show when he's my President and my Commander-in-Chief and say, “Thank you, sir. I feel privileged that you were the President during this time in American history.”

My sentiments exactly!!

President Bush and Vice President Cheney have also been secretly providing comfort to wounded soldiers and grieving families, declining to cash in on a story that could have earned them points on the evening news.

"For much of the past seven years, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have waged a clandestine operation inside the White House. It has involved thousands of military personnel, private presidential letters and meetings that were kept off their public calendars or sometimes left the news media in the dark.

Their mission: to comfort the families of soldiers who died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to lift the spirits of those wounded in the service of their country. ...

But the size and scope of Mr. Bush's and Mr. Cheney's private endeavors to meet with wounded soliders and families of the fallen far exceed anything that has been witnessed publicly, according to interviews with more than a dozen officials familiar with the effort.

"People say, 'Why would you do that?'" the president said in an Oval Office interview with The Washington Times on Friday. "And the answer is: This is my duty. The president is commander in chief, but the president is often comforter in chief, as well. It is my duty to be - to try to comfort as best as I humanly can a loved one who is in anguish."

Mr. Bush, for instance, has sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars, an enormous personal effort that consumed hours of his time and escaped public notice. The task, along with meeting family members of troops killed in action, has been so wrenching - balancing the anger, grief and pride of families coping with the loss symbolized by a flag-draped coffin - that the president often leaned on his wife, Laura, for emotional support.

"I lean on the Almighty and Laura," Mr. Bush said in the interview. "She has been very reassuring, very calming."

Mr. Bush also has met privately with more than 500 families of troops killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, according to White House spokesman Carlton Carroll. Many of those meetings were outside the presence of the news media at the White House or at private sessions during official travel stops, officials said.

The first lady said those private visits, many of which she also attended, took a heavy emotional toll, not just on the president, but on her as well. ...

Mr. Cheney similarly has hosted numerous events, even sneaked away from the White House or his Naval Observatory home to meet troops at hospitals or elsewhere without a hint to the news media.

For instance, Mr. Cheney flew to North Carolina late last month and met with 500 special-operations soldiers for three hours on a Saturday night at a golf resort. The event was so secretive that the local newspaper didn't even learn about it until three days after it happened.

Mr. Cheney and his wife, Lynne, also have hosted more than a half-dozen barbecues at their Naval Observatory home for wounded troops recovering at Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed and their spouses and children.

The vice president said Mr. Bush "feels a very special obligation to those who he has to send in harm's way on behalf of the nation, and a very special obligation to their families, especially the families of those who don't come home again."

"He, in his travels, spends time with the families of the fallen. If he goes down to Fort Bragg, he'll often times pull together the families of guys who were stationed at Bragg and killed in action, and spend time with the families," Mr. Cheney told The Times in an interview last week. ...

Asked where he gets the strength to meet with the families of soldiers whom he - as commnder in chief - sent to their deaths, he turned stern.

"You have to believe in the cause. You have to understand that - and believe we'll be successful. If I didn't believe in the cause, it would be unbelievably terrible. I believe strongly in what we're doing. I believe it's necessary for our security. And I believe history will justify the actions. ...

"The interesting thing is, most of our troops fully understand this. They know we must defeat the enemy there so we don't have to face them here. And in a place like Iraq, they fully understood that Iraq was a front for al Qaeda. And they saw their mission as one of defending America by defeating al Qaeda," he told The Times....

The first lady said that many of the meetings have been kept private because "these are such personal times when people grieve. And we grieve with them. And these are not times when you would want a camera in the room or other people around. They are very emotional, personal times...."

excerpts from the Washington Times

Thank you President Bush!

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