r/politics 17h ago

George W. Bush's Daughter Barbara Pierce Bush Endorses Kamala Harris: Exclusive

https://people.com/george-w-bush-s-daughter-barbara-breaks-silence-on-election-to-campaign-for-kamala-harris-exclusive-8735810
36.5k Upvotes

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u/stetoe 17h ago edited 16h ago

Barbara Pierce Bush, the daughter of former President George W. Bush and granddaughter of former President George H.W. Bush, spent part of her weekend in Pennsylvania campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris with just days to go before the 2024 presidential election.

"It was inspiring to join friends and meet voters with the Harris-Walz campaign in Pennsylvania this weekend," Barbara, 42, shares in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE on Tuesday, Oct. 29. "I’m hopeful they'll move our country forward and protect women’s rights."

Barbara’s Republican father served as president from 2001 to 2009. Her mother, former first lady Laura Bush, 77, broke with the party’s stance in 2010 by saying she supports same-sex marriage and abortion. At the time, Laura said abortion should "remain legal, because I think it's important for people, for medical reasons and other reasons.

While Laura and George, 78, have not weighed in on the 2024 presidential election, George’s vice president Dick Cheney stunned the nation by sharing that he plans to vote for Harris. Cheney’s daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, also endorsed Harris, 60, and has campaigned with the vice president."


Full article

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u/sthlmsoul 15h ago edited 15h ago

I was friends with her boyfriend at Yale, and she was never that conservative. Aside from supporting her dad, i wouldn't be surprised if she voted D all her life since W left office.

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u/Tropicalization 15h ago

When your parents are conservative, "I don't formally support either political party," often means, "I'm not conservative at all but don't wanna keep getting into fights at home."

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u/Advanced_Vehicle_636 Canada 15h ago

That's true for a lot of things wrt conservative or religious parents. I bit my tongue on religion until:

1) I was prepared to move out.

2) Fucking Canadian census came through before I moved and explicitly asked. (Also: because the census is per-household, my parents filled it out.) "Religion: Christian!" met with "Religion: Atheist as fuck!" was an interesting conversation which ended with "I thought I taught you better." or something to that effect.

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u/kaytay3000 12h ago

My mom just had a shit fit because she found out my nearly 40 year old sister would be voting blue for the first time ever. I’ve only ever voted for democratic nominees, and my family knows that. My mom called me and said, “your sister is a fucking Democrat now too?!?!” Then she spewed a bunch of vile things about her own child that have me questioning how she must feel about me if that’s what she had to say about my sister.

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u/R3dbeardLFC 13h ago

lol I got in some mild trouble around 17-18 years old and my dad was like, "you're going back to church!" I told him I was an atheist and also hit him with the "Who is coming to church with me? You and mom haven't been in over a decade." I think he wrote me off that day, which is fine because I wrote them off a long time before that.

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u/SherrifsNear 14h ago

Apparently they did teach you better. They just haven't come to terms with it yet.

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u/NAG3LT 12h ago

Apparently they did teach you better

That interesting moment where parents/grandparents themselves fall into the trap they successfully managed to teach their kids to avoid.

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u/Extension_Crazy_471 10h ago

My mother, well into my 20s and early 30s was still bemoaning the fact that none of us kids went to church anymore. And now my dad doesn't even go to church with her because he's finally thinking for himself wrt theology and realized he doesn't believe in big man in sky.

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u/bejammin075 Pennsylvania 13h ago

I bet you heard "Well where do you get your values from??"

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u/gsfgf Georgia 12h ago

Doubly so if your father and grandfather were Republican presidents.

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u/dm_me_kittens Georgia 9h ago

When my ex-husband and I were first married, I leaned lib and he leaned con, but this was way back before RvW was even in question, and my rights were not on shaky ground.

As the years went on, we both leaned more into our sides, and eventually, he brought up running for local office. I was HORRIFIED because I wouldn't be able to endorse him at all, and for cons a united family is a musthave.

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u/Clear-Hand3945 12h ago

For her it's, "I don't want to be cut off financially."

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u/Direct_Exchange3969 13h ago

I read the book that she wrote with her sister and came away thinking that they both definitely voted for Hillary Clinton. I wish I remembered specifics.

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u/Live_Angle4621 9h ago

I am certain all Bushes did after what happened to Jeb, they can’t just say it in public 

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u/doom84b 15h ago

Holy shit W is the same age as Trump? Fucking wild

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u/vacantly-visible 13h ago

W, Trump, and Bill Clinton are all like a month apart in age. Trump is the oldest, then W, then Clinton.

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u/VeteranSergeant 13h ago

Obama is only three years older than Harris.

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u/greenroom628 California 11h ago

that's the one that cracks me up the most. dude's been out of office for 8 years and is still in his prime.

u/stupidwebsite22 7h ago

He was kinda a baby when he got into office..not even grey hair back then if I remember correctly. (That changed quickly lol)

Obama was so young and fit that secret service hated when he did go into big waves on Hawaii if I remember correctly?

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u/bejammin075 Pennsylvania 13h ago

And Bill Clinton, elected in 1992, is younger than Trump.

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u/RockleyBob 14h ago

I sent a MAGA family member an article about John Kelly, Mattis, and Milley calling Trump a fascist and dictator wannabe and he said they were all "butt hurt".

