Category: Politics

As political scandals go, the Lott affair pales in comparison to Cheriegate, the national crisis of Great Britain:

As Tony Blair tries to concentrate on the day job, a new episode in the saga of faxes, tapes and tabloids unfolds.

The Brit scandal features an Australian conman trying to extort a residency visa out of Tony Blair with tabloid trash about his topless model girlfriend taking steamy showers with Blair’s wife. Those folks really know how to entertain the masses, but all our politicians can come up with is guilt, humiliation, and contrition over a bad joke.

But it’s good to know that Lott believes in Affirmative Action all the way. What a man!

I’d like to tell a story. It’s fiction, because something like this could never happen in real life.

One night, Mary Matalin came home from Strom Thurmond’s birthday party in a snit. “You wouldn’t believe what that dinosaur Trent Lott said tonight! He wished Strom had won the election in 1948! The president’s been working so hard to reach out to the black people who’re the backbone of your wretched party, James honey, and he just goes and blows it! I hope nobody notices, and you know our deal — this is off the record.”

“Sure, dumpling, you know me”, says James Carville. “I won’t do nothing with this, so just get some sleep and forget about it”. As soon as Mary leaves the room, Carville calls his buddy Josh Marshall. “Josh – you ain’t gonna believe this, bubba, but I got a way we can get the Senate back. Lott stuck his foot in his mouth at Strom’s party, and if we play it right, we can turn this molehill into a mountain. If we raise enough shit, the Reeps will have to turn on him, and he’ll resign rather than set around there taking crap from that cowboy cracker Don Nickles. Mi’sippi has a Dem governor, so we pick up a seat if we can run him off. ”

Josh goes: “Damn, you’re smart, Jimmy boy. I’ll get Reynolds and all the other war bloggers all excited over it. They’re always carrying on about how liberal they really are, so they have to jump on this story to show they’re not bullshitting. They’ll see it as their chance to make history, and I know just how to flatter them boys.”

Jimmy says “Just one thing, Josh – the story can’t be tied to me. Mary will have a cow” and Josh says “your secret’s safe with me” and hangs up. He hits his blog, and fires off an e-mail to Reynolds telling him how outraged he is by all this backwardness, and he’s told a bunch of other people about it. Reynolds quickly does his part, not wanting to be out-gunned.

Fast forward to today. Nickles and a big ole gang insist on a new election for Leader. Lott counts the votes, determines he’s going to lose, and resigns not just from the leadership, but from the whole dang Senate. M’issipi’s governor appoints a Dem, the dems flip Chaffee, and once again, the Reeps lose the Senate.

But like I said, it’s a fantasy — nothing like this could ever happen in real life. Oh, yeah, Matalin resigned. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

Another crazy theory: Lott’s remarks were calculated. He wanted Mary Landrieu to win in Lousiana, because Reeps would surely dump him if they had a two-seat majority and stood to lose nothing by his being replaced by a Dem. He made the gaffe just two days before the Louisiana runoff, black turnout was the critical factor, and sure enough, it was huge. Like I said, this is crazy – Lott’s not that smart.

Merry Christmas.

So Al Gore says he won’t run in 2004. Good move – he avoids an embarassing defeat, and puts himself in a position to run for an open seat in 2008 on the basis that he did better than the Dems’ sacrificial lamb this time around. The boy’s not completely stupid.

I suspected, when anonoblogger Atrios and partisan pundit Josh Marshall initially tore into Trent Lott for his stupid and insensitive remarks in praise of Strom Thurmond, that the whole affair would get plenty ugly before it blew over, and sure enough it has. Marshall is now implying that Lott’s a cross-burner, because he once talked to a group that’s had the gall to file an amicus brief in the cross-burning case that’s before the Supreme Court now. Marshall calls it harmonic convergence, but I prefer the traditional name, smearing. If it were a flag-burning case, Lott would be champion of Free Speech.

