(Politico) - With the political demise of Jeb possibly imminent, the Bush family decided to send out its big guns: George W. Bush, Laura Bush and even Jeb’s mother, Barbara Bush. (George H.W. Bush does not appear to be well enough to travel much.)
At a recent rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, George W. used a couple of laugh lines to build a warm and fuzzy image for himself, which, as the chief architect of the Iraq War, he has been lacking.
“I’ve written two books, which has surprised a lot of people, particularly up East, who didn’t think I could read, much less write,” he said. “I’ve been one to defy expectations. I’ve been misunderestimated most of my life.”
He got the desired laughs, but then he got onto dangerous ground: the truth.
“There seems to be a lot of name calling going on,” the former president said seriously, “but I want to remind you what our good dad told me one time — labels are for soup cans.”
Really? Did George H.W. Bush really tell his eldest son not to label people or call them names?
Then what was George H.W. doing when he unleashed the ugly forces of racism in this country by hanging the Willie Horton label around the neck of his opponent, Michael Dukakis, in the 1988 race?
“By the time we’re finished, they’re going to wonder whether Willie Horton is Dukakis’ running mate,” Lee Atwater, Bush’s campaign manager, bragged about that label.
The son cannot be blamed for the sins of the father, of course. But what about George W. himself? He had lost his first presidential race by more than 500,000 popular votes and became president only because of a one-vote margin in the Supreme Court.
That was his first presidential race. What could be used to win his second? How about a smear campaign, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? It ran such shameful ads against John Kerry that its label has entered history: According to my crack research staff (Wikipedia) swiftboating “has come into common use to refer to a harsh attack by a political opponent that is dishonest, personal and unfair.”
Labels are for soup cans? No, they’re for bare-knuckle politics, the kind that the Bush family has used to win presidencies...
Jeb doesn’t need a heart, a brain or a backbone. He needs a campaign of unremitting savagery.
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