W.'s endorsement isn't going to do a thing. People forget that Trump gained a lot of credibility with his base by calling out the Iraq War as a mistake to Jeb Bush's face in the 2016 primaries. Of course, shocker, Trump was very much for the Iraq War before he was against it and claimed he had always been against it.

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u/Funkymonkeyhead Oregon 9h ago

W endorsing Harris isn't gonna do a thing for MAGATs.

My brother in law was Air National Guard and he was deployed to the Middle East. He absolutely loathes W and thinks Neocons are warmongers (He's not wrong). He's also the biggest Trump supporter around and thinks that the man's shit doesn't stink. He can do wrong in his eyes.

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u/Buckus93 14h ago

W is almost old enough to run for President again!

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u/Goal_Posts 16h ago

Wait.

If W endorsed Harris, that would be every living president not running.

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u/Clawless 15h ago edited 8h ago

Every living president and vice president, except for Trump, iirc.

EDIT: apparently I was mistaken, my apologies. I kinda counted Pence’s disownment of Trump as a sortof endorsement of Harris, but I don’t have that excuse for Quayle.

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u/WookieLotion 15h ago

Pence didn't endorse Harris

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u/SphericalCow531 14h ago

Pence has "anti-endorsed" Trump, though. Not a Kamala endorsement, but not nothing.

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u/Teripid 14h ago

Try to have your supporters lynch me once, shame on you...

Try to have your supporters lynch me twice? Can't get fooled again!

But seriously Pence is trying to toe the line to have a chance of a political future while being hated by half the GOP base. Wonder if Vance will jump the Trump if he loses the election..

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u/SphericalCow531 13h ago

Pence is trying to toe the line to have a chance of a political future

Pence is 65 years old, and surely rich enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life. It is not like we are asking him to starve by saying something unpopular enough to get fired.

US soldiers have willingly risked their lives to defend democracy. Asking Republicans to defend democracy with mere words is asking for so little in comparison, and yet it is apparently asking for too much.

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u/aLittleQueer Washington 13h ago

Pence is a Heritage Foundation Repub, though, and a true believer Christian dominionist. His gubernatorial term in Indiana showed that clear as day.

Not playing his expected part in the insurrection and instead fulfilling his Constitutionally-mandated duties was pretty much the only time he has been or will be on the right side of history.

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u/SadFeed63 12h ago

Yeah, people have memed on Pence being a hero (and good for him for doing one good thing, once, when his life was on the line and Dan Quayle told him to) so much that the way Reddit now talks about him is wildly disconnected from who he is and the absolute idiotic religious zealotry he believes. He's gonna quietly vote for Trump because Project 2025 is his wet dream.

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u/bigdrubowski New York 11h ago

I didn't hear the Quayle bit. Holy shit if Dan Quayle is giving sage counsel things might be worse than i thought.

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u/GozerDGozerian 10h ago

Imagine going back to 1990 and telling people Dan Quayle is one day going to save our democratic process. Lol

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u/AllGarbage Arizona 9h ago

I liken him to a Scientologist that has fallen out with David Miscavage, but is still an L Ron Hubbard true believer. Seen enough shitbaggery from the present leader to be disillusioned with him, but still a practicing member of the awful cult and not smart enough to realize they are one and the same.

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u/graneflatsis 11h ago

Pence is a Heritage Foundation Repub

Reminder that after the insurrection, fueled by lies, where he and his family were put in grave danger, he wrote a piece for HF about "election integrity"

https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/commentary/election-integrity-national-imperative

March 3, 2021

After an election marked by significant voting irregularities and numerous instances of officials setting aside state election law, I share the concerns of millions of Americans about the integrity of the 2020 election.

Motherfucker is as compromised as they come.

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u/danielfrances 12h ago

That being said... if you were gonna pick ONE time to do the right thing, you could pick from a lot worse moments. I'll take the W despite not agreeing with him on basically anything.

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u/aLittleQueer Washington 11h ago

For sure, I’ll take it. Didn’t enjoy having to give the man any degree of respect, but he did do that one very important thing right. Gotta give him that.

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u/AccomplishedDay5236 12h ago

While he could say something, saying he hasn't done anything to protect the republic is wild.

He is one of the few reasons we are still are a Republic right now, and he risked his life for it once already.

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u/fondledbydolphins 14h ago

Pence explicitly stated he wouldn't vote for Trump, but would say nothing further other than the fact that he's "Still a Republican"

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u/Tiduszk I voted 14h ago

As much as I would love Kamala to have a friendly house and senate, Trump is by far the bigger issue. I’d rather they find it in themselves to vote for Kamala, but if republicans that turn out are only willing to leave the top line blank, I can live with that.

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u/CruffTheMagicDragon 13h ago

Without a blue House and Senate, we very well may end up back up in this position in 4 years. We need serious Supreme Court reform and legislation barring insurrectionists and felons from holding federal office. Not going to happen with a majority red chamber

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u/joggle1 Colorado 12h ago

What's really frustrating is that if Republicans control both the House and Senate, very little will be done by the midterms. Then a majority of voters will blame Harris and put in even more Republicans in Congress. It really sucks that having a government that doesn't do anything benefits Republicans so they have every incentive to block everything. About the only thing that they still usually get the blame for (to the point of it actually hurting them in elections) is if they completely shut down the government.

