The Bushes in Preston Hollow: How Iraq May Follow Them There

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

It has been 18 years since the north Dallas homestead of J.R. Ewing departed prime time, leaving behind the vision of glittering oil baron balls, Dallas skyscrapers and infidelity at Southfork. That "larger-than-life" image of Dallas society lingered in the minds of people around the country. Now, a former U.S. President who has dabbled a bit in the oil business, has come to the north Dallas neighborhood of Preston Hollow. George and Laura Bush have back moved in.

George and Laura Bush

Preston Hollow is, or has been, home to the rich and famous: Ross Perot, Roger Staubach, Mary Kay Ash, T. Boone Pickens, American Airlines' Bob Crandall, and the Bushes until he was elected Texas Governor. It's said that purchasing a "tear-down" in Preston Hollow will cost about $800,000 with estates costing up to $40 million. The 8,500 sq. ft. Bush home is at 10141 Daria Place, and the street was gated and closed to the public when the Bushess moved in. Neighbors are waiting to see what happens next.

David Feherty, a journalist, a CBS golf commentator and a neighbor living about a "par-5" away from the Bush's new home has some advice for the President and Mrs. Bush - move to Crawford - build an alligator-filled moat around the place - come back to Dallas in about 30 years...

Feherty seems to be a social crank, and I find that unusual because he's a "golf analyst," after all and that whole golf scene is usually so friendly and gentlemanly (except for Tiger's recent and accelerated tantrums). Feherty likes "Dubya," however" and he is sympathetic to the plight of the former First Family as they try to maneuver the local rich and famous:

Even with their Secret Service entourage, the Bushes are going to be besieged by herds of North Dallas McMansion-dwellers, more brown-nosed and full of BS than any longhorn. Nouveaux riche and face-lifted old-monied fossils alike will descend upon them like ants to the honeypot every time they set foot outside their door. The area that encompasses the Park Cities and Preston Hollow is home to roaming packs of these social climbers. I’m talking to you, the guy with the champagne flute, the stupid grin, and the trophy wife who, if she has one more facelift, will be wearing a triangular beard. You’re just the type who will want to show that famous hospitality for which Texas is renowned, and your nasty little dog will try to hump poor Miss Beazley half to death. (Although that former First Scottish Terrier has shown some gnashers recently, so Fido beware.)

Pretty funny, actually.

The advice to return to Dallas in about 30 years was to allow the time needed before "any of us knows the truth about how and why he [President Bush] played some of the rotten cards he was dealt," addressing the Bush legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan:

From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this, though: despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Osama bin Laden, there’s a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death. I’ve never met a soldier who didn’t love this president and this country, and I’ve met a bunch of them, at home and abroad, in hospitals and in theater. At Walter Reed, Bethesda Naval Medical Center, and the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, I have visited dozens of patients, and I always ask of them before I leave: “What do you want to do when you get out?” No matter how broken or burned, or how many limbs they are missing, they give only one answer: “I want to go back. I want to rejoin my team, to finish our mission.” They are rightfully proud of what they have done and want nothing more than to be with their brothers and sisters in arms, because they know the consequences if their job is left unfinished. Right here on American soil, we will end up with unqualified people having to do the job they have been doing over there so incredibly well, and with such extraordinary compassion. The fact is, Americans in America have been safe since 9/11, almost the whole length of G2’s term as president, and for that we should be thankful.

I don't know about you, but that choked me up a bit. I hope Mr. and Mrs. Bush receive many blessings in their new home, because I know they will be a blessing to many.

Read the entire article at D Magazine, with more insight into the President and First Lady and what life might be like for them in Preston Hollow. Here's a hat tip to Jules Crittenden.

Suspending Disbelief

Cross posted from The Lonely Conservative

Taking in politcal news these days is like watching one of those dumb movies where preposterous events occur that would never happen in real life. Those movies are so annoying my husband and I will abandon the show rather than subject ourselves to further insults to our intelligence.

Unfortunately, the goings-on in Washington DC aren’t make believe and they effect not just our lives but also those of future generations. It’s too bad so few of our fellow Americans understand this. It’s not that millions of Americans woke up one day and decided “I want to be uninformed”. It’s just that liberalism has completely taken over and has become the new normal.

There’s a great piece up on Big Hollywood by Andrew Klavan - Why We Fight. He answers those on the right who seem to be giving up and giving in.

Look, the American media are in a bad way, a disastrous way. Movies, TV, literature–instead of illuminating vehicles for art and entertainment, they’ve become like the Matrix, replacing reality with a plausible leftist imitation. Journalists especially have so shamed themselves in their coverage of the last election–hounding Sarah Palin’s daughter and Joe the Plumber while all but ignoring Barack Obama’s ties to Illinois corruption, and his long and deep association with the racist anti-American Jeremiah Wright–that it’s going to take them years to recover. When people shame themselves that badly, they don’t admit it in a hurry. They savage their critics instead and continue their own shameful practices as a kind of defiant denial–anything rather than look in the mirror and confront what they’ve turned
themselves into.

