George Bush Sr. Thinks His Son Hired a Bunch of Fools

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

05 November 15

He has harsh words for Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, who are basically on Bush family retainer.

t seems that Poppy Bush sat down with Parson Meacham to hash out Poppy's life. And who could be a better wingman for the job than the Parson, who's made a lucrative business out of the Great Man Theory of American history? In the course of their discussions—which, alas, have led to a book-like object—the elder Bush has some harsh words for a certain former secretary of defense of his casual acquaintance.​​

"I think he served the president badly," Bush told Meacham, Peter Baker of the New York Times reported, quoting the book. He added: "I've never been that close to him anyway. … There's a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He's more kick ass and take names, take numbers. I think he paid a price for that." (Rumsfeld resigned as secretary of defense in 2006 after conditions in Iraq deteriorated. He declined comment about the biography to Fox News.) Bush also said Vice President Cheney was very different from Secretary of Defense Cheney. Cheney served under Bush 41 for four years, including during Operation Desert Storm. "He just became very hard-line and very different from the Dick Cheney I knew and worked with," Bush reportedly told Meacham, speculating that 9/11 had affected Cheney's views. "Just iron-ass. His seeming knuckling under to the real hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything, use force to get our way in the Middle East.

           I'm beginning to think that Jeb (!) Bush's entire stumbling presidential campaign is really only part of a general family operation to clean up the reputation of C-Plus Augustus. (It sure doesn't seem to be about electing the Jeb!ster president.) First, Jeb (!) tries out The Great Mulligan on stage, and everybody points and laughs. And now, here comes Poppy, explaining how his layabout spalpeen was misled by the two family retainers he'd hired. And, curiously, here comes Poppy also to explain how Good Dick Cheney fell under the spell of the "real hard-charging guys," as though Cheney wasn't an executive-power bondage freak for his entire public career.

(Read the minority report of the special committee on Iran-Contra, written by aides to none other than Congressman Dick Cheney of Wyoming. Its historical resonance will curl your hair. Come to think of it, we I-C obsessives are very interested in seeing if the Parson lets Poppy skate again on his involvement in the scheme.)

It's hard to imagine recent American history without the involvement of the Bush family and its assorted hangers-on, coat-holders, and sycophants. But, goddamn, it's nice to try.