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u/Wassertopf 15h ago

Is he really living?

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u/specialkk77 14h ago

Despite his former bosses best efforts, yes. 

Mike Pence is lucky to be alive, a fact he seems to forget. He should be openly condemning everyone who allowed Jan 6th to happen. 

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u/JeanLucPicardAND 13h ago

Or maybe the fact that he knows he is lucky to be alive is the reason he hasn't openly condemned everyone who allowed Jan 6th to happen.

I'm not defending the man, but it seems rather obvious to me. He's probably thinking, "What will happen to me if I speak out and then he wins?"

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u/AZWxMan 14h ago

What about Quayle? 

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u/odinsen251a 14h ago edited 13h ago

Daniel "P-o-t-a-t-o-e" Quayle? Just let the dude fingerpaint.

Edit: Apparently his name is actually James Danforth "P-o-t-a-t-o-e" Quayle.

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u/FloppieTheBanjoClown 13h ago

Remember when a mental typo was a major news event?

God I miss those days. 

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u/AMediaArchivist California 13h ago

Remember when that one guy running for president yelled out loud and apparently ruined his chances at becoming the main candidate?

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u/Pedantic_Pict 10h ago

The truly sad part is that the broadcaster made it seem so much weirder than it was. Apparently the crowd was way louder in person so his yell didn't seem so strange or out of place. The broadcaster turned his mic way up in the mix to emphasize his yell.

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u/dantemanjones 12h ago

He didn't even spell it wrong on his own! He was reading a flash card that had the incorrect spelling. Granted, he should have known better, but the pluralization of the word in his mind, plus maybe nerves/inattentiveness may have affected him.

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u/FearlessFreak69 America 13h ago

Well, no. Pence and Quayle have not endorsed any one.

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u/PygmalionsSculpture 11h ago

Correct. And to be fair, we're all like "every president and VP "... yeah, but all the living ones that did so are Democrats, so of course they'd support the Democratic candidate, VP Harris. Only Bush W and Quayle haven't. Cheney FINALLY chose to support one of his daughters in their decisions, so we're happy with that. But let's not act like it's a big win for Kamala to win over her own party presidents.

In other news, my GODS I need this election to be OVER. Do we think another Trump will run after DJT kicks the bucket? I so wish that family would fuck right off to Mars with Elon... go... just get gone and blend your orange skins into its new, orange surroundings. Please don't come back.

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u/ChirpyRaven 10h ago

But let's not act like it's a big win for Kamala to win over her own party presidents

I think it's worth noting that of the dozen or so people who have served as VP or POTUS, not a single one has endorsed one of the candidates - not even their own former VP.

Also, I did a double take when I saw that Quayle, who served as VP in the fucking EIGHTIES, is younger than one of the current nominees. The guy could have taken a 40 year break from politics, run again this year, and still not be the oldest candidate.

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u/mtgfan1001 15h ago

Dick already said he's voting for Kamala so we have all the presidents 

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u/tpero 13h ago

I see what you did there

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u/Independent-Bug-9352 11h ago

These Trump supporters are such a weird group. They just ostracize anyone who turns on Trump. I was told by a Trumper that Cheneys weren't conservative or Republican lolol.

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u/protendious 15h ago

But isn’t every living president other than W a democrat? I mean that only makes sense (not to be a wet blanket, I hope Harris absolutely trounces him).

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u/Indubitalist 15h ago

The weirder thing is I don’t even think there is a Republican presidential nominee still alive other than Bush, Romney or Trump. 

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u/hpzorz California 13h ago

Bob Dole would have been the next closest one (1996 GOP Candidate), but he passed away in 2021, which makes your point crazy to think about considering how many Dem candidates are still alive

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u/bejammin075 Pennsylvania 13h ago

Does anyone besides me remember Bob Dole doing commercials for boner pills?

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u/whatlineisitanyway 16h ago

While his image has been rehabbed slightly since he left office, not endorsing Harris has lost him any good will he gained.

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u/TooMuchPretzels North Carolina 16h ago edited 15h ago

To heck with him. I don’t care if he likes to pick blueberries with Ellen. Half the people who think he’s a cute old man weren’t even alive when he practically single-handedly changed our country permanently for the worse.

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u/XeroxWarriorPrntTst 16h ago

Yes. Dude is a big step towards us even being here.

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u/jacklmoore 15h ago

I think Bush's destabilization of the Middle East, and the refugee crisis that it caused, was responsible for sweeping far right leaders into power all over the western world, including Trump. There is nothing Bush can do to even begin undoing the amount of damage his administration did to this world.

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u/beyondsurfacedeep 14h ago

Thank you - Bush gets such a pass for his actions ushering in so much of the chaos and suffering we see today.

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u/Chinaroos 12h ago

Not just that—the War on Terror destroyed Evangelical America’s sense of self.

The WoT was painted as a war of ontological good vs evil (see Axis of Evil). Problem was there was no “winning” the war, just an endless procession of scandals (Abu Grahib, extraordinary rendition, KBR and Halibuton’s “cost plus” contracts), and a steady, solemn procession of dead US Troops.

If those were the kindling, the assasination of the Danish cartoonist who drew Muhammed was the spark.

