The Senior Bush Defends Son

Here's an article from Yahoo on what the senior Bush had to say about his son after a 'leadership' speech he recently gave in the Middle East (hat tip to The Huffington Post):

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Former President George H.W. Bush took on Arab critics of his son Tuesday during a testy exchange at a leadership conference in the capital of this U.S. ally.

"My son is an honest man," Bush told members of the audience harshly criticized the current U.S. leader's foreign policy.

(snip)

The hostile comments came during a quesion-and-answer session after Bush finished a folksy address on leadership by telling the audience how deeply hurt he feels when his presidential son is criticized.

"This son is not going to back away," Bush said, his voice quivering. "He's not going to change his view because some poll says this or some poll says that, or some heartfelt comments from the lady who feels deeply in her heart about something. You can't be president of the United States and conduct yourself if you're going to cut and run. This is going to work out in Iraq. I understand the anxiety. It's not easy."

I'm not going to read too much into this. Maybe it's just a lame sympathy note to his son while members of the Bush I presidency clean up junior's mess. Maybe the senior Bush is showing the less than 'realist' side of his nature. Maybe he's just a pained and confused father. Maybe he's setting things up for more nonsense to come. Maybe he's just getting tired of the whole thing. The senior Bush would be better off sticking to a 'no comment' format when questions are asked about his son. The issues are too big at this point.