Patterico's Pontifications

7/27/2021

George P. Bush Learns The Hard Way

Filed under: General — Dana @ 9:30 am

[guest post by Dana]

In his run for Texas attorney general, George P. Bush, who sold out his family in an effort to get an endorsement from the head of the GOP (Donald Trump), learned a bitter lesson. Sadly had Bush not put ambition above the evidence before him, he wouldn’t have given Trump the opportunity to publicly humiliate him. Trump’s thin-skinned vindictiveness toward the Bush family, and anyone whom he has perceived as offending or wronging him, is well known. And now Trump has very predictably, and I dare say gleefully rejected George P. Bush:

Attorney General Ken Paxton has been bravely on the front line in the fight for Texas, and America, against the vicious and very dangerous Radical Left Democrats, and the foolish and unsuspecting RINOs that are destroying our Country. Ken is strong on Crime, Border Security, the Second Amendment, Election Integrity and, above all, our Constitution. He loves our Military and our Vets. It is going to take a PATRIOT like Ken Paxton to advance America First policies in order to Make America Great Again. Ken has my Complete and Total Endorsement for another term as Attorney General of Texas. He is a true Texan who will keep Texas safe—and will never let you down!

–Dana

Comments (42)

42 Responses to “George P. Bush Learns The Hard Way”

Hello.
Dana (174549) — 7/27/2021 @ 9:31 am
Dana, Good post. But I think your post is missing important context about Paxton being immoral and corrupt. It’s not just that Bush humiliated himself and was rejected, it’s that between the two Trump chose to endorse a corrupt adulterer.

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/11/11/texas-ag-ken-paxton-criminal-allegations/

When news broke last month that top aides to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had accused him of bribery and abuse of office, many in the Texas political scene were shocked but not surprised.

In a mutiny without precedent, eight of Paxton’s most senior aides told law enforcement they believed Paxton broke the law by using the agency to serve the interests of a political donor, Nate Paul. Media reports and documents have now shown four times when Paxton used his office in a way that appeared to benefit the struggling Austin real estate magnate.

Paxton’s reaction was anything but cowed: He shot back at the “rogue employees,” called their allegations false and, just over a month later, has fired four of the whistleblowers. While the nature of the attorney general’s relationship with Paul remains unclear, Paul revealed last week in a deposition that he had employed a woman at Paxton’s recommendation. Paul said it was not a favor to Paxton. But the woman had been involved in an extramarital affair with Paxton, according to two sources who said they learned of it directly from the attorney general in 2018.

The second-term Republican was indicted for felony securities fraud less than a year after he was sworn in as Texas attorney general, charges that did not keep him from winning reelection in 2018. Beyond those charges — which he has dismissed as politically motivated and for which he has yet to stand trial — there have been other ethical red flags: a curious reversal of the state’s official position in a lawsuit involving conservatives in his home county; a bizarre intervention on behalf of a donor in another state; an ethically dubious bill to augment his power, filed by his wife, a state senator; six-figure contributions to his legal defense fund that he insists do not violate Texas’ anti-bribery laws.
Time123 (9f42ee) — 7/27/2021 @ 9:44 am
To be fair, it is impossible to get a GOP nomination in a red state (or maybe most states) with Trtump against you. The GOP will not return to sanity until Trump is dead.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/27/2021 @ 10:06 am
Center-right candidates who wish to compete in today’s political climate should strongly consider an independent run.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/27/2021 @ 10:08 am
OT- Take note president Plagiarist: Simone Biles grounds self; withdraws from Olympics; cites mental health.

This just ain’t America’s Olympic year.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 10:47 am
“George P. Bush Learns The Hard Way”

So did Jeb; even the late Momma Bush said America had endured enough of the Bush clan.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 10:48 am
3.To be fair, it is impossible to get a GOP nomination in a red state (or maybe most states) with Reagan against you. The GOP will not return to sanity until Reagan is dead.

FIFY.

He is. It is. Just takes time for a big, slow vessel- resistant to changes in weather and speed- to change course. But it is.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 11:00 am
Paxton’s ass-kissing was much longer and dirtier than George Prescott’s efforts, so of course Trump went with bigger pucker-upper. And, of course, this gave Trump another chance to stick it to Family Bush.
GP Bush is a fool who deserves to lose, even to a corrupt hyperpartisan like Paxton.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/27/2021 @ 11:43 am
To be fair, it is impossible to get a GOP nomination in a red state (or maybe most states) with Reagan against you.

Name a GOP legislative candidate that Reagan campaigned against. There may be a few but there aren’t more than a few.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/27/2021 @ 11:46 am
@9. You answered your own question.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 2:07 pm
The page has turned…
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 2:08 pm
There’s a good chance, given his record, that Paxton will lose the general election, even if he wins the nomination.

In 2018, he won by just 3.6 percent of the vote (50.6-47.0), while Gregg Abbot was winning by 13.3 percent (55.8-42.5). (Libertarians won a little over 2 percent in both races.)

