RIP George H.W. Bush, 1924-2018

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They had had Bin Laden in their sights, when his guest - a Saudi prince - steps into the frame. The attack was called off at the last second for fear killing one of the Saudi princes would be disastrous for US relations in the Middle East. As I understand it, the order to step down was given not by Clinton, but by one of his underlings. In retrospect, they should have launched the missile - - too many Saudi Princes, anyhow.

I’m talking about time some nation had him in custody and were told to let him go.

Sexual harassment or assault can’t be bracketed off as part of a politician’s private life. It’s an important part of the story of their leadership, their use of power, and their policy. The same is true for Bush.

Relatively little has been made of the accusations against Bush since they emerged last year. A woman initially accused Bush of groping her and telling her a dirty joke as she stood beside him, seated in a wheelchair, for a photo op. The family responded, suggesting the aging former president might be slipping a bit. “President Bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five years, so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures,” a spokesperson, Jim McGrath, said on Bush’s behalf.

But then the story changed. More women came forward describing incidents that took place before Bush was in a wheelchair and even while he was in office. One woman described a credible story dating back to 1992, when she says that Bush, then the president, put his hand on her rear end while taking a photograph at a reelection fundraiser. Another woman described an incident from 2003, when she was 16 years old — and Bush was still spry, zipping around Kennebunkport, Maine, on a Segway.

“All the focus has been on ‘He’s old.’ OK, but he wasn’t old when it happened to me,” the woman, now 55 told CNN. “I’ve been debating what to do about it.”

The same spokesperson offered up a new version of the behavior, admitting, yes, Bush has done what he’s accused of, but it was innocent — he “has patted women’s rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner.”

Bush’s record on domestic and foreign policy is laudable in many ways, and it deserves the praise it’s receiving now. Even on women’s rights, he can take credit for the nomination of David Souter to the Supreme Court and for signing the Clery Act, which requires colleges and universities to track and disclose sexual assaults on campus. But accusations about how he allegedly used or abused his power to diminish women should be as much a part of our assessment of his legacy.

There’s always a debate in moments like this about whether it is appropriate to “speak ill of the dead.” Discussing Bush’s alleged behavior is not speaking ill of him. It’s not a slight or a smear. It’s part of his legacy, whether or not we like it.

“He knows the power he has, and the reverence he deserves, even while sitting perhaps somewhat senile in a wheelchair,” said Jordana Grolnick, who said that Bush told her a dirty joke (that several other women independently said he’d told them too) and put his hand on her rear end while taking a photo a few years ago.

Another woman, whose father was in the CIA, said she was 16 when her parents took her to an intelligence event in Texas and was looking forward to meeting the former president, until he groped her.

“My initial reaction was absolute horror. I was really, really confused,” Roslyn Corrigan told Time about an encounter she said happened when she was 16 and Bush was 79. “The first thing I did was look at my mom and, while he was still standing there, I didn’t say anything. What does a teenager say to the ex-president of the United States? Like, ‘Hey dude, you shouldn’t have touched me like that?’”

Brevik no longer matters. He is in prison and is unlikely to ever be released. While the maximum sentence is only 21 years, the prosecutors will undoubtedly follow Norwegian law and ask the judge to extend the sentence 5 years at a time until he is dead.

In any event, it is crazy to compare Brevik to George HW Bush.

No matter how bad your opinion may be of George Herbert Walker Bush, this is not the time to trash him. Leave him alone. Trashing him right now just shows how little class you have and how little respect you have for others.

We should all try to become the best person that we can be, not selfish, spoiled rotten brats who have no respect for anyone or anything.

Powerful image of current and former presidents