Atrios’ blog is all Lott, all the time, and he’s out in front if the sweepstakes to take the title of the blogosphere’s leading purveyor of hate. So at this point, Atrios and Marshall have managed to overwork the story to such an extreme degree that they’re courting a reaction. Lott, as stupid as he was, at least didn’t sound hateful; you can’t say that about the holier-than-thou folks who are still piling on him.

Lott’s error was to break the cardinal rule of Southern civility, which is that we don’t talk about those times anymore. Southerners know that segregation is an unhealed scab, and the more you pick at it the worse it gets, so it just isn’t discussed any more. Maybe a hundred years from now we’ll be able to talk about it, but there won’t be any point to it, and there probably isn’t any now.

If Lott had said something like “Strom, you did it all — you were a prosecutor, a judge, a Governor, a Senator, and you even ran for President, picking up more electoral votes than some major party candidates of recent memory (McGovern and Mondale). You’ve lived a charmed life” he’d have avoided all of this flap, and he just might have said something like that if he hadn’t been drunk at the time. But he didn’t, so he got raked over the coals of Southern history, and it’s now time for everybody to put that baby to bed or risk becoming the story, like the two hate-mongers I named and their colleagues Al (Tawana Brawley) Sharpton and Jesse (Hymietown) Jackson.

Enough already – it’s starting to look like a campaign of rape and wanton destruction, like Sherman’s march to the sea.

Since Trent Lott is intent on digging himself into an ever-deepening hole, the time has come to replace him. I’m for Bill Frist, the Tennessee doctor who managed the Senate elections this year. He was much more successful than his predecessor, Mitch McConnell, and he’s much less oily than McConnell or Lott.

If you ever find yourself wondering what “Gotcha Politics” is, what it looks like, and why it’s repugnant, go to the Instapundit website for this day, Dec. 8, 2002, and look at the pile of twisted remarks about Trent Lott. Professor Reynolds, the Tennessee law professor who’s normally obsessed only with Europeans and the Second Amendment, has launched a one-man crusade to run Lott out of the Senate over a remark the Senator made at Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party.

The remark itself isn’t important – it was a birthday party, and like everybody else, Lott was laying it on thick, grinning while he praised the old fool. And like many Southerners of a certain age, Thurmond was once a segregationist and a Democrat, and like most of them, he is now neither. In fact, Thurmond has a remarkable record of hiring and promoting African Americans on his staff (Armstrong Williams, for example). And the segregationist franchise has stayed with the Democrats, who now support separate housing and classes for African Americans on college campuses, and all manner of quotas, reparations, and other programs designed to ensure ongoing conflict between the races.

Whatever he may once have been, Strom Thurmond is not a racist — he’d just as soon sleep with a black woman as a white — and neither is Trent Lott. Lott is a bit of a boob, and the Republicans would be better off with a more intelligent, cleverer, and more libertarian leader in the Senate, but he wasn’t endorsing segregation, he was just patting Strom on the back in what should be an acceptably hyperbolic way. Anyone who says he’s a racist is idiotic.

The advantage of blogs over traditional media is that the absence of editors means that news can get out quicker; the disadvantage is that judgment-fogging obsessions, like this one over Lott, Andrew Sullivan’s over Krugman, and Josh Marshall’s over Enron sometimes make them unreadable, unreliable, and offensive.

Here’s to a speedy recovery and a prompt return to Eurobashing Second Amendment activism for Professor Reynolds.

UPDATE: If you’re fed up with all the pissy, politically correct whining about Lott, read Mark Steyn’s column on ole Strom and have yourself a laugh.

UPDATE: Will Vehrs is right on target vis a vis “piling on” and “Gotcha”.

The Supreme Court’s consideration of racial preferences in college admissions has prompted battling editorials on the America’s most influential editorial pages. The New York Times makes the traditional left-wing argument:

If the Supreme Court strikes down the program, it could undo affirmative action in higher education, sharply reducing the number of African-Americans in colleges and graduate schools.

And the Wall St. Journal counters with the relevant data:

The university is perfectly up front about its policy of discrimination and defends it as necessary for its “compelling interest” in having a diverse student body. But the experience of two other state university systems — Texas and California — shows that argument doesn’t hold water. Both institutions did away with affirmative action in 1996 — Texas under court order and California at the direction of the Board of Regents — amid prophesies of a “new segregation.”

