NBC/Wonkette Writer Praises Bush... for Refusing to Criticize Obama

Former President George W. Bush is a "classy guy" who might "mature into a proper elder statesman" some day.

That's the verdict of NBC and Wonkette contributor Sara K. Smith in her March 18 article about how Bush refused to publicly criticize his successor to the presidency when given the chance at a Q&A session following at a luncheon in Canada. (h/t Twitter tipster @Thatcher):

The one thing he has not been doing, thank goodness, is following Dick Cheney's lead and attempting to inject himself into public affairs again. When asked today to comment on President Obama's performance in office, Bush said, "I'm not going to spend my time criticizing him. [...] He deserves my silence."

An Associated Press account noted that President Bush also said, "I love my country a lot more than I love politics.... I think it is essential that he be helped in office." Smith left those lines out of her story.

Although Bush's statement was "[n]ot a stirring endorsement," it was a laudable "contrast to his hot-tempered colleague" former Vice President Cheney, Smith concluded, before cautiously tossing out a caveat catering to left-wing Bush and Cheney haters:

...Bush has shown admirable restraint -- you might even say class -- in refusing to enter the public fray. Bravo to the former president, who might yet mature into a proper elder statesman. (Unless, of course, he and Cheney are still running the same good cop-bad cop routine that got them through the last eight years.)