It’s true: one of the Democratic party’s top Senate recruits is actively associating herself with George H. W. Bush and his son on the campaign trail.
Georgia’s Michelle Nunn — the presumptive Democratic nominee hoping to snatch an open seat in the deep-red state — has so far touted her ties to the Bushes in two ads and in her official biography on her campaign website.
In a new ad called “Point Guard” posted online Sunday, Nunn speaks to the camera and proudly declares, “I went on to become CEO of President Bush’s Points of Life Foundation” — referring to the nonprofit volunteer service organization inspired by the elder Bush’s 1989 inaugural address. (Nunn is currently on leave while she runs for Senate.)
It’s the second ad by Nunn where she touts Bush and the organization. In her first TV ad early April, titled “Optimistic,” she said, “While leading President Bush’s Points of Light Foundation, we grew it into the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service.”
And in the “about” section of her official campaign website, Nunn name-checks George H. W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush — for years the Democrats’ politically enemy No. 1, before and after he left office in 2009.
“In 2007, Hands On Network merged with the Points of Light Foundation, President George H.W. Bush’s organization and legacy. After leading a successful merger, Michelle became the CEO and President of Points of Light,” the biography reads. Toward the end it adds: “President George W. Bush appointed Michelle to serve on the National Council on Service and Civic Engagement.”
Is it awkward for national Democrats that one of their top candidates is favorably touting the Republican political dynasty that liberals detest? It turns out they don’t mind.
“Michelle Nunn is someone who puts her state before her party and highlighting her working relationship with former President Bush is a perfect way to illustrate that in a red state,” said a Senate Democratic campaign aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “She’s the only candidate [touting Bush] because she’s the only one who has worked so closely with him.”
She has worked with GHWB’s charitable foundation that does some very good work around the world. What is wrong with that? Are we so partisan that this is worthy of even commenting on?
I’m not smacking her for it. We’re not taking about her embracing the invasion of Iraq or Dubya’s disastrous environmental/energy policies. This is part of Nunn’s resume, so why should she hide it? No matter how crazy her eventual opponent will be, Nunn will need all the help she can get to win independents and Republicans who are embarrassed about what their state’s political climate has become.
For the most part, yes, I think we have become that partisan. That is why it is nice to have these types of stories so we can take a step back and think, ‘Okay, turns out we can work together’. It doesn’t seem like we can sometimes.
Uh… that’s Points of LIGHT, Mr. Kapur.
Well, as a lifelong Democrat, I’m grateful she’s running, but she actually says nothing in her ads, nor in person. Her statements are all just the usual anti-Washington,“the system is broken” , with no specifics about what she’d do to fix the situation. She has a couple of opponents on the Democratic side, one of whom is a true progressive and talks specifics and has no issuue proclaiming who he is. She, however, never mentions that she’s a Democrat. She will probably win the primary, but she’s gonna have to get a little more specific to not turn me off. Which she does now in spades. I’d like to directly ask her why she’s running as a Democrat? Perhaps because she realizes that as a Republican she’d have no independence of action and have to vote lockstep with the crazies?
I happen to think that one can run as a real Democrat and let the GOP kill itself off in its primary and subsequent run-off, since there are 5 or 6 candidates for the Senate seat and all of them are trying to out conservative one another. If they nominate an outsider like her (Perdue), she’s gonna have to redirect her focus. I