This turned out to be a “complete fiction,” says Terry Pell, executive director of the Center for Individual Rights, the public-interest law firm that brought the Michigan lawsuits. Today every public university in both states has a non-Asian minority student body of 10% or more. In California earlier this year, minority enrollment at UC’s eight undergraduate campuses topped 19%, up from 18% in 1997, the last year racial preferences were in effect.

In California, the passage of Prop 209, outlawing racial and gender preferences, increased minority enrollment in UC, mostly at the minor campuses.

Of the two editorials, the WSJ’s is clearly the more honest. Affirmative Action continues to provide a crutch to those who don’t want to attack the real problems that disadvantage minorities, poor public schools and too many single-parent families. Understandably, every left-wing special interest group in the country has written a “friend of the court” brief supporting preferences.

Court watchers say O’Connor has switched sides and will vote to strike preferences down.

Al Gore had a complete core meltdown today, lashing out at the media, left right, and center in the New York Observer.

Mr. Gore acknowledged his image problem among powerful Democrats, and that the onus will be upon him to recapture the loyalties of those who supported him in 2000. “Maybe I bear the blame for some of it,” he said. “I haven’t been very good about calling all of the insiders over the last two years, and maybe some of them have a beef with me because of that. I know they have been courted assiduously by some of the others who are considering a run for the White House, and it may be that some of them have already signed up with other people. If I do decide to run again, I think there’s a lot of support, but I’d also have to work really hard to get a bunch of them committed back to me.”

Mr. Gore also reckoned that he would have to prove himself all over again to key political and media players. “I’m well aware that the political insiders and political-journalism community have a considerable amount of influence, and even though I’m stronger at the grassroots level, I think that if I did run again, I would have to convince those two groups that I’ve learned enough in the last couple of years to run a better campaign than I did last time. I don’t think that there’s a thing that I could say and no words I could choose that could accomplish that — the way to convince them would be in actually doing it.”

For now, Mr. Gore can only attempt to explain what motivates the ceaseless lampooning he continues to face from America?s columnists and commentators. “That?s postmodernism,” he offered. “It?s the combination of narcissism and nihilism that really defines postmodernism, and that?s another interview for another time, if you’re interested in it.”

This is like watching a train wreck. The lesson, I suppose, is that trained, professional politicians shouldn’t open their mouths in public without handlers telling them what to say. Gore is probably free of handlers right now, so we’re seeing the real, unvarnished Gore for the first time, and it’s damn scary.

By way of following up on the Krugman smear about Republican nepotism, we offer the following from The Political Graveyard on the political geneology of the Bush family. As you see, all of this nepotism started in 1778, so nefarious are these people. Enjoy.

