In my fifty or so years, I’ve watched nine men occupy the highest office in the land — most of them intelligent, almost all of them patriots, some good leaders, most flawed, victims of their own peculiar upbringings or insecurities, but none were as stupid, impetuous and arrogant as this last one, George W. Bush, who finally said goodbye to this nation, which he pretty handily wrecked over eight agonizing years.

True to form his final statement and claim — to have kept this country safe — is every bit as nonsensical as his taking us to war in Iraq, ignoring mountains of evidence that our planet is warming, marching us towards fascism and advancing partisanship and incompetence to the point where it seems the vast majority of government positions are occupied by incompetent boobs and the business and financial worlds, who had no better champion, went insane with self-delusion.

To tell us that despite it all, he kept us safe, George W. Bush is attempting to turn perhaps his most famous mistake — ignoring specific advice he received less than one month prior to 9-11 that Osama bin Laden intended to attack the U.S. using airplanes — and to ask us to believe that he was in no better position to tighten up airport security in August and early September of 2001, than any other citizen, which of course is patently false.

I have no parting thoughts or wishes for this man other than the same one I’ve prayed for since he appeared as an embarrassment to our nation — that he simply go away someplace so we never have to hear his faux drawl or see his pinched face again. It’s ridiculous and meaningless of course for him to try to “manage” his legacy. As he is fond of saying, history will be the judge. Unfortunately, we’ll all be paying the price.