Maine Republicans Were AWOL When Bush '41' Needed Them

By Ted Cohen Patch.com

The Maine town where two Bush presidents summered is “celebrating” a former first lady's 100th birthday - albeit too little too late.

As Kennbunkport RINOS dance the night away June 8 for Barbara Bush’s centennial, she would ask ‘Where were you when we needed you?’

Indeed, when Kennebunkport could have really mattered to First Lady Bush and her husband - in his 1992 re-election bid - those same RINOS sandbagged the guy and gal they always claim they love.

After all, the town gave Clinton and Perot more votes together (1,189) than they gave to Bush (1,119) that year, helping to sink his reelection.

Kennebunkport 'Republicans' helped usher in eight years of arguably the most dysfunctional White House administration in history.

In her memoir, the former first lady said that but for Perot - whom Kennebunkport RINOS gladly used as a foil - her husband would have beat Clinton.

Thanks Kennebunkport. For nothing.

Judging from the legacy press - and yes that includes you Portland Press Herald - thanks for everything.

The Internet is overwhelmed with fawning pieces extolling how much Kennebunkport loves the Bush family.

The Boston Globe actually ran a recent Bush retrospective literally headlined “Kennebunkport Loves the Bushes.”

Couldn't be further from the truth.

In reality Kennebunkport voters - who pay big taxes in the Maine town where the Bush family has had property since the late 1800s - were all hat and no cattle when it mattered, when they could have helped roadblock a potential Democrat administration.

They even helped flip York County from red to blue that year, again, doing their little part to sink Bush, who won only 30.39 percent statewide, compared to 38.77 for Clinton and 30.44 for Perot. But for Perot, Bush likely would have turned Maine red.

But all that is in the past so pay no heed. Except for one thing - Barbara Bush famously had an elephantine memory…

Aww, jeez, at this point, why not put on a good (fake) show for her birthday?

Barbara’s 100th birthday next month is prompting Kennebunkport’s Johnny-come-latelys to put on the usual facade of adoration for the wife of George H.W. Bush who died at the age of 92 in 2018.

Somehow that great sentimentality was in short supply in 1992, when the alleged Bush acolytes used the privacy of the election booth to bare their real feelings about the 41st president they apparently blamed for their tourist-driven traffic jams.

The town’s supposed Republicans - including the local trinket dealers who made a mint hawking hokey Bush memorabilia to the tourists - stayed on their couches, helping Clinton win Maine in the election that saw Perot come in second and Bush third.

As went Kennebunkport so went Maine - and the country.

The Kennebunkport Village Green, the same place where the town held a hungover “welcome-home party” for the Bushes after he lost that election, will be included in the supposed celebratory venue for the former first lady.

Again, all for show.

For George H.W. Bush it was no time for partying then, and for real Republicans it shouldn't be now - unless there's a disclaimer on the brim of the party hats:

“Happy 100th Birthday Bar, Sorry We Let You Down.”