Posted on 12/22/2011 11:38:12 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Less than two weeks before Iowa Republicans make their crucial caucus choices on the night of Jan. 3, George H.W. Bush offered words of support, if not an official endorsement, to an old friend, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, according to a story today in the Houston Chronicle.
I think Romney is the best choice for us, former President Bush told the newspaper. I like Perry, but he doesnt seem to be going anywhere; hes not surging forward.
The former presidents choice is a blow to native son Rick Perry, the Texas governor who has had a long-standing feud with the Bush family and no doubt would have preferred that Bush remain neutral.
Bush said he had known Romney for many years and also knew his father, George Romney, a former Republican governor of Michigan who ran for president in 1968. He praised Romney for his stability, experience, principles, and added, I just think hes mature and reasonable not a bomb-thrower.
But he said he did not mean to imply that the other candidates are bomb-throwers. Ive got to be a little careful, because I like Perry; hes our governor, he told the newspaper.
Joe Householder, a Houston-based political consultant, told he Chronicle that with his not-an-endorsement statements, the former president probably was drawing a distinction for voters around the country who may not be aware of the historic antipathy between the Bush and Perry camps. In last years GOP gubernatorial primary, when Perry sought a history-making third term as governor, the Bushes endorsed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas...
One New Englander backing another. “Heartless” snub of Perry..
Both George the Elder and Gov. Willard know how to wear a tailored suit.
Bush Senior was the one who announced the birth of the bastard “New World Order”.
Stay out the Bushes.
See my tagline. The bad mojo rolls on, and on, and on, and on. More than two miserable decades of it now.
All big-govt RINOs. Like peas in a pod.
GOP elite and those who want to stay in their good graces. Nothing new here.
I’d like one of them to report what he did FOR America when he was governor or as a private citizen.
You forgot Jimmy Carter, that turd endorsed him too.
So, Poppy Bush is for Willard.
“Read my lips...”
I admire GW, but I hated his domestic policy. Putting distance between him and his fellow Texan just makes Perry more plausible as a candidate for me.
Etiam non princeps sed usque ad genua, Principis Pacis!
I like Perry, but he doesnt seem to be going anywhere; hes not surging forward
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
so he endorses romney because he’s out in front? good reason there ya old buzzard
Nobody is going to accuse me of being a Perry supporter, but Romney?
And some folks wonder why I group George the First as an idiot too.
Oops! Forgot to put the ‘H’ in there.
What a surprise. /s
Interesting it is written as “Snubs Perry” rather than “Snubs Texas Congressman Ron Paul”.
Whoring around the country looking for support. Beats answering questions and a debate with Trump as moderator where his ***wipe antics wouldn’t play.
I just was reading that Fla. gov. Rick Scott is good friends with Rick Perry. I do not know at this point who he will endorse but he said they will have to have a jobs plan.
I’m ashamed of you George Herbert Walker Bush, you betrayed a fellow Texan. Spit

Who Bush backs means nothing to me. At all. Bush 41 is the dolt who gave us NCLB.
Good point.
Is anyone really surprised?
Imagine that, Newt was a Republican who stood on principle and bucked his own party when they were about to violate their principles and break a sacrosanct campaign promise. As usual, the establishment Republicans want a good ol’ boy who will fall into line and follow orders rather than someone who stands up for their beliefs and for the American people. We can be sure that Mitt Romney will violate his campaign promises and change his positions whenever it’s convenient for him. If there’s one thing he’s proven in his career, it’s that.
Amen to that...doesn’t disuade me in the least.
And NAFTA
“Poppy” Bush is NOT a “fellow Texan” he’s a carpetBagging MASSHOLE!
haha....Hold on to your Dogs, it’s Mittens!
In a way, this is a good thing.
It helps remove the meme of Perry as Bush III.
Could have knocked me over with a feather. /s
So much for the Bush's vaunted staying respectably out of it./s
But that flew out the door when the Bush-Rove Machine ran Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison against Rick Perry in the 2010 Texas gubernatorial primary.
She lost to Rick Perry by 20 points.
Besides, the "Bush Pioneer" money has been going to Romney 9-1, so it's hardly unexpected.
Rick Perry is a conservative Texan, not a New England transplant.
Yes. It will help dispel that myth.
If I were ORomney, I would decline the endorsement and take my chances without the Bushes.
LoL
They’re related don’t you know...
NO NEWS here. The Bushes NEVER liked Perry
Have you noticed that a lot of these endorsements come from people who noone is talking about anymore or Newspapers that hardly anyone reads.
Its sort of like they are saying,”look at me..I’m still alive (or half alive)!
Yes. Not many are willing to bet on Romney.
Is anybody in the world going to vote on the basis if his endorsement. Any conservative who would vote for Romney/Gingrich based on what someone like Bush says is a true fool.
Actually, I think this may help Perry.
Why wouldn't any sane person snub Texas Congressman Ron Paul?
But snubbing him in favor of Mitt Romney...???
And notice the reasons they give for their support - weak as mitt.
Perry is better off without rino G.W.Bush.
He really should have had the class to keep his mouth shut. I remember how bad he felt when Reagan wouldn’t endorse him, and here he is doing the very same thing to the governor of the state where he lives. It was a classless, crude move and I’m embarrassed for him.
Not a surprise.
Romney’s a placeholder for the Bush family until Jeb runs in 2016.
I’ll say it here and I’ll keep saying it. The GOP is part of the “deal” to keep obama in. The republicans can’t be as stupid as they act.
Take cutting unemployment back to 59 weeks. What will be the true result? More people will fall off the rolls making the unemployment number go down. Obama gets credit. There can’t be any other reason.
Give Romney the nomination. He loses. Why? According to the press it will be because the “right wing tea party” stayed home whether they stay home or not.
The GOP volunteered for this and it started with “Read my lips” Bush.
I’m NOT(embarrassed), the is CLASSIC BUSH Family. The Bush’s are NOTHING but yet ANOTHER N/E LIBERAL Family of Grifters.
If I were Perry, I’d be thanking the Good Lord for that snub. That’s the LAST person I’d want an endorsement from.
Strange that his is now being released to or by the Houston Chronicle. Romney met with the Bushes at their home back on Dec. 1 while he was in Houston for a fundraiser. I guess this is a timing thing as to the release of the favorable support to Romney. Heck the Chronicle has a series of 10 photos on their website from the Dec. 1 meeting.
That is too bad. For those of us who have defended Bush 41 and 43 as decent, patriotic Americans - this endorsement was undignified and indecent. Bush Sr. should have waited until after the primaries and endorsed the standard bearer.
Bigger questions - why now? & was it necessary?
Romney must be in deep doo-doo if he is running around begging for endorsements.
Perry & Newt are better without the GOP elite country clubbers.
Rick Perry and Newt - two men who don’t play golf - can’t be all bad;)
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