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Title: How George W. Bush Has Ruined The Bush Family Franchise
Source:
NEWSWEEK
URL Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16115397/site/newsweek/
Published: Dec 10, 2006
Author: Eleanor Clift
Post Date: 2006-12-10 19:25:25 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 243
Comments: 9
Dec. 8, 2006 - On the eve of a report that repudiates his son’s leadership, former president George H.W. Bush broke down crying when he recalled how his other son, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, lost an election a dozen years ago and then came back to serve two successful terms. The elder Bush has always been a softie, but this display of emotion was so over the top that it had to be about something other than Jeb’s long-ago loss. The setting was a leadership summit Monday in Tallahassee, where the elder Bush had come to lecture and to pay homage to Jeb, who is leaving office with a 53 percent approval rating, putting him ninth among the 50 governors in popularity. The former president was reflecting on how well Jeb handled defeat in 1994 when he lost his composure. “He didn’t whine about it,” he said, putting a handkerchief to his face in an effort to stifle his sobbing. That election turned out to be pivotal because it disrupted the plan Papa Bush had for his sons, which may be why he was crying, and why the country cries with him. The family’s grand design had the No. 2 son, Jeb, by far the brighter and more responsible, ascend to the presidency while George, the partying frat-boy type, settled for second best in Texas. The plan went awry when Jeb, contrary to conventional wisdom, lost in Florida, and George unexpectedly defeated Ann Richards in Texas. With the favored heir on the sidelines, the family calculus shifted. They’d go for the presidency with the son that won and not the one they wished had won. The son who was wrongly launched has made such a mess of things that he has ruined the family franchise. Without getting too Oedipal, it’s fair to say that so many mistakes George W. Bush made are the result of his need to distinguish himself from his father and show that he’s smarter and tougher. His need to outdo his father and at the same time vindicate his father’s failure to get re-elected makes for a complicated stew of emotions. The irony is that the senior Bush, dismissed by Junior’s crowd as a country-club patrician, looks like a giant among presidents compared to his son. Junior told author Bob Woodward, for his book “Plan of Attack,” that he didn’t consult his father in planning the invasion of Iraq but consulted a higher authority, pointing, presumably, to the heavens. The father also consulted a higher authority: family fixer James Baker. The Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by Baker, pulls no punches in calling Bush’s policies a failure. It’s a statement of the obvious, but when you have a collection of Washington wise men, plus retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor (perhaps doing penance for her vote that put Bush in the White House during the disputed 2000 race), it’s the equivalent of last rites for Bush’s Iraq policy, along with his presidency. It’s not a plan for victory because that doesn’t exist except in Bush’s fantasy. The recommendations Baker and company offer—of more international engagement and shifting U.S. troops to a backup role to Iraqi forces—may help the administration manage and mask defeat. Even so, that may be hard for Bush to accept. His body language when receiving the report, while polite, was dismissive, thanking the eminences assembled for breakfast at the White House for dropping off a copy. This president has lost all capacity to lead. Eleven American servicemen died in Iraq on the day Bush was presented the report, which calls the situation there “grave and deteriorating.” Events on the ground threaten to overtake even this grim assessment. And we’re left to analyze Bush’s tender ego and whether he can reverse course on the folly that is killing and maiming countless Iraqis along with U.S. troops. Historians are already debating whether Bush is the worst president ever, or just among the four or five worst. He has little choice but to accept the fundamental direction of the Iraq Study Group. He’s up to his neck in quicksand, and they’ve thrown him a rope. It’s trendy to make fun of the over-the-hill types in Washington, but they’ve done a noble thing in reminding us that war is not just about spin and a way to win elections. It’s about coming together to find a way out, however unpalatable. Bush was asked during the campaign in 2000 what would happen if he lost. He said he’d go back to Texas, watch a lot of baseball and have a great life with Laura and the girls. He’s an accidental president, a man who was vaulted into a job he wasn’t prepared for, and who treated war like a lark. Bush’s father observed between sobs in his Florida speech, “A true measure of a man is how you handle victory and how you handle defeat.” He was talking about Jeb, but surely it’s his first-born who triggers the tears.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
He was pointing in the wrong direction.
"The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." good one, robin!
This article treats the elder Bsh with to much respect. We can't let the favorable comparison with his seminal residue blind us to the recollection of what an inarticulate hack he was. His policies weren't any wiser than those of Dubya; they were counterproductive and venal as well. His friend, Baker, has produced a report that promises more of the same and amounts to rearranging deck chairs on the titanic.
Absolutely.... but is it good for the Jews?
The Solution is to apply, for the first time in the history of the United States, the Constitution to Washington, D.C.
Money quote.
We need to supply the tree.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act - - George Orwell
We need to supply the tree. There's a big old walnut tree out here with a HUGE limb that goes sort of horizontal for 5 or 6 feet, 10 feet off the ground. It could take three of them at a time with no problem. ;0)
"It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order; and those who have once got an ascendency and possessed themselves of all the resources of the nation, their revenues and offices, have immense means for retaining their advantages." Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1798
I don't know about this. According to Barry Seal, the DEA tape made at the Miami airport showed Dubya and Jeb there to pick up a "couple of keys" for a party. When the DEA realized who they had on film, the raid was cancelled. Barry Seal figured he had his ticket to safety in that tape. Little did he know that Ollie North put the hit on him, and that comes directly from the hitmen themselves. SOP for the Bush Crime Family. More responsible, indeed!
"It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order; and those who have once got an ascendency and possessed themselves of all the resources of the nation, their revenues and offices, have immense means for retaining their advantages." Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1798
Interesting BTP, that's a new perspective to me.
"The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer."Junior told author Bob Woodward, for his book “Plan of Attack,” that he didn’t consult his father in planning the invasion of Iraq but consulted a higher authority, pointing, presumably, to the heavens.
---Henry Kissinger, New York Times, October 28, 1973
#2. To: robin (#1)
#3. To: Brian S (#0)
#4. To: leveller (#3)
and amounts to rearranging deck chairs on the titanic.
#5. To: Brian S (#0)
This president has lost all capacity to lead.
#6. To: Brian S, btp holdings (#0)
He’s up to his neck in quicksand, and they’ve thrown him a rope.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
In a CorporoFascist capitalist society, there is no money in peace, freedom, or a healthy population, and therefore, no incentive to achieve these - - IndieTX
#7. To: IndieTX (#6)
(Edited)
He's up to his neck in quicksand, and they've thrown him a rope.
#8. To: Brian S (#0)
(Edited)
The family's grand design had the No. 2 son, Jeb, by far the brighter and more responsible,
#9. To: BTP Holdings, Zipporah (#8)
---Henry Kissinger, New York Times, October 28, 1973
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