# Pitting Bush for stuff that doesn't seem to rate its own thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 8, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131 "2004-07-08T16:11:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/61 "2004-08-19T01:54:11Z")
> [@Emilio Lizardo](#): > > At the Bush rally, he was asked to turn the shirt inside out, then later asked to remove it, and finally ejected from the event. At the Kerry rally, he was ignored completely. And the Kerry campaign strategy with Bush people is generally just that: ok, we aren’t going to get them, let’s leave them alone and not waste too much time and bad feelings arguing with them. Focus on what we’re doing, do it well, and who cares what they do? When the campaign IDs Bush supporters, and the reason to celebrate is not because they are then targets for voter suppression or even persuasion, but simply because the campaign can save money by not wasting its time and mailings trying to convince them. More for the swing voters and getting out the vote. But in the Republican playbook, finding Kerry supporters is just the start of all the ways to fuck with them. At least Bush canvassers are often pretty dumb and self-defeating about it. It’s one thing to go negative on ads. But they often go negative at the DOOR. You walk up to someone’s house looking to deride John Kerry, and no matter how you try, your face twists and you look nasty and uninviting. It leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths even if they are on your side. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/62 "2004-08-19T02:35:32Z")
[Hyping the threat of Iranian nukes](http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_08_15.php#003292) > [@](#): > > Bolton said that the Iranians told their German, French and British counterparts that they could produce enough uranium for a bomb within a year, and that they’d do so if the Europeans didn’t back down in their demands that the Iranians dismantle their nuclear program. and minimizing the [Bush precipitated Korean crisis](http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/101772/1/.html): > [@](#): > > ( **Condoleezza** ) “Yes, the numbers will come down but that is more than made up for with the capability that we have in air capability, in land, in sea capability, and in the fact that our ground forces are now more capable technologically than they were 50 years ago,” she added. > > “As a matter of fact, I think we strengthen those capabilities once we achieve these changes,” Rice told CNN in a separate interview. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/63 "2004-08-19T22:58:24Z")
His snuffling giggle that sounds exactly like Beavis. Or is it Butthead? Either way, it is incredibly creepy and grating, particularly coming from the person occupying the Whitehouse. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/64 "2004-08-20T00:28:20Z")
Wait a second… We need less troops in Korea because our capability per troopita has gotten better? Shit…why don’t I feel safer? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/65 "2004-08-20T01:03:17Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Shit…why don’t I feel safer? Maybe because North Korea’s troops have gotten better too? Heck, I hear that we’ve [deployed (pdf)](http://www.acq.osd.mil/mda/mdalink/pdf/04fyi0012.pdf) a multibillion dollar antiballistic missile system that doesn’t work yet, [just to fend off PRNK’s nuclear missiles.](http://slate.msn.com/id/2104430/) It’s amazing what can happen when you bypass the normal defense development cycle in order to get a program up and running. Another four years of Bush, and we’ll probably have imaginary starships exploring the Magellenic clouds too. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/66 "2004-08-20T22:39:22Z")
[http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004\_08/004549.php](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_08/004549.php) Instead of, like, defending our nation, the CIA is now busy preparing reports for the Bush re-election campaign. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/67 "2004-08-20T23:05:38Z")
Bush is so pathetic, he’ll even lie about his choice of cheese: > [@](#): > > [**President Bush Nailed by Cheese Cops**](http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/000841.asp) > > It all started yesterday, when CNN, Fox and The New York Times were content to transcribe and transmit President Bush’s comment about preferring his Philadelphia cheesesteaks “Whiz with,” _(i.e., with cheez whiz and onions)_ thereby handing the Bush camp what it was after – a revisitation in the national press of a year-old John Kerry “faux pas” (ordering his Philly cheesesteak with Swiss). > > In contrast to the bigfoots of the national press, Kathleen E. Carey of The [Delaware County, Pa.] Daily Times went beyond mere stenography and did a little leg work on the issue, as well she should. For, while it’s certainly not in the top 100 critical campaign issues