Poppa Bush Exposed in Depraved Sex Scandal!

 

WW2 hero and former President of these United States George H.W. Bush is ensnared in a lurid controversy that has shaken the globe, along with a few heinies. Not one but two fair maidens have alleged that the wheelchair-bound 93-year-old tried to cop a feel during group photos.

No cigars, potted plants, or sunken Oldsmobiles were found at the crime scenes, but the similar descriptions show a patriarchal pattern of predatory pinching. When several women swarm the seated nonagenarian, he slowly reaches his hand around the damsel to his right and … well … it’s too disturbing for me to describe, so I’ll let the ace journalists at Deadspin take it from here.

Heh. “David Cop-a-feel.”

Er, I mean, this is an outrage! Does the “H.W.” stand for Harvey Weinstein?! I call on Bill Clinton to condemn this lewd behavior at once!

Bush was quick to apologize for both incidents:

Me being me, I made light of the situation on social media and, within seconds, the Woke Police feigned shock at my lack of performative indignation.

Come on, people, it’s pretty funny. Yeah, it’s gross if someone my age tried this crap, but we’re dealing with a very old, very ill man, who probably lost his impulse control a decade ago. I’m amused that over my lifetime, Bush Sr. morphed from a repressed, nerdy technocrat to a character from ‘The Benny Hill Show.”

He reminds me of a resident at my dad’s memory care facility, who I’ll call Bobby. He sits in his favorite chair, dangling an unlit cigar from his lips as he pontificates in his thick outer-borough accent. Until he falls asleep mid-sentence and the stogie waggles up and down with his labored breathing.

But when my sister walks in the room, look out. The old fella achingly stumbles to his feet, looks her up and down, and says, “Wow!” before asking for a kiss. When his wife is there, she offers a tired apologetic look to my sister since he does this all the time. But before we leave, sis gives both him and my dad a big hug. You should see Bobby’s eyes light up.

Maybe we can give these old guys a break. Yes, their behavior is tacky, inappropriate, and not hip to the latest social justice rules posted on Tumblr. But to call this “sexual assault,” as one of the accusers did, takes the meaning away from the phrase.

As our WW2 vets are wheeled by a nurse to life’s finish line, they could use an extra measure of tolerance, forgiveness, and grace. Save the epithets for actual abusers.

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  1. Arahant Member
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    Kate Braestrup (View Comment):
    perhaps a healthy disillusionment will start to set in on the left.

    Thanks for the laugh, Kate.

    • #61
  2. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
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    Jon Gabriel, Ed.: my lack of performative indignation.

    We’ve needed that phrase. I’m glad somebody invented it.

    • #62
  3. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
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    JcTPatriot (View Comment):
    There is a commercial that always brings tears to my eyes. I can’t remember what it’s about, but it goes like this: An elderly woman is in the bathroom talking to her husband about her day, and she walks out to find he isn’t there, because she forgot he passed away some time ago. I want to grab her and hug her so hard!

    That makes you a predator.

    • #63
  4. Ansonia Member
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    PHenry (View Comment):

    Kate Braestrup (View Comment):
    Explain? Yes. It certainly can. Senility, or even mild dementia, can create marked changes in behavior. That’s one of the things that makes caring for family members with Alzheimer’s so difficult and painful.

    That doesn’t seem like an outlandish or unusual observation to me—does it to you?

    I’m not claiming that Trump is morally unacceptable as president. (Did you think I was?)

    I just don’t think it is right to assume anyone of advanced age is senile. Seems a bit ageist to me, and have a number of 80+ year olds in my life that are still mentally sharp who would be deeply insulted by the insinuation that their age proves them unable to control their impulses.

    Also, I’m not claiming President Bush is morally unfit or anything of the sort, just pointing out that if Trump’s crude comments demonstrate to someone he is unworthy of higher office, President Bush’s actions are marginally worse, so why the double standard?

    I want to repeat, I find the accusations of what President Bush did to be trivial, mean spirited and they don’t significantly affect my opinion of him. But them I don’t expect my political leadership to be role models, just honest public servants and patriots.

    I think it’s right to assume anyone of advanced age, and in poor health, could be sometimes at home, so to speak, and sometimes not.

    My last client (92) was the sharpest, most perceptive person I’ve ever known. But, on the same day, as he got tired or if he had forgotten to drink enough (He didn’t have an adequate sense of thirst and he was anxious to avoid being incontinent.) he could solve a math problem, tell you what you’re thinking, and then get pretty loopy.

    “Senile” is often a misleading word. Sick old people are more easily mentally affected by fatigue, slight dehydration, UTIs, medication, heat, hunger etc. (Complicating their self care is that they don’t get the clear messages from their bodies that we get. They often don’t feel as acutely thirsty, too warm, hungry. Or, of course, they don’t remember to take their pills or remember that they already took them—which anyone can do; but, the effect on them from the pill they didn’t get, or got twice, can be quicker and more extreme.

    I love being retired.)

    • #64
  5. PHenry Inactive
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    Ansonia (View Comment):
    I think it’s right to assume anyone of advanced age, and in poor health, could be sometimes at home, so to speak, and sometimes not.

    Seems quite unfair.  It’s like saying ‘since lots of smokers get cancer,and I know smokers that have cancer,  it is right to assume all smokers have cancer’.

    Obviously, if someone is of advanced age, and seems befuddled or confused at times, then it might be fair to assume possible age related issues.  But to just blanket assume anyone older than some age is likely to have mental incapacity, to the point that they can’t control who’s butt they grab, is not a fair assumption. It is especially unfair to those who are of advanced age who don’t suffer from age related dementia or other such illness.

    Each person deserves to be evaluated for their own individual capacities, not lumped in to the ‘addled/dirty old man’ category just because they are senior citizens!

    • #65
  6. Ansonia Member
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    I’m just saying that before these women complained as if Bush had deliberately sexually harassed them, they might have noticed the wheelchair, and considered anything that’s been in the news about his health, and remembered that the older we get the more likely it is we have health problems, and reflected on the way the health of the body affects the mind, and then asked themselves if they could really be sure Bush was entirely aware of his social self at the time.

    Old age sucks. I think it was mean of them not to keep in mind all they don’t know about him and cut him some slack. It’s like hitting a man when he’s down.

    • #66
  7. PHenry Inactive
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    Ansonia (View Comment):
    Old age sucks. I think it was mean of them not to keep in mind all they don’t know about him and cut him some slack. It’s like hitting a man when he’s down.

    agreed, even if he has full mental capacity, this is just being mean spirited and very much kicking him when down.  And old age sucks, but the alternative is worse!

    • #67
  8. Ansonia Member
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    PHenry (View CommentAnd old age sucks, but the alternative is worse!

    Could be.

    I’m getting to Confession and Mass this weekend with the possibility in mind.

    • #68
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