George H.W. Bush ... class, loyalty, love

 President George H.W. Bush, 89, and his entire security detail shaved their heads in solidarity with the two-year-old son of one of his security guys. That's loyalty, class, and love all rolled into one....

KENNEBUNKPORT, MAINE -- President George H. W. Bush this week joined members of his Secret Service detail in shaving his head to show his support for the two year-old son of a detail member who is being treated for leukemia and started losing his hair.

The 89 year-old commander-in-chief took the unusual step earlier this week after learning, and seeing, that many members of his security detail had already gone under the razor to show their support for young Patrick, whose father Jon is a member of the Bush Protective Division (BPD). (Surname being withheld per family's request.)

BPD members have also launched a website at www.patrickspals.org to assist with Patrick's medical bills, and organized the Inaugural Patrick's Pals Motorcycle Benefit Run on August 10th in Kennebunkport -- a 50-mile motorcycle ride through the Maine countryside followed by a lunch and silent auction to raise funds for Patrick's treatments.

Once President and Mrs. Bush learned of this "Patrick's Pals" effort, they made a donation and President Bush volunteered to shave his head as well. The Bushes lost their second child, Robin, to leukemia 60 years ago this October at the age of four.

Photos from George Bush Presidential Library

'Those who don't know the value of loyalty ...'

"Those who don't know the value of loyalty can never appreciate the cost of betrayal." --Anonymous

"Be a man of principle ..."

"Be a man of principle. Fight for what you believe in. Keep your word. Live with integrity. Be brave. Believe in something bigger than yourself. Serve your country. Teach. Mentor. Give something back to society. Lead from the front. Conquer your fears. Be a good friend. Be humble and be self-confident. Appreciate your friends and family. Be a leader and not a follower. Be valorous on the field of battle. And take responsibility for your actions. Never forget those that were killed. And never let rest those that killed them." --Doug Zembiec (1973-2007)

Thanks, WZ.

Loose lips and all ... another Bendict Arnold

Another Bush administration employee has seen fit to write a "tell all" book dissing the President as well as former co-workers. What is it with people who have been part of the "inner circle" who do not understand loyalty?

This particular Benedict Arnold has been taken to task in the Wall Street Journal by his former boss, Bill McGurn, who admitted he never would have written anything if the young kiss-and-tell employee hadn't opened his mouth. After hearing the other side of the story, the young man comes off as incompetent or worse, possibly making him wish he had never said anything in the first place.

However, the way to sell books -- and to interest editors -- is to promise to trash talk someone famous and important ... in this case, President George W. Bush. What liberal publisher wouldn't want to publish a book with juicy gossip about the Bush White House?

The character of a person comes out at times like this. Should they sell out and trash those who gave them a chance in the first place? Or should they keep the in-house shop talk as it should be -- private -- thus being the better person and perhaps bettering their employment chances in the future?

In the world of politics, too often those of weak character choose the former instead of the latter.

GOP ... my Mom is for Sarah Palin in 2012

People are cutting their McCain-Palin bumper stickers in half and leaving the "Palin" part on their vehicles. The buzz is about 2012 ... Sarah for President!

My mom is mad as a wet hen about the way Sarah Palin has been treated in the media and by the McCain staffers who have been trashing her and not standing up in her defense.

Mom wrote a letter to John McCain's campaign manager and read it to me on the phone tonight. She called it, "Bashing of Sarah Palin by enemies from within."

She began:

"My husband and I are life-long conservatives and Republicans. We are in our early 80s and remember the Depression and World War II well. I graduated from high school on D-Day and my husband left college and went into the Navy in early 1945.

"My brothers were 'drafted' and one of them was killed in Germany, after fighting as a foot soldier with the Texas 36th Division - for 15 long, hellish months, from the lower corner of Italy to Rome (eight months) then from the French Riviera all the way up through France to Germany (another seven months).

"He spent Christmas 1943 in the mud and snow in Italy ... and a picture of him and other survivors of the Battle of San Pietro -- sitting and standing around their dead that they had carried down from the fighting in the mountains near San Pietro -- hangs on the wall of the Texas military museum in Austin.

"He spent Christmas of 1944 in Strasburg, France ... and was killed on March 21, 1945 (just six weeks before the war in Europe ended) as they were going through the Siegfried Line into Germany.

"My husband and I love this country and are very patriotic. As you may imagine, we have great admiration for John McCain and for what he suffered for our country.

"However, we did not think he was the best candidate the Republican Party could offer to be our presidential candidate. ... When we were down to the wire and McCain was the only one left, we decided that he was our candidate and we would support him. Like many of our Republican friends, we were very disheartened and discouraged ... then Sarah Palin burst on the scene and, for the very first time, we were energized and felt we could win the election."

Mom's not one to mince words ... guess that's where I get it. Her generation has a way of telling it like it is ... and so Mom continued in her comments written to John McCain's campaign manager:

"YOU were in charge of the campaign and YOU allowed Sarah Palin to be thrown to the wolves, starting with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric -- of all people! ...

"We now hear from reporters that some in the campaign did not like Sarah from the very beginning, which explains everything. ... As the campaign manager, you should never have allowed Sarah to be sullied by the jealousy of a bunch of nasty little twerps who betrayed her and all of her followers...."

Guess Mom's like me or, more accurately, I'm like her ... loyalty is more than just a word.

Tony Snow: "To love is to place others before you"

Tony Snow gave the commencement address at Catholic University on May 12, 2007 ... an address that touched many because he had already gone through two bouts of cancer. An excerpt:

"To love is to place others before you and to make their needs your priority. Do it. When you put somebody else at the center of the frame, your entire world changes, and for the better. You begin to find your own place in the world.

"When you’re drawn into the lives of others, you enter their problems, their hopes, their dreams, their families. ...

So resolve to do little things for others. ... The only things that are sure to endure are the artifacts of love. So go out and build as many as you can."

On Saturday Brit Hume said of Tony Snow, "He taught us how to live ... and he taught us how to die."

My aunt had a cross-stitch hanging in her kitchen of her home on the Northern Neck until she passed away; it now hangs in my kitchen. The saying reminds me of Tony Snow:

"Count your age by friends not years,
Count your life by smiles, not tears."

Former First Lady Barbara Bush, in describing Tony Snow the day he died, said, "He was loyal to the core ... loyalty is a big thing. I remember his unfaultering loyalty for people he work for and people he knew. He didn't have a mean bone in his body."

Sunday at 6:00 p.m. is a repeat of Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Rush Limbaugh, and others remembering Tony Snow.

Bob Dole blasts turncoat Scott McClellan

"You’re a hot ticket now but don’t you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?"

-- Bob Dole speaking of Scott McClellan

Former Republican presidential candidate and senator Bob Dole sent a scathing email to former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan and blasted him as a "miserable creature" for writing a tell-all book criticizing his years in the White House and betraying the President.

The email from Dole to McClellan begins:

"There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues."

Dole continues by saying:

"In my nearly 36 years of public service I've known of a few like you.
...
“If all these awful things were happening ... you should have spoken up publicly like a man, or quit your cushy, high profile job.

"That would have taken integrity and courage ... You’re a hot ticket now but don’t you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?"

Scott McClellan's 15 minutes of fame are ticking away....

What makes a hero?

On Veterans Day the Waynesboro News Virginian asks, "What makes a hero?"

Two qualities that make a hero: loyalty and bravery. In the military loyalty is what makes soldiers and Marines know their brothers have their back. It's a matter of life and death.

My friends know I'm a stickler for loyalty. Without it, nothing else much matters. Trust ... it's part of life and scarce in politics ... once broken, trust is rarely repaired.

Check out the NV article....