r/politics • u/SamdechEuv • 4h ago
No Paywall George W. Bush's brother Neil Bush says he voted for James Talarico in Texas Senate race
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-senate-race-james-talarico-neil-bush-george-w-bush/•
u/different_produce384 4h ago
But what about Jeb?!?!?
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u/OldYellersLastHandy Texas 4h ago
If you go watch clips of HW campaigning for President in ‘88 and Talarico campaigning now, they’re saying mostly the same things.
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u/esoteric_enigma 3h ago
HW was the last of the old more reasonable Republican guard. Reagan a huge part of the radicalization, but HW was not that kind of Republican at all. Liberals would find a lot that they agree with in HW's speeches.
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u/Shenanigans99 America 3h ago
And yet, for all his gentility, Bush I wrecked the economy, got us into a pointless expensive oil war, and was complicit in the Iran-Contra affair. And his son Neil was part of the problem, crashing a savings & loan and costing taxpayers $1 billion. These guys love hoarding other people's money for themselves and don't care who they hurt to do it.
They hate Paxton because he iced their family out of Texas leadership, and they hate Trump because he humiliated Jeb in the 2016 primary and destroyed any political future he might have had. It's not like they have any actual decency; they just want the power.
It's nostalgic to look back, but I lived through Bush I's presidency. He sucked, and I was happy to vote for Clinton.
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u/usedupandtossed 3h ago
TBF, Jeb! ruined his own political future. "Please clap" was his Dean scream.
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u/SmileRemarkable8876 3h ago
Iraq War 1 was actually a good idea and executed effectively. The cost to the USA was relatively low and it actually boosted their international standing.
I don't even see the point of posting all of these negatives when you compare them to Trump and Co. It isn't even in the same hemisphere and these guys adhered to the constitution and democratic norms also. What do you gain by just listing their supposed "wrongs" (and no rights).
Nobody is saying you have to agree with them on everything. But in the grand scheme of things the enemy of my enemy is my friend applies. These people should be encouraged, not denigrated.
The number one most important thing is to return to 2008ish political norms, as much as possible. Someone favoring the wrong kind of tax cut 40 years ago isn't important right now.
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u/Shenanigans99 America 3h ago
The point is the Bush/Reagan years were not "the good ol' days." Reagan + both Bushes were shitty presidents who hurt the country, so no, I don't want to return to the norms of 2008,where we had yet another crashed economy, more pointless oil wars, and more gobbling up of wealth from the middle class by the Epstein class. We need to move forward, not backwards. The Bushes can just sail into the sunset with their ill-gotten gains, content knowing they never had to face prison, where they all belong. I don't think anyone was waiting on the edge of their seat to find out who Neil Bush was going to vote for.
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u/SmileRemarkable8876 3h ago
It IS the good old days as they let Clinton/Obama come after them. And Duhkakis could have won. When GHWB lost did anyone storm the capital? No. Gb Sr. gave a nice speech congratulating Clinton.
The battle right now is democracy/constitution/rule of law vs. fascism.
The more you discredit allies on the side of the former the more harm you are causing.
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u/strangelyliteral 1h ago
Lee Atwater, architect of the Southern Strategy, was H.W.’s campaign manager and crafted the Willie Horton ad that sank Dukakis’s campaign. Roger Ailes, architect of Fox News, was H.W.’s top media advisor. Both also worked on the Reagan campaign. Atwater even did a stint at Roger Stone and Paul Manafort’s consulting firm. The Heritage Foundation, authors of Project 2025, first came to prominence as advisors for the Reagan Administration and were highly influential in both Bush Administrations.
Trump did not happen in a vacuum. He didn’t do much of anything, except exploit the opportunity created for him through 50 years of systemic GOP ratfucking, steadily eroding legal and political norms in their quest to establish permanent minority rule with a veneer of democracy intact. Their error was thinking the base they’d cultivated through careful feeding of scraps of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and Islamophobia would not be swayed by a charismatic grifter promising them a feast of cruelty. And if we fail to recognize the people who made Trump possible and instead welcome them into the coalition, we’ll find ourselves right back where we started.
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u/Shenanigans99 America 2h ago
I think we can both agree moving FORWARD is the point. Remembering the Reagan/Bush years serves one useful purpose: to remind us not to repeat the mistakes of the past in our rush to de-MAGAfy our country and the world. The Republican party is dead, though post-Trump, many current GOPers will eagerly claim they never followed Trump, much like Trump's current followers claim they never supported the Bushes, when in fact they did. "Yeah but he didn't start an insurrection" is an amazingly low bar to clear. The GOP platform was a failed platform well before Trump came along, which is why he was able to take over the party so easily. They had nothing to offer and have even less now, and we're not going back. Onward and upward.
