“I love you, sir, but your son’s way off base here”

[babylonsister]

First Father: Tough Times on Sidelines


By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: August 9, 2007

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 — There are times in the life of George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States and father of the 43rd, that people, perfect strangers, come up to him and say the harshest things — words intended to comfort but words that wind up only causing pain.

“I love you, sir, but your son’s way off base here,” they might say, according to Ron Kaufman, a longtime adviser to Mr. Bush, who has witnessed any number of such encounters — perhaps at a political fund-raiser, or a restaurant dinner, a chance meeting on the streets of Houston or Kennebunkport, Me. They are, he says, just one way the presidency of the son has taken a toll on the father.

“It wears on his heart,” Mr. Kaufman said, “and his soul.”

These are distressing days for the Bush family patriarch, only the second former president in American history, after John Adams, to see his son take the White House. At 83, he finds it tough to watch his son get criticized from the sidelines; often, he likens himself to a Little League father whose kid is having a rough game. And like the proud and angry Little League dad who cannot help but yell at the umpire, sometimes he just cannot help getting involved.

The official line from the White House is that 41, as he is known in Bush circles, gives advice to 43 only when asked. But interviews with a broad range of people close to both presidents — including family members like the elder Mr. Bush’s daughter, Doro Bush Koch, and aides who have worked for both men, like Andrew H. Card Jr. — suggest a far more complicated father-son dynamic, in which the former president is not nearly so distant as the White House would have people believe.

They talk almost every morning by phone, and Mr. Bush studiously avoids saying anything critical of his son, close associates say. But he has privately expressed irritation with some of his son’s aides. At times, he has urged White House officials to seek outside advice, and he has passed on his own foreign policy wisdom to the president, even as he makes a point of saying his son’s administration is not his.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/washington/09bushes.html?_r=2&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1186657246-+cDG2BPiXyNxn9f0EAZ9Pw

[hobbit709]

1. AWWWH!

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:
You raised him.

[SpiralHawk]

10. And you bought him his Skull & Boner brand republicon diapers

Poppy (and Junior) are typical republicons: will not take responsibility for their gross mistakes

[madokie]

2. if there was a hell I would hope the two will be reunited there

[LiberalinNC]

3. It took 2 to raise that bastard - don't forget Barbara had a lot of

influence in her son's upbringing.

[B Calm]

9. The Quaker Oats Box girl....

[annabanana]

4. GW has no more regard for GHWB than he does for anyone else.

GHWB doesn't get that.

[ThomWV]

5. Fuck him and his bastard spawn

I do not give one good god dam what that son of a bitch thinks of his own son of a bitch.

[Solly Mack]

6. piffle

[saltpoint]

7. I could bore you with a long grocery list of what I love about my country.

One of the things I don't like about it, though, is its propensity to choose unexceptional people for the presidency, and George H.W. Bush is one of those.

Dukakis didn't have the folksy ease U.S. voters prefer. Nevermind that he was incredibly intelligent and decent and progressive and inclusive.

Americans eschew smart leaders and seem enthralled with antintellectual yahoos and outright dunderheads. See also: Ike over Adlai Stevenson http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/adlaistevenson.html; Reagan over Jimmy Carter; Dubya over Gore (*); and Dubya over Kerry (*).

Listening to Poppy talk was torturous. Speech is not one of the Bush family longsuits. Speaking in English, in full, coherent sentences, is an insurmountable obstacle for these people.

______________
* Textbook version only...different story on the ground...

[Cooley Hurd]

8. He must feel a kinship to this guy:

;)

[warrior1]

13. I don't know that face

bush the former is sad because no one love his son the lesser. You raised this monster, what did you expect.

[Cooley Hurd]

16. He was this guy's Poppy:

[bklyncowgirl]

11. George Herbert Walker Bush knew what sort of man his son was when he helped him get in office.

Any parent can make mistakes in bringing up a child but George Herbert Walker Bush actively put forth his parenting failure as a candidate for the highest office in the land and cleared the way for his rise to power. He shares part of the blame for what his son has done in office.

He gets no sympathy from me.

[Eurobabe]

15. GHWB knew what a fuck up this kid was a LONG time ago

why he would want to sic 43 on the US is beyond me. Oh yeah, part of that BFEE stuff, trifecta, etc.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. My two words to GHWB: My condolences

[Cooley Hurd]

18. My four words to GHWB: Your son's an asshat...

:evilgrin:

[malaise]

14. Well Pops shouldn't have sent in his personal posse

to steal Florida. Fugg him too.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. C'mon, what do you expect the Devil to say of his Spawn???? eom

[treestar]

19. "Privately expressed irritation with some of his son's aides."

I knew he'd be that type of parent. When Dubya was a teenager, if he got drug or did drugs or did anything, I'm sure it was the fault of little Dubya's teenaged friends.

[babylonsister]

21. Yes, it's ALWAYS someone else's fault. nt

[tanyev]

20. "he likens himself to a Little League father whose kid is having a rough game"

Last time I checked, even the most obnoxious Little League bully didn't have the capability of destroying the planet any time he threw a hissyfit.

[momster]

22. Where's The Ump?

When a Little Leaguer throws bats, kicks his opponents, holds people down in the dirt and twists their arms and then looks innocent while his teammates get thrown out, the umpire usually stops the game. Then if Daddy runs over to complain that his little darling is being treated unfairly, they both get thrown out.

I want the Ump! I understand his name is Hague.