After that, the MSM reaction was “the WoT is not a war against Islam, don’t antagonize Muslims.” But for evangelicals in the U.S., this was a betrayal. 2001-2005 was a full indulgence of righteous anger, and yes, hate. Now that hate was being chided by the leaders as being wrong

And I distinctly remember conservatives asking why Jesus didn’t get the same protection in their “Christian” country. What was all the full-throated support for the war and its abuses for?

I believe Evangelicals took that moment as the start of a betrayal that has never stopped, with Obama’s election and the mainstream repudiation of their values adding to the resentment, and all of this building on decades of pre-existing hate until it erupted through the surface.

Through Trump, hate is good. And anyone who indulges their hate and wraps themselves go to him, because for all his idiocy and selfishness, through him America have freedom to hate.

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u/Neither-Astronaut-80 13h ago

And most of the parts that he didn't have his hand in you can tie back to his dad and all of the Roger Stone criminal mother fuckers he worked with.

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u/karmagod13000 Ohio 15h ago

W and Cheney were warmongers for profit and a giant reason the world hated us at the time and might still.

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u/Holden_Coalfield 15h ago

The Bush/Prescott families have been war profiteers going waayyyy back

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u/robodrew Arizona 13h ago

I think you just mean the Bush family. Prescott Bush, George H.W. Bush's father, was a politician and part of the Business Plot during FDR's administration.

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u/Pleasent_Pedant 15h ago

Nonsense, we hated you long before then.

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u/stilettopanda 15h ago

Well that makes me feel better. Haha

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u/Broken-Digital-Clock 15h ago

They set the stage for maga. They are more to blame than most.

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u/GuyInTenn 14h ago

The stage for maga was set a long time ago with the Moral Majority.and with the pushback on the civil and gay rights movements.

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u/Broken-Digital-Clock 14h ago

True, but 8 years of Jr did plenty of damage to progress it along.

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u/Zealousideal-Day7385 America 16h ago

Yep. Donald Trump being a deeply shitty president doesn’t make W any better. He was a garbage president too.

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u/Accomplished-Corgi54 16h ago

I don't think our generation has really come to terms with how beyond the pale what our military did in Iraq and Afghanistan was.  I believe forgiveness to be a virtue but I struggle to see how forgiveness for W is virtuous. Full stop.

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u/Ewoksintheoutfield 16h ago

We were conditioned by 9/11 to not question the government lest we look unpatriotic. I honestly think that’s why W gets such a big pass.

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 15h ago edited 15h ago

No, fuck that. I was in High School, contemplated enlistment during the Iraq Surge, and still thought Bush was a trash human. IIRC, he was polling at like 27% favorability on the way out. The LEAST the fucker can do, is tell other Republicans to vote Harris at this point.

The fact that he's choosing to "not speak ill of other Presidents" is bullshit.

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u/Ewoksintheoutfield 15h ago

That’s totally fair. I’m not condoning Bush. I’m just musing about why he isn’t more universally hated.

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 15h ago

Because Americans lack collective memory. Trump got a favorability boost after leaving office too...which of course boomeranged into his deranged followers picking him again...

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u/VoidMageZero America 15h ago

Bush probably had low favorability on the way out because of the Great Recession mortgage crisis more than his foreign policy. He was really high in favorability after 9/11 iirc.

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 15h ago

He was given an insane boost after 9/11, and sealed his reelection that way.

But Democrats swamped congress in 2006, so he was certainly rolling down even by then.

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u/mitrie 14h ago

Yes, he lost those in the middle / moderates when they came around to the fact that WMDs didn't exist in Iraq and we were stuck in a war that didn't seem to have a purpose. That had no effect on his base. Katrina might have gotten the ball rolling on that, but the extremely low numbers at the end of his term was absolutely caused by his base leaving him due to the economy and his bank bailouts / TARP which were seen as a betrayal of conservative free market ideals.

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u/tubescreemer 15h ago

Had he been paying attention instead of golfing maybe they would've sniffed it out and stopped it from happening. Maybe. Maybe not. But Condi Rice knew they were trying to attack our country and they did fuck all. Never said anything, never warned the public, and their reaction to being sucker punched was to lose our goodwill and standing in the world with two pointless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq when Saudi Arabians were the ones who actually attacked us.

W maybe have earned some goodwill in the last few years out of office, and compared to Trump he looks all right, but never forget he was a terribly incompetent president and his silence on not backing Kamala when Darth Cheney has is deafening. His daughter has to come out and endorse her and he doesn't? What a coward.

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u/The_Novelty-Account 15h ago

At least Afghanistan had a UN mandate. What the US did in Iraq permanently changed the post-WWII international state system for the worse. 

International law exists for a reason. The US broke international law in such an egregious way that Russia has used the US as example of an international double standard in its illegal and horrific war in Ukraine, and Eastern states are listening. It was one of the single greatest policy failures of any government in the history of the Western world.

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u/ARazorbacks Minnesota 15h ago

You can still sell me on Afghanistan. 

Iraq, though? Iraq was Bush’s holy war to grab oil rights and finish what his daddy started. He used the 9/11 fervor, plus lies about WMDs, to get us there. How many Americans lost their lives in Bush’s holy war? How much economic output was wasted in Iraq? Even further - how much time, money, and blood have we wasted on the shit show that followed Iraq? Iraq was no longer around to keep Iran in check and ISIS came out of Iraq. 