this election year, it’s safe to say that the proper construction of a Philadelphia cheesesteak matters more to Daily Times readers than it does to a national audience. > > And the intrepid Carey came up with her own expose. She reported that Bush actually “prefers his steak absent of the usual Cheez Whiz and provolone, accompanied only by cheese of the American variety,” information that she obtained from her own Deep Throat, one Caeser Barnabei, the owner of the well-known cheesesteak shop, Jim’s Place. Barnabei, who has fed the Bush camp on previous swings through Pennsylvania and provided “70 to 80 hoagies” for the Bush campaign yesterday, confided to Carey that “the Jim’s Special is altered to whet the ‘W’ appetite.” While I can understand the Bush camp’s desire to paint their guy as just a regular working-class Joe, faking one’s taste in cheese is getting downright desperate, if you ask me… ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/68 "2004-08-21T00:24:16Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Bush is so pathetic, he’ll even lie about his choice of cheese Technically, neither Cheez Whiz, nor American cheese are cheeses. They are Cheese Food Products. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/69 "2004-08-21T08:04:57Z")
Sorry, but I opted out of “Distinguishing and Analyzing Physical Characteristics of North American Dairy and Dairy-Like Food Products 101” while in college. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/70 "2004-08-21T11:15:08Z")
The funny part is that the Bush campaign [started it](http://atrios.blogspot.com/2004_08_15_atrios_archive.html#109297302470794850), by trying to deride Kerry over his choice of cheese on a Philly cheese steak. Normally, the Kerry folks would have better things to do with their time, but when you’re up against a crew with the attention to (trivial) detail that the Bushies have, and a press crew that’s more into those trivial details than anything actually policy-related, you do what you have to do. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/71 "2004-08-26T21:49:26Z")
[The letter that Bush’s guy tried to give Max Cleland](http://humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=4890) > [@](#): > > August 25, 2004 > > Senator John Kerry > 304 Russell Senate Office Building > Washington, DC 20510 > > Dear Senator Kerry, > > We are pleased to welcome your campaign representatives to Texas today. We honor all our veterans, all whom have worn the uniform and served our country. We also honor the military and National Guard troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today. We are very proud of all of them and believe they deserve our full support. > > That’s why so many veterans are troubled by your vote AGAINST funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, after you voted FOR sending them into battle. And that’s why we are so concerned about the comments you made AFTER you came home from Vietnam. You accused your fellow veterans of terrible atrocities - and, to this day, you have never apologized. Even last night, you claimed to be proud of your post-war condemnation of our actions. > > We’re proud of our service in Vietnam. We served honorably in Vietnam and we were deeply hurt and offended by your comments when you came home. > > You can’t have it both ways. You can’t build your convention and much of your campaign around your service in Vietnam, and then try to say that only those veterans who agree with you have a right to speak up. There is no double standard for our right to free speech. We all earned it. > > You said in 1992 “we do not need to divide America over who served and how.” Yet you and your surrogates continue to criticize President Bush for his service as a fighter pilot in the National Guard. > > We are veterans too - and proud to support President Bush. He’s been a strong leader, with a record of outstanding support for our veterans and for our troops in combat. He’s made sure that our troops in combat have the equipment and support they need to accomplish their mission. > > He has increased the VA health care budget more than 40% since 2001 - in fact, during his four years in office, President Bush has increased veterans funding twice as much as the previous administration did in eight years ($22 billion over 4 years compared to $10 billion over 8.) And he’s praised the service of all who served our country, including your service in Vietnam. > > We urge you to condemn the double standard that you and your campaign have enforced regarding a veteran’s right to openly express their feelings about your activities on return from Vietnam. > > Sincerely, > > Texas State Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson > Rep. Duke Cunningham > Rep. Duncan Hunter > Rep. Sam Johnson > Lt. General David Palmer > Robert O’Malley, Medal of Honor Recipient > James Fleming, Medal of Honor Recipient > Lieutenant Colonel Richard Castle (Ret.) How do they lie? Let me count the ways: 1. _That’s why so many veterans are troubled by your vote AGAINST funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan_ Kerry voted for a version of the funding bill that would have reduced Bush’s tax cuts slightly in order to pay for it, as opposed to the version that simply borrowed more money. It happens all the time that Congresspersons vote for or against different versions of the same bill, while supporting the underlying measure, depending on which strings are attached. Bush opposed certain versions of the funding bill, too - most notably the one Kerry supported. 