Go Back to the B3 Home Page
Complaints, compliments, arguments? Email me.
[<< "Get ready for an attempted diversion."] [Archive Index] [>>"Oooh, somebody's a little testy...."]
02/11/2004 Archived Entry: "Wow, didn't realize I'd gotten so close..."
Wow, didn't realize I'd gotten so close...
Sounds like the 'insufferable asshole' option from my question yesterday wasn't far from the mark. Looks like James Ridgeway found someone willing to talk about Bush in 'Bama.
In Alabama, where George W. Bush supposedly was slaving away on Winton "Red" Blount's 1972 U.S. Senate campaign in lieu of National Guard duty, he is remembered by a Blount son as a smartass "cuntsman" from Texas. Bush Junior, as he was then called, used to come into Blount's campaign office in Montgomery, prop his feet up on a desk, and blab on about how much he'd drunk the night before, according to a detailed article by New Orleans freelance journalist Glynn Wilson on his Progressive Southerner blog (southerner.net/blog/awolbush.html).
Blount's Belles, a group of young Republican women and Montgomery debutantes who were helping out on the campaign, would fall into a swoon at the sight of young George. "We thought he was to die for," said one. But the Blue Haired Platoon, a group of older women campaigning for Blount, referred to Junior as "the Texas soufflé" because he was "all puffed up and full of hot air."
Blount was a Bush family friend, a successful contractor who had served as Nixon's postmaster general (best remembered for firing 33,000 employees), and a Nixon emissary to George Wallace. Wallace was shot in 1972 and subsequently dropped his independent campaign for the presidency, which must have taken a load off Nixon's mind. Watergate happened that year, and the GOP's takeover of the South—the party's "Southern strategy" featured a coded emphasis on race and an appeal to young white men—was just beginning. Old man Bush, Nixon's UN ambassador in 1972 and chair of the Republican National Committee in 1973, and Postmaster Blount used to go over to the White House to play tennis.
Junior, though, was no such heavy hitter. "He was an attractive person, kind of a 'frat boy,' " Blount's son Tom, an architect, recalled, according to Wilson's article, "George W. Bush's Lost Year in 1972 Alabama." "I didn't like him."
(Thanks to B3 reader Allison for the link.)
Replies: 6 people speak up
the Texas soufflé, beautifull. i think that would be a great new nickname for whistle ass, georgie seems to like nicknames so much....
Posted by justin @ 02/11/2004 11:00 AM NY
For someone who made such an impression on the campaign workers, you'd think that there would have been AT LEAST one servicemember that remembers "The Texas Souffle". (I'm with Justin on this one, I love that nickname!)
The fact that there is no memory of such a memorable persona speaks volumes about his fulfillment to his obligation, or lack thereof.
Posted by The Tater @ 02/11/2004 11:13 AM NY
it also strikes me a bit odd that no one on the campaign remembers him saying anything about having to go to drills, just about how he drank too much... dont you think that arrogant prick would have probobly complained constantly about any duties he might have had to perform? it would certainly fit the personality profile.
Posted by justin @ 02/11/2004 11:39 AM NY
when it comes to uk online betting there's no place like home , play at our uk online casinos and instantly become millioners, 100 percent of getting rich , here at our uk gambling sites
Posted by uk online betting @ 02/11/2004 12:58 PM NY
wow, thats just pathetic. i had better get right on that, maybe ill buy some lottery tickets while im at it. idiot!
Posted by justin @ 02/11/2004 02:54 PM NY
There's no doubt that somebody would remember Georgie boy; probably trotting around on base in his flight suit and cowboy boots (against all regulations, of course), practicing his still incipient Texas drawl.
Military guys remember stuff like that; the stories get bigger the more often they are told, but there remains a kernel of truth.
Unless of course he wasn't there...
Posted by Charles2 @ 02/11/2004 08:12 PM NY
