Question: Prescott Bush, sire of two presidents and a presumptive presidential nominee, was…
A) Treasurer of Planned Parenthood’s first nationwide capital campaign
B) Chairman of the Connecticut branch of The United Negro College Fund and a supporter of civil rights legislation
C) Part of the Senate majority that voted to censure Joseph McCarthy for founding an entire system of paranoia bearing his name
D) Author of Public Law 71, which empowered the Army Corps of Engineers to develop new programs to protect against tidal flooding
E) A lifelong member of the Republican Party
F) All of the above
This is not so much a post about how awesome was Prescott Bush and what the hell happened to his grandkids as it is about understanding the paradigm of the modern GOP and the positions its adherents are allowed to take in order to be successful, many of which you will hear articulated in broad, laughable statements by ten of the party’s champions in this evening’s pageant.
Bonus Fact: Title X, which provides federal aid to low-income Americans for the purposes of preventing unwanted pregnancies and of which 25% goes to Planned Parenthood, was signed into law by Republican Richard Nixon.