George Bush's 'endorsement' doesn't bring joy to Romney like Ted Nugent's and Donald Trump's did

There was a time long, long ago when Mitt Romney
was happy to have George W. Bush on stage with him.
(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
It's wasn't an endorsement the length of a book chapter like Rick Santorum's. It didn't include the scrubbing of any websites like Newt Gingrich's. It wasn't announced the same day as a joint campaign appearance like Michele Bachmann's. It was just four words by George W. Bush spoken to a reporter as the elevator doors closed: "I'm for Mitt Romney."

But that wasn't as half-hearted as the response from the all-but-official Republican presidential nominee. No tweet came from Team Romney as was the case when Rick Perry finally gave up on Newt Gingrich after Gingrich gave up on himself: "Great to have @GovernorPerry's support. Looking forward to working with him -- a lot to be done before November." No invitation was issued for Bush to join the governor for a day or two on the campaign trail.

Indeed, initially there was silence from the Romney camp in the hopes that if they didn't say anything nobody would notice. But then it was apparently decided that the silence was being too much noticed and they had to say something. So spokeswoman Andrea Saul was trotted out for a pro forma 'We welcome the president's support, as we welcomed his father's.' The sigh of relief was almost palpable as she noted that Bush had taken readily to the private life and had "made clear when he left office that he was not going to engage in political campaigns ..."

Quite a world when the all-but-official Republican nominee trembles at the thought of support from a two-term president of his own party but eagerly stands on stage in Las Vegas to accept the endorsement of the frequently bankrupt, misogynist, narcissist self-parody Donald Trump and then recruits him to do robocalls for the campaign in Michigan.

And while Romney was apparently hoping that Bush would keep his lips zipped for the duration so he could simply refer to him always as "the predecessor" of President Obama'as if merely saying the Texan's name could cost him votes'he had no such reservations about accepting the endorsement of Ted Nugent. Indeed, if Nugent is to be believed, Romney sought him out and promised that he wouldn't mess with gun owners' rights if the incendiary, ultra-right, has-been rock star endorsed him. "It's been fun getting to know Ted Nugent," Romney said.

True to form, the oh-so-fun, oh-so-likable Nugent was soon afterward spewing sewage about Obama and hinting darkly at the National Rifle Association's confab that if the president were reelected, he, Nugent, would be either dead or in jail "by this time next year." The Secret Service had a chat with Nugent. Romney made a milquetoast objection to his "divisive" comments. So, unlike The Donald, Nugent will probably not get asked to do any robocalls.

But, if it came down to a choice of being required to have either George or Ted working for the campaign, Romney would probably flip a coin.