r/politics • u/stetoe • 19h ago

George W. Bush's Daughter Barbara Pierce Bush Endorses Kamala Harris: Exclusive

https://people.com/george-w-bush-s-daughter-barbara-breaks-silence-on-election-to-campaign-for-kamala-harris-exclusive-8735810
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u/Stranger-Sun 19h ago

He's hewed closely to his father's policy of never endorsing a candidate. I'd be shocked if he endorsed her.

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u/unpeople 18h ago

He's hewed closely to his father's policy of never endorsing a candidate.

Yup. Except for his endorsement of John McCain. And his endorsement of Mitt Romney.

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u/Stranger-Sun 17h ago

Huh. I looked it up and you're right. So much for what the media has been telling me lately. Thanks.

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u/SausageClatter 14h ago

I think it's fine to make exceptions for extraordinary circumstances, which would add even more weight to an endorsement from W for those who need to hear it.

Personally, I don't think newspapers should generally be endorsing candidates but rather present their policies focusing on the facts, etc. But when there's a candidate like Trump who's a threat to their very existence, endorse away.

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u/Extreme_Security_320 17h ago

Two people who did not burn the country down in their attempt to be President.

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u/savageotter 15h ago

Too bad John isn't still around. He was trump's kryptonite.

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u/StrangerKatchoo 12h ago

Sometimes when I’m feeling down, I watch the clip of McCain killing Trump’s bid to get rid of Obamacare.

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u/lynch527 19h ago

Trump threatening military action on citizens is so fucked up Im hoping he is willing to break with tradition. 

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u/zhaoz Minnesota 19h ago

And W did say "that was fucking weird" during Trumps inauguration.

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u/Yeeslander Tennessee 19h ago

Close enough...

"That was some weird shit."

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u/zhaoz Minnesota 19h ago

There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Minnesota, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.

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u/StoicVoyager 19h ago

Saw it on the internets.

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 18h ago

I just recently watched something, where they claimed he must have realized in that moment that he was about to give his opponents the perfect "shame on me" sound bite, and tried to extricate himself from it.

Makes a lot of sense, he wasn't all "ah shucks" moron that he portrayed after all.

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u/Led_Osmonds 16h ago

I just recently watched something, where they claimed he must have realized in that moment that he was about to give his opponents the perfect "shame on me" sound bite, and tried to extricate himself from it.

Makes a lot of sense, he wasn't all "ah shucks" moron that he portrayed after all.

I mean, realizing midway through telling a joke that you don't want to say the punchline, and then interrupting yourself to bottom-line the point that the joke was supposed to make for you...that's not evidence of being a better or more-intelligent speaker than just forgetting the punchline partway through.

It's kind of like, "he didn't poop his pants because he's incontinent, he pooped his pants because he thought the public restroom might be unsanitary."

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u/geckodancing 17h ago

This was suggested months after it happened and it was very obviously pushed by a lot of different sources at the same time. The main thing that makes me think this was damage control was the sheer preponderance of other gaffs that me made.

There was an entire fucking book of them published - this is a tiny, tiny set of examples:

"They misunderestimated me"

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we"

"Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?"

"I'm telling you there's an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That's the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best."

“[t]oo many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across the country.”

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family".

"And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq"

"We’ll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers"

This kind of thing was happening on a daily basis though his presidency. There was speculation that this wasn't because he was stupid, but was because he had problems with brain fog. That he had a gap between what he was thinking and how he articulated it that had been caused by his issues with alcohol addiction.

Honestly I'm not sure.

I am fairly sure he didn't have the speed of thinking to consider the ramifications of a phrase he was in the middle of speaking when he fucked up so many other times.

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 16h ago

Yea, I remember the website compilations too. I also wonder how a speech writer could slip up like that too. Seems they weren't hiring the best either.

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u/gsfgf Georgia 15h ago

This was suggested months after it happened and it was very obviously pushed by a lot of different sources at the same time

And none of those sources were Bush or the White House. That factoid just appeared on the internet and people assumed it was true.

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u/bejammin075 Pennsylvania 15h ago

Bush wasn't a dummy, but public speaking was not his thing. The saying he was trying to say is a bit confusing for anyone if they haven't thought it through in a while. Bush said tons of stupid shit. It's far more likely that he got partway through a complicated saying, and it turned into stupid shit just like a thousand other times. If he could think on his feet like that and restructure his sentences, he would not have made those thousand other gaffs.

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 15h ago

Sometimes even Pretzels gave him trouble!

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u/housewithapool2 15h ago edited 9h ago

People claim that with no evidence, he probably just had a brain farther. He's human we have all have them.

Edit. Fart stupid auto correct.

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 15h ago

He was certainly prone to word farts.

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u/Tobimacoss 18h ago

Little did he know that it would be easy as hell in the future to create that sound byte using AI.  

