THIS IS WHAT POLITEX HAS LEARNED ABOUT GEORGE SINCE THEN. Analysis: He's a weasel, not a ferret. When we came on line last Feburary, G-Dub was in the process of cleaning up his act, separating himself from his past business connections and creating a personal mythology as one who has seen the error of his youthful ways, even though he tends to define "youthful" as anything he did prior to age 42 and he still has the millions he made with Richard Rainwater, et. al. With the aid of some very savvy political handlers, a bankroll that won't quit, and family connections, he's managed to avoid most of the gaffes he's perfectly capable of making. On the basis of discussions with insiders and other observers, one concludes that most are genuinely amazed that Bush has made it this far. Although he's never been characterized as a thinker, he's managed to turn a "gentleman's C" into a "B" by dint of hard work and discipline. This allows him to read a speech with grim conviction and keep repeating rote answers to rote questions. However, his limitations come across during in-depth conversations such as his recent C-Span interview.

He is known to be best behind the scenes where his casual tone and joking personality --cultivated family traits-- flatter the listener. This doesn't work when George tries to apply his youthful, just folks charm in the public arena. He comes across as a lightweight at best or a wise-ass at worst. (Condescension is sometimes seen just below the surface.) At present, he's looking for a public persona that allows him to express feelings, and he has yet to find it. Too often, he falls into a dour, slightly p-o'ed mode, perhaps a throwback to his boozing years. (One report has him thwacking a cane across the top of his governor's desk to let people know that he's really angry.) Cranking up the volume at key points in his speeches is also a poor substitute for real public emotions.

George comes across strongest as a typically amoral economic conservative businessman with a hard-earned Ivy League MBA who knows how to use his native abilities and family connections to make a buck and apply those same principles to politics. Like his father, he knows how to get others to do the dirty work. (Junior fired Sununu.) Like his father, he knows how to take credit for the work of others. (He is not responsible for bipartisanship in Texas.) Like, his father, his reasons for wanting to be President are suspect. (There is a disconnect between his "vision" and his actions.) In his personal life he was a social liberal and is now a social moderate; in public he wants to appear to be a social conservative, because that's where his votes are. He is disciplined enough to repeat what he is told to say, limited enough not to be particularly bothered by philosophical contradictions, and political enough to do and to say whatever it takes to win. 2/15/99