Given how widespread conspiracy theories are, I have been half expecting to see one claiming that the swamp-dwelling bullfrog was put in place in order to to damage and divide the Republican Party — as he has. And there are many people in the world, and even in the United States, that wanted to see that happen, from “Czar” Putin to George Soros.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 7/27/2021 @ 2:27 pm
The Bush family is pretty much played out– like the Kennedys. The American Century ended 20 years ago. The nation needs fresh ideas, new blood and certainly a younger perspective as we transition toward the second quarter of the 21st century. An it’s not the AOC or squad types nor the retro-Reaganites a la Sasse or Kinzinger and so on. Hell, Pelosi is 81, Hoyer is 82, McConnell is 79; Trump, 75; Schumer will be 71 and President Plagiarist is will be 79 in November. DeSantis is just 42; my darlin’ Nikki Haley just 49; McCarthy, 56. The old scum in both these parties cling to power too long- and you can thank the ‘special interests’ which keep financing them to run for the gigs- not the voters, which goes to support Trump’s notion that in the end, the elections are, indeed, ‘rigged.’
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 2:31 pm
Ben Sasse was born on February 22, 1972. He has a remarkable string of achievements, including a BA from Harvard, and a PhD from Yale.

(Some may be offended by his Christian faith, others by his patriotism.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 7/27/2021 @ 2:45 pm
@9. You answered your own question.

No, you just couldn’t back up your snark.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/27/2021 @ 2:57 pm
The page has turned…

It will turn when you stop bringing him up. Some people are clown nose off, clown nose on. You just vary the size.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/27/2021 @ 2:58 pm
Bush expected Trump to back him over an incumbent, even one under accusation (to be fair, who isn’t)?
Not happening. Better luck next election cycle
steveg (ebe7c1) — 7/27/2021 @ 3:01 pm
@12; it’s out there. The Face/Heal turn is a common trope. The way you floated it is a common delivery mechanism.
frosty (f27e97) — 7/27/2021 @ 3:03 pm
@14: Lots of smart people everywhere. Doesn’t mean anything. Pompeo was first in his class at West Point, and got his JD from Hahvahd, where he edited Law Review.

But he backed Trump’s claims of fraud.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/27/2021 @ 3:03 pm
@15. ‘There may be a few but there aren’t more than a few.’

=mike-drop=

…

@16. ‘It will turn when you stop bringing him up…’

=yawn= It has but you keep wistfully clinging to his ghost.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 3:04 pm
@19. Birchers backed Goldwater, too. Used, seduced and abandoned. History often rhymes; it’s exactly what’s going on now w/Trumpsters.

Glorious.

________

‘Some people are clown nose off, clown nose on. You just vary the size.’

Snark? 😉 Shorter: Reaganoptics.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 3:08 pm
even one under accusation

If you check, you’ll find that while the fraud case persists, a parallel civil case was thrown out as complete BS by an irate judge. Then a refiling was thrown out a second time, with prejudice. The criminal case mostly persists as he wants it out of Harris County and the prosecutor wants it where he has a leftist jury, but it appears to be on the same grounds that the SEC lost twice.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/27/2021 @ 3:09 pm
#18 frosty – I’ll take your word for it, but I haven’t seen any such theories — and don’t plan to look for them.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 7/27/2021 @ 3:15 pm
@14. Golly, Jimbo, so did Reagan, yet he only attended Eureka– but he did vote for FDR… four times.

‘When I was young, I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in a sock. So I stopped wearing socks.’ – Albert Einstein
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 3:19 pm
9. 10 In a primary/ Reagan did not endorse candidates in competitive primaries I think.

Or rarely;

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/27/nyregion/endorsement-by-reagan-heats-up-jersey-primary.html

President Reagan’s only endorsement in the country in a 1982 primary race has transformed a Congressional campaign here.

The President’s support for James A. Courter has turned what had been expected to be a genteel political promotion for Rodney Frelinghuysen, the younger generation of a well-known political family, into a rough, hard-to-predict election.

”Unprecedented,” said Mr. Courter, who, because of reapportionment, lives just outside the 905-square-mile sprawl of suburb and countryside that he hopes will award him a third term in the House.

”Absurd,” said Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen, who served 11 terms in Congress until his retirement eight years ago and whose son Rodney, a Morris County Freeholder, had expected to get the Republican nomination without complication….