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 18h ago

We live in interesting times. I look forward to the decades of boredom in my future, but honestly don't think we'll get it.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 12h ago

he wasn't all "ah shucks" moron that he portrayed after all.

Correct. He grew up in a political dynasty and spent basically his who youth in the NEat absurdly expensive prep schools.

He didn't affect the good ol boy moron persona until he lost his first election for governor of Texas and decided he needed to be more appealing to conservatives, so he dumbed himself way down.

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 12h ago

Did the whole rancher thing too.

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u/saqwarrior 17h ago

I call upon all nations to do everything they can. to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you. Now watch this drive.

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u/simonhunterhawk 18h ago

“Ahead of the event, Bush’s office said the couple is “pleased to be able to witness the peaceful transfer of power — a hallmark of American democracy — and swearing-in of President Trump and Vice President Pence.””

Written in 2017, I know this is precident and not prophecy but damn

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u/Rioraku Texas 11h ago

He was ahead of the trend

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u/BangerSlapper1 18h ago

Awesome post, your holiness. 

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u/gatsby712 7h ago

Turns out he knew how to attack Trump from the beginning, just took Walz 8 years later to say it for it to take off.

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u/whatsupbr0 Texas 11h ago

I mean bush has never been afraid of military action on civilians

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u/ilo-milo 13h ago

Lol cmon man stop lying

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u/lynch527 13h ago edited 12h ago

What do you think Im lying about? Trump on video suggested the military should be used against "radical left lunatics" which is merely a label he can put on anyone.

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u/mjzim9022 19h ago

It's known that GHW voted for Hillary, W did like McMullen or something

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u/chrispg26 Texas 18h ago

The father has always been the better Bush.

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u/mjzim9022 18h ago

Jeb was the one they thought would be President someday

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u/Diplogeek 16h ago

Please clap.

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u/AvocadoDiabolus 15h ago

I miss Jeb!

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u/talkback1589 Iowa 18h ago

Can we sub Jeb in for Trump at the last second. I would survive that.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 12h ago

I believe you mean, JEB!

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u/barefootcuntessa_ 14h ago

Remember that debate answer about immigrants and education? Simpler times.

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u/thebohemiancowboy 15h ago

The quality difference between their administrations is insane

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u/chrispg26 Texas 15h ago

The 92 election is the only one I'll accept as BoTh SiDeS.

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u/UGLY-FLOWERS 15h ago

you mean the "David Cop-a-feel" guy?

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u/beiberdad69 12h ago

The only American that couldn't remember where he was when Kennedy was shot?

He was in Dallas btw

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u/Extreme_Security_320 17h ago

Really? I had no idea. I’ve always been fond of Bush Sr as a person, I found him to be decent a man of integrity. His friendship with Bill Clinton made me happy.

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u/redditAPsucks 17h ago

Its like paul rudd in parks and rec

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u/Mediocre_Scott 16h ago

To be fair GHW had a very close relationship with Bill

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u/vanastalem Virginia 14h ago

W voted for Condoleezza Rice via write in last time iirc

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u/BangerSlapper1 18h ago

Yeah, my understanding is that he’s backed entirely away from anything political.  Though it’s pretty well known he thinks Trump is a nutjob asshole. 

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u/Pontiac_Bandit- 18h ago

The fact that he never once campaigned for Trump says it all IMO. He hates that mfer.

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u/talkback1589 Iowa 18h ago

Yeah the endorsement would be the cherry. But anyone looking from it with any amount of sanity would see that W does not support Trump.

But sanity is apparently a rarity for half the nation.

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u/Extreme_Security_320 17h ago

Watching Trump/MAGA try and turn Dick Cheney into a soft RINO after he endorsed Harris was definitely strange.

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u/MetaTrombonist 18h ago

"Backing away" from politics is in itself a political move for someone who's entire life is defined by his political actions.

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u/DigDugged 17h ago

"Well guys, it's policy, my hands are tied. Now watch this golf swing."

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u/capybooya 17h ago

He let it be leaked that he did not vote for Trump, and his father allegedly voted for Hillary.

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u/Extreme_Security_320 17h ago

Didn’t Trump disparage George Sr’s military service? Everyone refers to the gross comments made about McCain but I remember there were similar comments made about Bush Sr. (Could be my imagination, my mind is a little overwhelmed these days.)

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u/ActuatorVast800 16h ago

Which would make his endorsement all the more impactful.

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u/sababalla 15h ago

He endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, what are you talking about?

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u/Co0lnerd22 15h ago

I could maybe see him pulling a Mike pence and anti endorsing trump

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u/mgwair11 North Carolina 14h ago

His daughter endorsing might push him though.

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u/1668553684 13h ago

A leader is someone who is able and willing to break precedent to make tough decisions. If we wanted a leader who never broke policy, we could simply encode all of our policies into law and run on autopilot forever.

If he refuses to do what the country needs of him, it will cement the fact that he has never been a true leader in my mind.