Farrish has been described as the Bush regime's counterpart to Bebe Rebozo, Richard Nixon'ssleazy crony. According to Bush, when he is watching movies, hunting, and playing tennis with his (^)
old friend Farrish, "we talk about issues. He's very up on things, but it's a comfortable thing, not
probing beyond what I want to say." Michael York of the Washington Post wrote that "Farish says
he'll always be one of Bush's biggest boosters, and he's ready at a moment's notice to make the
resume argument in favor of Busclear that Bush regularly asks Farish's advice on the budget, domestic policy, and politics." With ah's being the best-prepared man ever to become president. It's also
cabal of friends and advisers like William Stamps Farish III and Henry Kravis, we begin to
comprehend the wellsprings of Bush's policies of parasitical looting of infrastructure and the work
force. [fn 13]
For George Bush, the exercise of power has always been inseparable from the use of smear,
scandal, and the final sanctions of police-state methods against political rivals and other branches of
government. A classic example was the Koreagate scandal of 1976, unleashed with the help of
Bush's long-time retainer, Don Gregg. It will be recalled that Koregate included the toppling of
Democratic Speaker of the House Carl Albert of Oklahoma, who quietly retired from the House atthe end of 1976. That was in the year when Bush had returned from Beijing to Langley. Was it
merely coincidence that in the first year of Bush's tenure in the White House not just the
Democratic Speaker of the House, but also the House Majority Whip, were driven from office?
The campaign against Speaker of the House Jim Wright was spearheaded by Georgia RepublicanCongressman Newt Gingrich, a typical "wedge issue" ideologue of the GOP's Southern Strategy.
During 1987-88, Gingrich had been bad-mouthing Wright as the "Mussolini of the House."
Gingrich's campaign against Wright could never have succeeded without systematic support from
the news media, who regularly trumpeted his charges and lent him a wholly undeserved importance.
Gingrich's pretext was a story about the financing of a small book in which Wright had collectedsome of his old speeches, which Gingrich claimed had been sold to lobbyists in such a way as to
constitute an unreported gift in violation of the House rules. One of Gingrich's first steps when he
launched the assault on Wright during 1988 was to send letters to Bush and to Assistant Attorey
General William Weld, whose family investment bank, White Weld, had purchased Uncle Herbie
Walker's G.H. Walker & Co. brokewrote: "May I suggest, the next time the news media asks about corruption in the White House, yourage when Bush's favorite uncle was ready to retire. Gingrich (^)
ask them about corruption in the Speaker's office." A similar letter went out from the "Conservative
Campaign Fund" to all GOP House candidates with the message: "We write to encourage you to
make...House Speaker Jim Wright a major issue in your campaign." Bush placed himself in the
vanguard of this campaign.
When Bush, in the midst of his presidential campaign, was asked by reporters about the
investigation of Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese (no friend of Bush) concerning his dealings
with the Wedtech Corporation, he replied: "You talk about Ed Meese. How about talking about
what Common Cause raised against the Speaker the other day? Are they going to go for aindependent counsel so the nation will have this full investigation? Why don't people call out forn (^)
that? I will right now. I think they ought to." [fn 14] Reagan followed Bush's lead in calling for
Wright to be investigated.
According to published accounts, Wright was deeply offended by Busbeing organized against him, since the two shared the background of beh's role in the assault that wasing Texas Congressmen and (^)
had often had dealings together. At a dinner held by Italian Ambassador Rinaldo Petrignani, Wright
went out of his way to avoid meeting Bush, and had his wife feign illness as an excuse to leave very
early. Bush in those days frequented the House gymnasium to play racketball with his old crony,
Mississippi Democrat Sonny Montgomery. Bush attended the annual dinner of the House
frankie
(Frankie)
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