1. _We served honorably in Vietnam and we were deeply hurt and offended by your comments when you came home._ I assume they’re referring to when Kerry reported on what vets had said at the"Winter Soldier" meeting. Are they impugning the credibility of the vets who told Kerry what they had done and seen? If so, they should have the guts to say so. They don’t, of course. 1. \*You can’t have it both ways. You can’t build your convention and much of your campaign around your service in Vietnam, and then try to say that only those veterans who agree with you have a right to speak up. There is no double standard for our right to free speech. We all earned it. \* The Constitution that gives us all the right to free speech doesn’t give us the moral right to shamelessly lie. (It also doesn’t legally protect libel and slander.) 1. \*You said in 1992 “we do not need to divide America over who served and how.” Yet you and your surrogates continue to criticize President Bush for his service as a fighter pilot in the National Guard. \* There’s a difference between criticizing who served and how, and criticizing their failure to be honest about the nature of that service. _Big_ difference. 1. \*We are veterans too - and proud to support President Bush. He’s been a strong leader, with a record of outstanding support for our veterans and for our troops in combat. He’s made sure that our troops in combat have the equipment and support they need to accomplish their mission. \* Which is why families of our troops were having bake sales to raise money for body armor. 1. _And he’s praised the service of all who served our country, including your service in Vietnam._ While refusing to condemn his surrogates when they publicly air the vilest lies about that service. Well, that’s plenty for now. What slimeballs. And of course the real slimeball is Bush, who unquestionably put them up to this. He’s good at getting others to do his dirty work, oh yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/72 "2004-08-26T21:58:06Z")
So you’re saying that it wasn’t the words “WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?” in the Crayola style? I guess I owe someone a beer. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZombiesAteMyBrain)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/73 "2004-08-28T02:12:35Z")
> [@AmericanMaid](#): > > :smack: Okay, I knew it was of those songs… But still, how exactly can freedom reign? Reign means to exercise sovereign power. The sovereignty of freedom? Unless in the Bush lexicon America = freedom. Now that would make a lot more sense! 😛 Makes just about the same ammount of sense as having a war against terror! How can you have a war against a noun? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/74 "2004-09-01T17:06:54Z")
I don’t know how many of you have seen [the video of the Bush twins at the GOP convention last night](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/politics/083104-26v.htm), but believe it or not, I’m going to give Jenna and Barbara a pass; you can watch them yourselves, and decide what you think. But they’re introducing their dad, the President, who popped in by video feed. When he appears on the screen, there’s what looks like a softball game going on behind him. (For all I know, the players could be real; however, I doubt the game was.) Bush is standing somewhere on the first-base side of the field. When he first appears, the batter in the box is a lefty, and we can clearly read the number on his back: 43. While Bush speaks, he hits the ball, runs towards first (and off camera). Next batter is also a lefty. The number on his back: 43. Same deal. Third batter’s a righty, but he briefly turns on his way into the batter’s box so we can see the number on his back: 43. I don’t think there’s anything particularly evil about this; I just think it’s kinda ridiculous to go to that much trouble for something that trivial. But it’s their campaign, their money. