Dalai Lama: I 'Love' George W. Bush 'As A Human Being, Not As President'

The Dalai Lama said he loved George W. Bush "as a human being" but "not as president of America" during an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet said he loves George W. Bush "as a human being, not as a president."

“I love President Bush,” the Dalai Lama said in an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan airing Wednesday. When Morgan asked him to clarify which former president he was referring to, the spiritual leader said, "the younger one.”

"Sometimes his policy may not be very, very successful," the Dalai Lama said. "But as a person, as a human being, (he's a) very nice person. I love him."

The Dalai Lama noted that he had "some reservations" about Bush's decisions on national security, and said he expressed his feelings to the president after the start of the Iraq war.

The Dalai Lama has been in America since mid-March, and his remarks on Bush weren't his first political statement. He recently appeared at the University of California San Diego to talk global warming, saying "there are no Democratic or Republican thermometers."

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Comments

[HannaSchmitz]

02:32 AM on 07/07/2012

Just goes to show you Bush was a good man! Dalai loves him and Jesus loves him!

[Zaida Adams]

08:05 AM on 05/14/2012

Highly evolved state of being and understanding has this man.

[highking1979]

09:45 PM on 05/02/2012

I don't have a problem with loving George, I just wouldn't leave my cats or economy with him

[thisNewFoundLand]

07:59 AM on 05/02/2012

...well, hello Dalai!
Hello?!

[JBaker]

08:46 PM on 05/01/2012

Bush joked and chuckled about not being able to find weapons of mass destruction at the same moment that U.S. soldiers were being killed in the illicit war in Iraq. Nice guys don't trash the slaughter of U.S. soldiers like that. I do not find 'lovable' the endless lies leading up to that war.

I do not find endearing Bush's campaign of cynical homophobia during his first and second campaigns. And Bush just came out of the woodwork two weeks ago to do what? Help the poor? Lead a crusade to eliminate some disease? No. He appeared to defend tax cuts for the top 1%. What a heart...

[cburnette23]

01:24 PM on 04/25/2013

oh, but I suppose it's perfectly ok for President Obama to jet set to Hawaii at the MOST inappropriate times at the expense of hundreds of thousands of dollars while our economy crumbles and a record number of Americans go jobless? Yes, another blazing example of absurd double-standards and uppity liberal hypocrisy.

And labeling Bush as homophobic? Why? Because he does not subscribe to the same polarized positions on the matter that you do? Just shows how ego-centric and shallow liberal thinking can be.... any monkey can say that if you don't agree, your thinking is inferior. Ironic that you have a monkey then as your avatar. How appropriate.

Oh, and one last thing.... you think that liberalism is assisting (in any way) the poor? You are living in fantasy land. Liberal fantasy land, where liberal policies are actually effective. Where this is I don't know, maybe you could enlighten me? Alderaan? Mordor? Maybe somewhere in Hawaii, where Obama takes his pricey and selfish vacations (after his lengthy track-record of abysmal failures, he must need them).

[Tony Rochon]

06:43 PM on 05/01/2012

Sexy Dalai Lama loves bush.

[raker]

09:05 AM on 05/01/2012

I hate Bush enough for both of us.

[HannaSchmitz]

09:40 AM on 07/07/2012

Why are liberals so hateful? And angry? Try to be less angry and hateful.

[raker]

10:02 AM on 07/07/2012

Oh shut up.

[Hillbilly49]

06:15 PM on 04/30/2012

I love Bush too; he helped me become an Atheist.

[redhorngirl]

12:24 PM on 04/30/2012

This notion of (intellectual) lightness is totally missing the point," Lanny J. Davis, a former special counsel to President Clinton, and adviser to Al Gore, asserted before the 2000 campaign. "There are times when George coasted through Yale courses and through exams or seemed overly facetious. But don't mistake that for not being intellectually acute. My memory of George—and I've no reason to say nice things about him, because I hope he loses—is that he was an astute observer of people and had an incredible talent for getting along with people. I tell my fellow Democrats not to underestimate him."

[redhorngirl]

12:22 PM on 04/30/2012

George W. Bush went to Yale University (B.A.), Harvard Business School (M.B.A.) and was a First Lieutenant(Air Force), Businessman (oil, baseball) before becoming President.Bush promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, and social security reform.
He signed into Law Broad Tax Cuts, The No Child Left Behind Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors.
Bush undertook a number of educational priorities, such as increasing the funding for the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health in his first years of Office.
Creating education programs to strengthen the grounding in Science and Mathematics for American High School Students.
In 2002, Bush announced the Clear Skies Act of 2003,aimed at amending the Clean Air Act to Reduce Air Pollution through the use of Emissions Trading Programs.
In 2006, Bush declared the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a National Monument, Creating the Largest Marine Reserve to date. As Governor of Texas Bush also helped make Texas the leading producer of wind powered electricity in the US. In 1995 Bush made wind power a key facet of Texas' renewable energy policy. Seeking to reduce high property taxes to benefit homeowners while increasing general education funding, Bush sought to create business taxes, facing vigorous opposition from his own party and the private sector. Failing to obtain political consensus for his proposal, Bush used a budget surplus to push through a $2 billion tax-cut plan, which was the largest in Texas history.

[HannaSchmitz]

09:42 AM on 07/07/2012

I miss him. He was the only pres I voted for who was democrat. I may vote for mother this fall.

[DutchUncleAl]

12:42 PM on 04/28/2012

How do you separate the man from the actions?

[brooklyncitizen]

08:53 PM on 04/28/2012

In Bible study a few years ago under the Bush reign of terror and oppression, I quipped that Bush was unforgivable and what was one to do with the likes of him? Our teacher a Ursula nun, said "Pray for him"...this is in keeping with hate the sin not the sinner.

The love is not "personal" but is about the respect for all life and intrinsic dignity of all people.

[HannaSchmitz]

09:43 AM on 07/07/2012

Go back to bible study. You don't even get it.

[rksingh2002]

04:37 AM on 04/28/2012

As a person, nobody can hate bush. He is just a 6 yr old kid who refused to grow up. He was jsut a puppet in the hands of Cheney- Rove axis. They are the real filth as we know it.

[cburnette23]

01:40 PM on 04/25/2013

that makes you sound like a sad little conspiracy theorist. way out of touch with reality.

[Cindbird]

03:43 PM on 04/27/2012

His Holiness has said that from the first time he met President Bush Jr. He's never said any different.

[nicktoday]

02:22 PM on 04/27/2012

The Dalai Lama is a saint, I think that he proved that last week: http://www.omdoubleg.com/entertainment/is-the-dalai-lama-a-peeping-tom/

[Cindbird]

03:49 PM on 04/27/2012

He is the reincarnation of Avalokitasvara (Chenrizig in Tibetan). He is the Buddha of Compassion. And His Holiness was in Chicago at the time. He may be considered a Buddha, but he still can't be two places at once.

[Sum Wong]

09:05 PM on 05/15/2012

Well. The story is more believable if it was a dude that made that claim.

[coyotefever105]

12:08 PM on 04/27/2012

That's how it should be. Hate is a terrible thing. Love is better.