Bush 41 broke down in tears while delivering a speech about the leadership of his son Jeb, Governor of Florida and more specifically about how he dealt with both victories and defeats. In short, as a man.
He then broke down in tears mentioning his son, Gov. Jeb Bush, as an example of leadership and the way he handled losing the 1994 governor’s race to popular incumbent Democrat Lawton Chiles. He vaguely referred to dirty tricks in the campaign.
“He didn’t whine about it. He didn’t complain,” the former president said before choking up in front of lawmakers, Gov. Bush’s top administrators and state workers gathered in the House chamber for the last of the governor’s leadership forums.
As he tried to continue, he let out a sob and put a handkerchief to his face. When he spoke again, his words were broken up by pauses as he tried to regain composure.
[…]
“A true measure of a man is how you handle victory and how you handle defeat, so in ’94 Floridians chose to rehire the governor. They took note of a his worthy opponent, who showed with not only words but with actions what decency he had,” Bush said before again sobbing.
[…]
“The moral of the story is to serve with honor and your governor has served with honor,” the former president said.“I’m the emotional one,” Bush said later. “I don’t enjoy breaking up, but when you talk about somebody you love, when you get older, you do it more.”
You can watch it for yourself:
(h/t to Hot Air)
Thomas de Zengotita argues that this speech was not really about Jeb, but about George W. The Iowa Voice doesn’t quite agree, attacks de Zengotita and emphasises the fact that people tend to get more emotional when they get older.
My view? I have some ‘feelings’ about this matter, but since I am not a psychotherapist my ‘feelings’ are about as credible as those of my dog. I cannot possibly read Bush 41’s mind (nor can anyone else for that matter). So whether or not I think there is more behind it, is quite irrelevant. What is relevant, however, is that Bush 41 proves himself to be an emotional, loving father. A father who is extremely proud of his son Jeb and who is more than willing to show how he feels (although, of course, most likely not as publicly as this time around).
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