Petrelis Files

(Barbara Bush, center, without her pearls.)

Barbara Bush: "Terrible Year" for Republicans

Dubya's mother, Barbara Bush, sometimes known as the Mamma Corleone of the Bush dynasty, spoke some unvarnished truth last week and the Dallas Morning News was there to quote her:

Two of the most popular Republican women in Texas, Barbara Bush and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, issued dire warnings Tuesday about their party's election prospects.

The former first lady called it a "terrible year" for Republicans.

Said the senator: "This is a tough time for us, make no mistake about it."

Mrs. Bush headlined a $75-per-plate fundraising luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion, and the assessments of the bleak landscape facing the GOP came as a dash of cold reality for the hundreds of activists, mostly women, gathered to support the senator's re-election. They expect her to coast to another term, but whether she serves in a Congress controlled by Democrats remains an open question, with war, a page scandal and other problems dragging down the party.

Mrs. Bush drew huge laughs when she pointed out that the senator's Democratic opponent, Democrat Barbara Radnofsky, had derided Ms. Hutchison as an "aging prom queen."

"That," she said, "sounds pretty good to me. I'd like to be a prom queen – aging, fat, whatever they have to say. That's so pathetic. ... Kay Bailey Hutchison is one of the strongest leaders in the United States Senate and is an outstanding emissary for the state of Texas." [...]

Speaking of dragging down the party and queens, shouldn't Mark Foley be getting out of rehab in early November, just days before America votes? You'll recall he went into rehab at the beginning of October and his lawyer said he'd spend at least 30 days in treatment.

Knowing that queen would absolutely die if she weren't in the media limelight for more than a few days, or a week perhaps, I bet it's killing Foley to not be front of the cameras for so long, which is why I wager he'll be out of rehab before the November 7 election.

Please, please, please let Foley successfully complete his rehab and get out of wherever he's holed up prior to the election. Voters will need reminding why the GOP is so good for America.