Is Pierce Bush the right man to knock Lizzie Fletcher out of Congress?
The news that Pierce Bush, one of the many grandchildren of the late President George H. W. Bush, was thinking of running for Congress in 2020 raised a few eyebrows. Pierce Bush has been laboring in obscurity as the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Loan Star and has never publicly shown any interest in entering the family business of politics.
On the one hand, the Bush scion has several advantages, mainly related to his family name. He is the grandson and nephew of American presidents and thus has a large network of family and friends who can be counted on to support his run for Congress. He has worked in a worthy non-profit. He is a handsome, red haired and bearded man who seems to exude geniality.
On the other hand, the Bush family has run into some measure of disdain in movement conservative circles, mainly because of the way that Pierce’s uncle. President George W. Bush, left the presidency, shrouded by an economic downturn and the War in Iraq. Voters also tend to resist political dynasties, even though Pierce Bush’s cousin, George P. Bush, occupies the statewide office of Texas Land Commissioner and may rise higher in due course. Pierce Bush’s other uncle, Jeb Bush, lost his own run for the presidency in 2016 rather badly.
Pierce Bush also must define himself far and beyond being the latest member of a famous family who yearns for public office. He needs to stake out positions on a variety of issues and convince people that his life experience is a good background for handling the same.
Still, if he does decide to run, Pierce Bush will be up against one of the most vapid people ever to be elected to the House of Representatives, Lizzie Fletcher, a former corporate lawyer. Fletcher presented herself as a moderate during the campaign for the 7th District in Texas but has behaved pretty much as a Nancy Pelosi clone since being elected to office. She is also one of the least productive freshman members, filling her Twitter feed with accounts of meetings but of few if any accomplishments.
One meeting included “activists from the Houston chapter of @CAIRNational.” CAIR is an organization that has been linked to Hamas and anti-Israel terrorism by the Anti-Defamation League. In one tweet she condemned President Trump’s condemnation of her fellow member of Congress Rep. Omar without referencing her expressions of anti-Semitism and her making light of the terrorist atrocity of September 11, 2001.
Fletcher also used her campaign to launch a war on science. Her opponent, John Culberson, was a big supporter of science, championing projects such as the Europa Clipper and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Fletcher falsely accused Culberson of neglecting flood control issues in his district in favor of big science. In fact, Culberson was using his position as an appropriations subcommittee chair to garner more funds for flood control in the Houston area. Fletcher, as a freshman member of Congress, has little influence or power to do such a thing.
The Bush family has been very friendly to science issues. Both presidents Bush attempted to start major programs to send humans back to the moon and on to Mars, both of which were successfully opposed by liberal Democrats like Lizzie Fletcher. Pierce Bush would do himself a lot of good with supporters of science who are spoiling for revenge by expressing support for projects like President Trump’s return-to-the-moon program.
In the balance, a Pierce Bush run for Congress should be welcome. His grandfather, George H. W. Bush, represented the 7th District of Texas in the 1960s. Whatever reservations one might have because of Pierce Bush’s last name, he is sure to be an improvement over the women who now occupies that office.
