June 5, 2020

"He had this little list of rules that he lived by. They're all really good ones like, Don't talk all the time, Listen to your mentors and friends and learn from them."

"I actually have them memorized, which is kind of weird. Nobody likes an overbearing big shot, which sounds so much like his words... Help a friend when they're hurting."

Said Jenna Bush — her eyes welling with tears (according to The Daily Mail).

IN THE COMMENTS: Wince said:
"Nobody likes an overbearing big shot."

And, try as you might, nobody likes a wimpy, ineffectual establishment Republican.

Well, not until you're out of office or dead, and then only to use you as the new standard-bearer to attack and cow your successor Republicans.
AND: MadisonMan said:
"Nobody likes an overbearing big shot."

The Press gets to decide who fits that description.
Meade responded:
It's almost as if the Press is, itself, an overbearing big shot.

37 comments:

Sebastian said...

Doesn't she know those are expressions of white privilege? Shame.

Wince said...

"Nobody likes an overbearing big shot."

And, try as you might, nobody likes a wimpy, ineffectual establishment Republican.

Well, not until you're out of office or dead, and then only to use you as the new standard-bearer to attack and cow your successor Republicans.

MadisonMan said...

"Nobody likes an overbearing big shot."

The Press gets to decide who fits that description.

Sally327 said...

I think some people do like an overbearing big shot. Not that anyone in particular was meant by that.

Grandpa's little life messages don't seem especially profound or insightful but that's okay.

Unknown said...

Visited Bush museum at college Station in last year

Lot of myth making

Should have stopped at VP

One termer for a reason

Meade said...

"The Press gets to decide who fits that description."

It's almost as if the Press is, itself, an overbearing big shot.

Patrick Henry was right! said...

History is made by overbearing big shots. See, e.g., in America, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, LBJ, Nixon, Clinton, Obama and Trump.

n.n said...

Ethics: religious/moral fine tuning. The problems arise when ethics is a relativistic, irreconcilable alt-religion.

JAORE said...

Boy those Republicans are sure dividers, aren't they?

Boy, those Democrats are sure uniters, aren't they?

AllenS said...

Meade @ 7:32 -- Bingo.

Meade said...

Everyone liked my grandpa (especially me), not only because he wasn't an overbearing big shot who gave self-righteous advice dressed up as humble bromides, but because his advice was always practical, applicable and easy to remember without having to memorize. For instance: "a man always puts a handkerchief in his pocket when he gets dressed in the morning. Why? So he doesn't have to use his hand."

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Lot's of history is made by overbearing big shots. Some of them were liked, though they didn't give a rip. Churchill comes first to mind.

There's another, current, example...

Charlie said...

People seemed to like Obama, who was an overbearing big shot.

Ann Althouse said...

Your grandfather shouldn't have been masturbating in the first place.

Just kidding. It's okay that he masturbated.

michaele said...

This would have more significance to me as wise words to live by if Bush Sr. had won his second term and if his son hadn't let his approval rating drop into the toilet by always turning the other cheek. People want their President to be strong and seem willing to be unliked by fighting for the things that got them elected.

tcrosse said...

Nobody likes a wise-ass.

Ann Althouse said...

"Nobody likes an overbearing big shot..."

And yet he makes a sweeping overstatement.

Surely, somebody likes an overbearing big shot... and if the reference is to Trump, millions of people like Trump. And a lot of the people who don't have a problem because they wanted to be the big shot.

rehajm said...

Your grandfather shouldn't have been masturbating in the first place.

Well played, madam...

buwaya said...

"Your grandfather shouldn't have been masturbating in the first place."

True. Otherwise you might have more relatives today.

Tom said...

Was one of the rules: Cheat on Barbara?

mezzrow said...

Because you had to be a big shot, didn't you
You had to open up your mouth
You had to be a big shot, didn't you
All your friends were so knocked out
You had to have the last word, last night
You know what everything's about
You and to have a white hot spotlight
You had to be a big shot last night

buwaya said...

Its true, isn't it?
Leadership often requires a larger than life expression of personality.
A very loud eccentric.

It varies by polity and circumstance of course.

A small, stable place can get by with a boring person. Or a fundamentally stable place anyway. Germany for instance. Or Singapore.

Mark O said...

All references are to Trump. He is all powerful.

Ralph L said...

Mrs. Bush knew her eldest son was too full of himself for public consumption. That's why she suppressed his "I's" from an early age, and Team Player Bush was chosen for VP. The Dunhams didn't bother.

Ralph L said...

It's okay that he masturbated.

Masturbation, like sex, wasn't invented until the 1960's.

MadisonMan said...

This story makes me wish I had grandchildren. I have so much grandfatherly wisdom to impart!!

mezzrow said...

Masturbation, like sex, wasn't invented until the 1960's.

Reading this makes me feel like Thomas Edison.

Work, work,work.

Sam L. said...

"It's almost as if the Press is, itself, an overbearing big shot." ALMOST?????????????
I'm taking "1000%" for my guess, Alex!

Etienne said...

My grandpa's advice was:

"Don't fork manure until its done steaming"

With that, I was able to make it through life.

Yancey Ward said...

Like Mezzrow, this post made think of "Big Shot", one my favorite Billy Joel songs.

Anthony said...

I barely knew either one of my grandfathers. One was killed long before I was born and the other lived in a faraway state that we visited 3-4 times. Never talked much.

I shall never be a grandfather, so I give a little advice to young'uns every now and then.

And to round this post out I shall voice the opinion that we should hear more from her sister, Barbara.

Wait, scratch that: We should just see more of her sister, Barbara, because, yeah.

Freeman Hunt said...

"'He leaned over to me and he could barely speak and he said, "Don't forget to enjoy the game,""

Why is this room so dusty?

Meade said...

"Nobody likes a wise-ass."

Well, apparently I do.

ken in tx said...

I was at a meeting in South Carolina where Strom Thurmond was the guest of honor. He was asked if he had any sage advice to offer the group. He said to always drink some hot coffee or hot water in the morning to help keep your bowels open.

Robin Goodfellow said...

"And, try as you might, nobody likes a wimpy, ineffectual establishment Republican.

Well, not until you're out of office or dead, and then only to use you as the new standard-bearer to attack and cow your successor Republicans."

Politicians ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.--Noah Cross, "Chinatown"

JMW Turner said...

Meade! Your grandfather's advice almost matches verbatim what my Pa Pa gave to me when
I was a young man, in reference to maintaining a reliable supply of toilet paper in one's apartment...we're almost, you know, like separated at birth or something. Pa Pa always maintained that the mileage you obtained from jerking off depended upon your driving habits. No lead foot here!

Lurker21 said...

That's what you remember and what you tell your grandchildren. You may have walked all over people to get to the top, but you don't want to tell your grandchildren that, and you may not even remember it. Also, things look different at the top. You may be an annoying big shot to the people under you, but to your peers you may be modest and self-effacing.

With Bush we have the same thing going on as with Biden. Bush wasn't a braggart or much of a show-off so he passed for "decent." Biden was quite the show-off but we've forgotten about that (and he may have, too), so we take his mediocrity for "decency."