Republicans in general, even when they become President, aren't demons*. I've said all along I get the impression that one-on-one, GWB would probably be a engaging and maybe even warm individual. He seems to generate fierce loyalty in people.

But I think he's been horribly, tragically misguided by the hawks around him. Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz in particular (and, to be fair, Osama bin Laden), have hi-jacked what could possibly have been a reasonably positive Presidency.

Had Bush's ear been taken by the like of Powell and Rice, perhaps he could even have been persuaded to drop his long-standing design on Iraq. We'll never know.

But as Bowser suggested in another thread, being a "nice guy" under some circumstances doesn't excuse the causing of pain and suffering, the wreaking of unnecessary havoc. The young person he consoled is in no way different from the young man whose body was permanently shattered by American bombs during the war, or the thousands of other innocent individuals whose lives were wrecked by our pointless war.