I was down in Dallas last week on business, and I spent a few minutes chatting with a woman who once served as then-Governor Bush's director of criminal affairs. Some highlights:
-This woman wrote the speech Bush delivered when he announced he would not grant a stay in the Karla Faye Tucker case. She told me how she and other Bush staffers were shocked when W. mangled the closing and said, "God bless Karla Faye Tucker and the families of her victims" instead of "God bless the families of Karla Faye Tucker's victims" as this woman had written. This flub apparently caused a minor media shit-storm in the Lone Star State.
-The worst-kept secret among Bush's gubernatorial staff was that the governor really never quit drinking. He was frequently seen drinking beer and wine at holiday parties and other gatherings at the governor's residence. Bush apparently promised Laura he would stop drinking hard liquor (Jim Beam in particular); he never swore off all alcoholic beverages.
-When Bush first interviewed this woman, she entered his office and found the governor sitting behind the desk with his feet up. There were holes in the bottoms of his boots. He looked at her resume and commented on how long it was. "You don't look old enough to have done this many things." The woman briefly contemplated pointing out that it was against hiring laws to reference her age, then thought better of it and replied, "You don't look old enough to be the Governor of Texas." Bush shot back, "Well, that's it. Welcome aboard."
-The woman told me, "My impression of his intelligence was that he was extremely average." She described how Bush was incapable of locating other countries on maps. She thought that was some funny stuff based on how hard she started laughing. I asked whether she thought that it was a little sad that the leader of the free world was geographically challenged. Her reply: "I bet if we dropped you off in the make-up department of a department store, you'd have a hard time finding your way around. You might know the difference between eye shadow and lipstick, but other than that you'd probably be lost."
-I asked her about the rumors going around about Bush wearing an earpiece during the debates. "I wouldn't be surprised. The only reason I think he wasn't wearing one was that he was so terrible in the debates. He's a terrible speaker." She speculated that there was somethign physically wrong with Bush during the third debate, referencing the white speck that formed at the corner of his mouth as well as how crooked his mouth seemed to be. She pointed to a small stroke or the onset of Bell's palsy as possible explanations.
Strange conversation. She waxed rhapsodic about Hughes and Rove and genuinely seems to like Bush, but she certainly wasn't shy about characterizing him as a borderline dummy.
Another quick observation: Bush/Cheney is running ads in Texas. Can't figure that one out.