Bush Sr. found SOBBING at FL statehouse recounting his sons' political battles..!

Bush Sr. found SOBBING at FL statehouse recounting his sons' political battles..!



Bush Senior sobs (!!) while recounting one of his sons' lost political battles, in this case Jeb Bush's lost election campaign against Florida incumbent Governor Lawton Chiles in 1994.

This article gives us ANOTHER glimpse into the dysfunctional psychology, fragile egos, and sense of entitlement of the Bush family. To begin with, we were appalled at the time (late 1980s) when Washington Post writer and ABC news commentator George Will commented of the elder President Bush "He's a WIMP...."

We thought that George Will's scorn for Bush Sr. was graceless, classless, and unfounded, given that the occasion for Will's derision was that President Bush (Sr.) had gone back on his "no new taxes pledge" to _HELP BALANCE_ US government budgets. WHAT GEORGE WILL and thousands of other LYING Righty commentators FAIL to acknowledge, is that the reason Bush (Sr.) had to renege on his "NO NEW TAXES!" pledge was because of the BILLIONS and BILLIONS and BILLIONS of debt incurred to the US government (and American taxpayers) BY THE S&L debacle - - the BAILOUTS of PRIVATE BUSINESSES by the government and taxpayers. It wasn't the elder Bush's reneging on his pledge that was appalling... it was his arrogance and scorn in delivering the pledge, the infamous "READ MY LIPS- NO NEW TAXES!" scorn and invective the elder Bush was clearly directing at Democratic leaders and voters when he made the pledge in his 1988 presidential campaign.

The S&L DEBACLE of the Bush 1 years was of course preceded by the insistence of Republican S&L operators (campaign donors and hired-gun lobbyists) to "DEREGULATE" the industry during the Reagan years, and the Bush family contributed at least twice to those billions in deficits (some say a TRILLION US dollars in 1980s dollars in S&L defaults) which the American public were forced to bailout in the S&L meltdown when:
#1.) NEIL BUSH, as a director of the Silverado Savings & Loan, was party to that S&L's one_billion_dollars in losses; and
#2.) when President Bush (Sr.) FIRED the San Francisco federal district bank examiner (the SF fed. banking district covers all of California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) and then REPLACED that audit expert examiner with S&L industry super-lobbyist (read, Republican fund-raiser) M. DANNY WALLS, who BURIED the audit-exam of Charles Keating's Lincoln S&L for a full year, costing taxpayers AN ADDITIONAL one billion dollars of debt to be bailed out, for TWO_BILLION_DOLLARS in total losses for Keating's Lincoln S&L, alone, when it finally defaulted (as predicted) a year later. (By contrast, Clinton friend Jim McDougal died, in solitary confinement, in a max-security prison, on a cold concrete floor, denied his heart medication by jailers answering to Republican "Independent Counsel" Ken Starr, for the $22 million in losses the feds attributed to McDougal's Madison Guarantee S&L defaults.)
- - In addition, JEB BUSH stuck American taxpayers with at least $2 million in bailouts, Jeb and his partner walking away with the title to a Miami office building that taxpayers paid the defaulted loan on, Bush and his business partner using insider connections to get that sweet-heart bailout.

It would take several volumes to document all the Bush family bailouts, financial shenanigans, and illegal operations (we will just mention close family friend KEN LAY of ENRON and include President Bush Sr. possibly DEALING WITH IRANIAN TERRORISTS behind the back of President Jimmy Carter in 1980, to have the Iranians HOLD THE AMERICAN HOSTAGES PAST THE 1980 ELECTION to guarantee a Reagan-Bush Republican victory in that election), but what is important to this story of President Bush (Sr.) sobbing about his son's political battles, is that the meat of the "PUSH POLLING" "dirty tricks" attributed to Governor Chiles' 1994 reelection campaign against challenger Jeb Bush WERE ESSENTIALLY TRUE: "...just before the election, the Chiles campaign made 70,000 bogus phone calls to elderly voters claiming to be from independent groups. Callers portrayed Bush as a tax cheat and said his running mate, Tom Feeney, WANTED TO ABOLISH SOCIAL SECURITY and CUT MEDICARE."

BUT IT IS TRUE! George Bush, Jeb Bush, and the Republicans _HAVE_ sought to ABOLISH SOCIAL SECURITY (with their "privatization" schemes, see the "privatization" of post-Katrina recovery in New Orleans, the "privatization" of post-invasion Iraq, and the post-2000 US and Florida state treasury deficits), and HAVE sought to make cuts in Medicare and other health programs. See the Medicare "PART-D prescription COVERAGE GAP", also known as the "DOUGHNUT HOLE" cut right out of the heart of Prescription Medicare coverage for seniors who must now shell out thousands more dollars for their prescription drugs than before President Bush (jr.) and the Republicans passed their infamous "Prescription Drug REFORM bill" in 2005!

Mr. Bush's SOBBING at the recounting of the 1994 Florida governor's race is just another indication of the dysfunctional makeup of his family. Where are the SOBS for the FORTY NINE MILLION American voters, 500,000 more of whom voted for Al Gore than George W. Bush in the 2000 election. only to be told (in essence) by the Supreme Court, Bush campaign, media, and Jeb Bush administration in Florida "YOUR VOTES DON'T COUNT, we are going to STOP THE VOTE RECOUNTING in Florida" (contrary to Florida election law providing for a FULL RECOUNT for ALL candidates who loose elections by less than 1/2 of 1% of votes cast) in order to give George W Bush the electoral college win?

