George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Get a Free Blog

But most people's attention, and the camera teams, had shifted to a music room where the
ejected hopefuls were uniformly slamming Bush. Anderson asserted that "Clearly the
responsibility for this whole travesty rests with Mr. Bush." "He refused to even come
back here and talk." Howard Baker called Bush's behavior "the most flagrant attempt to
return to the closed door I've ever seen." Baker was beside himself: "The punkest
political device I ever saw!" "He wants to be king, " raged Bob Dole. "I have never been
treated this way in my life. Where do we live? Is this America? So far as George Bush is
concerned he'd better find another Republican Party if he can't talk to those of us who
come up here." "He didn't want us to debate. He can't provide leadership for the
Republican Party with that attitude," Dole kept repeating.
Film footage of Reagan grabbing the microphone while Bush stewed in his temper
tantrum was all over local and network television for the next 48 hours. It was the
epiphany of a scoundrel.
Now the Bush damage control apparatus went into that mode it finds so congenial: lying.
A radio commercial was prepared under orders from James Baker for New Hampshire
stations: here an announcer, not Bush, intoned that "at no time did George Bush object to
a full candidate forum. This accusation by the other candidates is without foundation
whatsoever."
Walter Cronkite heard a whining voice from Houston Texas as he interviewed Bush on
his new program: "I wanted to do what I agreed to do," said the whine. "I wanted to
debate with Ronald Reagan."
Haynes Johnson of the Washington Post caught something of the moment: "It was Bush's
own personal response to the controversy that destroyed him. The self-portrait of George
Bush drawn these last few days before the balloting was singularly unattractive. Bush
came over as a petulant politician, lacking grace and dignity, and complaining peevishly
about being 'sandbagged' and 'ambushed' by all the other nasty politicians. He resembled
nothing more than a spoiled child whose toy has been taken away." That was the talk of
New Hampshire through the primary.
Bush's handlers were resigned; some of them knew it was all over. "What can I say? He
choked up," said one. "George does not have a sense of theater," noted another.
The New Hampshire primary was a debacle for Bush. Reagan won 50% of the votes to
George's 23%, with 13% for Baker and 10% for Anderson. Big Mo had proven to be
fickle. [fn 23]
As for the old curmudgeon William Loeb, he was dead with two years.
Bush played out the string through the primaries, but he won only four states
(Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Michigan) plus Puerto Rico. Reagan
took 29. Even in Pennsylvania, where the Bushmen outspent Reagan by a colossal
margin, Reagan managed to garner more delegates even though Bush got more votes.