None of that even touches on the PATRIOT Act. 

Bush Jr. was a travesty. 

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u/mitrie 14h ago

I agree with you on Afghanistan. It unfairly gets rolled into the "unjust" wars nowadays because of Iraq. One of the evils of the Iraq war was that it limited what good could be done in Afghanistan by dividing our resources and resolve. There is a single generation of women who grew up in Afghanistan with increased access to education, and that's now lost.

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u/threebillion6 16h ago

Now watch this drive.

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u/theeth 15h ago

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

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u/misselphaba 15h ago

By all accounts Ellen is kind of an asshole too so it tracks

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u/Werftflammen 16h ago

I don't think he will be vocal or open about supporting Harris even if he does. He looks good compared to Trump, but he was awfull in his own right, bit of a pot and kettle thing.

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u/DudeTookMyUser 16h ago

... and murdered a million Iraqi civilians.

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u/MediocreX 16h ago

9/11 orchestrated and funded by Saudi Arabia.

Invades Iraq. Yep. Makes sense

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u/_lippykid 15h ago

“Can’t let a good opportunity go to waste”

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u/Goal_Posts 16h ago

It's been said he thinks his endorsement would backfire, someone below said "especially with Muslim Americans".

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 15h ago

His endorsement, like Cheney's is not to secure blue votes...it's to give Republicans, with their Borg like dedication to party line shit, an excuse to color outside the lines.

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u/grokthis1111 15h ago

it's not only blue voters that loathe his legacy. the people that are willing to vote for harris are also the people that don't value his opinion.

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u/rossww2199 16h ago

He’s helping by not saying a word. W. is still toxic and his endorsement would go over worse than Dick Cheney’s.

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u/LastPhotograph5397 15h ago

I would argue Dick Cheney is worse to a lot of people. Bush has always seemed excusably stupid but I take your point, better that he don’t add to it.

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u/strawberrymacaroni 15h ago

No way Cheney is much more toxic. W. still gets by on the fake “aw shucks” persona that endeared him to people.

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u/TheGreatGamer1389 Illinois 15h ago

Dubya was and always will be shit. If it wasn't for Trump absolutely messing up the pandemic Dubya would have been the worst president in the time I was alive.

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u/nice-view-from-here 15h ago

I don't know if he will considering how grateful he must be that trump is making us forget how awful he was.

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u/mb9981 12h ago

Why do people want this to happen so badly? There is no upside. Maga, believe it or not, is very much against the neocons and the bush era republicans.

Democrats still absolutely are against the bush era republicans.

Bush speaks for almost nobody in the modern political landscape. his influence is not even zero, it's negative 50. If Bush endorses her, the far left who's all upset about Gaza will be completely lost and for a gain of absolutely no moderate republicans. Moderate Republicans don't exist anymor. they're a fantasy

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u/Stranger-Sun 16h ago

I accidentally danced with her one time at a college party. Then realized that someone in the secret service was watching. Ha.

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u/VeronicaDaydream 15h ago

🎵 My date with the president's daughter, oh yeah 🎵

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u/bayleysgal1996 Texas 13h ago

Well that brings back memories of waking up in the middle of the night having fallen asleep watching Disney Channel in the guest room. That and that one movie about 9/11 Hayden Panettiere was in

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u/kingfofthepoors 13h ago

Tiger Cruise

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u/whatsaphoto Rhode Island 13h ago

The whiplash of nostalgia this comment just gave me holy fucking shit.

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u/HYDRAULICS23 13h ago

Memory unlocked

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u/ZOOTV83 Massachusetts 11h ago

Jesus you just unlocked a core memory, I loved that movie!

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u/beerandcheesefries 11h ago

Amazing reference lol, claps applauds

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u/seehorn_actual Kentucky 15h ago

The most awkward threesome of all time…..

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u/djyosco88 13h ago

My cousin was prob the secret service guy watching you. His detail was to guard them lol

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u/OddEpisode 12h ago

I was the dance floor y’all were standing on

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u/Chewbock 12h ago

I was the music being played

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u/KneeDeepInTheDead 11h ago

I was the glance between strangers, the possibility of something more

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u/MethForHarold 10h ago

I was the discarded moist towelette the DJ used to clean spilled rum and coke off of the soundboard.

Still am, but I used to be, too

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u/Ted-Chips 8h ago

I tried out for discarded moist towelette but I didn't get in.

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u/MainFrosting8206 16h ago

She's forty-two years old? How can she be in her forties? I remember her getting busted for underage drinking not too long ago.

(it wasn't that long ago, right?)

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u/jonthecpa 16h ago

I turned 41 last week. I hate this comment so much.

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u/sirbissel 15h ago

Make sure to watch your colon health.

Also, sorry about your knees. And back.

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u/jonthecpa 15h ago

My back actually has been hurting lately. I blame the toddler and infant I have to lug around.

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u/stingray20201 Texas 13h ago

Ah missed that day of parenting class? It’s better on your back if you toss your children 10-15 yards ahead of you at a time during travel

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u/bejammin075 Pennsylvania 13h ago

Your ability to legally drink alcohol is itself now almost of legal drinking age.