• William P. Walker (1778-1858) Father-in-law of Julius Rockwell and David Davis. Born in Lenox, Berkshire County, Mass., October 8, 1778. Member of
  Massachusetts state house of representatives; member of Massachusetts
  state senate; member of Massachusetts
  Governor’s Council; probate judge, 1824-48. Died in Lenox,
  Berkshire
  County, Mass.,November
  11, 1858.  Burial location unknown.
• Julius Rockwell (1805-1888) Son-in-law of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/walker9.html#0IS19082W” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/walker9.html#0IS19082W” >William
  P. Walker; father of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/rockwell.html#R9M0JB61Y” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/rockwell.html#R9M0JB61Y” >Francis
  Williams Rockwell. Born in Colebrook,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CT/LI.html#BORN” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CT/LI.html#BORN” >Litchfield
  County, Conn.,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-apr-26.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-apr-26.html” >April
  26,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1805.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1805.html” >1805.
  Member of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/sthse.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/sthse.html” >Massachusetts
  state house of representatives, 1834;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/usrep.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/usrep.html” >U.S.
  Representative from Massachusetts 7th District, 1843-51;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/ussen.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/ussen.html” >U.S.
  Senator from Massachusetts, 1854-55; state court judge, 1859.
  Died
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-may-19.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-may-19.html” >May
  19,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1888.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1888.html” >1888.
  Interment at
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/BE.html#RAR1B7MQC” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/BE.html#RAR1B7MQC” >Lenox
  Cemetery, Lenox, Mass. See also:
  xhref=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000368″ mce_href=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000368″ >congressional
  biography.
• David Davis (1815-1886) of Bloomington,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#LIVED” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#LIVED” >McLean
  County, Ill. Son-in-law of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/walker9.html#0IS19082W” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/walker9.html#0IS19082W” >William
  P. Walker; cousin of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis4.html#R9M0IUG4J” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis4.html#R9M0IUG4J” >Henry
  Winter Davis; great-grandfather of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis2.html#S571ACMTJ” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis2.html#S571ACMTJ” >David
  Davis IV; first cousin thrice removed of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCAS” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCAS” >George
  Herbert Walker Bush. Born near Cecilton,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/CE.html#BORN” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/CE.html#BORN” >Cecil
  County, Md.,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-mar-09.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-mar-09.html” >March
  9,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1815.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1815.html” >1815.
  Member of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ofc/sthse.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ofc/sthse.html” >Illinois
  state house of representatives, 1845;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ofc/cncn2.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ofc/cncn2.html” >delegate
  to Illinois state constitutional convention, 1847; state court
  judge, 1848;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/offices/judic1.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/offices/judic1.html” >Justice of
  U.S. Supreme Court, 1862-77; received one electoral vote for
  President,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/offices/pres-vp-1872.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/offices/pres-vp-1872.html” >1872;
  U.S.
  Senator from Illinois, 1877-83.
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/presbyterian.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/presbyterian.html” >Presbyterian.
  Died
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-jun-26.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-jun-26.html” >June
  26,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1886.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1886.html” >1886.
  Interment at
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#RA50MJX7M” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#RA50MJX7M” >Evergreen
  Cemetery, Bloomington, Ill. See also:
  xhref=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000097″ mce_href=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000097″ >congressional
  biography.
• Henry Winter Davis (1817-1865) Cousin of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis2.html#R9M0IUFFS” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis2.html#R9M0IUFFS” >David
  Davis. Born in Annapolis,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/AA.html#BORN” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/AA.html#BORN” >Anne Arundel
  County, Md.,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-aug-16.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-aug-16.html” >August
  16,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1817.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1817.html” >1817.
  U.S.
  Representative from Maryland, 1855-61, 1863-65 (4th District
  1855-61, 3rd District 1863-65).
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/episcopalian.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/episcopalian.html” >Episcopalian.
  Died in
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/ba4.html#DIED” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/ba4.html#DIED” >Baltimore,
  Md.,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-dec-30.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-dec-30.html” >December
  30,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1865.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1865.html” >1865.
  Original interment at
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/ba5.html#R9X0MNA0T” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/ba5.html#R9X0MNA0T” >St.
  Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Cemetery, Baltimore, Md.; reinterment
  at
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/ba5.html#R9T0XKBSH” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/ba5.html#R9T0XKBSH” >Greenmount
  Cemetery, Baltimore, Md. See also:
  xhref=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000104″ mce_href=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000104″ >congressional
  biography.
