He read a scathing indictment
of Mr. Nice Guy’s (GHW Bush)
one term presidency and he
found himself agreeing with

just about every nicely written
and pointedly damning sentence
by the journalist and the cause
and effect of that presidency

which helped pave the way for
the resulting wannabe dema-
goguery the nation is enduring
today, but he found himself

wishing it had been tempered
just a bit because GHW was a
nice guy and he did just die
and we aren’t supposed to speak

ill of the dead — even if every
bit rang true. He remembers
telling a “nice guy” friend
that the friend was selling

his organization’s soul to
the devil in accepting hefty
donations from billionaire
ideologues with an agenda

in opposition to the vision
and mission of the organization.
The friend responded by saying
that the ideologues were nice

guys. In that moment, he thought
to retort that he was sure there
were those who thought Hitler
was a nice guy, too. He didn’t.

Maybe, in part, because it isn’t
nice to speak ill of the dead.
And just maybe, he thought to
himself, because I’m just too

nice of a guy. Hmm. Not.