The Bush Brothers, Creatures of Entitlement

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

George W. Bush, the man who served as President during the Dick Cheney administration, and his little brother, Jeb Bush, a former governor of Florida who would like to be President, have both been in the news this week.   Unfortunately for them, the stories tended to shed more light on these two sons of political entitlement than either could have wished for.

The Bush boys, and to a great extent that is what they still are – at least psychologically - are, of course, sons of another entitled politician:  former President George H.W. Bush.  Pappy Bush was the son of Prescott Bush, a United States Senator from Connecticut.  

(Prescott Bush attended Yale where he was a member of the highly secretive Skull and Bones Society.  While a member of that august group, he and some of his fraternity brothers allegedly got drunk and managed to dig up the skeleton of Geronimo and make off with his skull.   George H.W. and George W. were also both Yalies and members of the Skull and Bones.   George W. “Dubya” was only a "C" student in his best days, but he managed to be admitted to Yale as a “legacy,” a program that gives rich kids a leg-up over more deserving poor kids.)

This week it was revealed that Jeb Bush’s PAC raised more than $111 million dollars during the first six months of 2015.  Most of that time the Bush boy, age 62, was not officially a candidate for President, a posture that left him free to go out begging to the big donors to help fatten his PAC.  And what a job he did!  Since finally becoming honest and declaring his candidacy a few weeks ago, he has raised several more million on his own.   Bernie Sanders, a Democratic nominee for President, sent around an email a couple of days ago that was critical of the massive amounts of money that Jebya has raised - and using the word “oligarchy” to describe a government bought and paid for by corporate America.

(If Jebya had “officially” announced earlier, he would have been banned from working directly to fatten his PAC – and organization that is designed to be independent of the candidates.  So, he saw exactly how the system worked and gamed it.

But while Jeb Bush might fit the notion of a sleazy politician, he can’t hold a candle to his older brother.  In another story that broke this week, America learned that her former President, George W. Bush, a man who sent thousands of young people to fight in two unnecessary and unwinable wars, collected a fee of $100,000 in 2012 for being a featured speaker at a fundraiser for a group that works with seriously wounded veterans.  

That bears repeating:  George W. Bush asked for and received one hundred thousand dollars for speaking to a group of seriously wounded veterans - many of whom were wounded on his watch, and all of whom were wounded in his wars.   A Bush spokesman said the former President gave the group a deal because he normally gets two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per speech.  As a part of his fee, Bush also accepted a $20,000 ride on a private jet to get t o the event.

(A “C” student with only a limited knowledge of his own Presidency earning a quarter of a million dollars per speech – now there’s a racket!)

Both of the Bush boys seem to feel that they are entitled to certain things in life, like a couple of terms in the White House and a cushy afterlife.    George W. Bush has secured his pot of gold, but it’s still not too late to thwart Jeb as he “struggles” to buy the Presidency.  

America has suffered enough at the hands of this one very special family.  It is time for them to go somewhere and play with their money – and leave the rest of us alone.  Our country can, and must, do better than crowning another Bush.  We owe them nothing, and that's exactly what they are entitled to.