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/75 "2004-09-01T17:14:56Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I don’t know how many of you have seen [the video of the Bush twins at the GOP convention last night](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/politics/083104-26v.htm), but believe it or not, I’m going to give Jenna and Barbara a pass; you can watch them yourselves, and decide what you think. I turned it off after the sex in the city “joke” \ > [@](#): > > But they’re introducing their dad, the President, who popped in by video feed. When he appears on the screen, there’s what looks like a softball game going on behind him. (For all I know, the players could be real; however, I doubt the game was.) Bush is standing somewhere on the first-base side of the field. When he first appears, the batter in the box is a lefty, and we can clearly read the number on his back: 43. While Bush speaks, he hits the ball, runs towards first (and off camera). Next batter is also a lefty. The number on his back: 43. Same deal. Third batter’s a righty, but he briefly turns on his way into the batter’s box so we can see the number on his back: 43. > > I don’t think there’s anything particularly evil about this; I just think it’s kinda ridiculous to go to that much trouble for something that trivial. But it’s their campaign, their money. I don’t get it, are they trying ot go subliminal on us with the 43rd pres thing? Let me get this straight, they actually wasted time filming a bunch of people with 43 jerseys on? WTF? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/76 "2004-09-01T17:15:59Z")
Just a coupla [twins quotes](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51005-2004Aug31.html): From their parents, they’ve learned: > [@](#): > > what matters in life, about unconditional love, about focus and discipline. > > They taught us the importance of a good sense of humor, of being open-minded and treating everyone with respect. > > And we learned the true value of honesty and integrity. Sorry. Just couldn’t resist. Nor could I resist this one: > [@](#): > > Besides, since we’ve graduated from college, we’re looking around for something to do for the next few years. > > (LAUGHTER) > > Kind of like dad. May God make it so. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/77 "2004-09-01T17:21:41Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > I don’t get it, are they trying ot go subliminal on us with the 43rd pres thing? Let me get this straight, they actually wasted time filming a bunch of people with 43 jerseys on? WTF? One shorthand for distinguishing between the former and current Presidents Bush has been to refer to them as ‘41’ and ‘43’ since they’re the 41st and 43rd Presidents of the United States. From there, ‘43’ took on a life of its own as a shorthand for Dubya. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/78 "2004-09-01T17:57:14Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > One shorthand for distinguishing between the former and current Presidents Bush has been to refer to them as ‘41’ and ‘43’ since they’re the 41st and 43rd Presidents of the United States. From there, ‘43’ took on a life of its own as a shorthand for Dubya. That’s too complicated. Bush was probably just trying to commemorate the **43** million dollars he [gave to the Taliban back in 2001.](http://www.robertscheer.com/1_natcolumn/01_columns/052201.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/79 "2004-09-02T16:56:16Z")
And then there’s this: > [@](#): > > [George W. Bush’s missing year](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/02/allison/index.html) > > Sept. 2, 2004 | NEW YORK – Before there was Karl Rove, Lee Atwater or even James Baker, the Bush family’s political guru was a gregarious newspaper owner and campaign consultant from Midland, Texas, named Jimmy Allison. In the spring of 1972, George H.W. Bush phoned his friend and asked a favor: Could Allison find a place on the Senate campaign he was managing in Alabama for his troublesome eldest son, the 25-year-old George W. Bush? > > “The impression I had was that Georgie was raising a lot of hell in Houston, getting in trouble and embarrassing the family, and they just really wanted to get him out of Houston and under Jimmy’s wing,” Allison’s widow, Linda, told me. “And Jimmy said, ‘Sure.’ He was so loyal.” > > Linda Allison’s story, never before published, contradicts the Bush campaign’s assertion that George W. Bush transferred from the Texas Air National Guard to the Alabama National Guard in 1972 because he received an irresistible offer to gain high-level experience on the campaign of Bush family friend Winton “Red” Blount. In fact, according to what Allison says her late husband told her, the younger Bush had become a political liability for his father, who was then the United States ambassador to the United Nations, and the family wanted him out of Texas. “I think they wanted someone they trusted to keep an eye on him,” Linda Allison said. > > … > > Allison’s account corroborates a Washington Post investigation in February that found no credible witnesses to the service in the Alabama National Guard that Bush maintains he performed, despite a lack of documentary evidence. Asked if she’d ever seen Bush in a uniform, Allison said: “Good lord, no. I had no idea that the National Guard was involved in his life in any way.” Allison also confirmed previously published accounts that Bush often showed up in the