In Japan, Bush Expresses Regrets... For Baseball Decisions

Over at Foreign Policy's blog, Joshua Keating reports that President George W. Bush was in Japan yesterday, throwing out the first pitch at game three of Japan's World Series and doing what he could to finally teach the Japanese to GET MOTIVATED! Along the way, he addressed a group of students, and offered them advice on how to run a major world-power a baseball franchise. Bush was the managing general partner of the Texas Rangers from 1989 until his ascension to the Texas governorship in 1994.

Bush's irony-rich advice included this tidbit:

Bush also said it was important to take responsibility for decisions, including bad ones - and referred to what he has acknowledged was one of his biggest mistakes with the Rangers: approving the 1989 trade that sent future home-run slugger Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox for designated hitter Harold Baines.

Ahh, the memories:

At any rate, of course you wouldn't make that trade today! 9/11 changed everything.

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Comments

[HenryGuo]

Bush loves life and sports.
[e-mail])

[hellboundtrain]

Dementia.

[mapmaker515]

Bush is a gift that keeps on giving.

[Budokan]

So some POC drowned in New Orleans. Big deal, right, conservatives?

[DocMo76]

George, GO TO JELL.

[CommunistUtopia]

Dubbya, I miss you. On your watch, the economy was good and you are a true leader. The current POTUS has a train wreck of an economy with unemployment NOW OVER 10%. Plus, POTUS is a bad leader as evidence by his handling of the Fort Hood tragedy.

God Bless you, Dubbya.

[truthartbeauty]

EVERY political decision he made was wrong and he regrets one about baseball???????

[FaaLaveLave]

Sociopaths do NOT have Regrets. Impossible to believe.

[nwfurn]

He has a long road ahead if this is where he starts with his regrets.

[stillfresh]

Watch out, Japan. This is where Poppy vomited at the table. Nice.

[cactusgal]

I wonder if he visited the hallowed site where his dad p.uked on their prime minister? That's Bush-style diplomacy in action.

[FoonTheElder]

He should apologize for letting Major League Baseball talk him into telling the prosecutors in the BALCO case to not reveal any of the athletes who took steroids and HGH. This resulted in players like Barry Bonds and others continuing to deny that there was any evidence that they were cheaters.

[factotem]

You've got terrific priorities. Take your mind off sports for a while, and try o get your head around what he did to politics and civil rights.

[FoonTheElder]

Bush brought up his baseball regrets (trading Sosa), I'm just pointing out how he protected baseball by helping them put off dealing with steroids and HGH.

[gumbo1049]

Now it should be easy for you after the last 8 years.
Its everything you did GW.

[FelipeLeones]

He looked a lot like he did when he heard the news of 9/11. Deer in the headlights.

[bootspur]

When it looked like JUNIOR would run for Governor (now that he has been a BIG time Baseball Owner) he was going to be forced to place his shares in a blind trust, OR sell his part of the team as a condition of running for State Office, and it also appeared that Rainwater and his team might sell sooner rather than later and that it would be best for George to relinquish his 3% now. George W Bush borrowed the $800,000 from Daddy in the mid 1980's, then fast forward 5 years when he sold BACK that 3%, he "W" was cut a check for $16,000,000 dollars! WHEN YOU really stop and think about it, that $16million essentially came out of the taxpayers pocket, because I doubt that Rainwater and company would have been feeling so generous had NOT Congress cut them a check for $80 to $90 million dollars for road work...

So, perhaps Jason Linkus and the other honest member's of the 4th Estate will play this card whenever DUBYA rolls out his Paper Machete' Baseball Cred, afterall wasn't "DUBYA" a Cheerleader before it was cool for guy's to be in that "sport?"

[bootspur]

George H.W. Bush wired/transferred the almost $800,000 dollars necessary for a 3% non-voting owners share of the team for Junior.. George W Bush ascended to the job of Texas Rangers public spokesman, and became the face of the Organization when he was infrequently available for an interview, OR to deliver Team News. His responsibility as Figurehead Spokesperson was the sum total of his job with the Texas Rangers, he couldn't make a trade, make a pick in the draft, OR even sign a check. He was an Ombudsmen.

41 twisted arms in Congress and was able to secure matching highway funds FOR a NON-HIGHWAY expenditure, but in Congress they can find a way when they want the money to go to a particular place and that is what happened here. The shrewd maneuver of bringing in the inexperienced Bush paid off for Rainwater and his group when tens of millions of taxpayer dollars came their way.