• Francis Williams Rockwell (1844-1929) Son of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/rockwell.html#R9M0JB6CL” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/rockwell.html#R9M0JB6CL” >Julius
  Rockwell. Born in Pittsfield,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/BE.html#BORN” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/BE.html#BORN” >Berkshire
  County, Mass.,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-may-26.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-may-26.html” >May
  26,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1844.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1844.html” >1844.
  Republican. State court judge, 1873; member of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/sthse.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/sthse.html” >Massachusetts
  state house of representatives, 1879; member of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/stsen.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/stsen.html” >Massachusetts
  state senate, 1881;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/usrep.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/ofc/usrep.html” >U.S.
  Representative from Massachusetts 12th District, 1884-91. Died
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-jun-26.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-jun-26.html” >June
  26,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1929.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1929.html” >1929.
  Interment at
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/BE.html#R9T0XKCDQ” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/BE.html#R9T0XKCDQ” >Pittsfield
  Cemetery, Pittsfield, Mass. See also:
  xhref=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000365″ mce_href=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000365″ >congressional
  biography.
• Prescott Sheldon Bush (1895-1972) — also known as
  Prescott S. Bush — of Greenwich,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CT/FA3.html#LIVED” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CT/FA3.html#LIVED” >Fairfield
  County, Conn. Father of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCAS” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCAS” >George
  Herbert Walker Bush; grandfather of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#ROK074H8X” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#ROK074H8X” >George
  Walker Bush and
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#S5N0KM53O” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#S5N0KM53O” >John
  Ellis Bush. Born in Columbus,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/OH/FR.html#BORN” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/OH/FR.html#BORN” >Franklin
  County, Ohio,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-may-15.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-may-15.html” >May
  15,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1895.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1895.html” >1895.
  Republican. Served in the U.S. Army during World War I; delegate to
  Republican National Convention from Connecticut,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1948/CT.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1948/CT.html” >1948,xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1964/CT.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1964/CT.html” >1964
  (alternate);
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CT/ofc/ussen.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CT/ofc/ussen.html” >U.S.
  Senator from Connecticut, 1952-63; defeated, 1950.
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/episcopalian.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/episcopalian.html” >Episcopalian.
  Member,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/am-legion.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/am-legion.html” >American
  Legion;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/40-8.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/40-8.html” >Forty and
  Eight. Died in New York City (
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/NY/ZZ.html#DIED” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/NY/ZZ.html#DIED” >unknown
  county), N.Y.,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-oct-08.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-oct-08.html” >October
  8,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1972.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1972.html” >1972.
  Interment at
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CT/FA5.html#RAM0TMIA8″ mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CT/FA5.html#RAM0TMIA8″ >Putnam
  Cemetery, Greenwich, Conn. See also:
  xhref=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B001167″ mce_href=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B001167″ >congressional
  biography.
• David Davis IV (1906-1978) of Bloomington,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#LIVED” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#LIVED” >McLean
  County, Ill. Great-grandson of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis2.html#R9M0IUFFS” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis2.html#R9M0IUFFS” >David
  Davis. Born in Bloomington,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#BORN” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#BORN” >McLean
  County, Ill.,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-jul-29.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-jul-29.html” >July
  29,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1906.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1906.html” >1906.
  Lawyer; member of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ofc/stsen.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ofc/stsen.html” >Illinois
  state senate, 1953-67;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ofc/cncn6.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ofc/cncn6.html” >delegate
  to Illinois state constitutional convention 37th District,
  1969-70.
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/presbyterian.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/presbyterian.html” >Presbyterian.
  Member,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/aba.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/aba.html” >American Bar
  Association;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/am-jud-soc.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/am-jud-soc.html” >American
  Judicature Society. Died in Bloomington,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#DIED” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#DIED” >McLean
  County, Ill.,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-apr-14.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-apr-14.html” >April
  14,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1978.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/died-1978.html” >1978.
  Interment at
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#RA50MJX7M” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/ML.html#RA50MJX7M” >Evergreen
  Cemetery, Bloomington, Ill.
• George Herbert Walker Bush (b. 1924) — also known as
  George Bush; “Poppy” — of Houston,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/TX/HR.html#LIVED” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/TX/HR.html#LIVED” >Harris
  County, Tex. First cousin, thrice removed of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis2.html#R9M0IUFFS” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis2.html#R9M0IUFFS” >David