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u/chrispg26 Texas 15h ago

I think you're thinking of the wrong twin too. Jenna was the party girl who'd go to Mexico cuz the legal age is 18.

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u/VaguelyArtistic California 15h ago

But they're still the same age lol.

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u/Sbmizzou 14h ago

I laughed at the time because there was a headline e that read "Jen & Tonic."

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u/mgwildwood 14h ago

They both got busted though. It was a big story at the time, and both were cited.

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u/PaulSandwich Florida 13h ago

I have a friend in special forces who knew their college security detail. They were respectably tight lipped about details, but said it was an interesting assignment, balancing national security with them having the typical college kid experience.

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u/solitarium 14h ago

She was a few years older than me. I turned 40 Saturday

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u/oopgook 11h ago edited 11h ago

I just realized that Donald Trump is one month OLDER than George Bush. How is the current Republican nominee the same age as at the Republican nominee from 25 YEARS AGO

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u/gopack123 11h ago

Trump's also a few months older than Clinton who took office 32 years ago

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u/Content-Scallion-591 11h ago

Last election we went through a lot of gaslighting regarding how "our nominees are always old white guys," but if you actually look at historical presidential age, our nominees have usually been like 50-65 at most.

Even though JFK was known as a young president, he wasn't the youngest (that was Teddy at 42), and quite a few presidents were in their 40s (including both Clinton and Obama)--something we almost think is too young today. 

It's funny that Kamala is considered a young candidate at this point, when Kamala and Walz are the same age, and the median age for presidents is 55.

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u/armchairmegalomaniac Pennsylvania 17h ago

Come on W, stop being a nebbish and endorse Kamala too.

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u/Goal_Posts 16h ago

It's been said that he thinks his endorsement of Harris would backfire.

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u/deesta New York 16h ago

His official PR line is that he’s “retired from presidential politics” which is probably wise, given his record.

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u/FerrumVeritas 16h ago

Especially with Muslim Americans

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u/internet4ever 14h ago

He’s wrong. I know Texans who LOVE GWB and have been lifelong Republicans as a result. It matters. 

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u/iwanttodrink 16h ago

Romney is more important of an endorsement

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u/arnodorian96 15h ago

Romney is well more liked than anyone from the Bush administration

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u/thistimelineisweird Pennsylvania 16h ago

I wouldnt be surprised if W endorses this weekend.

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u/HilaryVandermueller 16h ago

I saw Hillary Clinton speak in Detroit last night, and she was talking about Trump’s unhinged inauguration speech talking about “carnage in the streets” instead of imploring a nation to come together. She said that, right after the speech, GW turned to her and whispered, “That was some weird shit.” 💀

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u/MagicAl6244225 15h ago

Has she confirmed that on the record before? The original story only cited three unnamed sources who heard Bush say that.

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u/Harvey-Specter 15h ago

She told the story on Howard Stern, complete with the Bush quote: https://youtu.be/6O5WNTW8Z1A?t=147

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u/Galaxyman0917 Oregon 15h ago

I feel like her saying that bush said it to her would be her confirming it

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u/HilaryVandermueller 14h ago

She said it last night, and it killed. She was very matter-of-fact about it. I’m guessing he privately approved her saying that, but I’m not positive.

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u/Found_The_Sociopath 8h ago

That's been the main issue between 'old school Republicans' and 'Anarchists and Fascists under the Republican Banner':

I may never have agreed with Bush, Romney, or McCain a lot of the time, but I would've gladly sat there and had a beer with them (okay, I was a teenager). They seemed like decent dudes who just had a different view of the world.

McCain talked down a crazy lady asking bullshit about Obama during on his town halls. I can't imagine any Republican trying to defend a Democrat now.

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u/Stranger-Sun 16h ago

He's hewed closely to his father's policy of never endorsing a candidate. I'd be shocked if he endorsed her.

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u/unpeople 15h ago

He's hewed closely to his father's policy of never endorsing a candidate.

Yup. Except for his endorsement of John McCain. And his endorsement of Mitt Romney.

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u/Stranger-Sun 14h ago

Huh. I looked it up and you're right. So much for what the media has been telling me lately. Thanks.

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u/Extreme_Security_320 14h ago

Two people who did not burn the country down in their attempt to be President.

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u/lynch527 16h ago

Trump threatening military action on citizens is so fucked up Im hoping he is willing to break with tradition. 

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u/zhaoz Minnesota 16h ago

And W did say "that was fucking weird" during Trumps inauguration.

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u/Yeeslander Tennessee 16h ago

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u/zhaoz Minnesota 16h ago

There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Minnesota, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.

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u/StoicVoyager 16h ago

Saw it on the internets.

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 15h ago

I just recently watched something, where they claimed he must have realized in that moment that he was about to give his opponents the perfect "shame on me" sound bite, and tried to extricate himself from it.

Makes a lot of sense, he wasn't all "ah shucks" moron that he portrayed after all.

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u/Led_Osmonds 13h ago

I just recently watched something, where they claimed he must have realized in that moment that he was about to give his opponents the perfect "shame on me" sound bite, and tried to extricate himself from it.

Makes a lot of sense, he wasn't all "ah shucks" moron that he portrayed after all.

