Matt Frei, in his Washington Diary at BBC.com, argues that W has become the nice guy. “The rank and file of his own party are now the nasties.”

Matt points to only two pieces of evidence: The ports deal and Bush’s support for a guest worker program for illegal immigrants. These are indeed two issues where I think Bush is right-ish: The uproar over the ports deal was over-simplified, borderline racist, and damaging to what remains of our reputation (that W has done so much to tear down) as an adult country ready to engage with the rest of the world. And Bush’s immigration proposal is way better than the Republican Great Wall of Mexico plan.

But two issues about which Bush isn’t dead wrong does not get him moved into the Nice Guy column in my ledger. [Tags: bush politics dubai bbc matt_frei]

Categories: Uncategorized dw