The House of Bush (Kevin Phillips attacks Bush in Rolling Stone)

Rolling Stone ^ | 1.5.04 | Eric Bates

[plain talk]

his holier-than-thou, I'm-the-Messiah attitude

I think religion is a major source of his discontent with Republicans. It keeps popping up in his statements. He uses the GD word in a print interview? Maybe he is an aetheist. He also is not very smart to be so shallow as to think that someone who has been married twice is not really religious. Shame on him for judging Reagan as a Christian.

[Sloth]

Q: Still, what's so bad about a son succeeding his father as president?

A: This type of dynasty is antithetical to the American political tradition.

[ClintonBeGone]

I think religion is a major source of his discontent with Republicans. It keeps popping up in his statements. He uses the GD word in a print interview? Maybe he is an aetheist. He also is not very smart to be so shallow as to think that someone who has been married twice is not really religious. Shame on him for judging Reagan as a Christian.

You make a good point, but I think it goes beyond religion. Look at the way he attackes even Bush's dad. He just hates republicans. I bet he hasn't voted GOP since Nixon, and that was simply because he had a self interest in keeping his job.

[Steve_Seattle]

"They've created a dynasty."

Phillips is an imbecile. If they had created a dynasty, how did Bush Sr. lose in 1992? And why did W just squeak by in 2000? Some dynasty.

[Steve_Seattle]

"holier-than-thou"

I don't recall Bush ever making a statement I would categorize as "holier-than-thou." Phillips is just a bigot who can't stomach a conservative Christian worldview.

[Miss Marple]

The family has made a big deal of the notion that it is descended from royalty. Burke's Peerage even got involved in the last election, saying that Bush won because he had the most royal ancestry. The Bushes eat this stuff up. They don't need democracy -- they feel entitled by ancestry. For them, the presidency is something that can be won with a Supreme Court decision.

Burke's peerage does family trees on BOTH presidential candidates. I remember when this came out, and it was simply an election-year feature story.

I have read both of Barbara Bush's books, former President Bush's book of letters, and President George W. Bush's A Charge to Keep. There is not one mention about their "royal heritage" in any of them. I can not recall one instance where anyone in the Bush family said one single thing about their ancestry, except to mention President Bush's grandparents.

This is a lie.

[plain talk]

Yes. Religion is just one think. He also has this class envy thing going. I have listened to this guy over the years and disagree with literally everything he says. He is an extremely shallow "thinker" and not too deep. He can through out a lot of history and apparently has read a lot and can remember things. But has limited analytical skills. The dems make more sense sometimes than this guy.

[Steve_Seattle]

"smug conservatism"

If Bush is such a smug, rabid conservative, why do so many conseratives break with him on so many issues?, e.g.:

campaign finance reform
Medicare drug benefit
immigration policy
deficit spending/budget growth
war in Iraq (Buchananite objections to war)
some aspects of Patriot Act

Bush has been a consistent conservative on two fronts: judicial nominees, and upholding American sovereignty. Apart from that, he has often disappointed conservatives.

[dfwgator]

At least President Bush hasn't imposed wage and price controls like Phillips old boss did.

[Steve_Seattle]

"But [Phillips] has limited analytical skills. The dems make more sense sometimes than this guy.

I agree entirely.

[baseballmom]

Saw this guy on CSpam the other night on book notes.

It was a real treat. We can't actually PROVE that Prescott Bush funnelled money to the Nazi's but.......

President Bush (41) owns the CIA, and has all the intelligence lackey's in his back pocket....no, no evidence, I'm just saying......

President Bush (43) the recovering alcoholic has issues with his Daddy.....

So many of the audience at Borders in Wash DC was eating it up.

Oh, by the way, Jeb's son is not Neil P. It is George P. Just one fact that didn't make it by the fact checkers.

[twigs]

I think you've hit the nail on the head. The man hates Christians and punctuates the fact by abusing God's name. He also hates people who come from wealthy families. I think that's true of a lot of dems. It's just jealousy, plain and simple, raising its ugly head.

[twigs]

You are correct. IIRC, they also did a genealogy on Colin Powell, which had some pretty interesting facts. Someone did. Burke's always does presidential family trees, like you say. I've always found it interesting that a number of our presidents have some royal connections and many of them are distantly related to one another. I find this very interesting, but not deliberate or intentional. There is a voting process that winnows out the final choice.

