Very good, although Shrub & Bush were actually what I was thinking ... however your mention of ‘brush’ did bring this puzzle to mind (for whatever strange reason ;)
Agreed about the “despicable” nature of GWB being a hackneyed & overblown excuse by the Libs, used here simply as an over-the-top hint.
Damn. But I guess a miss isn’t quite as good as a mile then in this case?