Presidential Siblings: A Bipartisan Tradition
A reader complains that my item on Neil Bush and fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky failed to mention Bill Clinton's hapless brother, suggesting that I was showing the usual bias of the liberal media etc.
Not really. I'm well aware that Roger Clinton, the slacker-cum-hustler half-brother of ...
... the previous Commander in Chief, also enlivened the hardy tradition of presidential siblings seduced by foreigners flashing cash.
Roger's exploits should not be forgotten. In 2002, a House committee investigation concluded that Roger had "received at least $335,000 in unexplained travelers' checks, including checks from Taiwan, South Korea and Venezuela." Republicans alleged he was selling the prospect of presidential pardons. Democrats decried the 476-page report as "shoddy," but the dollar signs associated with Roger Clinton were not much disputed.
President Bill Clinton and trouble-prone brother Roger on a golf outing in April 2000.
Roger Clinton's lawyer explained his client had received the money for musical shows in the various countries but had not kept records of when and where he performed.
Then there was Billy Carter, the hapless brother of President Jimmy Carter, In the late 1970s, Billy tried to escape his older brother's somewhat pious shadow by hawking "Billy Beer," a beverage that Americans spat out by the millions. (Morris Udall, a popular Democrat from Arizona, joked that he took one sip of Billy Beer and gave it to a chemist friend, instructing, "Tell me what's the problem here." Udall reported that the chemist came back and said, "Mo, your horse has diabetes.")
In 1980 Billy registered as a foreign agent for Libya after it was revealed that he had accepted a $220,000 "loan" for an oil sale he was supposed to facilitate. President Carter's White House got tangled up explaining Billy's dealings to the press and wound up looking unpresidential.
Anybody know other good stories about presidential siblings and foreign funny money? Post in the comments section below.
By Jefferson Morley |
December 2, 2005; 5:04 PM ET
| Category:
Americas
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Posted by: Gerry | December 3, 2005 06:09 PM
You are correct about Mo Udall's position, Gerry. I have corrected the item.
Posted by: Jefferson Morley | December 4, 2005 10:20 AM
But I doubt Roger would have pardoned Marc Rich.
Posted by: Reynolds | December 5, 2005 07:56 AM
Should we also mention George H W Bush's brother who would drum up business for himself by visiting foreign countries ahead of Presidential visits by his brother? Nixon's brother ran into some legal difficulties as I recall.
How about Neil Bush's exploits in the 1980's at Silverado savings? And maybe some of the other crap that has surfaced about Neil, shady business deals, prostitutes showing up at his door (this has occurred in the last few years)? But then again, W himself was trading on the family name to get his seat on the Harken Energy board.
If there is ever a contest for sleaziest Presidential brother I sure that George W Bush could hold his own against Carter or Clinton without any trouble.
Posted by: Thomas Fiore | December 5, 2005 11:29 AM
nothing good about the Silverado story and all the thousands of folks that Neil did irreparable financial damage to, or the damage he did to the wife that stood by him in that ugly mess.
Posted by: Dave | December 5, 2005 12:05 PM
Actually, there is one good thing about the Silverado story. Like Ted Kennedy and Chappaquiddick, Silverado will ensure that Neil can NEVER run for President of the U.S. Unless Jeb quickly comes to the fore, we won't have another Bush in contention for the White House for at least a generation.
Posted by: Scott | December 5, 2005 12:31 PM
Let's hope for no more bushes! Why is it that Clinton's "scandals," which turned out to be a consentual sex act, are daily front page news for months and years while the Bush politicians are related to an astonishing number of drug addicts, alcoholics, womanizers and outright criminals and one has to dig for secondary sources just to learn the details of these ivy league degenerates??
Posted by: AMEN! | December 14, 2005 01:53 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
The quote from Mo Udall sounds like something he would have said, however, you're a bit off on the office he held. Mo was the chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, not the Secretary of the Interior. Mo's brother Stewart was Secretary of the Interior for Kennedy and Johnson. Those of us who worked in Mo's Presidential campaign still regret the result - in addition to being the funniest President ever, he would certainly have been one of the best.