Holocaust Survivors suing Bush family!!!

[skooooo]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html

snip
-----------

"Remarkably, little of (Prescott) Bush's dealings with Germany has received public scrutiny, partly because of the secret status of the documentation involving him. But now the multibillion dollar legal action for damages by two Holocaust survivors against the Bush family, and the imminent publication of three books on the subject are threatening to make Prescott Bush's business history an uncomfortable issue for his grandson, George W, as he seeks re-election."

[jpgray]

1. About. Damn. Time.

How many Bushes have been elected without this coming to light?

[skooooo]

2. Read the whole article..

...I guess some archives have been recently released. This is amazing, if it can come to fruition before the election so that people find out.

[DemBones DemBones]

3. Will U.S. media cover this story?

:shrug:

[skooooo]

4. I don't see how they couldn't ..

..this will spread like wildfire.

[sonicx]

5. "I don't see how they couldn't .."

watch them try

[Ladyhawk]

11. No. It's obvious they're bloody traitors. Haven't you noticed? n/t

[DemFromMem]

6. No fan of Bush, but this is out of bounds

This is about Bush's grandfather and is COMPLETELY irrelevant. I'm sure if you dig around enough, you can find dirt in any of our family trees. GWB has plenty of his own flaws you can legitimately attack.

By the way, Kitty Kelley discusses these charges at length in her new book on the Bush family. This was one of the surprising number of sections of the book where the family does NOT come off as poorly as the media led us to believe. Kelley's conclusion was that Prescott Bush's conduct was not illegal and that the Trading With the Enemies Act was not violated. I don't know whether she the documents cited in the Guardian story and she does ont get into the litigation noted above.

I'm no fan of the Bushes, but I think it is pretty unfair to try and make this an issue in this campaign.

A bit off topic, but another surprise in the Kelley book - Prescott Bush was a fairly moderate Republican who had a respectable record on civil rights and in opposing Joe McCarthy. Overall, Prescott Bush does not come off that badly.

When Kelley was interviewed on the Today Show, Lauer asked her if she had anything nice to say about the Bushes in the book. She said yes, but didn't really seem prepared to get into specifics (maybe that's not what sells books). But she actually is very correct when she says the book paints a realistic portrait of a family. I'm only up to the 1960s so in the book and have not gotten to GWB's story, but the earlier relatives don't seem like monsters. And I felt genuinely sad reading about the death from leukemia of Robin, the three year old daughter of George and Barbara. The portrait of how the parents dealt with this is very sympathetic.

Of course, there's a quote that just came up that says that the blood line has thinned down the family line. The book is already turning darker.

I should also say - at least based on the parts I've so far read - that I think people have seriously misjudged this book - both on the left and the right. It seems to be pretty serious and well documented. Her tone is not shrill and she spends a lot of time laying out the historical background of the times. Kelley is a pretty bright woman and very thorough. I wonder what others think?

[skooooo]

8. I'm not sure it's totally irrelevant...

...seeing as how Bush comes from a long line of people who have profitted by war. If the family owes people money by contributing to their suffering, then they should pay up.

[Cha]

9. I haven't read the book, Yet..

but I've seen Kitty Kelley on c-span and I would not expect this.."Her tone is not shrill".

As for the "the blood line has thinned down the family line. The book is already turning darker."..

From what I've ascertained..it's babs who did most of the "thinning".

And you could tell that matt lauer didn't read the book if he had to ask "if there was anything nice" she had to say about the bushes.

[AlCzervik]

10. you should read "American Dynasty" by Kevin Phillips

he's no liberal and his book is well researched and full of facts about Grampa Bush and is ww2 war profiteering, you think differently about him.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

12. I agree. If some people think Vietnam service is a not critical factor

then not only would this seem entirely inappropriate by comparison, but also spun as a gratutitous attack on Bush's family and hence would backfire.
I am not one of those people, but I know in the big picture this would be way out of proportion to what you'd want to criticise Bush for.

