Several of the mainstream articles about the subject from 1980 are posted on the FreeRepublic website. Of course the Freepers are fiercely partisan, consider themselves right wing and are big supporters of the war in Iraq, at least they were well represented among the very few who came out demonstrating for the war when hundreds of thousands demonstrated against it. But I don't care whether they are right wing, left wing, no wing, triple wing. The point is whether a given point is true or not. For only posting mainstream articles about facts that have never even been denied by the Bush family, they generated responses like, "Un F***ing believable! You guys are getting so desperate, your starting to look like candidates for the looney bin."
These are responses from the conspiracy phobists, whose minds snap shut whenever they hear what they conceive of as "conspiracy theory." I've never figured out exactly what qualifies. It appears that anything that implies nefarious behavior is "conspiracy theory." Apparently illegal or dishonest behavior is not possible in the world view of these people - at least not among prominent politicians. They cling desperately to the "Leave It To Beaver" vision of American life.
In any case, here is a summary of the basic facts via mainstream reports.
On March 31, 1980, the day after John Hinckley had attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, The Houston Post ran an article headlined, "Bush's son was to dine with suspect's brother."
The article began "Scott Hinckley, the brother of John Hinckley Jr., who is charged with shooting President Reagan and three others, was to have been a dinner guest Tuesday night at the home of Neil Bush, son of Vice President George Bush, the Houston Post has learned."
NBC's John Chancellor also reported the "bizarre coincidence."
On that day the Post said Neil Bush admitted to being personally acquainted with Scott Hinckley, having met him on one occasion in the recent past. He also said he knew the family and was aware of its large contributions to the Bush campaign for president in 1980. Both were oil men based in Denver. Scott Hinckley was vice president of Vanderbilt Energy of Vanderbilt Energy Corporation and Neil Bush worked for Standard Oil of Indiana. John Hinckley Jr., the shooter, lived off and on with his parents in Evergreen, Colorado, near Denver.
Neil Bush told the Post he didn't know if he knew John Jr. or not. His wife Sharon said, "From what I know and have heard, [the Hinckleys] are a very nice family ... and have given a lot of money to the Bush campaign. I understand he [John Jr.] was just the renegade brother in the family. They must feel awful."
In response to a question about the incident, Vice President Bush's press secretary said, "I don't know a damn thing about it. I was talking to someone earlier tonight and I couldn't even remember [Hinckley Jr.]'s name. All I know is what you're telling me." The vice president, he said, had "made no mention of it whatsoever" and didn't indicate that he knew the name.
On March 31, Neil Bush refused to take calls from the media, but then held a press conference on April 1, saying he would meet with the media once and "leave it at that."
The Rocky Mountain News reported that Neil Bush had confirmed that if the shooting had not taken place, Scott Hinckley was going to be at a dinner party at Bush's house that night. He said Hinckley was "a good an decent man" and he had "no regrets whatsoever in saying that Scott Hinckley can be considered a friend of mine."
He said he did not know the shooter or his father John Hinckley Sr., who was president of Vanderbilt Energy Corp. Bush said his wife's assertion that there had been large contributions from Hinckley Sr. to the Bush presidential campaign were not true.
On April 1, the Houston Post reported "Vice president confirms his son was to have hosted Hinckley brother." Bush spokeswoman Shirley Green described the connection as "a bizzare happenstance, a weird occurrence."
Later that day Bush spokesman Peter Teeley denied any campaign donations from the Hinckleys.