BJU Link Today

Bush and the Schieffer brothers

Can someone explain this to me? This appears in Madison The Capital Times. It looks like some sort of "Ask an Expert" section. Here a person asks:

FYI: I heard that CBS newsman Bob Schieffer's brother is a crony of President Bush. If that's true, why was he allowed to moderate the third debate? No one with ties like that to John Kerry would have been allowed to moderate.

-- No longer undecided

Now, the answer follows. Of course, you can tell from the very first line that this "expert" is quite biased. Rethuglicans? However, I have to hand it to the guy that he didn't give the stereotypical description of BJU. He uses a description that appears on the University's own Web site - I guess he figures that decription is "bad" enough:

• Moderate and John Kerry do not go together, many Rethuglicans claim.

It's true about the Schieffers. Is it a stench connection? Maybe, maybe not, but it doesn't appear as pure as Caesar's wife.

From the U.S. State Department's Web site:

Tom Schieffer was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to Australia on Sept. 29, 2001, and still holds the job. "Ambassador Schieffer has one brother, Bob Schieffer, a journalist, who is the chief Washington correspondent for CBS News as well as the host for CBS's 'Face the Nation.'"


The ambassador has a law degree but, unlike dastardly John Edwards, has not been a trial lawyer. His past practice focused on "business transactions, particularly those associated with investments and oil and gas," his official biography says.

It adds, "In 1989, he was an investor in the partnership led by George W. Bush and Edward W. "Rusty" Rose that bought the Texas Rangers Baseball Club. He was designated as partner-in-charge of ballpark development in 1990. In January 1991, he was named president of the club, reporting directly to general partners Bush and Rose. ... When Bush was elected governor of Texas in 1994, Ambassador Schieffer assumed Bush's duties as general partner."

Back to brother Bob. When candidate Bush went to Bob Jones University ("A liberal arts, nondenominational Christian university, BJU stands without apology for the old-time religion and the absolute authority of the Bible") in 2000, moderator Schieffer mused:

"The notion that Bush is a Bible-thumping conservative Republican of that ilk is something that's sort of hard to believe."

Yuk. Yuk. Bob Jones = Bible-thumping? Again, it shows how little people actually understand about the place.