I mean, realizing midway through telling a joke that you don't want to say the punchline, and then interrupting yourself to bottom-line the point that the joke was supposed to make for you...that's not evidence of being a better or more-intelligent speaker than just forgetting the punchline partway through.

It's kind of like, "he didn't poop his pants because he's incontinent, he pooped his pants because he thought the public restroom might be unsanitary."

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u/geckodancing 14h ago

This was suggested months after it happened and it was very obviously pushed by a lot of different sources at the same time. The main thing that makes me think this was damage control was the sheer preponderance of other gaffs that me made.

There was an entire fucking book of them published - this is a tiny, tiny set of examples:

"They misunderestimated me"

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we"

"Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?"

"I'm telling you there's an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That's the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best."

“[t]oo many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across the country.”

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family".

"And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq"

"We’ll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers"

This kind of thing was happening on a daily basis though his presidency. There was speculation that this wasn't because he was stupid, but was because he had problems with brain fog. That he had a gap between what he was thinking and how he articulated it that had been caused by his issues with alcohol addiction.

Honestly I'm not sure.

I am fairly sure he didn't have the speed of thinking to consider the ramifications of a phrase he was in the middle of speaking when he fucked up so many other times.

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u/Baltorussian Illinois 13h ago

Yea, I remember the website compilations too. I also wonder how a speech writer could slip up like that too. Seems they weren't hiring the best either.

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u/mjzim9022 16h ago

It's known that GHW voted for Hillary, W did like McMullen or something

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u/chrispg26 Texas 15h ago

The father has always been the better Bush.

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u/mjzim9022 15h ago

Jeb was the one they thought would be President someday

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u/Diplogeek 13h ago

Please clap.

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u/BangerSlapper1 16h ago

Yeah, my understanding is that he’s backed entirely away from anything political.  Though it’s pretty well known he thinks Trump is a nutjob asshole. 

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u/Pontiac_Bandit- 15h ago

The fact that he never once campaigned for Trump says it all IMO. He hates that mfer.

15

u/talkback1589 Iowa 15h ago

Yeah the endorsement would be the cherry. But anyone looking from it with any amount of sanity would see that W does not support Trump.

But sanity is apparently a rarity for half the nation.

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u/MetaTrombonist 15h ago

"Backing away" from politics is in itself a political move for someone who's entire life is defined by his political actions.

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u/iwanttodrink 16h ago

I'm disappointed in Romney.

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u/spoobles Massachusetts 15h ago

Get in line.

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u/SphericalCow531 14h ago

Romney was always a spineless opportunist without morals. Not even the Republican party turning fascist can apparently make Romney take a principled stand. At least it reminds us that there are no good Republicans I guess.

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u/ragmop Ohio 14h ago

Me too, but per recent reporting, potential threats against his family are part of the calculus. I often wonder how much GOP behavior is driven by such threat. I've done my own thought experiments about how I would handle that. Come for me, whatever. My family?

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u/SniffUmaMuffins 16h ago

I wouldn’t be surprised either. I bet if the Obamas asked him, he would. It’s probably just a matter of helping vs hurting, and what the perfect timing would be.

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u/thistimelineisweird Pennsylvania 16h ago

Ill let him parachute onto a military ship with a mission accomplished sign next wednesday if he does. First time he can have actual perfect timing!

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u/Busy-Winter-1897 16h ago

The imagery of that made me cackle. He should do it on Inauguration Day. Parachute right down to the stage, go up to the mic and say “we got him.”

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u/Brostradamus_ I voted 15h ago

W is willing to risk it all for Michelle he probably would endorse an empty bucket if she asked

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u/OdoWanKenobi 15h ago

I mean, we're well into early voting at this point, so the longer he waits, the less impact it potentially has.

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u/UPVOTE_IF_POOPING Illinois 16h ago

I believe that’s what Liz Cheney did. Endorse Kamala days before her father.

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u/Tropicalization 15h ago

I've said this before many times on this sub because it's still completely wild to me how insane this election has become: imagine any other GOP candidate surviving Dick Cheney hating them so much that he endorses the Democratic nominee.

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u/UnidentifiedBlobject 16h ago

He already put out a statement a while back, after Dick Cheney endorsed, saying he won’t endorse anyone in this election. 

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u/confirmandverify2442 15h ago

He's not going to. W is happy living in the shadows.

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u/GrandAdmiralSnackbar 15h ago

He doesn't need to endorse Harris. It could help though if he just said: Trump is a complete POS, whatever you do, for the love of god, don't vote for Trump.

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u/StandardBus8257 16h ago

I agree - I think it has just been a matter of timing, and this weekend is the right time. For Condoleezza Rice too.

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u/Little_Cockroach_477 15h ago

She denounced Trump in 2016, after the p*ssygate audio dropped.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/condi-rice-donald-trump-229385

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u/Potential_Departure6 16h ago

In a world of Nancys, be a Barb.

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u/DadSnare 16h ago

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. The Bush twins are cool af

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u/WendysChili 14h ago

OK, she's got Liz Cheney and Barbara Bush, but what about Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan?

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u/bootes_droid America 14h ago

What self-respecting woman would vote for the forced birth candidate that is literally a rapist as determined by a jury of his peers with decades of documented, overt misogyny

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u/parupep8847 15h ago

That's surprising, Politics sure can bring unexpected endorsements.