<< He [Bush Sr.] then broke down in tears mentioning his son, Gov. Jeb Bush, as an example of leadership and the way he handled losing the 1994 governor's race to POPULAR incumbent Democrat Lawton Chiles. He vaguely referred to dirty tricks in the campaign. [Note: any Bush, much less the one at the center of the "October Surprise 1980" allegations of treason and dealing with enemy terrorists behind the sitting president's back, crying about "DIRTY TRICKS" is the very height of hypocritical duplicity; not to mention Bush Jr.'s chief campaign strategist has ALWAYS been Karl Rove, who is SYNONYMOUS with divisive, dirty, and often illegal tricks; not to mention which Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris are now synonymous with illegally DISENFRANCHISING thousands of legal Florida voters.]

"He didn't whine about it. He didn't complain," the former president said before choking up in front of lawmakers, Gov. Bush's top administrators and state workers gathered in the House chamber for the last of the governor's leadership forums.
As he tried to continue, he let out a sob and put a handkerchief to his face. When he spoke again, his words were broken up by pauses as he tried to regain composure.

In 1994, Jeb Bush appeared to be on his way to victory. The final debate between Chiles and Bush is largely seen as the turning point in the closest governor's race in state history. But just before the election, the Chiles campaign made 70,000 bogus phone calls to elderly voters claiming to be from independent groups. Callers PORTRAYED Bush as a tax cheat and said his running mate, Tom Feeney, WANTED TO ABOLISH SOCIAL SECURITY and CUT MEDICARE. >>


(Re sobbing about "dirty tricks," how about the White House of George W. Bush and Karl Rove DEMONIZING the funeral services for Senator Paul Wellstone, Mrs. Wellstone, and 3 close campaign staffers during the last-minute Minnesota Senate campaign of 2002? The Bush-Rove White House used Fox news and other right-wing media (and tag-along mainstream-media) to make the Welltone family's grief into the centerpiece of national partisan DERISION and SCORN in a successful attempt to defeat the Democrat's last minute stand-in candidate for that tragedy, former Vice President Walter Mondale... AT THE EXPENSE OF THE GRIEVING WELLSTONE FAMILY and supporters. And of course there is the sorry tale of the Bush-Rove-Cheney White House DEMONIZING the departing Clinton-Gore staffers, WH press spokesman Ari Fleischer relentlessly playing the "TRASHED West Wing offices" story... WITHOUT ONE PHOTOGRAPH or video of evidence! An unsubstantiated smear campaign that humiliated and degraded the departing Democratic staffers.)
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First President Bush Sobs While Talking of Son
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, AP
Dec. 5 2006
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/first-president-bush-sobs-while-talking/20061204194509990018

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Dec. 5) - Former President George H.W. Bush came here Monday to talk about leadership and opened his remarks with advice on working with rivals, being patient and building personal relationships.

He then broke down in tears mentioning his son, Gov. Jeb Bush, as an example of leadership and the way he handled losing the 1994 governor's race to popular incumbent Democrat Lawton Chiles. He vaguely referred to dirty tricks in the campaign.

"He didn't whine about it. He didn't complain," the former president said before choking up in front of lawmakers, Gov. Bush's top administrators and state workers gathered in the House chamber for the last of the governor's leadership forums.

As he tried to continue, he let out a sob and put a handkerchief to his face. When he spoke again, his words were broken up by pauses as he tried to regain composure.

In 1994, Jeb Bush appeared to be on his way to victory. The final debate between Chiles and Bush is largely seen as the turning point in the closest governor's race in state history. But just before the election, the Chiles campaign made 70,000 bogus phone calls to elderly voters claiming to be from independent groups. Callers portrayed Bush as a tax cheat and said his running mate, Tom Feeney, wanted to abolish Social Security and cut Medicare.

"A true measure of a man is how you handle victory and how you handle defeat, so in '94 Floridians chose to rehire the governor. They took note of a his worthy opponent, who showed with not only words but with actions what decency he had," Bush said before again sobbing.

After his defeat, Jeb Bush formed a group called Foundation for Florida's Future which promoted education policy. He also helped open a charter school in a poor Miami neighborhood, helped the state Republican Party organize a convention and straw poll to have sway in the 1996 presidential election and lobbied for education and campaign finance reform bills. Bush then won the first of his two terms in 1998.

"The moral of the story is to serve with honor and your governor has served with honor," the former president said.

"I'm the emotional one," Bush said later. "I don't enjoy breaking up, but when you talk about somebody you love, when you get older, you do it more."

The former president also answered questions for about a half hour.

When asked about the vision for his grandchildren, he said neither he nor his wife are pushing them toward politics or running for public office.

"But I hope that they will, I hope quite a few of them will," he said before pausing and joking about the current President Bush's daughters. "I'm not sure I'd count on the twins doing this - Jenna and Barbara - but they're full of life and they might."

Six years ago, when the twins were 19, they were charged with underage drinking in an Austin, Texas bar.

"They've calmed way down," their grandfather said. "They're doing great."

He also talked about his recent closeness to former President Clinton and some of the work they've done to help Hurricane Katrina and tsunami victims.

"I apologized to him in Philadelphia the other day. I said, 'Bill, I take it back. My dog Millie did not know more about foreign policy than you do.' And he was very understanding," Bush said before turning serious. "It isn't about politics, it's about trying to do something bigger than ourselves, trying to help people who are devastated and need our support."

He then recalled a political cartoon showing his son the president opposing gay marriage and then walking into a room and finding his father on a sofa with Clinton's arm around him, prompting him to shout, "Dad! What are you doing?"

"(Clinton) cut it out of the paper and said, 'Don't you think we ought to cool it George?"' Bush said.