Excerpt from Book
Young political reporters are always told there are three ways to judge a politician. The first is to look at the record. The second is to look at the record. And third, look at the record. The method is tried, true, time-tested, and pretty much infallible. In politics, the past is prologue. If a politician is left, right, weak, strong, given to the waffle or the flip-flop, or, as sometimes happens, an able soul who performs well under pressure, all that will be in the record. So here we are, with a record about property-tax abatement and tort reform, and if that's not a by-God recipe for bestsellerdom, you can cut off our legs and call us Shorty. Can't you see it now, poor ol' Random House touting this book: "Read all about George W Bush's thrilling adventures with the school-equalization formula, his amazing reversals on the sales tax, and most exciting of all, his tragic failure to take a stand on the matter of 150 versus 200 percent for the CHIP program." The political career of W Bush is a fairly funny yarn, on account of being the son of a former president is not ... how to put this ... not actually sufficient job training for the governance of a large state. Fortunately, in Texas, this makes no difference. Unqualified to govern Texas? No problem! The single most common misconception about George W is that he has been running a large state for the past six years. Texas has what is known in political science circles as "the weak-governor system." You may think this is just a Texas brag, but our weak-governor system is a lot weaker than anybody else's.* Although the governor does have the power to call out the militia in case of an Indian uprising, by constitutional arrangement, the governor of Texas is actually the fifth most powerful statewide office: behind lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, and land commissioner but ahead of agriculture commissioner and railroad commissioner. Which is not to say it's a piddly office. For one thing, it's a bully pulpit. Although truly effective governors are rare in Texas history, a few have made deep impressions and major changes. Besides, people think you're important if you're the governor, and in politics, perception rules. Of course Texans still think their attorney general, the state's civil lawyer, has something to do with law enforcement too. During Bush's first term, the lieutenant governor was a wily old trout named Bob Bullock. By virtue of the constitution and the Senate rules, plus knowing where all the bodies were buried and outworking everyone else, Bullock was the major player in state government. Dubya got along just fine by doing pretty much what Bullock told him to; Bullock became Dubya's mentor, almost a father-son deal. The day Bullock announced his retirement, Bush stood in the back of the room with tears running down his face. Bullock, after a lifetime in the Democratic Party, endorsed Bush for reelection in 1998. Bullock died in June 1999, to mixed emotions from many. At his funeral, one fatuous commentator said of the rainy weather, "The skies of Texas are weeping because we bury Bob Bullock today." This caused a state senator to inquire sotto voce, "So what did Bullock have on the weather god?" A political record is a flexible creature, and by custom the pol is permitted to burnish his own and to denigrate his opponent's. The record is often used to fool voters. You say your man was for a certain bill, but was he for it before the amendments or after the amendments? Did the amendments gut the bill or strengthen it? In the case of an executive, you can say your man favors such-and-such a measure, but if he does nothing to help it pass-no phone calls, no face-to-face, no threats, no promises, no pleading about how we really, really need to win this one for the Gipper or the greater good; indeed, if the pol quietly lets it be known that no mourning will ensue iMain Description
Read by Molly Ivins Three Cassettes, 5 hours There couldn't be a better person than Texas daughter Molly Ivins to cover the recently hatched but rapidly ascending political career of George Walker Bush, the leader among the GOP 2000 presidential hopefuls. While the media dwells on Bush's "youthful indiscretions," Ivins looks at his stance on the real issues and shows that for all his congeniality ("You would have to work at it to dislike the man"), there is not much there: The single worst thing I can say about George W. Bush after five years of watching him is that if you think his daddy had trouble with 'the vision thing,' wait'll you meet this one". Bush, whose only prior political experience was assisting his father's campaign, has succeeded largely due to his vagueness--voters are able to read into him the views they want. Shrub is Ivin's first book that is not a collection of previously published pieces. This brand-new material is timed just right for the snow of New Hampshire and George "Dubya's" first national test drive. Funny, trenchant, and on-target, Ivins gives the most perceptive and entertaining reading of the man she calls Shrub--and that's President Shrub to the rest of us.
Read by Molly IvinsBRThree Cassettes, 5 hours BRThere couldn't be a better person than Texas daughter Molly Ivins to cover the recently hatched but rapidly ascending political career of George Walker Bush, the leader among the GOP 2000 presidential hopefuls. While the media dwells on Bush's "youthful indiscretions," Ivins looks at his stance on the real issues and shows that for all his congeniality (""You would have to work at it to dislike the man"), there is not much there: "The single worst thing I can say about George W. Bush after five years of watching him is that if you think his daddy had trouble with 'the vision thing, ' wait'll you meet this one." Bush, whose only prior political experience was assisting his father's campaign, has succeeded largely due to his vagueness--voters are able to read into him the views they want. BRShrub is Ivin's first book that is not a collection of previously published pieces. This brand-new material is timed just right for the snow of New Hampshireand George,"Dubya's" first national test drive. Funny, trenchant, and on-target, Ivins gives the most perceptive and entertaining reading of the man she calls Shrub--and that's President Shrub to the rest of us.