Former Texas GOP chairman: Bush ‘was a lousy president of the United States.’

[cal04]

Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken, a former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, has a new book called “Bringing America Home,” a harsh criticism of how conservatives have squandered the “political capital” built up by Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. He has particularly harsh words for his state’s former governor, whom he has known since he was a “young man”:

George W. Bush might have made a terrific Major League Baseball commissioner, but he was a lousy president of the United States. <...>

The Republican Party needs to become, once again, a party guided by basic conservative principles. We need to think about more than just the next election — or what the polls say we should do. Instead, we need to make decisions based on what’s good for our country in the long term.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Pauken says that Bush, even when he was younger, never seemed particularly interested in the “issues”; he was always more into baseball and seemed “pushed” into politics. Listen to the interview here:

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/02/bush-pauken/

[Captain Hilts]

1. The current Gov. of Texas is upholding that tradition. nt

[zbdent]

15. and, with followers like this:

Texas will remain flowing straight down the sewer ...

[gratuitous]

2. Horse merrily running free, barn door securely locked now

Thank you for your service, Mr. Pauken. So glad to see what you have to say now that you have a book to sell. What were you saying from 2001 through 2009?

[catzies]

4. For that matter, what was he saying while * was running in 2000?

Molly Ivins warned us about the Shrub; why didn't the estimable Mr. Pauken?

[cal04]

7. here's what Molly Ivins wrote in 2001

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:rabJur3PhjQJ:www.thenation.com/doc/20010618/ivins+Tom+Pauken,+bush&cd=66&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari

In intraparty fights, Rove often uses money. Tom Pauken is a Dallas lawyer and sort of a right-wing populist who was elected chairman of the state party against Rove's wishes: He was the candidate of the Christian right, and the Bushies favored a more establishment candidate. So after Pauken won, Rove called the big party donors, and their money suddenly went to political accounts controlled by Rove rather than to the state party. Then two sort of wacko Christian Republicans on the state school board went to New Hampshire last year to endorse Steve Forbes and returned to find their opponents flush with money from Bush givers: a rare confluence of Rove's revenge and general civic betterment. "You don't cross Karl Rove and not expect repercussions," said Bob Offutt of the state school board after he lost the primary.


here's another by Molly Ivins
http://www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins/molly-ivins-march-12-1998-03-12.html
Pauken is sort of the leader of the political Christian right in Texas and is as mean a campaigner as Texas has ever produced — meaner, many would maintain, than Mattox. But Pauken got squeezed out by Texas Railroad Commissioner Barry Williamson and former Supreme Court Justice John Cornyn, who are now in a run-off. Of course, Pauken was cut off from party money by Gov. George Dubya on account of Pauken had seriously crossed him by trashing his tax plan last year, successfully turning enough Republican legislators against it to defeat the plan.

[Soylent Brice]

10. nice find.

[hatrack]

22. Way too little, way, WAY too late, way WAY too obvious . . .

Thanks for nothing, Pauken - rotsa ruck on the book tour.

:eyes:

[bullwinkle428]

3. Lack of intellectual curiosity? Where have we heard that before?

:rofl:

[salguine]

5. Actually, consensus says he was a shitty Major League Baseball commissioner, too.

[unblock]

11. he has not (yet) had actually had that job. it was merely held out as his greatest destination.

unfortunately, he decided to ruin our country instead of just ruining baseball.

he did own a piece of the texas rangers in a sweetheart deal that was designed to make him (finally) look like a successful businessman, though his real profit came from the new stadium (secured via massive condemnation of perfectly good houses and land) and an obscene equity bonus that went with it.

[WCGreen]

13. He treated it all as capital gains and the IRS let him get away with it...

It should have been treated as normal income since his original 100k investment was not enough stock to cover the 20 million he made when the Rangers were sold...

[unblock]

14. right -- "his" original investment (itself a loan from cronies) got him about 1% equity

and he got a "bonus" of another 10% for selling the team at a profit, or something like that.
clearly not a capital gain.

so, democratic supreme court nominees who doesn't realize they owe nanny tax gets the nix, but republicans who cheat on income taxes become presidents.


SOOOO much easier being a republican. no thinking, no law-abiding, no hard work; just loyalty, that's all there is to it.

[louis-t]

17. I thought his investment was $600k. And he got 14 mil

when he sold. I've always wondered how his investment grew so much. Yes, baseball franchises were growing in value at the time. The stadium certainly increased the value. But THOUSANDS of percent increase in his investment? I had never heard of the "investment bonus" angle.

[unblock]

20. here's more details, including the dollar amounts and the emminent domain angle:

http://www.angelfire.com/ok5/pearly/htmls/bush-sec5.html

[louis-t]

28. Thanks, I was pretty close on the numbers

but I now have more details. Added to favorites.

[WCGreen]

29. Here are the details spelled out pretty good...

I was going from memory and wa called away for business for a while....

http://www.angelfire.com/ok5/pearly/htmls/bush-sec5.html

My memory isn't always as good as I thought. The arrangement deferred all his income into capital gains and he walked away only owing ten percent on that huge amount...

[salguine]

19. I was thinking of the team owner thing, you're right.

[UTUSN]

6. K&R #6 n/t

[Kolesar]

8. The presidency was a "resume builder" for *

Molly Ivins cited that he ran for Governor of Texas only after he lost his bid to become commissioner of major league baseball.

Talk about chaos theory

[Downtown Hound]

9. And you Republicans gave him to us

So fuck each and every one of ya.

[City Lights]

12. Dubya excels at lousy.

It's not limited to his presidency.

[Octafish]

16. Guy's lucky to be alive.

That Texas GOP fellah's a Hero in my book, for telling the truth.

[Echo In Light]

18. Which is precisely WHY he was selected for the install to head up a PNAC admin

[Blue Owl]

21. a rare instance of GOP lucidity

ride that wave further, Tom Pauken...

[4_TN_TITANS]

23. Another Bush ass-kisser sees the light

after it becomes profitable to turn on the bastard who brought 'God' back to the White House. Agree with a poster on another thread - this is getting old.

[Kablooie]

24. Actually the GOP is trying to disown Bush and blame him for all their own policies.

So they can start over and do it all again.

[old mark]

25. WOW - Big News in Texas!!! nt

[Initech]

26. One day I hope they all put aside the propaganda and talking points and...

See Bush / Cheney for the criminals they are.

[jobycom]

27. Bullshit. (partly)

Grouping Reagan with Goldwater is more political spin. Bush and Reagan tried the same policies and had the same goals. Reagan and Bush both sucked. Those idiots try to Ronnie as a saint every chance they get, but the truth is that Bush's failure was Reagan's failure.