You may now give him his due.
Ending months of speculation, Fort Worth attorney George P. Bush announced he would run for the office of Texas Land Commissioner with a Twitter message, after confirming that current Commissioner Jerry Patterson would not seek re-election:
“Great visit with @Patterson4TX. Updated filing. Running for #TXLand Commissioner. Join me at http://GeorgePforTexas.org#TX 2014.”
Bush, the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, nephew of former President of George W. Bush and son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush, also launched a two-minute campaign video on Youtube. In it, he credits former First Lady Barbara Bush with his decision to seek public office. “The important lesson Ganny taught me was the importance of public service,” he said.
In January, the 36-year-old Bush filed a campaign finance report with the Texas Ethics Commission reporting he had gathered $1.3 million in campaign contributions, including $50,000 from a George Bush, whose hometown is listed as Midland, and another $50,000 from his father.
I’ll say this much – I don’t have any particular problem with legacies going into the family business, as it were. It’s a common enough occurrence in other professions, and no one finds it objectionable when a lawyer’s kid goes to law school or a chef’s kid opens a restaurant. I know, this isn’t quite the same, but it’s still basically a kid following in a parent’s footprints. Sure, he’s got a much easier path to walk than a George P. Smith would have had, but again that’s true in any profession. There are plenty of reasons to be unimpressed by George P. Bush, and I’m certainly not going to refrain from mocking him for his silver spoon life, but there’s nothing remarkable about his decision.
One more thing:
Bush’s website featured a story about his potential to lure Hispanic voters to the Republican Party. His mother, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was born in Mexico.
If George P advocates policies that Latino voters like and agree with, he’ll do well with them, for some value of “well”. If not, simply being George P. Bush will probably have little effect. This isn’t a complicated thing. BOR, Texpatriate, and Dos Centavos have more.
Who are we running against this guy?