[moondust]

21. Not irrelevant.

If the Bush family stashed away a considerable sum of Nazi gold and subsequently invested it, that fortune may be allowing generations of the Bush family to skate through life without lifting a finger as well as establish and advance their political careers. Up to and including today. How much of George W's current campaign has been paid for with the fortune his grandfather made helping Hitler kill Jews and GIs?

[whistle]

7. Has the Kitty Kelly book stimulated some of this?

[DemFromMem]

13. Stories the MSM aren't touching

Don't know if Kitty's book is giving story ideas to the mainstream press or not, but the foreign media certainly seems interested. Have folks noticed that the British and Australian press seems to be a lot less inhibited in how they are covering this race. Who would have thought that we would have to depend on the Guardian and the Australian to find out what is happening in our own election?

[whistle]

15. Becoming a Radio Free America in reverse.......

...but without the propaganda, just truth coming at us from the outside.

[pacalo]

16. When the Iraq war first began, foreign news sources such as the Guardian

were the practically the only unfiltered news to be found on the internet. We've come a long way.

[jonnyblitz]

25. It's mentioned in Kevin Phillips' "American Dynasty" also n/t

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

14. Maybe they'll sue Ahnold also

After all his dad was a Nazi.

[DemFromMem]

17. Think about making this story an issue

Folks - Children (and grandchildren) should not be held responsible for the sins of their parents (unless they've somehow said that the controversial actions were okay).

Here's an article that might make you think -

http://jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=14503&intcategoryid=2


Daughter of Nazi official honored
for her contributions to tolerance
By Toby Axelrod

BERLIN, Sept. 12 (JTA) — Not every child of a Nazi has become an activist for tolerance and reconciliation. Not every daughter of a war criminal has fought for compensation for slave laborers, set up a fund for Jewish artists and insisted that the history not be forgotten.
Hilde Schramm has done all these things. On Sept. 6, Schramm, 68, the eldest daughter of the armaments minister for the Nazis, Albert Speer, received the Moses Mendelssohn Award from the State of Berlin for her work promoting tolerance and reconciliation.

People “who do indisputable good, and do this so tirelessly, so convincingly and so unpretentiously, are not only respected — they are honored and loved,” Berlin Culture Minister Thomas Flierl said in remarks to some 400 guests at the ceremony.

Beaming and clutching a bouquet, Schramm received a standing ovation.

[skygazer]

23. I don't necessarily hold with blaming the children

for the sins of the fathers.

However, ANYTHING that plants doubt in people's minds and helps get GW out of office is a plus in my book.

Perhaps he himself is not a Nazi sympathizer. Perhaps he himself did not profit from killing Jews.

But he's run this country into the ground, sent over 1000 soldiers to their death in Iraq, maimed and wounded many more, and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis.

He's also run up the deficit sky high, taken away many of our freedoms and installed the equivalent of a police state.

So as far as I'm concerned, he carries enough sin himself that I won't feel bad if he's carried down by that of his ancestors. Just because their sin is not his sin does not mean that he has none.

Toss him out.

[DemFromMem]

18. Pick on Arnold for things that matter

He's a major contributor to the Museum of Tolerance in LA. I think he's sincere. There's a major guilt factor with post-war generations in Europe and it is one of the reasons why Europe is so tolerant today. Not that Europe is a bed of roses today (anti-Semitism flair ups, Muslim bashing, etc.).

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

19. I'm joking

Get a freaking sense of humor

[DemFromMem]

20. Try making the humor a little funnier...

and we'll know you're joking. If I wanted to read lame, offensive, unfair personal attacks, I'd go over to Free Republic.

[Jon8503]

22. The family has not changed much as with their connection with

the Bin Laden family & Saudia Arabia.

[kaitykaity]

24. This lawsuit will join the 911 family's lawsuit against Bush in the

black hole ether of stories censored by the US media.