Lone Star Pariah-Texas GOP Shuns Bush

[babylonsister]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-01/lone-star-pariah/full/

Lone Star Pariah

by Robert Bryce

George W. Bush's first 100 days back in Texas have provided at least one surprise: The state's GOP shuns him. Forty years after LBJ returned in disgrace, Robert Bryce reveals W.'s rough homecoming.



The Texas GOP provided the gubernatorial platform, much of the money, and more than 10 percent of the electoral votes that George W. Bush needed to get to the White House and stay there for two terms. But the 43rd president's first 100 days back in Texas are proving that the onetime favorite son is about as popular as swine flu. The state’s Republican politicians and candidates, who just a few years ago eagerly latched onto his electoral coattails, are staying away in droves.

"There’s no reason for anyone at this point to embrace the former president,” a top Texas GOP consultant tells me. “People have their own battles to fight. Why would they want to go back and try to defend torture or anything else?" He described the attitude of Republican politicians on the end of the Bush presidency as one of relief. The political environment for the Texas GOP is "toxic," he says, before adding with specificity: “it was toxic because of Bush."

“I don’t think Bush gives a damn what people think about him,” says a Texas Republican operative. “If history says he was a bad president, he doesn’t care.”

Republicans now have to set their targets on Obama and the Democrats, says the consultant, who insists on anonymity because of his ongoing dealings with the state's Republican officeholders and candidates, and their plan to triple the national debt over the next 10 years. “Why would we go back and try to defend the guy who doubled the debt in the last eight years?”

snip//

Like Johnson, Bush was a flawed man with an outsize ego. But what will Bush’s legacy be? Waterboarding? Guantánamo? Iraq? The laissez-faire attitude toward regulation that contributed to the meltdown on Wall Street? Or will W. be remembered for spending 490 days—nearly 17% of his time in office—on vacation? A scant 100 days after George Walker Bush returned to Texas as a pariah, it’s clear that he will have to wait a long time for any possible redemption. And none of his fellow Republicans are willing to wait with him.

[tanyev]

1. Check this out in the comments:

JackJack
This article is full of it. But, I do agree with this quote;

"I don't think Obama gives a damn what people think about him," says a Texas Democrat operative. "If history says he was a bad president, he doesn't care."

This is accurate. Obama only cares how frequently he's on TV and how fast he can spend trillions of taxpayer dollars.

At this rate, it's likely Obama will not only bankrupt America, HE will go down as America's worst president.


Somebody doesn't understand the definition of "quote".

[sakabatou]

2. OH THE IRONY!

[suede1]

3. JackJack was the worst. But typical thinking for a Teabagger.