If anything, I believe that the Bush's have tried to distance themselves from their past. The night before the 2000 election, Frontline ran a biography of both Pres. Bush and Gore. I was struck by the small, humble house George HW and Barbara moved into upon moving to TX from CT. These people were from significant wealth and moved into a very small, blue-collar looking bungalow-type home. I don't think Pres. 43 was chauffeured to nursery school like his father was and I'm sure that was by choice. From what I understand, he learned Spanish from playing with kids in the street.

[eyespysomething]

This is your warning:

No more public posting of the plans.

This is your only warning.

[Kyle04]

Continuous analogies by sudden historians, with
eager liberal media outlets eating it up.

What does this guy know about dynasties and royalty.
They shouldn't be able to exist with our system of
govt. anyway, and in the case of the Bush's it doesn't.

What else will we hear this year, and when will the facts
be straightened out by Bush. He'll have a lot of material
during the debates.

[gipper81]

There is a real ratings war going on at amazon regarding this book. Check it out and see what the lefties are saying.

[roses of sharon]

President Bush simply has never been a idealoge. He wasn't in Texas, and wasn't in the 2000 campaign. He rarely even speaks in political terms, never insults a Dem/Lib, never engages in the same invective that he recieves.

Very unlike Clinton, who openly accused Newt of being racist, a bigot, starving children and old people, on a daily basis.

In fact, Bush takes such huge political risks for the things he does believe in, ie, taxes, war, kyoto, international court, ABM treaty, pro-life judges, UN defiance, faith-based charities, that I don't think he would mind going back to Crawford.

Which is why I like him.

[twigs]

I have seen some documents about Prescott Bush on the internet that have portions redacted. I believe that he was in some way verbally reprimanded as a senator for his role in some companies that took a part in Nazi Germany. I don't remember exactly what it was called and I just don't remember the facts. I do believe that there is some daming stuff floating around about Prescott and I have some reservations about 41, although I think he was a great father to his children. But I have the utmost respect for Pres. Bush 43. It seems to me that an essential part of being an American is to be judged for who we are as individuals and what we accomplish, regardless of what and who our families are. It seems that Phillips has forgotten that and is himself guilty of the attitude of which he accuses the Bush family.

[weegee]

Look at who the Rats ran in the 20th century and you could make the same claims of "power in a few hands". I've highlighted the perinial nominees and those who flipped from VP to Presidential contenders as well as family relations. If judges, governors, congressmen, etc. were tracked you would see even more of a power block.

1892: PRESIDENT (D) Grover Cleveland VP Adlai Stevenson

1896: CANDIDATE (D) William Jennings Bryan VP Arthur Sewall/Thomas Watson

1900: CANDIDATE (D) William Jennings Bryan VP Adlai Stevenson

1904: PRESIDENT (R) Theodore Roosevelt VP Charles Fairbanks

1908: CANDIDATE (D) William Jennings Bryan VP John Kern (buy a clue already, the public didn't want Jennings for president!)

1912: CANDIDATE (P) Theodore Roosevelt VP Hiram Johnson (third party splinter, placed 2nd in the polls)

1920: CANDIDATE (D) James Cox VP Franklin Roosevelt

1924: CANDIDATE (D) John Davis VP Charles Bryan (William Jennings' brother)

1932: PRESIDENT (D) Franklin Roosevelt VP John Garner

1936: PRESIDENT (D) Franklin Roosevelt VP John Garner

1940: PRESIDENT (D) Franklin Roosevelt VP Henry Wallace

1944: PRESIDENT (D) Franklin Roosevelt VPHarry Truman

1948: PRESIDENT (D) Harry Truman VP Alben Barkley

1952: CANDIDATE (D) Adlai Stevenson III VP John Sparkman

1956: CANDIDATE (D) Adlai Stevenson III VP Estes Kefauver (Mr. Kefauver's fellow senator from Tennessee was Al Gore Sr. who also tried to get the party nomination that year)

1960: PRESIDENT (D) John Kennedy VP Lyndon Johnson

1964: PRESIDENT (D) Lyndon Johnson Hubert Humphrey

1968: CANDIDATE (D) Hubert Humphrey Edmund Muskie

1976: PRESIDENT (D) Jimmy Carter VP Walter Mondale

1980: CANDIDATE (D) Jimmy Carter VP Walter Mondale

1984: CANDIDATE (D) Walter Mondale VP Geraldine Ferraro

1992: PRESIDENT (D) William Clinton VP Albert Gore Jr.

1996: PRESIDENT (D) William Clinton VP Albert Gore Jr.

2000: CANDIDATE (D)Albert Gore Jr. VP Joseph Lieberman

-------------------------

[weegee]

Doesn't the press routinely call the Kennedys "America's Royal Family"? This article shows they're projecting again.