On this date in 1977, a handsome young man named George W. Bush married a very beautiful young lady named Laura Welch in Midland, Texas. And the rest, as they say, is history.

As it happened, Mrs. Bush also celebrated her birthday yesterday. So, happy birthday (we won’t discuss numbers) to the former First Lady, and happy anniversary to you both, President and Mrs. Bush.

And while I’m at it — this being Election Day as well — I would like to congratulate “Dubya” on becoming the only living former President to refrain from endorsing a presidential candidate. That took guts.

As explained by former President Bill Clinton when the two appeared in an interview on CNN on Sunday:

“First of all, he’s spoken up, I think, more than he’s gotten credit for, and he takes every opportunity that I’ve seen to talk about how important immigration is and how we can’t survive without it.” [James Liddell, Independent, November 5, 2024.]

So he can’t in good conscience back Trump. But what about Harris? Clinton further said that he believes Bush would not want to alienate his lifelong party by publicly endorsing a Democrat. So, he chooses to remain publicly neutral. Good for him.

His daughter Barbara, on the other hand, felt no such compulsion toward reticence, openly canvassing for Kamala Harris and saying that she hopes Democrats will “move our country forward and protect women’s rights.” [Id.]

A family that puts country first, votes their respective consciences, and is honest enough to come clean about it. What an unusual, and wholly refreshing, trait to find in today’s world . . . and especially in the world of politics.

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And this being Election Day, I also found these interesting historical notes from earlier November fifths:

1912: Woodrow Wilson wins landslide victory. He saw us through World War I, keeping us out of it for the first two and a half years. In his second term, he suffered a stroke and his wife Edith took over the reins of office. That would never happen today!

1940: FDR re-elected for a third term. And he would win a fourth term, though not for long. He got the country through most of World War II, but didn’t live to see the end of it; that “honor” — the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — fell to his successor, Harry Truman. No other president has been able to serve more than two terms, since the passing of the 22nd Constitutional Amendment in 1951.

1968: Richard Nixon elected president. He did some good; and then he did something really bad.

As Marc Antony famously said at Julius Caesar’s funeral:

”The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

So true, Mr. Shakespeare. So sadly true.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/5/24