George Herbert Walker Bush added his voice to the, well groundswell may be too strong a word, let’s just say nattering, of voices from the more reasonable right who are distressed and alarmed by the lack of civility in today’s political discourse.

In an interview with CBS, our former president lamented that criticism of Barack Obama has gone too far over the line, as did criticism of his son, George W. Bush, during his presidency, and Bush Sr. named cable TV and Fox News in general and Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow in particular as the main culprits responsible for the deterioration of political dialogue in this country. Rachel Maddow, really???

Well Mr. President, and one of the many perks of the job is that you still get to be called Mr. President long after you no longer occupy the office, there’s someone else you neglected to point a finger at in your outrage and dismay over the mudslinging and insults that now passes itself off as political debate in this country. Yourself.

In fact, I would say that the lion’s share of the blame for the growing reliance on personal vilification that candidates and parties use to discredit their opponents rests squarely on your shoulders, and it’s time you manned up to your responsibility for it.

After all, wasn’t it your bid for the presidency that brought us the inspired strategies of Lee Atwater and Roger Ailes, two political operatives who lived by the creed that no attack was too low, no trick too dirty, no smear too out of bounds and no lie too unacceptable if it meant that you won the election?

Didn’t they promote the concept that a voter in dire fear for his future was a dependable Republican vote, and then set about making sure that every American voter was in dire fear for their future? Spreading lies and defaming your opponent’s character was all in day’s work during your campaign and Atwater bragged about it and reveled in the attention it brought him. Unfortunately for him all the dirty tricks in the world couldn’t defeat a larger power, and not long after your election he succumbed to brain cancer.

However, the lessons he taught in the art of modern campaigning weren’t lost on his protégé, Karl Rove. As we all now know, little Karl, having learned at the master’s feet, would go on to one-up his old mentor, becoming even better at bullying, lying, defaming and deceiving on behalf of your son President George W. Bush. Roger Ailes, in the meantime, took his honed skills on over to Fox News, where he and his network would desiccate and destroy anyone who had the temerity to disagree with your son’s policies.

So you’ll have to pardon my cynicism, when I see you now, older, more distinguished and I have no doubt, wiser, complaining about the angry tenor and lack of basic courtesy in today’s political debate. This, Mr. President, is the legacy you and your henchmen left us and at the risk of using every clichéd analogy available; you can’t un-ring the bell, put the genie back in the bottle, or the toothpaste back in the tube. If you want to blame someone for the decaying state of political discourse, I suggest you look no further than your own mirror.