  Davis; son of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCEC” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCEC” >Prescott
  Sheldon Bush; father of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#ROK074H8X” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#ROK074H8X” >George
  Walker Bush and
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#S5N0KM53O” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#S5N0KM53O” >John
  Ellis Bush. Born in Milton,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/NO.html#BORN” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/NO.html#BORN” >Norfolk
  County, Mass.,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-jun-12.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-jun-12.html” >June
  12,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1924.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1924.html” >1924.
  Republican. Served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; delegate to
  Republican National Convention from Texas,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1964/TX.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1964/TX.html” >1964;
  candidate for
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/TX/ofc/ussen.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/TX/ofc/ussen.html” >U.S.
  Senator from Texas, 1964, 1970;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/TX/ofc/usrep.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/TX/ofc/usrep.html” >U.S.
  Representative from Texas 7th District, 1967-71;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/offices/diplo7.html#UNITEDNATIONS” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/offices/diplo7.html#UNITEDNATIONS” >U.S.
  Representative to the United Nations, 1971-73;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/index.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/index.html” >Chairman of
  Republican National Committee, 1973-74; candidate for Republican
  nomination for President,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1980/index.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1980/index.html” >1980;
  Vice
  President of the United States, 1981-89;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/offices/pres-vp.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/offices/pres-vp.html” >President
  of the United States, 1989-93; defeated, 1992.
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/episcopalian.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/episcopalian.html” >Episcopalian.
  Member,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/cfr.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/cfr.html” >Council on
  Foreign Relations;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/am-legion.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/am-legion.html” >American
  Legion;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/delta-kappa-epsilon.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/delta-kappa-epsilon.html” >Delta
  Kappa Epsilon. Still living as of 2001. See also:
  xhref=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B001166″ mce_href=”http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B001166″ >congressional
  biography. Books by George H. W. Bush:
  xhref=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068483958X/thepoliticalg-20″ mce_href=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068483958X/thepoliticalg-20″ >All
  The Best, George Bush: My Life and Other Writings (1999),
  xhref=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385141815/thepoliticalg-20″ mce_href=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385141815/thepoliticalg-20″ >Looking
  Forward (1987, out of print),
  xhref=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679432485/thepoliticalg-20″ mce_href=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679432485/thepoliticalg-20″ >A
  World Transformed (1998); Books about George H. W. Bush: John
  Robert Greene,
  xhref=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0700609938/thepoliticalg-20″ mce_href=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0700609938/thepoliticalg-20″ >The
  Presidency of George Bush.
• George Walker Bush (b. 1946) — also known as George W.
  Bush; “Dubya” — Grandson of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCEC” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCEC” >Prescott
  Sheldon Bush; son of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCAS” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCAS” >George
  Herbert Walker Bush; brother of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#S5N0KM53O” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#S5N0KM53O” >John
  Ellis Bush. Born
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-jul-06.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-jul-06.html” >July
  6,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1946.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1946.html” >1946.
  Republican. Delegate to Republican National Convention from Texas,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1988/TX.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1988/TX.html” >1988;
  Governor
  of Texas, 1995-2000;
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/offices/pres-vp.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/offices/pres-vp.html” >President
  of the United States, 2001-.
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/methodist.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/methodist.html” >Methodist.
  Member,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/delta-kappa-epsilon.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/delta-kappa-epsilon.html” >Delta
  Kappa Epsilon. Still living as of 2001. Books by George W. Bush:xhref=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060957921/thepoliticalg-20″ mce_href=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060957921/thepoliticalg-20″ >A
  Charge to Keep (1999).
• John Ellis Bush (b. 1953) — also known as Jeb Bush
  — Grandson of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCEC” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCEC” >Prescott
  Sheldon Bush; son of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCAS” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#R9M0IRCAS” >George
  Herbert Walker Bush; brother of
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#ROK074H8X” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bush.html#ROK074H8X” >George
  Walker Bush. Born in Midland,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/TX/MD.html#BORN” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/TX/MD.html#BORN” >Midland
  County, Tex.,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-feb-11.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-feb-11.html” >February
  11,
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1953.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/born-1953.html” >1953.
  Republican.
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/FL/ofc/gov.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/FL/ofc/gov.html” >Governor of
  Florida, 1999-; defeated, 1994.
  xhref=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/catholic.html” mce_href=”http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/catholic.html” >Catholic.
  Still living as of 2001.