Posted on 10/21/2015 8:05:42 PM PDT by GulliverSwift
Ted Cruzs abiding love for George W. Bush may be unrequited, but it is certainly not undocumented.
When the former president announced his distaste for the Texas senator to a roomful of Republican donors Sunday reportedly telling the crowd, I just dont like the guy Cruz responded by saying he had great respect for Bush and had no intention of reciprocating the attack. I met my wife Heidi working on [Bushs} campaign, Cruz told Politico, and so I will always be grateful.
This pronouncement of gratitude was no mere act of calculated politeness. In fact, Cruz was once so filled with admiration for the 43rd president that he was moved to pen a 16-page chapter for a 2004 book titled Thank You, President Bush.
The long-forgotten, and little-read, tome was published during Bushs re-election bid, and featured essays by an array of high-profile Republicans heaping praise on the embattled incumbent and vigorously defending his legacy. Today, the out-of-print book serves as a quaint relic from culture wars of yore. For example, according to its abandoned Amazon page, its small conservative publisher which was soon after acquired by the fringe right-wing website WorldNetDaily offered to exchange copies of Michael Moores Fahrenheit 9/11 for Thank You, President Bush in an effort to counter Moores fabrications.
The books promotional material promised an all-star cast of contributors, and indeed, the various co-authors represented some of the eras leading voices on the right, from Phyllis Schlafly, to James Dobson, to Art Laffer. Mike Huckabee, then governor of Arkansas, contributes a chapter, and Bushs brother, Jeb, writes the foreword. Cruz, by comparison, seems out of place in the book. At the time of its publication he was in his thirties and serving as Texas solicitor general universally acknowledged by careful court-watchers as a skilled appellate litigator, but certainly not a well-known figure in the conservative movement.
Sure enough, Cruzs contribution to the book at the time rankled many of his former colleagues in the Bush administration, according to two sources familiar with the situation. They felt he was straining to suggest a proximity and importance to the president that he never had. Unlike his wife who ascended to an important post in the National Security Council directly under Condoleezza Rice, and who also contributed a chapter to the book Ted Cruz never really thrived in the administration, shuffling between various low-profile jobs before finally fleeing Washington, leaving a trail of unfavorable impressions in his wake. And yet somehow he maneuvered his way into a book alongside GOP pre-eminences.
Cruzs campaign declined to comment when asked about the episode, but one of the candidates aides requested anonymity to say, Its no surprise that anonymous Bush supporters are finding ways to criticize Cruz, one of Jebs main competitors.
(One of the sources who related the story to BuzzFeed News is a supporter of Jeb Bushs 2016 candidacy; the other is not.)
Cruzs contribution to Thank You, President Bush is titled The Rise of Opportunity Conservatism, and its notable both for the intensity and focus of its lionization of Bush. Over the course of the chapter, Cruz defends against conservative criticism of the presidents fiscal policy; heralds him as an outspoken defender of school choice while lauding his education reforms; and compares Bushs presidential legacy to those of Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln.
In some cases, Cruzs praise in the book stands in direct contradiction with his more recent criticism of the Bush administration.
For example, Cruz has repeatedly condemned Bushs lack of fiscal restraint, recently telling National Journal, I think a great many of us were disappointed at the end of the day that the administration lost sight of some of the principles on which we campaigned to begin with. Its not a good thing for a Republican president to grow the national debt from $5 trillion to $10 trillion. It is going to take leaders willing to stand up to the Washington cartel, to the career politicians in both parties, to rein in the out-of-control spending and stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids.
In 2004, however, Cruz brought that same zeal and rhetorical flare to the task of defending Bushs fiscal record against recriminations from deficit hawks. He seems committed in Thank You, President Bush to reciting the Republican campaign talking points widely dispensed by the Washington cartel at the time:
To be sure, some fiscal conservatives have criticized President Bush because government spending has continued to grow over the past four years. But those concerns are often overstatednot giving proper weight, for example, to the enormous additional military and homeland security spending required by September 11. Domestic discretionary spending unrelated to defense or homeland security grew 15 percent in the last year of the Clinton administration; in the first three years of the Bush administration, that number dropped to 6 percent, then 5 percent, then 3 percent.
Nevertheless, there is much to be said for the lament that government continues to grow too fast. But a president cannot stop it alone. With a congress seemingly addicted to spending rather than tilt at windmills the president has focused instead on articulating and advancing the opportunity conservative message.
While Cruzs political brand today is built around ideological purity, in 2004 he commended Bush for eschewing rigid small-government politics in favor of a more appealing brand of conservatism:
Of course, reducing the size and reach of government is important making that argument, however, has a green eyeshade character to it. Abstract political theory has a bit less salience in an era of reality TV. As President Bush put it in the 2000 campaign, when voters hear Abolish the Department of Education, a lot of voters just hear Abolish education and back away.
Cruz has routinely called for shuttering the Department of Education, in addition to several other federal agencies.
