Crawford Mayor is Kerry Supporter

[kskiska]

Crawford may be the heart of Bush country, but the town's mayor says John Kerry is the best choice for president.

"I don't see where I'm better off than I was four years ago," Robert Campbell said Tuesday. "I don't see where the city is any better off."

The Kerry campaign recently listed Campbell as one of 100 black mayors around the country - seven of them Texans - who support the Massachusetts senator over President Bush. But the campaign has not focused particular attention on the endorsement.

With his sprawling ranch near Crawford, Bush is the area's most famous resident. Tourists flood the Central Texas city's tiny downtown on weekends to purchase Bush memorabilia and eat the Presidential cheeseburger basket at the Coffee Station, the restaurant that Bush occasionally visits while on vacation.

Campbell, a Democrat who has been mayor since 1999, said he's met Bush once but doesn't feel inclined to support the former Texas governor. He voted for Al Gore in 2000.

more…
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/nation/8812844.htm

[jpgray]

1. Didn't he buy the ranch in the late nineties?

How he passes himself off as a West Texan is a mystery to me--the press so loved to call Gore on false phoniness, one would think they would call Bush on true phoniness.

[salin]

2. My memory is that it wasn't bought until just before the election

perhaps sometime in 1999 or 2000. All for show.

[DieboldMustDie]

9. The 10,000 square foot "ranch house" was completed sometime in 2000.

I hear the "ranch" used to be a pig farm; how apropos (my apologies to the porcine population). ;)

[kwyjibo]

3. he's from Midland

I don't know when he moved there, but I was unfortunate enough to grow up in the same town. It's a horrible, horrible, bad bad place.

very very bad. and horrible.

[jpgray]

4. Born in Connecticut, educated at Andover, Yale, Harvard

Not exactly the West Texas standard. :D

[VolcanoJen]

5. And yet, the only member of the BFEE with a Texas accent.

Weird, isn't it?

I suggest the Good Mayor avoid small aircraft until November...

[argyl]

13. He mangles the Texas twang as badly as he does the Queen's English.

xx

[sushi]

7. Yale, Harvard

Shouldn't he be supersmart?

[jmowreader]

22. Legacy! Legacy!

In the Old Days, most of the people who went to Ivy League schools were children of people who went to Ivy League schools. This explains how Bush got into Yale.

Bush got into Harvard because he was the son of a major player in the government.

If George Bush was George Smith, he might have gotten into the carpentry program at the local community college--that is, if he hadn't got his ass shot off in Nam first.

[rough_on_the_edges]

29. legacy!

You act like george bush is the only guy to get into an ivy leage university because of a legacy. Hundreds of hundreds of americans both future democrat and republican leaders get to attend universities because of their famlies. Dont hate the player, hate the game!

[jmowreader]

33. Actually I don't think Bush is the only guy who ever did this

It used to be that almost everyone who went to those schools went as a legacy.

I mean, it's not a bad system. You fill up your building with kids whose parents count their money with a bathroom scale and you don't have to fuck around with putting "99.4 percent of our student body receives financial aid" in your recruitment brochures. You can charge anything you want--the more the better--make the facilities really nice, and really lavish funds on things like endowment, the arts and humanities, and buying a great football team. You can sell your school as an "elite institution for the children of the powerful and soon-to-be-powerful" so the few kids who aren't legacies will think they're going to the greatest university on earth.

The problem is that the legacy system gives the freepers the right to say, "Bush isn't stupid, he has degrees from Harvard and Yale." And they write crap like the rotten.com expose of Mr. Bush, which claims he likes to be underestimated. We have a "president" who can't pour piss out of a boot without instructions on the heel, and the freepers claim he enjoys being underestimated. The only way to underestimate Bush is to be amazed he doesn't drool too much anymore when he speaks.

Would Bush have graduated from...oh, Stanford and Duke...if he had been George W. Smith? No, he wouldn't have gotten in. He didn't get into Texas Law School.

