Mike Huckabee on how Bush never blamed the recession on anyone else:

HUCKABEE: There’s one thing though that Biden and President Obama have got to get under control. And that is quit blaming George Bush. George Bush inherited an economy when he became president back in 2001 that was already beginning to show real signs of the stress from the breaking of the technology bubble. George Bush didn’t go out whining and complaining every day, he stood up like the president of the United States and he worked on trying to get it fixed.

Then 2001, 9/11 came, things really went tough, but he worked on the economy and it was in much better shape for most of his presidency. Then the recession started, wasn’t totally his fault for sure and all you hear from Joe Biden and President Obama is how, how terrible it was, what they inherited, how it wasn’t their fault. No, look, you own it now. You got elected, you wanted the job. Stand up and take it and get this thing rolling. But quit spending money.

Not only did Bush whine and complain, he did it every chance he got. When he mentioned the economy, he constantly threw in some mention of how it was already in motion when he took office, making sure people knew that he was not to blame. Not only this, but he did it throughout his entire eight years in office, right up to his last press conference.

In fact, Bush used the economic slowdown in the exact same way Obama is using the current one–which is to say, using it as a reason to push his financial package. Every time the slowdown or recession was mentioned, Bush used it to push his massive tax cut agenda. And as you can see from the quotes below, it was accompanied by repeated comments about when it started, pinning it on the last guy.

So I went and got most of these from Bush’s White House archives site, a few from other places–and by the time I got to 2004, I just got tired and jumped to 2008. Trust me, there’s lots more. You can go check yourself. Below I list only Bush’s direct quotes, though I found endless quotes by Cheney (a few: “To begin with some recent history, President Bush and I came to office facing a recession that had already begun.”, “We inherited a recession. The recession began the first quarter of ’01, when we first arrived.”, “We inherited a recession, a recession that began either shortly before or about the same time that we got into office.”) as well as several Bush administration Press Secretaries and cabinet officials. But Huckabee said “Bush,” so here is a small sample of Bush’s modesty and non-whining:

“Our economy is sputtering. Economic growth has stalled. Consumer confidence is falling. We can’t just stand by and hope for the best. We must act, and act now, to get ahead of this problem, and blunt or reverse this slowdown.”

–George W. Bush, March 10, 2001

“For several months, economic indicators have pointed toward a slowdown, and now many Americans are beginning to feel its impact in your lives.”

–George W. Bush, March 17, 2001

“And one of the problems we inherited was an economy that was sputtering along and slowing down.”

–George W. Bush, August 16, 2001

“I tell you what the numbers are showing. They’re showing that we’ve inherited an economic slowdown and the country is in an economic slowdown.”

–George W. Bush, August 23, 2001

“Many economists warned me when I took office that a recession was beginning.”

–George W. Bush, December 1, 2001

“You know, when I came into office, we were beginning a recession. I remember the Vice President saying that clearly.”

–George W. Bush, August 7, 2002

“You see, you’ve got to remember something about our economy. When we came in there, the economy was just beginning to get into a recession.”

–George W. Bush, August 29, 2002

“When we got up to Washington, D.C., the country was headed into a recession. Markets started correcting in March of 2000, that’s when it peaked. And then the summer the economic growth started to slow. And so by the time the Vice President and I showed up in Washington, D.C., we were in three-quarters of recession.”

–George W. Bush, September 23, 2002

“So with the combination of the loss of revenue as a result of the recession — which was official in January of 2001…”

–George W. Bush, May 2, 2003

“Let me tell you something, the deficit was caused by a recession which we inherited…”

–George W. Bush, August 13, 2003

“First, the stock market began a steady decline in March, 2000, as investors realized that the economy was not healthy. Businesses faced over-capacity during that period of time and cut their budgets for new investment in technology or equipment. And by early 2001, this economy was in recession.”

–George W. Bush, September 4, 2003

“We’ve been through a recession — and, by the way, the stock market started to decline six months before I became President. And then we had a recession.”

–George W. Bush, October 9, 2004

“When I took office, we inherited a recession…”

–George W. Bush, February 8, 2008

“We inherited a recession.”

–George W. Bush, March 14, 2008

“In terms of the economy, look, I inherited a recession, I am ending on a recession.”

–George W. Bush, January 12, 2009

Yep, Good ol’ George. Never willing to pass the buck.