Newsweek: Bush's Name Like Voldemort's

May 20th, 2009 8:12 AM

In an otherwise soft-toned piece on the "afterlife" of President Bush in Texas in Newsweek, freelancer Bill Minutaglio suggests that the Bush brand is like Lord Voldemort – the villain of unspeakable evil of the Harry Potter books:

When Bush last lived here full time, he was a media darling with sky-high approval ratings....Today, the [governor’s] mansion is in ruins—almost torched to the ground last June by an arsonist who still hasn't been caught. And the Bush brand, once spoken of in the halls of the legislature with awe, is now a little like Lord Voldemort's.

"It is the name that shall not be spoken," says Texas political consultant Bill Miller, who has worked with both Democrats and Republicans. "The emotional response from people is almost always negative, never positive. It's a different time and a different deal."

If this sounds a little like Democratic Underground, you wouldn't be mistaken.