17-Apr-02
PHONY TO THE CORE: The "Ole Family Ranch" in Crawford is a Set Completed the
Same Day the Election was Stolen
By Cheryl Seal
Have you seen all those article and pictures of Bush "at home on the ranch"
in Crawford - the ones that imply that he is "just an ole ranch hand" more
comfortable on the family homestead than in the "Big City," be it Austin or
D.C.? Well, if you bought this image, you've been royally snuckered. The
Bush family homestead in Crawford is nothing more than an elaborate set. The
house, built in 2000, was designed to be ready for Bush to step into - like
a set awaiting an actor - during the 2000 presidential election. Not only
was the "ranch" created in 2000 - so, essentially, was the "town" of
Crawford! Before then only about 400 people lived in the area. The Crawford
Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture were formed shortly after the ranch was
finished.
The 1,600 acres on which the "ranch" sits was purchased in 1999 for an
undisclosed price, but it was a helluva lot less than the current real
estate agents' appraisal of $1.2 million. Yep, worth $1.2 million, but G.W.
has a sweet deal at the tax appraiser's office, where the property is valued
at about $988,000. Oh, and that "homey ole ranch house?" It's actually a
10,000-square-foot single level mansion/compound that won't even be 2 years
old until this November! The compound features a swimming pool for daughters
Jenna and Barbara, who apparently loudly demanded it - the Bushes call it
the girls' "Whining pool." Btw - we hear Bush got a sweet deal on the house
construction, (the cost, of course remains undisclosed): the builders came
from a religious community in El Mott, Texas. The original completion date
of the house was November 7 - election day 2000. In other words, the curtain
went up on the set on schedule for "show time." The very timing of this
event indicates that Bush was absolutely confident that the election would
be successfully engineered in his favor.
The whole idea behind the ranch set, of course, was so that the public could
be treated to footage of Bush seeking a quiet "retreat" at the family ranch.
Americans would thus assume that the ranch was a rooted family homestead or
compound like the one Kennedy's had in Martha's Vineyard or FDR had at
Campobello. But when Bush retreated into his "homestead" in November, 2000,
he was merely walking onto a prepared set upon which the paint had barely
dried, let alone even the barest of roots put down! When we see photos of
Bush bombing around the ranch in his leather jacket in his "ole pickup,"
supposedly knowing every tree and bush - it's all pure fantasy! If Bush
knows every tree and bush after actually spending, all told, a total of
about 2 months on the ranch (if you put the odd days end to end) since it
was bought, then I''d like to know when he found time to hold all those
endless Crawford press conferences! Seems to me he'd be way too busy
introducing himself to trees and bushes.
Until Bush and handlers decided that a rural ranch would be a slick bit of
PR for the presidential campaign, Bush had no interest in a "home on the
range." Instead, his preferred weekend retreat was to the Rainbo Club, an
exclusive lakeside hunting club in Henderson County, about an hour south of
Dallas, much closer to the comforts of Austin. When a Bush run for president
began to look like a pretty good bet, the 1,600 acres were bought and the
Bushes started making weekend trips to a 60-year-old ranch house that
existed on the property - not of course, before refurbishing it! - so they
could build the "lore" that would take in the American public, hook, line
and sinker.
In an interesting side note - while Bush is anti-conservation in his
presidential policies to please his corporate pals, in his OWN home, he has
installed several conservation/energy saving features, including solar
panels for heating water, rainwater collection for landscape irrigation, an
air conditioning system that uses groundwater and a gray water recycling
system. The obvious impression here is that Bush, being all PR show and no
substance or real convictions, wants to cover all the bases. Block
conservation when it is expedient, but have some conservation "stuff" to
show off when that is expedient.
So, in short, we have a "president" who, ON THE SAME DAY - November 7,
2000 - stole an election and had the last nail driven into a phony ranch
set. But with a completely snuckered press corps, we also have had a
completely snuckered public. And a platoon of completely snuckered world
leaders, chief among them Blair and Putin, who have been hosted at the "ole
ranch" set and completely taken in. Alas, the Crawford ranch is a symbol of
the utter corporate phoniness of this administration. The whole scenario
reminds me of those type of sophisticated con artists (like the ones who
recently convinced several investors they could turn sand into gold! ) who
blow into town, rent an upscale office space just long enough to give them
enough credibility to hoodwink investors. Then, once they have fleeced
enough "marks," they disappear. What makes the Bush case much, much worse is
that I doubt he will disappear.
Additional Notes on "Rancho Boguso" from Bonafide Texans
Apparently Rancho Boguso has done time not just as a small-time cattle ranch
but was once a pig farm as well! And those horses you see in photos? Window
dressing only - Bush can't ride!!!
Read with interest your article at Democrats.com. Being from Waco I know
well what you say. Crawford first of all is closer to Waco than the Branch
Davidian Compound but this is never said.
For your information Bush was just given a saddle as a gift that is now on
tour around the state. This saddle is of NO use to him since he does't ride
horses. Ask Vincinte Fox - who wanted him to go riding on Bush's trip to
Mexico.
Another fact is that he doesn't own any of the cattle on his "ranch". They
are the cattle of the previous owner, who helps run the "Movie Set". He's a
cowboy with more hat than cattle.
"MikeYankee" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
> So what?
>
> Does anybody out there seriously believe that GWB, also born with a silver
> spoon in his mouth, is a man of the people?
>
>
> Mike Yankee
>
> (Address is munged to thwart spammers.
> To reply, delete everything after "com".)