Posted on 10/25/2015 9:29:35 AM PDT by Hojczyk
Former President George Bush, 91 and frail, is straining to understand an election season that has, for his son and the Republican Party, lurched sharply and stunningly off script. And he is often bewildered by what he sees.
“I’m getting old,” he tells friends, appraising today’s politics, “at just the right time.”
These are confounding days for the Bush family and the network of advisers, donors and supporters who have helped sustain a political dynasty that began with the Senate victory by Prescott Bush, the older Mr. Bush’s father, in Connecticut 63 years ago. They have watched the rise of Donald J. Trump with alarm, and seen how Jeb Bush, the onetime Florida governor, has languished despite early advantages of political pedigree and campaign money.
[…]
No one, it seems, is more perplexed than the family patriarch by the race, and by what the Republican Party has become in its embrace of anti-establishment outsiders, especially the sometimes rude Mr. Trump.
In July, even after breaking a vertebra in a fall that left him hospitalized in Maine, the elder Mr. Bush was fuming at the news of the day: Mr. Trump had belittled Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)41% of Arizona for being taken prisoner in Vietnam.
“I can’t understand how somebody could say that and still be taken seriously,” said Mr. Bush, himself a naval aviator in World War II, according to his longtime spokesman, Jim McGrath, who had visited him.
[…]
Contempt for Mr. Trump runs deep in the clan. Two people interviewed, who are in direct communication with the elder Mr. Bush but requested anonymity to avoid betraying a confidence, said Mr. Trump had revived painful memories among the Bushes of another blunt populist: H. Ross Perot. The family has long believed Mr. Perot’s third-party candidacy helped Bill Clinton
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The whole family has been living in a bubble for over fifty years.
Something tells me that there are going to be a whole lot more stunned squanderers here real soon...
One would have hoped they’d have treated the rise of Obama and Clinton with the same regard. Instead they pal around with them and give them awards and say nothing of the greatest destroyer this country has ever seen. Screw HW and his whole family.
None of the Bushes are remotely as shrewd as they think they are. They enjoy the success of relentless and shameless climbers who are willing to do or say almost anything and associate with anyone to advance their temporal positions. Political Kardashians, in a way.
Apparently it is ok by the Bush’s to destroy the U.S. as long as it is not done by someone who is rude.
It is Bush 41 and Bush 42 and the GOPe e.g. Rove, Romney, et.al. who destroyed true Conservatism, assuring that the Socialists would win and destroy.
It wa Bush 41 who let the New World Order begin thinking that his progeny would be in that protected elite, who would govern. Jeb for one.
“Read my lips, no more Bushes.”
"I can’t understand how somebody could say that and still be taken seriously," said Mr. Bush, himself a naval aviator in World War II, according to his longtime spokesman, Jim McGrath, who had visited him.
I don't support Trump's decision to make those statements about McCain, but I'd suggest that any political figure today was effectively given free reign to insult or denigrate anyone from the Vietnam War once this former naval aviator and former U.S. president began treating a notorious draft-dodger like Bill Clinton with any more respect than I would give to a pile of dog sh!t.
This article, full of sentiment and pathos, illustrates my belief that Jeb feels under pressure to please and impress his dad, who, at age 91, could go at any time. That’s a heavy burden for any son. I say he’s put himself under pressure, because many times, Jeb doesn’t seem to be enjoying the process of ‘running’ at all. In fact, Jeb almost seems to sabotage himself every so often, by something he says or leaves unanswered.
Jeb Bush has not yet grasped the fact that the American electorate does not want him as President. He seems to think that money will buy him the election.
But, what he fails to realize: the rise of Perot was Bush 41's fault.
Had Bush 41 not squandered the legacy handed to him by Reagan, Perot would have never achieved any level of popularity.
This is one Bush who will not reach the presidency.
Third time’s the charm, LOL!
he blew an 85% approval rating...
Their closest aides, like Sununu, come right out and admit that they do not understand the conservative of today. They don’t get how we can overlook Trump’s rudeness or lack of decorum. They don’t get that we like Trump because he values most the same things we do, i.e. border control, and a more robust economy. We recognize and accept some of Trumps’ bluster because that’s who he is, but expect him to get the job done, not lie to us.
.
Exactly.
Well said!
Bush 1 lost because he flamboyantly lied to the American People.
It really is that basic.
I'm sorry, but when you spill the contents of a private conversation to the media, you've "betrayed a confidence" whether you remain anonymous or not.
I'm not a huge Bush fan, but if this is indicative of their "friends," it explains a lot.
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