After a weekend of hearing President George H.W. Bush’s life extolled for its graciousness and accomplishments, a few nagging questions remain. He was celebrated as a bridge between an older, kinder, and gentler Republican Party and newer, nastier, and harder one. So what did he do to moderate some of the characteristics of the new Republican Party? Did the Willie Horton ads that falsely accused his political opponent Michael Dukakis of fostering a prison release program moderate the Republican Party? Later, his son George W. Bush would encourage a false accusation that his opponent John McCain had fathered a black child. Both the elder and younger Bush used race to win elections and add racial toxicity to the Republican Party. And he more accurately accused his future running mate, Ronald Reagan of advocated a voodoo economic agenda. But once he was selected as Reagan’s running mate, H.W. Bush spent eight years helping to promote voodoo economics. Raising taxes when he became President, the right thing to do, undoubtedly made him a one term President. By that time the Republican Party had fully bought into voodoo economics.
The Atlantic: The Last WASP President; George H. W. Bush wasn’t the last of the Republican moderates. was the archetype of the modern GOP, a man whose blue blood shouldn’t be confused with moral courage.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/george-hw-bush-last-wasp-president/577156/
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