…”As you probably heard,” Mr. Courter later told the gathering, ”a few days ago, the President of the United States took an unprecedented step, violating his pledge of neutrality in primaries and endorsing me.”
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 7/27/2021 @ 4:40 pm
Courter won. The primary was created by reaapportionment.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 7/27/2021 @ 4:41 pm
Maybe Bush expected only not to get criticized – and he may have achieved that.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 7/27/2021 @ 4:42 pm
Bush should take his roadshow to the state of Washington, plenty of sheep to fleece there.
Colonel Haiku (b35858) — 7/27/2021 @ 4:48 pm
The bush portion of the republican party is 15% to 20%. They are corporate establishment economic libertarian free traders who give lip service to social conservatives to get the ignorant southern white trash to vote for the wealthy. 75% of republican voters are now populists who hate reaganomics which has destroyed their jobs with free trade. You keep saying when will the 80% of republicans come to their senses and start voting for their betters again.
asset (490689) — 7/27/2021 @ 4:56 pm
bush and cheney are like the flip phone grandpa won’t trade in
JF (e1156d) — 7/27/2021 @ 5:14 pm
bush and cheney are like the flip phone grandpa won’t trade in

Trump is like a phone that only gets spam calls.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/27/2021 @ 5:19 pm
Re: 29.

Apparently asset believes that if only the U.S. would stop free trade we would all prosper. The laws of economics indicate otherwise.
norcal (a6130b) — 7/27/2021 @ 5:30 pm
Sucking up to Trump is like giving a ride to a scorpion. That George P. Bush thought it would help him is a disqualifier all by itself.
norcal (a6130b) — 7/27/2021 @ 5:33 pm
29.The bush portion of the republican party is 15% to 20%. They are corporate establishment economic libertarian free traders who give lip service to social conservatives to get the ignorant southern white trash to vote for the wealthy. 75% of republican voters are now populists who hate reaganomics which has destroyed their jobs with free trade.

Keep hitting home runs like this and you’re going to get a call from the Yankees … or maybe the Cleveland Guardians. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 5:43 pm
#29 asset – If you are interested in learning about free trade, a good place to start would be with the Corn Laws:

The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word corn in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They were designed to keep corn prices high to favour domestic producers, and represented British mercantilism.[a] The Corn Laws blocked the import of cheap corn, initially by simply forbidding importation below a set price, and later by imposing steep import duties, making it too expensive to import it from abroad, even when food supplies were short.
. . .
Economic historians see the repeal of the Corn Laws as a decisive shift toward free trade in Britain.[3][4] The repeal of the Corn Laws benefitted the bottom 90% of income earners in the United Kingdom economically, while causing income losses for the top 10% of income earners

(Our trade problems with China are not because we have free trade with them, but because of their mercantilist policies, and their theft of so much Western technology.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 7/27/2021 @ 5:50 pm
@35 Jim, I just learned a lesson from you about making a point with less snark. Thank you. I’m glad that you comment here.
norcal (a6130b) — 7/27/2021 @ 5:58 pm
33. Sucking up to Trump is like giving a ride to a scorpion

‘Stormy Weather!’
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 5:59 pm
Back on topic: Here’s an interesting study:

Abstract
We analyze the effects of President Trump’s endorsements on House and Senate elections in 2018. Previous work has argued that presidential endorsements are usually positive or, at worst, neutral for the recipient candidates. We find that President Trump was more likely to endorse candidates with a higher pre-endorsement likelihood of winning and to endorse candidates in more competitive races, suggesting the president used endorsements strategically both to try and help Republican candidates win and to boost his reputation for helping candidates win. However, while President Trump’s public endorsements provided a financial boost to endorsed candidates, they also increased donor support of opposing candidates and were ultimately detrimental to candidates’ vote shares and likelihood of winning. This work provides evidence for potential backlash effects among opposition voters in response to presidential endorsement in a nationalized political environment and expands our understanding of the impact of presidential campaigning in congressional midterm elections.

(For the record: The conclusions sound plausible, but I won’t have time to give the study a full review until at least this weekend, and possibly not even then.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 7/27/2021 @ 6:07 pm
norcal – Thanks for your kind words, which I will try to live up to.

And, in return, here’s one of my favorite political jokes (which I got from Jimmy Fallon, years ago):

We all know Kim Jong-un, the nasty North Korean dictator. But you may have missed this news about him. Some months ago he was showing off a smart phone.

And we know it’s a smart phone because it left North Korea the next day.

(When you tell it, you can act it out a little bit, holding your hand out as if you were showing off a smart phone. Then, I think it works better if you pause just a little after you say “smart phone”.)

Cheers.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 7/27/2021 @ 6:15 pm
@31 ‘bush and cheney are like the flip phone grandpa won’t trade in’

‘Trump is like a phone that only gets spam calls.’

And Biden is like a land line… rotary-dial.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 6:24 pm
@39 I just love a good political joke.

By the way, Jim, I looked at the BMI by country link you posted on another thread. It was very interesting. I was surprised that North Korea wasn’t at the bottom of that list. Perhaps Kim Jong-un skewed the average all by himself. 🙂
norcal (a6130b) — 7/27/2021 @ 7:23 pm
@41. I just love a good political joke.

Well, you’ve got 3.5 more years of one– on paper, anyway; unless he’s called home early and made late. 😉

Aye Kamala!
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/27/2021 @ 7:31 pm

7/27/2021

George P. Bush Learns The Hard Way

42 Responses to “George P. Bush Learns The Hard Way”

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