SMALL FAVORS
Ivins, Molly
SMALL FAVORS Molly Ivins The Word's the Thing Told you so. I told you George Bush was going to turn out to be more fun than a church-singin'-with-suppeir-on-the-ground. How can you not love his...
...We've had triumphs, we've made mistakes, we've had sex...
...You may have heard of the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, the organization that has regisMolly lvins, a columnist for the Dallas Times Herald, appears in this space every month...
...Call me Peter, call me Tom, anything but Dan...
...Also, it should be noted for the record, real Texans do not use the word "summer" as a verb...
...The bookcases in Bush's "house" feature Reader's Digest Condensed Editions...
...Ah," said Bush, "comme ci, comme ca...
...In a thousand sleepy, dusty towns, Willie Velasquez or one of the people he trained came to meet with small groups in church basements or in some community hall with peeling linoleum...
...They asked him why he thought he was trailing Michael Dukakis,, and the Veeper said it's the problem he has with "the vision thing...
...Yo, mo'-fo...
...He's back on 'C'est la vie.' Three times today...
...The cynics should study it: Town by town, county by county, the number of Hispanic elected officials in the Southwest has gone steadily up...
...There's just slippage from time to time in the links between his mouth and his mind...
...He didn't mean that: "Setbacks, we've had setbacks," he quickly amended...
...A few weeks ago, Bush was commiserating with a black ghetto kid who said he hated homework...
...Next, Bush was interviewed by Ted Koppel, whom he kept calling "Dan...
...Where Willie Velasquez went, the spirits of Thomas Jefferson and Jamie Madison were present, too...
...What a mighty force for the good he was...
...How can you not love his thing thing...
...And he did, by God, make a difference...
...tered hundreds of thousands of people to vote, most of them Chicano or Indian...
...Willie kept spreading that old dream—that we have power over our lives, that we can make a difference, that we must make a difference for our children's sake...
...Willie Velasquez founded the Project, built it, and ran it...
...Vice President, don't call me Dan...
...There has never been anything posh or plush about those meetings, but they have always been majestic and magical because Velasquez didn't just register people to vote—he made them believe in democracy...
...I think this is not a Dan thing but a word thing with Bush...
...He's also having a little difficulty with the minority thing...
...It's so Freudian...
...One of the great freedom fighters from down this way has died before his time—Willie Velasquez, gone from liver cancer at the age of forty-four...
...Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower, reflecting on Bush's "stay-the-course" strategy, said, "If ignorance ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want the drillin' rights on that man's head...
...The continuing debate over whether Bush is a Texan surfaced again during the state Democratic convention, when some fun-lovers rented Bush's "home"—his address of convenience, a suite at the Hous-tonian Hotel—and held a Bologna Bash and Boogie here...
...Reporters traveling with Bush have taken to keeping track of his French...
...Vaya con Dios...
...While trying to express how close he is to President Reagan, Bush said, "For seven-and-a-half years I've worked alongside him, and I'm proud to be his partner...
...Koppel was finally reduced to pleading, "Please, Mr...
Vol. 52 • August 1988 • No. 8
