It seems like every few months we must suffer through some barforama piece from the MSM intended to tug at our heart strings about how tough life is for George H.W. Bush these days, as he watches as his idiotic, incompetent, evil son has proceeded to destroy our country and most of the world. The last pity party for 41 comes from today's NY Times, with the headline: "First Father: Tough Times on Sidelines." Ugh, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. Read on, if you can stomach it.
The touching NY Times starts off by letting us know that poor old George H.W. Bush has to endure people come up to him uttering some of the "harshest things," such as: "I love you, sir, but your son’s way off base here." The horror of it all!
Words like these, we are told in the article, are intended to comfort 41, but they "wind up only causing pain," according to Ron Kaufman, a longtime adviser to Mr. Bush:
"It wears on his heart," Mr. Kaufman said, "and his soul."
Are you sniffling yet? If not, read on my brave soldier.
As 41 watches his son go into an ill-conceived, unnecessary and incompetently executed war in Iraq that has caused tens of thousands of deaths, many more injuries, and millions of displaced Iraqis, he has come up with the perfect analogy to describe his pain: a Little League game!
At 83, he finds it tough to watch his son get criticized from the sidelines; often, he likens himself to a Little League father whose kid is having a rough game. And like the proud and angry Little League dad who cannot help but yell at the umpire, sometimes he just cannot help getting involved.
If you aren't sobbing yet, you must have no feelings at all. And life gets worse for Bush the elder, the NY Times tells us. This weekend, his heart will be heavy as he must put up a tough front while presiding over the Bush clan’s annual summer gathering at Walker’s Point, "their grand seaside spread in Kennebunkport":
There will be the usual horseshoe games, fishing trips and speedboat rides, plus a visit from the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy — a classic Bush family tableau, but one that does not capture the delicate course the elder Mr. Bush has charted in playing the roles of father and former president at the same time.
Yes, you heard it right. A pall has been cast over the Bush family's horseshoe games and speedboat rides because little Georgie W. is having a rough season in the Little League. Does God have no mercy?
If you haven't reached for the hanky yet, the Times article ends by pulling out all the stops by appealing to 41's growing age and frailty.
Nearly 15 years have passed since the first President Bush left the White House, and though he remains vigorous — he jumped out of an airplane on his 80th birthday and is promising another jump when he turns 85 — he has also slowed down. After two hip replacements, his gait is a little unsteady. He does not wade in streams anymore, and in Kennebunkport, he now uses a ramp to get on his boat.
His children worry about him. Last December, at an event honoring his son Jeb in his last days as Florida’s governor, the elder Mr. Bush broke down crying at the memory of Jeb’s bitter defeat in 1994. Mrs. Koch says her father is growing more emotional as he ages — "he has a tender heart that is getting tenderer" — which makes criticism of his eldest son that much harder to take.
The man can't even walk onto his yacht anymore, people. For the sake of this wonderful old man, please, please stop criticizing his son, you unfeeling brutes.