Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

So you have a busy job, maybe a busy week. But you have a private jet, and are in charge of your own calendar. Couldn't you find a few hours to go to your own brother's wedding? Even if it's only his second marriage?

Not, it seems if you are G.W. Bush. The Miami Herald reports that The Neil Bush remarried Saturday — and although G.H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush attended, neither Jeb nor GW took the time to go.

The political calculation is obvious — Neil is the posterboy of sleaze what with his shady business deals, his messy divorce, and his notorious meetings with prostitutes paid for by his Asian business contacts — but even so, shouldn't politics take a back seat here?

The Herald ran this item on its gossip page. I predict the media gives this a lot less play than it gave, say, Jimmy Carter's relationship with his (also very dubious) brother.

The AP reports that Bush Seeks to Bolster Regular-Guy Image:

Until last month, President Bush hadn't been to a NASCAR race since he was governor of Texas and running for president. On Monday, he goes to a rodeo and livestock exhibition in Houston — again, for the first time since he was governor.

Clearly, Karl Rove is counting on the fact that when Abraham Lincoln made his famous remark, he neglected to specify percentages.

It seems that my intuition that the Florida is political ground zero was if anything pessimistic. Comes now the Miami Herlad to report on its latest poll finding: Florida voters leaning toward Kerry (by a little).

The whole poll is sort of interesting. The dismal Florida legislature, whose leadership in particular is inept, grasping, and transparently bent on self-aggrandizement, gets low ratings. Alas, the legislative districts are so thoroughly gerrymandered that almost every incumbent faces no meaningful chance of losing his/her seat.

Governor Jeb Bush, whose policies are actually out of step with a majority of the state's voters (e.g. he favors cutting school spending whatever the consequences, they favor spending what it takes for small classes) gets relatively high ratings. Go figure.