George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Get a Free Blog

Very often Bush's pronouncements are designed for self-defense against his detractors. In
the spring of 1988, Bush was asked his reaction to Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic
strip, and to the political satire of Dana Carvey of Saturday Night Live. Bush answered:
I used to get tense about that. My mother still does. She's 87. She doesn't like it when
people say untrue and ugly things about her little boy. Having said that, it doesn't bother
me any more. You know why, because we took a tremendous pounding, not just from
elitists like Doonesbury, coming out of the elite of the elite, but untrue allegations, and
you know I don't worry about it anymore, because the American people don't believe all
this stuff. So I'm saying, why should I be all uptight? [fn 14]
Although he likes to suggests that it is his opponents who are the real elitist, sometimes
Bush has to defend his own patrician social background against criticism. When Bush
was campaigning in New Jersey before the 1988 primary, he was asked if the patrician
governor of that state, Tom Kean, had a background so similar to Bush's that he could not
be considered as Bush's vice presidential running mate. Bush's reply:
Did they ask Tom Kean when he was a great success in business, a great success in
government, did they ask where he went to school or what his background was? Did they
say, 'Tom, you can't be a very good governor because you weren't born in a log cabin in
the middle of Newark'? No, they didn't ask that.... So I don't worry about fitting into some
kind of mold. It's what you feel, what you believe, what kind of experience you've had."
[fn 15]
Many times the purpose of Bush's remarks is to evade questions. He often refused to talk
about his role in Iran-contra: "I forgot to tell you, I don't talk about what I told the
president," was a favorite line. Who would be his running mate? "I forgot to tell you, I'm
not in the speculation business." Would he purge the Reaganites? "I forgot to tell you,
we're going to have wholesale change." [fn 16]
Bush has called himself "a restrained kind of guy." He has often denied having "a rancor
in there" against his opposition, but his rage states have become increasingly difficult to
control over the years. He was unable to control his temper when defending his kow-tow
to Deng Xiao-ping during 1989; after a ranting defense of his China policy he thanked
the press for their questions, saying: "So, I'm glad you asked it because then I vented a
spleen here." [fn 17] Bush's rage episodes have often been associated with public
criticism. Commenting once again on the Doonesbury comic strip, Bush once confessed:
"Four years ago I'd go ballistic when I read some of this stuff. But hey, let him do his
thing, and I'll do mine." "Ballistic" for Bush refers to a rage fit which might cause him to
chew on the White House carpets; this is a not infrequent event. For lesser tantrums Bush
has coined another expression, "semi-ballistic," as in an offhand remark during the 1988
campaign about his feelings when given speech drafts which he finds unsuitable:
"Everybody on this airplane will have seen me semi-ballistic when people hand me things
that I'm simply not going to say."