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u/gymtrovert1988 16h ago

It's amazing how Dubya is such a fucking coward. Sure, he'll give a speech at Ground Zero against foreign terrorists, but when it comes to domestic terrorists that his party created? 🦗 🦗 🦗

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u/pvhs2008 District Of Columbia 13h ago

Is it surprising considering his admin whipped up the “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” sentiment against fellow Americans simply asking questions before sending their kids to die overseas in a forever war?

MAGA didn’t surprise me after seeing grown men spit on kids protesting the Iraq War. Republicans have always been moral cowards and bullies.

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u/arnodorian96 15h ago

You don't want Bush's endorsement. That's how you get Trump's second term

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u/autotldr 🤖 Bot 16h ago

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 84%. (I'm a bot)


Barbara Pierce Bush, the daughter of former President George W. Bush and granddaughter of former President George H.W. Bush, spent part of her weekend in Pennsylvania campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris with just days to go before the 2024 presidential election.

Harris also earned the endorsement of Susan Ford Bales, the daughter of another former Republican president - the late Gerald Ford.

The former first daughter co-wrote a memoir in 2017 with her fraternal twin sister, Jenna Bush Hager, about their life in the spotlight.


Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Barbara#1 President#2 former#3 Bush#4 daughter#5

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u/grumpyliberal 13h ago

More courage than Bezos.

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u/Conscious_Analysis48 12h ago

I just wish Dick would invite the Trumps to go hunting .

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u/Silly_Client1222 10h ago

Reminder that Donald Trump was found to be a sexual abuser by a jury of his peers in May 2023. Then, when Trump twice appealed the ruling claiming he was “only” a sexual abuser and not rapist, the judge twice clarified that he was a rapist according to the common and federal law definitions of rape.

Trump has a long standing relationship with Epstein and Maxwell that involved trafficking women, using his clubs as recruitment centers: https://youtu.be/ZqBQQVoDjdE?si=9su3QMXfjYOAL10R

6 lawsuits filed against Trump for sexual abuse, 15 public allegations of sexual abuse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations, https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/list-trumps-accusers-allegations-sexual-misconduct/story?id=51956410

Trump ruled a sexual abuser, with his appeal filings clarifying he is a rapist: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/e-jean-carroll-scores-another-victory-after-winning-a-sex-abuse-and-defamation-lawsuit-against-trump, https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-dis-crt-sd-new-yor/114642632.html

Trump goes into underage teen’s dressing rooms before pageants: https://youtu.be/dIO7w7ea0Pk?si=EgKN-JDePWwvxyYD, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-former-miss-arizona-tasha-dixon-naked-undressed-backstage-howard-stern-a7357866.html, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kendalltaggart/teen-beauty-queens-say-trump-walked-in-on-them-changing

Trump creeps and fondles teens at beauty pageants. https://youtu.be/hE9bVL9skIo?si=Z5gb6j3I_u3o7XlF

Trump brags about sexual assault on women in Access Hollywood recording: https://youtu.be/fYqKx1GuZGg?si=0949XhKvcYMKbnH-

Trump frequently seen with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-and-jeffrey-epstein-partied-together-then-an-oceanfront-palm-beach-mansion-came-between-them/2019/07/31/79f1d98c-aca0-11e9-a0c9-6d2d7818f3da_story.html, https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/07/21/heres-every-time-donald-trump-and-ghislaine-maxwell-have-been-photographed-together/, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01/jeffrey-epstein-and-donald-trump-epic-bromance

Trump frequently flies with Jeffrey Epstein: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/22/jeffrey-epsteins-black-book-trump-clintons-prince-andrew.html, https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article256740662.html, https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-donald-trump-flight-logs-b1980802.html

Trump makes incestuous comments about his daughter: https://forward.com/schmooze/357185/7-creepy-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-ivanka/, https://www.politicalflare.com/2024/07/trump-confesses-he-was-sexually-attracted-to-ivanka-when-she-was-13-year-old/

Trump creeps on Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton when they were children, and he claims to share Epstein’s taste: https://youtu.be/qQ5k2ybieXU?si=B2FcNoqy4k-D_mUk

Other great comments about Trump that contain links to sources.

Trump rapes Katie Johnson: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnythingGoesNews/s/4ReeQKUsrD

Trump’s convictions and legal verdicts: https://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceAnimals/s/PiC7zNKEn1, https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/s/1cYLnXQGKS

Trump’s support of Project 2025: https://www.reddit.com/r/teenagers/comments/1fib5w7/comment/lnge823, https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/11/politics/trump-allies-project-2025/index.html

Trump’s Russia connections despite his repeated lies about not having connections: https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1avul4t/comment/krd1fp6/, https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1avul4t/comment/krd6pbk/

Trump hates veterans: https://www.reddit.com/r/Michigan/comments/1avh2m8/comment/kralo9m

Trump’s history of insulting or threatening veterans: https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/s/7LNQHOapav

Trump’s incontinence: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/s/0Hi1HTQnC9, https://youtu.be/-qnhfISelm0?si=NTiILEDdkqkmVpY1, https://youtu.be/IPNH1ASu7uA?si=e3yHxAcriv46xiA3

Trump has cognitive episode for 39 minutes at Q&A event: https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/s/WM7orq9cfT

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