But what father wouldn't express a certain confidence in the honor of his son? And that's exactly the
way I feel about it, and I feel very strongly about it. And for those who want to challenge it,whether they're in Congress or elsewhere, let the system work and then we can all make a
conclusion as to his honor and integrity.
And it's tough on people in public life to some degree. And I've got three other sons and they all
want to go to the barricades, every one of them, when they see some cartoon they don't like,particularly those that are factually incorrect in total -- total demeaning of the honor of their brother. (^)
They want to -- they want to do what any other-- any other kids would do. And I say: you calm
down now, we're in a different role now; you can't react like you would if your brother was picked
on in a street fight-- that's not the way the system works. But we have great emotions that I share
with Barbara, I share with my sons and daughter that I won't share with you, ea president I am determined to stay out of this and let it work and let it work fairly. And secondly, Ixcept to say: One, as (^)
have confidence in the honor and integrity of my son, and if the system finds he's done something
wrong he will be the first to step up and do what's right. [fn 21]
Bush's parting shot seemed to contain the optimistic premiss that any sanctions against young Nwould be civil, and not criminal, and that is very likely the signal that George was sending out witheil (^)
these remarks. But the avoidance of criminal charges was not a foregone conclusion. A group of
House Democrats had written to Attorney General Thornburgh to demand a special prosecutor for
the hapless Neil. The signers included Pat Schroeder, Kastenmeier of Wisconsin, Don Edwards of
California, ConyeVirginia, Staggers of West Virginia, and Bryars of Michigan, Morrison of Connent of Texas. The measure was fully justified, but itcticut, Larry Smith of Florida, Boucher of (^)
soon turned out that the Foley leadership in the House, more of a marshmallow-stamp than a rubber
stamp, had been leaning on Democratic members to shun this initiative. This became public when
Congressman Feighan of Ohio, who had signed the letter, retracted his signature under the pressure
of Foley's Democratic leadership.
But there was no doubt that Neil Bush had been acting as an influence peddler. Documents released
by the Office of Thrift Supervision which detailed the conflict of interest charges against Neil
conveyed a very low view of the dyslexic young man's business acumen: the regulators described
him as "unqualified and untrained" to be a director of a financial institution. An untutored squirt, hisfather might have said. In the words of the OTS, "certainly he had no experience in managing a
large corporation, especially a financial institution with almost $2 billion in assets."
The swirling controversy also engulfed Bush's consort. When questioned by a journalist several
days before the Kuwait crisis erupted, Bar "flushes indignantly over the allegations against sonNeil...." "I'm not going to talk about it," snapped Mrs. Bush, but she then did remark that it was (^)
"outrageous" that such a "wonderful, decent, honest man" was being denigrated just because his
parents "chose to get into political life." As the interviewer noted, Mrs. Bush "smiles with maternal
pride, though, when she acknowledges a rumor that son Marvin, 33, nearly resorted to fisticuffs
defending Neil's honor ahim back.'" "We just love our children, and they know it," gushed Mrs. Bush. "Someone once saidnd that brother Jeb, 37, was so ready to join the fray that 'we had to hold (^)
to me that they didn't know another family where all five siblings love each other so much. And
that's true. If push comes to shove, they're all there for each other." [fn 22]
As the end of July approached, Neil Bush was becoming a severe public relations problem for hisfather George. To make matters worse, economist Dan Brumbaugh, who enjoyed a certain notoriety (^)
as the Cassandra of the S&L debacle, appeared on television to confirm what the insiders aleady
knew, that not just the S&Ls, but the entire commercial banking system of the United States, from
the Wall Street giants down through the other money center banks, was all bankrupt. Economic
reality, Bush's old nemesis, was once against threatening his ambition to rule. Then, in the last days