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Cleburne Times-Review: Bush visits Cleburne

March 28, 2013

George P. Bush, grandson of one president and nephew of another, served as keynote speaker of Tuesday night’s Johnson County Republican Women’s Club dinner. Several met and visited with Bush during the pre-meal VIP event held at the Liberty Hotel. The action then transferred next door to Caddo Street Grill for the dinner and auction.

Bush recently announced intentions to run for the Texas Commissioner of General Lands next year.

“George, you can travel through all 254 counties of Texas and nowhere will you find more generous, conservative and God fearing people who love this country than you will in Johnson County, Texas,” U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Austin, said by way of welcoming Bush to the podium.

Williams said he first met Bush in 2000 when his uncle, George W. Bush, ran for president.

“I’ve always said we need more businessmen in politics and less politicians,” Williams said. “And I’ve seen [Bush] in action and his work in the private sector and think who better to serve our country and state than him?”

Discussing why he intends to seek public office, Bush joked that many probably believe it’s because doing so is apparently within the Bush family DNA.

“No,” Bush said. “I really love my family, but I’m also my own man and I really have a servant’s heart. I was born here and Texas is a big part of who I am.”

President Obama’s policies have failed the country, workers and small business owners, Bush said, adding that’s one reason he decided to run for land commissioner. Bush called the office a position and office the duties of which “a lot” of people remain unfamiliar with.

Bush name checked veterans affairs, education and energy independence among his priorities if elected.

A Naval Reserves Intelligence officer, Bush served in Afghanistan in 2011. One in three veterans remain uninformed of the benefits due them, Bush said.

Bush mentioned former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle who, with 160 confirmed kills, is considered the most successful sniper in U.S. military history. A fellow veteran shot and killed Kyle in February at a shooting range.

Bush praised Kyle for working with troubled veterans and said he was scheduled to go shooting with Kyle before his death.

Concerning education, Bush said Texas continues to fall behind the rest of the country and the world and that he will work to close the “achievement gap.” Bush said his “real world” experience as a public school teacher will serve him well.

The land commissioner, among other duties, manages state-held lands with mineral lease royalties providing a major source of state and school funding.

Bush called for energy independence and said Texas could help lead the way. The U.S. imported 25 percent of its oil 25 years ago, he said, a percentage now totalling 60 percent much of which derives from countries considered hostile to U.S. interests.

Bush also spoke of the importance of protecting and maintaining Texas’ most visited site — the Alamo — and doing the same with the coastline. Bush joked that he knew someone to call upon — his father, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — should he need advice on hurricane or disaster recovery.

“It’s time for my generation, the 9-11 generation, to step forward and serve this great state,” Bush said.

Williams followed Bush, delivering an update on his first 90 days in Congress, which he called a huge and humbling honor.

“We need business people on both sides of the aisle,” Williams said. “People who have worked in and understand the real world.”

Williams urged attendees to support conservative candidates in 2014.

“We can’t lose the House and allow President Obama a free run of his social agenda during his last two years,” Williams said.

Williams said he met Obama for the first time last week.

“There’s a lot of difference between what he sees for America and what we see,” Williams said, competing budgets being one example.

The House Republican budget, Williams said, cuts spending, calls for no new taxes and would balance the federal budget within a decade. The proposed Senate Democratic budget by contrast calls for more than $1 trillion in new taxes and never balances, Williams said.

The two chambers must now try to hash out an agreement on the ultimate budget, Williams said.

“A lot of people say why can’t [Republicans and Democrats] compromise?” Williams said. “Heck, I’m in the car business. I compromise all day. And I’m a positive guy, but I just don’t see a lot of common ground.”

Williams closed by quoting Abraham Lincoln, who called America the world’s last great hope.

“That was true then, it’s true today and it will be true tomorrow,” Williams said.

Williams also served as auctioneer, auctioning several framed replicas of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence, which Johnson County Republican Party Chairman Henry Teich procured during a recent trip to Philadelphia.

Funds from those and a silent auction go toward a scholarship and maintenance of the Johnson County Republican headquarters in Cleburne.

Local party officials presented Bush and his wife, Amanda Bush, with a framed copy of the Bill of Rights.

“Since I’m running for state office, the 10th Amendment is my favorite,” Bush said.