So yeah, we’re on our own for now. But we’re not unarmed and
we’re in no way defeated. We have great politicians like Sarah Palin–who could well be president in not eight years but four–honest newsmen like Bret Baer and genius commentators like Rush–and Ann Coulter, who’s only about ten times smarter, funnier and more talented as a satirist than Jon Stewart or Bill
Maher will ever be. The left can’t out-argue these mind-warriors so they try to ridicule, disdain and isolate them, to make us feel ashamed that we admire and respect them. And they tell us they’re finished, washed-up. Why, just look, it must be true: it’s right there in the newspapers and on TV.

Mr. Klavan knows they’re liars. I know they’re liars and most of you reading this know they’re liars. My guess is that about 47 million Americans know they’re liars. Now we have to prove it.
But we won’t take back our country until we take back the Republican party. George Bush did a lot of good, but the constant verbal assault against the man seems to have taken its toll. He’s abandoned free market principles to avoid being labeled a Herbert Hoover. That’s understandable, but it appears he’s set us up for a complete socialist takeover of our country.

Other Republicans now seem to be embracing this new leftist mentality while the rest appear to be completely emasculated. A few, like Ron Paul, continue to speak out but to no avail. The best John Boehner could come up with today was “Oh my God.”

On a day the country’s experiencing colder weather than we’ve seen in a decade or more, Rep. Henry Waxman is pushing for climate change legislation to be passed by Memorial Day! Haven’t these people gotten the memo telling them we’re headed for an ice age?!? If their theory about carbon is correct, we need more, not less of it! Are there any Republicans left to stand up to this madness? Surely when the legislation makes it to the Senate we won’t be able to count on John McCain to speak for us.

Most Americans are putting our records in order to prepare our income taxes. At the same time, we learn that the man Barack Obama’s chosen to head the IRS “forgot” to pay taxes for four years, even though he received a tax allowance from the IMF and signed an acknowledgement that he would pay his taxes. It looks like the Democrats will give Mr. Geithner a pass because “we need him” to oversee the $825 billion stimulus package proposed by Madame Nancy Pelosi. If the dude can’t handle paying $34,000 in taxes, why should we trust him to oversee the biggest government giveaway in history? Yet we have Republicans telling us it’s okay, because Geithner’s really brilliant. Just look what he did for CitiBank!

If Barack Obama really had a sense of humor, when he finally settles on a dog for his family he will nominate that dog for a high position in the US government. There will be a few meek voices of protest and he will make a statement explaining the reason for appointing the dog. The dog’s confirmation hearings will be a smashing success, as he will undoubtedly make more sense than anything we’ve heard to date. The media will report how appointing the dog was really brilliant and non-partisan while ignoring the Hoovervilles popping up along Pennsylvania Avenue.

Barney Cam 2008

Cross-posted by The Lonely Conservative

Also may be viewed at YouTube.com

A Skunk by Any Other Name is Still Amnesty!

Update: H/T to Texas Fred's New life for immigration bill?
Bush, allies hope to revive immigration bill
President to lunch on Capitol Hill Tuesday, new vote possible Friday
See blogger's response to e-mail campaign under Texas Fred's comments.

Thursday night the Senate voted 45 to 50 against invoking cloture on S. 1348. According to Numbers USA, Senator Reid has pulled the bill from the floor for now.

Let President Bush (who completely abandoned his Republican base on immigration) and the open borders hate America left call it what they will, the bill WAS an Amnesty Bill.

Americans, both conservatives and moderates alike, have spoken and the message should be loud and clear to any presidential hopeful. Americans are fed up with the “nuanced” double-speak of the left, political hacks, the endless games and hidden agendas. We want a plain-spoken traditional leader who is going to fulfill the will of the people – not the will law-breakers, of corporate globalists, or of subversive special interests (AKA: the crazy left).

Once again, this vote shows that the Democrat spinners have been wrong about who Americans really are and what we really want. Americans are a nation of ASSIMILATED immigrants who share a common history, a common language, and common values. We are proud of our unique national heritage and we will NOT tolerate law-breakers who flaunt our laws, who threaten our national security, who overwhelm our social resources, and who demand special consideration. NOT EVER!!! Got that President Bush??? Got that Congress???

The Democrats and the leftist controlled media like to spin the tale that the mid-term election was a disaster for the Republicans because of Iraq. Not at all true. Most conservatives have supported the war effort in Iraq. The conservative base understood that it was abandoned by their elected officials on the most important issue facing us in this era –our border security in a time of war and global terrorism. “It’s all about ILLEGAL Immigration!!!”

Now go and read all about the 20 loopholes in the Senate Immigration Bill and see why this bill needs a wooden stake driven through its stinky little heart!

Amnesty No! Conservative Power Yes!!!


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