Eleanor Clift hits a new low

Earlier this week, I blogged about former President George H.W. Bush having tearful moments while giving a speech about one of his sons – Florida Governor Jeb Bush. This is Governor Bush’s last term in Florida, and his dad was speaking at Jeb’s last governer’s leadership forum in FL.

In that same post, I pointed out that the “jerk of the week” award went to Thomas de Zengotita at the Huffington Post, who snobbishly wrote that he ‘knew’ why GHWB was really crying, and it was because Jeb was supposed to be The One (aka the next Bush president, rather than W) and that W was a hopeless failure and GHWB supposedly ‘knew’ that.

Well today, Eleanor Clift has picked up on that theme and has therefore earned the distinction as ST’s jerk of the week for next week. Clift, as de Zengotita did, snootily wrote about the former president’s tears (emphasis added):

Dec. 8, 2006 – On the eve of a report that repudiates his son’s leadership, former president George H.W. Bush broke down crying when he recalled how his other son, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, lost an election a dozen years ago and then came back to serve two successful terms. The elder Bush has always been a softie, but this display of emotion was so over the top that it had to be about something other than Jeb’s long-ago loss.

The setting was a leadership summit Monday in Tallahassee, where the elder Bush had come to lecture and to pay homage to Jeb, who is leaving office with a 53 percent approval rating, putting him ninth among the 50 governors in popularity. The former president was reflecting on how well Jeb handled defeat in 1994 when he lost his composure. “He didn’t whine about it” he said, putting a handkerchief to his face in an effort to stifle his sobbing.

That election turned out to be pivotal because it disrupted the plan Papa Bush had for his sons, which may be why he was crying, and why the country cries with him. The family’s grand design had the No. 2 son, Jeb, by far the brighter and more responsible, ascend to the presidency while George, the partying frat-boy type, settled for second best in Texas. The plan went awry when Jeb, contrary to conventional wisdom, lost in Florida, and George unexpectedly defeated Ann Richards in Texas. With the favored heir on the sidelines, the family calculus shifted. They’d go for the presidency with the son that won and not the one they wished had won.

The son who was wrongly launched has made such a mess of things that he has ruined the family franchise.

Can you believe the sheer arrogance, not to mention insensitivity, of these people? I swear if it were Jeb’s funeral, they’d be writing that GHWB was crying because he wished it was George W. Bush in the casket. It’s as if they believe they can crawl into the the elder Bush’s mind and read what he’s thinking – as if they’re 100% sure that his every waking moment revolves around dreaming up wasys to continue the Bush political legacy.

For crying out loud, these far left jerks should let the man CRY without trying to analyze his every freaking teardrop! Instead of speculating as to why he was crying (even though it was obvious to anyone who isn’t a Bush-hater), they should have done what reporters are paid to do: ASK HIM.