Blount campaign offices around noon, boasting about how much alcohol he had consumed the night before. > > … > > Bush, who had a paid slot as Allison’s deputy in a campaign staffed largely by volunteers, sat in a little office next to Allison’s, said Archibald, a workers compensation lawyer in Charlotte, N.C. Indeed, when Bush was actually there, he did make phone calls to county chairmen. But he neglected his other duty: the mundane but important task of mailing out campaign materials to the county campaign chairs. Archibald took up the slack, at Allison’s request. “Jimmy didn’t say anything about George. He just said, ‘These materials are not getting out. It’s causing the candidate problems. Will you take it over?’” > > … > > While Kerry earned a Silver Star and a Bronze Star after saving a crewmate’s life under fire on the Mekong River in Vietnam, by contrast, the Georgie that Allison knew was a young man whose parents did not allow him to live with the consequences of his own mistakes. His powerful father – whom the son seemed to both idolize and resent – was a lifeline for Bush out of predicaments. After Bush graduated from Yale in 1968, his slot in the Texas Air National Guard allowed him to avoid active duty service in Vietnam. The former speaker of the Texas state House, Democrat Ben Barnes, now admits he pulled strings to get Bush his coveted guard slot, and says he’s “ashamed” of the deed. “60 Minutes” will air an interview with Barnes next Wednesday, but George H.W. Bush denounced Barnes’ claims in an interview aired on CBS. “They keep saying that and it’s a lie, a total lie. Nobody’s come up with any evidence, and yet it’s repeated all the time,” the former president said, in what could just as well describe the playbook for the Swift Boat Veterans ads. > > Yet, after receiving unusual permission to transfer to the Alabama Guard from Texas, Bush has produced no evidence he showed up for service for anything other than a dental exam. > > … > > The Blount Senate campaign he ran against the Democrat, Sparkman, in 1972 was notable for a dirty racial trick: The Blount side edited a transcript of a radio interview Sparkman had given to make it appear he supported busing, a poison position at that time in the South. When Sparkman found an unedited script and exposed the trick, the Blount campaign was finished. But it was an early introduction for Bush to the kinds of tricks that later Republican strategists associated with the Bush political machine, from Lee Atwater to Karl Rove, would use against Democrats, often to victorious effect. > > … > > The break happened not long after a boozy election-night wake for Blount, who lost his Senate bid to the incumbent Democrat, John Sparkman. Leaving the election-night “celebration,” Allison remembers encountering George W. Bush in the parking lot, urinating on a car, and hearing later about how he’d yelled obscenities at police officers that night. Bush left a house he’d rented in Montgomery trashed – the furniture broken, walls damaged and a chandelier destroyed, the Birmingham News reported in February. “He was just a rich kid who had no respect for other people’s possessions,” Mary Smith, a member of the family who rented the house, told the newspaper, adding that a bill sent to Bush for repairs was never paid. And a month later, in December, during a visit to his parents’ home in Washington, Bush drunkenly challenged his father to go “mano a mano,” as has often been reported. > > Around the same time, for the 1972 Christmas holiday, the Allisons met up with the Bushes on vacation in Hobe Sound, Fla. Tension was still evident between Bush and his parents. Linda was a passenger in a car driven by Barbara Bush as they headed to lunch at the local beach club. Bush, who was 26 years old, got on a bicycle and rode in front of the car in a slow, serpentine manner, forcing his mother to crawl along. “He rode so slowly that he kept having to put his foot down to get his balance, and he kept in a weaving pattern so we couldn’t get past,” Allison recalled. “He was obviously furious with his mother about something, and she was furious at him, too.” > > … How did this arrogant squirt get to be our president?? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/80 "2004-09-03T11:55:57Z")
> [@](#): > > In one telling of his riff about the majesty of the Oval Office, he notes that it leaves any visitor speechless – except for “my mother, who walked in and continued to tell me what to do.” > > That line was in Las Vegas. In Florida, however, he made the same point but said that the Oval Office is so powerful “it’s the kind of place where my mother walks in and feels so overwhelmed, she won’t tell me what to do.” Well, genius, your mother is a former First Lady. She wouldn’t be intimidated by the Oval Office. If she seems subdued by it, it’s because she has respect for the office in both the literal and figurative sense. Which you do not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131.md?page=5)