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u/ExtraGoated 2h ago
2008 is what got us to 2016. If we accept the politics of the war criminal ghouls of 2008 or 2004 or 1992, then in 10 or 20 years we will just have mega-extra-evil-Trump.
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u/Zerimar_ 2h ago
I'm a big fan of the Iran-Contra affair - I say this jokingly - but as a direct result I was born. My family were members of the contrasandinistas and when that went tits up they fled to Miami where my dad met my mom.
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u/koi-lotus-water-pond 46m ago
No. I was a liberal back then and hated Bush, Sr. And then Jr. came along.
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u/TripleJeopardy3 4h ago
Not too much of a surprise. In 2022, Paxton ran against and defeated George P. Bush in the Republican primary for Texas Attorney General. There was some bad blood from that race. I imagine the Bush family are all on the same page about Paxton.
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u/MacAttacknChz 4h ago
This family has more George's than the British royal line in the 16th century.
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u/jsc1429 4h ago
Where tf did this bush brother come from?!?!?
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u/Game-of-pwns 4h ago
I'm a lifelong Texan and self-professed political junkie, and I didn't even know he had brother besides Jeb!.
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u/HermanGulch 4h ago
He disappeared from sight in the late 1980s after he was involved in a huge banking scandal.
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u/EchoUpdate_007 3h ago
it's the kind of headline that makes you double check youre reading it right
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u/Horror_Yam3063 4h ago
The Neil Bush who was part of the Savings and Loan scandal in the 1980’s? I mean good decision but it’s not the endorsement people think it is. So what he’s a Bush. He was part of a huge scandal in Denver with Silverado S&L.
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u/Mysterious_Floor_868 United Kingdom 1h ago
I suppose if a scammer says "Ken Paxton is too corrupt even for me" then he is speaking as an expert
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u/Significant_Cow4765 3h ago
indeed
Neil is such a trashbag he didn't dare run for office (back when such things were dealbreakers)
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u/Marionberry_Bellini 2h ago
I respect a scammer a bit more than a war criminal personally so I appreciate him more than Bush Sr or Jr.
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u/parentrapbattle 1h ago
The war crimes in Gulf War I pale in comparison to Gulf War II- leave poppy alone
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u/Itchy-Advantage-4010 3h ago
The Nixon-Reagan-Bush era of the GOP is no longer a thing since Trump hijacked it.
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u/nutationsf 3h ago
That is the southern strategy GOP and we are at exactly the logical conclusion of that strategy
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u/Dr_G_E District Of Columbia 4h ago
It looks like Texas will finally get a Democratic senator. The last time Texas elected a Democrat to the US Senate was 44 years ago when Lloyd Benson was elected in 1982.
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u/jogam Oregon 4h ago
Don't be complacent. Talarico has a real chance at winning, but it's absolutely not in the bag. Please vote, Texans!
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u/TheBlackWindHowls 4h ago
Did my part. There was a line of at least 100 when I got there at 4 PM, and by the time I got to the front an hour later, another line of 120+ had already formed behind me.
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u/scoobysnackoutback 4h ago
That’s not too surprising since W had a fundraiser that excluded Paxton. https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-politics/cornyn-bush-exclude-paxton-fundraising/
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u/CitizenHuman 2h ago
It's so strange hearing about siblings of famous people, especially politicians for some reason. Like, of course not all famous people are only children...
I am aware of Jeb, but he's kinda famous too.
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u/elephant35e 2h ago
No surprise. The Bushes HATE Trump. They'll do whatever they can to punish Trump and his buddies.
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u/One-Earth9294 Wisconsin 2h ago
I'm 100% positive George did, too. But he's a bit of a coward to speak out past the most gentle of criticisms.
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u/SamdechEuv 2h ago
In this picture he's got the same hand gesture as baby bush. I can imagine him seeing "fooled again"
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u/ntwild97 3h ago
So when's that guy running for president
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u/daward444 3h ago
He probably would have if not for his corruption scandals and Asian prostitute scandals. Then again, nobody cares about that kind of stuff anymore, so he probably has a good chance. Hell, it might even help him with the MAGA folk.
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u/fuklberry_zyn 4h ago
Crazy Neil man, ya just dawn kno wut the fuk that dude’s gawn do DORIS YA HEAR WUT CRAZY NEIL DUN
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u/SamdechEuv 4h ago
Wtf lol
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u/Coyote65 Washington 4h ago
Crazy Neil man, ya just dawn kno wut the fuk that dude’s gawn do DORIS YA HEAR WUT CRAZY NEIL DUN
Somebody call tech support - the bot's broken again.
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u/2ndprize Florida 4h ago
this is the second day in a row ive seen goofy fucking shit like this in the comments section
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u/Korps_de_Krieg Louisiana 4h ago
All those Russian data centers getting struck is messing up the bot farms
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