[CO Liberal]

28. His Family Bought His Degrees From Yale and Harvard

Any dunce can get a degree from an Ivy League school if their family has pockets that are deep enough. Bush is a classic example of this.

[indigobusiness]

6. you too, huh?

I high-tailed it for Austin as soon as I could.

Hellish, Stepford place, Midland.


edit---ps Welcome to DU.

[Ilsa]

21. Yeah, a friend of mine from NM had to move there,

and she said in her neighborhood backyard she could smell gas. She mentioned it to a neighbor, and they replied, "That's the smell of money!" She said it was a very materialistic community.

One of my friends used to tell me about the high schoolers driving expensive sports cars, BMW's, Mercedes, etc to school decades ago. They were presents from their oil-daddies when they got their driver licenses.

[leesa]

23. I'm sorry. Seems to have made a definite impression on you!

Welcome to DU.

[Bozita]

8. The whole ranch thing is a prop -- purchased FOR the election

link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1669206

[underpants]

18. Sale completed Dec.1999 House finished Nov.7, 2000

Yes it was actually completed on election day.

He owns the land and house (of course) but the former owners (name?) still own all of the livestock (pigs mostly) and equipment.

Prior to moving to Crawford he lived in a gated community near Houston....kinda hard to portray yourself as a "man ofthe people" when they see you through a gate.

[Lisa]

32. the Engelbrechts

Ken Engelbrecht is the son of the original owners, and currently acts as the ranch manager. Actually this is just about the only thing Bush has done that I approve of, since this way he didn't have to move away from the place where his family has lived since just after the Civil War! And at least the place won't go to wrack and ruin with an absentee landlord who doesn't know how to maintain it. Still, it's got to be painful, seeing the land you love being made into a phony stage-set.


http://www.bpnews.com/htmlfile/magzine/mag2001/dec01/120104.htm

[Lisa]

31. He can't even be bothered to buy a West Texas "ranch"!

Weird how he vowed that he "wanted to be buried in Midland" yet he buys property in a whole different part of the state. He's been hinting that he did that to please Laura. (Laura, by the way, was actually born in Midland -- I suspect that he is just using her as an excuse!) Meanwhile he has been clearing away the (native) cedar scrub, and installing an artificial pond, making the place look like the East Coast landscapes where he spent much of his life.

Bush never lived in Crawford prior to acquiring that land, so I suspect that his pronouncements about being a regular at the local coffee place, etc., might not go down well with long-time residents who DO contribute to the life of the town.

[sandnsea]

10. Crawford Mayor Supports Kerry!!!

Am I the only one who thinks that's hysterical... or is the pig farm really more interesting? :shrug:

[Eurobabe]

14. my friend, a native Texan sez:

Bu$h is a fake Texan. Can't ride a horse, etc.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MarkTwain]

11. Just Too Damn Rich...

... Hmmmm. I wonder for whom "the Bush twins" are voting.

[truthisfreedom]

12. all hat, baby, no brain.

[saracat]

15. Yep.Pig farm it was.

The ranch is only a prop.And the accent is fake.Ever notice it's not consistant? BTW,W spent only 6 months in the Midland school system. A native or even a resident, he ain't!

[maddezmom]

16. smart, smart man

:)

[Claire Beth]

17. alrighttttttttt! n/t

[dusty64]

19. Cool, it would be

awesome if chimpy loses that county.

[DFWJock]

20. Woo Hoo

Another Texan for Kerry, Im not alone!

[Beetwasher]

24. Damn! This Guys Got Guts!

Feel good story of the day!

[Claire Beth]

25. way to go, mayor! n/t

[liveoaktx]

26. There's one guy whose photo won't show up on *'s *Compassion* page

[struggle4progress]

27. I bet the Crawford folk realize that once * loses the election ...

he'll pack up and leave Crawford. So they won't have to worry about him DUI about town.

[molly]

34. Does anyone have pictures of the "ranch"?

[NNN0LHI]

35. Here is an aerial view