How About Those Bush Family Ties, Walker Stapleton?

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by: Colorado Pols

Jeb Bush, Walker Stapleton.

The Denver Post's Lynn Bartels reported yesterday, Treasurer Walker Stapleton is getting some family help from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at a fundraiser next month.

Oh wait, you didn't actually know Walker Stapleton is a member of the illustrious Bush family, did you? It's not a secret of course, but judging from cousin Jeb's favorability ratings in yesterday's Quinnipiac University poll of Colorado voters, it may not be something Stapleton wants to lead with:

Jeb Bush, who is coming to Colorado next month for a fundraiser for state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, has some work to do when it comes to raising his appeal in the Centennial State.

A new poll released today by Quinnipiac University shows Bush with the most lopsided favorability ratings of all the potential 2016 presidential candidates. Only 29 percent of Coloradans have a favorable opinion of him, while 40 percent have an unfavorable opinion. Another 30 percent hadn’t heard enough about him to form an opinion.

Bush said Wednesday he is thinking of running for president, his strongest statement yet about the 2016 contest.

Those numbers don't bode well for a third Bush as President of the United States, folks.

Just so everybody's clear, Colorado Treasurer Walker Stapleton's first name Walker is also George Walker Bush's middle name, and one of George Herbert Walker Bush's middle names, and if you didn't already know this, George W. Bush (and Jeb, naturally) is Walker Stapleton's second cousin. Stapleton's 2006 wedding was held at the Bush family's Kennebunkport, Maine peninsular compound named Walker's Point. The Washington Post reported that Stapleton was working out with George W. Bush when Bush got the call in 2000 that the election in Florida was going haywire. We were obliged to note all of this again for the record back in 2010 when Stapleton rather ludicrously said on the campaign trail:

I’m proud to say I’ve never been part of inside politics.

After being in office four years, not to mention cousin Jeb coming to town, hopefully he's dispensed with that.

With all of this in mind, here's our question: if Stapleton's Bush family lineage was more broadly known, how would Colorado voters respond to that in this year's elections? Might cousin Jeb's low approval ratings be any guide?

12 thoughts on “How About Those Bush Family Ties, Walker Stapleton?”

Progressicat says:

April 25, 2014 at 10:17 am

Why should they care at all? Do we think folks should be afraid of electing Hillary because she might diddle an intern?

The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Zeke 18:20

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1. bullshit! says:
  
  April 25, 2014 at 10:23 am
  
  Totes, gotta give those Bushies a chance to shine! Because they haven't had any yet.
  
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2. Moderatus says:
  
  April 25, 2014 at 10:43 am
  
  Haven't you heard? All Bushes are evil. Like all Republicans are evil, except even worse.
  
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  1. Diogenesdemar says:
    
    April 25, 2014 at 10:56 am
    
    Well, Duh! Considering what outcasts they are in your party today, there must be some kind fudamental predisposition, huh? (genetic, maybe? — oh, wait — I forgot, you guys don't believe in that . . . too sciencey . . . um, how about, "the devil done gots 'em" . . . that's something your crew can "understand")
    
    I mean, you screwlooses wouldn't be constnatly running from and shunning them otherwise, would you?
    
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  2. Curmudgeon says:
    
    April 25, 2014 at 10:56 am
    
    Totally untrue. GHWB always seemed like a decent fellow to me. I even voted for him, the first time.
    
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    1. horseshit GOP front group says:
      
      April 25, 2014 at 1:08 pm
      
      I concur Curmudgeon. GHWB is a decent man.
      
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    2. DavidThi808 says:
      
      April 25, 2014 at 1:48 pm
      
      I also think GHWB was a really good president. He handled the implosion of the Soviet Union so well, he'll never get due credit for it because of the minimal problems.
      
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      1. Ralphie says:
        
        April 25, 2014 at 2:11 pm
        
        I don't think I'd put him in the "Really Good" category. More like "Not as bad as many."
        
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davebarnes says:

April 25, 2014 at 10:48 am

Who cares about Jeb?
Walker Stapleton is related to Neil. The same Neil who defrauded many people and skated thanks to his last name.

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1. Diogenesdemar says:
  
  April 25, 2014 at 10:58 am
  
  Oh, Jeb's related to Neil, too — can anyone say "InnoVida"?
  
  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/us/politics/jeb-bushs-rush-to-make-money-may-be-hurdle.html?_r=0
  
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  1. notaskinnycook says:
    
    April 25, 2014 at 2:45 pm
    
    I'd mssed that one, Dio, but I'm unsurprised. If my memory of other things I've seen about the Bush fortune is accurate, they didn't come by much of their money honestly. Proving once again that the difference between the obscenely wealthy and the rest of us is that "The Four Hundred" started staling first.
    
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    1. notaskinnycook says:
      
      April 25, 2014 at 10:38 pm
      
      Oops, "stealing".
      
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