Asked about these apparent discrepancies in rhetoric, the Cruz aide said the book was published in the middle of Bushs tenure. No one had the retrospective then that we do today regarding the administrations record.
Not everything in Cruzs 2004 tribute to Bush has changed. Then, as now, he enthusiastically supported the presidents efforts to overhaul social security by creating private accounts. In the book, he touts Bushs courage to grab the third rail of politics, and recounts a heroic story from the campaign trail:
Ill never forget sitting with President Bush and a number of other advisors early in the campaign, in the summer of 1999, and discussing Social Security reform. Many of the advisors counseled caution, or even suggested avoiding the issue altogether. It was too politically dangerous, they said. With a steel look in his eye, Governor Bush literally pounded the table and said Im running for a reason. Its the right thing to do, and Im going to fight for it.
That is the passion of the opportunity conservative.
The chapter concludes with a Cruzian flourish of dramatic rhetoric, placing the political fights of 2004 in a sweeping historical context, as though the fate of the republic hinged on the outcome of the election. In this context, Bush is described not just a lesser-than-two-evils career politician, but as a hero and savior:
It is only fitting that the party of Abraham Lincoln who heralded our nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal would champion opportunity, and defend increased choice and freedom for all Americans.
Today President George W. Bush carries the mantle of Lincoln as an opportunity conservative, defending the promise of the Declaration and the vision of our great nation. And the future of the Grand Old Party depends upon ensuring that that vision comes to pass, that the policies we espouse facilitate the ability of every man, woman, and child to hope for and be able to realize the American dream.
So was I. I remember who Bush’s enemies were.
Trump was a fan of Hillary, and that is FAR, FAR worse. In fact, no comparison.
Trump even invited Hillary and Bill to his third wedding.
I was a fan through his first term. I started wondering during their lackluster reelection campaign, and from their it went downhill. The first term featured great policy success and a perfect response to 9/11. By the end of the reelection, they stopped playing offense and did not even offer defense to their positions. They ushered in Pelosi’s congress and eventually Obama. Now, I never want to see another Bush again.
W was a great president after 9/11 and before the financial collapse.
“W was a great president after 9/11 and before the financial collapse.”
What? Thanks to W and Wall St., my retirement savings took a 30% hit in 2007. Now, at 75, I’m still working. Screw the Booshes, the first two were the GOPe “$hit Sandwiches du Jour.” If Hebby is the nominee, there’s no reason to go vote.
Sen Ted must be a man filled with Grace to be able to hold his tongue after hearing that little tirade. And here I though that Latin men were reactionary. Sir, we stand behind you and ready for battle. We await a leader of our party. That leader is you? Carry on, Senator, carry on. PS some men have more class than others, and it often shows.
“Now, at 75, Im still working. “
Sucks to be you. If you were responsible, you would be PLANNING for the possibilities of market swings. Were you expecting that “your” stocks would keep going up? It might be too late for you, but you should tell your younger family and acquaintances to PLAN for their retirement and diversify!
Yes, Cruz wrote that in 2004 while we were still recovering from 2001. We were a country united then against the terrorism that badly hurt the country. I will always admire the way George Bush held the country together. The bank meltdown happened in 2008 and that was a jar to all of us, including, I’m sure, Ted Cruz.
“Trump was a fan of Hillary, and that is FAR, FAR worse. In fact, no comparison.
Trump even invited Hillary and Bill to his third wedding.”
At least Trump doesn’t consider the Clintons’ family like the Bushes do. Jebbie even gave Hillary some big award. I’m sure Trump’s wedding was huge and had plenty of prominent people there. Inviting celebrities to a celebrity wedding just isn’t the same as saying “Bill Clinton is a brother from another mother”. When they thought Bush Sr. was dying they were wondering if Bush Jr. would deliver the eulogy or Bill Clinton. I can’t figure out why the Bushes are getting this pass on their relationship with the Clintons.
“..I cant figure out why the Bushes are getting this pass on their relationship with the Clintons.”
Not by me, which is why Jeb is at the bottom of my list. I found out a long time ago that the entire Bush family is weak.
Jeb isn’t really doing that well (despite name recognition), and let’s hope it stays that way.
He was. And having lived in Midland for many years one comes to love both W and Laura. He is just a classy guy, which is one of the things that angered me about him sometimes during his presidency, that he would not fight back against accusations that were no true. Now very disappointed in him now after hearing about what he said about Cruz.
Wow, that’s some real nuanced piece of journalism, yet we still don’t know a thing about the past of our supreme overlord..color me unimpressed.
Perhaps after two failures he thought he'd try some reverse voodoo.
Cruz is sure a class act!
Cruz wrote a gracious letter about Bush praising him for his handling of 9/11 -so what? We can agree that Bush was great in handling that crisis.
The rest of the article makes the author and those involved seem very small. Cruz comes off as classy once again.
So Bush was responsible for the bubble as well. Lol. You people are insane.
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