George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Get a Free Blog

The result of the November 6 election was a deep disappointment to Republicans; Bush's
party lost one senate seat, 9 House seats, and one governorship. Not all of these gains
went to Democrats, since disgruntled voters gave two governorships and one House seat
to independents outside of the two party system. Most dramatic was the anti-incumbent
mood against governors, where economic crisis and tax revolt had been on the agenda all
year: the governing party, whether Republican or Democrat, was ousted in 14 of the 36
state houses that were contested. For Bush there were very special disappointments: he
had campaigned very hard for Clayton Williams in Texas and for Governor Bob Martinez
in Florida, but Bush's coattails proved non-existent to negative; Democrats won both
governorships. The loss of Texas and Florida was a very ominous threat for Bush's 1992
re-election campaign, since these were the two indispensable keystones of the Southern
Strategy. Now, that GOP lock on the Electoral College might be drawing to a close. But
unforunately, that was for the future: Bush's repudiation at the polls this time around was
not enough to reduce him to an impotent lame duck with no mandate to wage war. Bush
was now a wounded beast who could, and would, lash out.
Bush emerged gravely damaged: Business Week devoted a cover to a photo of Bush and
the legend: "Losing Ground: GOP Losses in Congress, statehouse setbacks, and internal
party strife are eroding George Bush's authority-- and his ability to lead the nation." "A
few more good days like that and Republicans will go the way of Whigs," wrote the
magazine. The vote was a "humbling rebuke to a barnstorming Bush." [49] In the words
of an October 31 headline in the pro-regime Washington Times, "Bush in 92? 'Dead
Meat,' say skeptics." Kevin Phillips noted that economics could prove fatal for Bush:
"Since World War II the GOP's pattern has been for economic downturns during midterm
election years: full-fledged recessions in 1954, 1958, 1970, 1974, and 1982, and a severe
farm-belt and oil-patch slump in 1986. Today's economic thunderclouds, however, are
the first in memory (at least since the post-1929 period) to portend their storms for the
third year of a GOP presidency." And for Bush, the economic bad news was to be found
even in the New York Times: "What Recession? It's a Depression," proclaimed one
article. Leonard Silk made the optimistic case in the same paper: "Why It's Too Soon to
Predict Another Great Depression," was his title. [fn 59]
But well before the dust had settled from the election debacle, Bush had resumed his
march towards a holocaust in the Middle East. On the day after the election, Baker,
speaking in Moscow, launched Bush's all-out press for a UN Security Council resolution
legitimizing the use of armed force against Iraq over the Kuwait question. Bush had to
push his war through both the US Congress and the UN permanent five; his estimate was
that the world powers would be easier to dragoon, and that the assent of the Security
Council could then be used to bludgeon the Congress into acquiescence. [fn 60]
It is important to note that in shifting his policy towards aggressive war, Bush was once
again dancing to the tune being piped in from London. On Wednesday, November 7, the
racist crone Thatcher, now on her way out as Prime Minister, issued her most
warmongering statement so far on the Gulf crisis: