Bush Drops Fake Cowboy Shtick

George Bush bought his "ranch" down in Crawford in 1999 shortly before he started running for president. And now that he's done with politics, he is moving out of there as soon as he possibly can. The Bushes have bought a new home in a tony neighborhood (and until recently a whites-only community) in Dallas. So, what happened to retiring down to the ranch?

Well, it's what most of us suspected -- all total bullshit. He was never a cowboy. That ranch had nothing on it. No cows, no farming, just a lot of bullshit brush that Bush pretended to clear (for what fucking purpose?). The ranch was always a political gimmick. It was purchased so that Bush could play the role of the Texas cowboy when in fact he has always been the Andover cheerleader.

So, that pisses me off a little bit. And his brazen abandonment of the ranch as soon as he is out of office just throws it in everyone's face, as if he's saying, "You didn't really believe all that cowboy bullshit, did you? You weren't that stupid, were you?"

But what pisses me off a lot more is how the press never told the American people the truth. Now, it might seem like a small thing, in light of all the horrors of the Bush administration and how the press hardly challenged him on any of it. But it is truly indicative, and it did matter when it counted -- during the elections.

I don't know why the press feels the need to be so credulous, especially when it comes to Republican candidates. Fred Thompson has this fake red truck he uses whenever he campaigns for office. He instantly puts it away when he's done with that shtick. Why doesn't the press mock him whenever he gets in that stupid red truck that he normally wouldn't be caught dead in? Why did they never challenge Bush on his fake cowboy persona? Why didn't they ask him -- hey, what the fuck is this ranch for? And isn't it convenient you bought it right before the election?

Why the hell has our press gotten so timid? And when did they think their job became to reinforce the fake images and storylines of politicians rather than to challenge them? It's like they're playing their role in this scripted movie. It's almost as if they're being paid to go along with the fraud. The man grew up in a very exclusive, private boarding school in Connecticut. He was a snotty nosed cheerleader. His grandfather was a United States Senator and his father was the President of the United States of America. He was possibly the most privileged man in America. And the press helped to sell the American people on a line of bullshit about how he was a simple cowboy from a ranch down in Crawford. And it helped to get him elected!

That should be a stain on every reporter who covered him for the rest of their lives.

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Comments

[rob2007]

This faux cowboy swagger-schtick of Bush's is why the rabid base tumult over Sara Palin: because she doesn't just talk the talk; really does shoot moose.In her desiner boots. "The snow stained with blood..." Palin is George Bush with lipstick. And a 30-06.

May both parties do what's best for their country and not for their party.

[IDisgoodfittingjeans]

...and though the accompanying twang was just as fake, the bad english -- or american, as it were -- was the real mccoy.
nothing like a nepotistically derived little prince to take the reigns of this country for 8 looong years, and nothing like the republican serf masses to laud and magnify his glorious name.

[Giada]

"Wag the Dog," .... the best descriptive film on, "propping a president," with a speech, a schtick, make-up and a theme.

Theme candidates or office holders? How about Romney, Huck, Craig ..... "Good Christian Conservavtive values." Marketing tools ....and Bush fits right in.

It stops ... when a majority agree to view any candidate as a job applicant.

Is he qualified, willing to learn, what are his objectives, is he willing to admit error? .... and on.

[Marlyn]

What you say is true, and the press will continue to serve their Republican owners by obstructing and tearing down Obama.

[victorvelasco]

So many people have used the descriptive term 'Bush crime family' to define this administration. I ask you: if they really WERE a crime family who would write the truth about them? Being a journalist doesn't automatically make you a righteous, unafraid crusader. Maybe the Texas element in this whole equation can be summed up in the words of Lone Star football coaches: "put a hat on a hat"...even though it's not a great book, Jose Canseco's "Vindicated", if accurate, tells how Roger Clemens got as close to a free pass by the media with Bush connections leading the way...coin­cidentally­, now that the cheerleade­r-in-chief is leaving, things are heating up in Congress around Roger's fake (or, stilted at best) testimony over 'roids

[johnnynyc]

"So, that pisses me off a little bit."

Me too, and more than a little bit, but I'm not pissed at the press in general.

Look, the evidence was out there Bush was and is a fake cowboy.

It was dutifully reported exactly when Bush bought his "ranch."

The details of Bush's biography, Yale cheerleader etc., were well known.

It was the pundit class, the opinion shapers, who pushed the myth in an ongoing war against Gore, not the "press" in general.

I don't think this is a distinction without a difference.

I'm pissed a lot of people believe the commentator of their choice even if that commentator is blatantly pushing a political agenda at the expense of truth.

The Republicans are masters of making blatant lies seem like the truth, just look at the flap over the cost of Obama's inauguration. If you do a little work, read more than your favorite pundit or watch more than your favorite talking head, you know what's going to pass as conventional wisdom in this case is based on comparing apples and oranges.

It takes a little work finding it but the evidence is out there. Its been reported by the press.

The problem is pundits and talking heads distorting facts, making false comparisons or outright lying.

[johnnynyc]

...and I don't mean to exonerate the internet even though some claim it is the antidote to the traditional media.

Many sites and blogs, left and right, reprint any old crap that suits their political agenda and that pile of crap takes on a life of its own just like the myth of the Golem.

[lucylou]

Well, Bill Maher has long offered his comment on Bush's "ranch": He's the only President we've ever had who wears a costume.

Does this move mean he'll lose the phony accent too? And why doesn't his own brother have one?

[Anandas]

The New Yorker did a great exploration of this topic this past fall, about
this scam and centered on Crawford townies as they prepare for the exodus
of the Bushes and their Potemkin village. Where were the SNL skits on this?

[Emerald1943]

The cowboy hat, boots, oversized belt buckle...just a costume for a clown!

[KarenGeorgetown]

...and Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, referred to Bush as the "cockiest guy [he] had ever met" back in 2007, but who appeared "afraid of horses"... a "windshield cowboy" he called Bush! I can't get my brain around this stuff sometimes. Anyway, Happy Inauguration Day from Texas, all y'all's!

[suejester]

I was never fooled by it and I knew there were never WMD's...

[ForRichardorPoorer]

Where I come from, we call "em" Drugstore cowboys, or Rexall Rangers.....

[Fremon]

Why does anyone believe that he was ever a "cowboy" and "ranch" owner at all? It was well known this was a Rove propaganda ploy to make people think that he was a "man of the soil and frontier spirit guy" only. They thought it would be a Reaganesque ruse to connect people to Bush and as a "working" guy. As his neighbor and the "ranch" said (or implied), "I never saw a head of cattle or other farm animals on that property". Heck, he didn't even ride a horse (and in Texas of all places). All Bush did at the ranch was pick up brush and ride his bike. Very faux cowboy. This is an old story and it has been known that he would get rid of the property as soon as possible. He may keep it for a while but I doubt that he will be having any hoe downs with his fellow "Crawfordians". He may donate it to the town so they could have it as a tourist destination "The West Bush Western White House" kind of crap. Naturally, it will be a tax job that he will declare as a donation. He was as fake as his keeping America safe after seven years. So did Clinton after the first bombing. What he forgot was he did nothing to prepare for terrorism even when he was informed by a CIA daily briefing.

[Hephaestion]

Bravo Cenk Uygur! That brush clearing bullshit was a total hoax. Have you ever been to Central Texas? Brush is all they have around Crawford. No point in clearing it. Bush didn't even know his neighbors. I know because I happen to know one of the neighbors.

[PackyJ]

Cenk is right.

It should be telling... Dubya is the ONLY Bush with a 'Texan' accent.
Jeb and Neil grew up in the same house.
No accent from either.