"Dismay" and "disdain" toward The Decider from former Poppy aides

[Human Torch]

One proud Poppy ... but

W follies mar legacy, ex-Prez's aides gripe

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/461894p-388588c.html

BY THOMAS M. DEFRANK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

The elder Bush voices public support for his son, but many of the former president's closest aides beg to differ.



WASHINGTON - At this month's christening of the nuclear aircraft carrier bearing his name, former President George H.W. Bush delivered a rousing endorsement of his son.

"I am very proud of our President," the elder Bush said in rain-swept ceremonies in Newport News, Va. "I support him in every single way with every fiber in my body."

Yet many of his closest former aides beg to differ. Indeed, one of the worst-kept secrets in Bush World is the dismay, in some cases disdain, harbored by many senior aides of the former President toward the administration of his son - 41 and 43, as many call them, political shorthand that refers to their numerical places in American presidential history.

For five years, the 41s have bit their collective tongues as, they complain, the 43s ignored their counsel. But as the war in Iraq has worsened and public support for the current administration has tanked, loyalists of the elder Bush have found it impossible to suppress their disillusionment - particularly their belief that many of 43's policies are a stick in the eye of his father. "Forty-three has now repudiated everything 41 stands for, and still he won't say a word," a key member of the elder Bush alumni said. "Personally, I think he's dying inside."