Bush family e-mails hacked: Was anything stolen of value (beyond privacy)?
The Bush family has been victimized by a hacker, in case you haven鈥檛 heard. Someone who calls himself 鈥淕uccifer鈥� has managed to penetrate the e-mail accounts of an unknown number of relatives of ex-Presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush. We鈥檒l leave the technical analysis to others, and focus on the stuff that鈥檚 actually been published: Are these sensitive secrets that shouldn鈥檛 have come into the public domain?
Yes, in the sense that nobody should have stuff like this stolen and then plastered all over the Internet. Presumably, the FBI will get involved in tracking this person down. But no, in the sense that what we鈥檝e seen so far makes the Bush family seem more sympathetic, if anything. It reveals their concern for George H.W.鈥檚 health during his recent hospitalization and indicates that it was more serious than publicly known.
According to summaries of some of the material published on , one Dec. 27 e-mail from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) to his four siblings saluted his father鈥檚 鈥渒indness and good nature." It talked about how he鈥檇 helped Bill Clinton reestablish his reputation by treating him well, for instance.
In a Dec. 26 e-mail, George W. asked relatives for anecdotes, thoughts, and other material that might be useful in a eulogy. 鈥淗opefully I鈥檓 jumping the gun,鈥� he wrote.
Thankfully, he was. At the time, news organizations hadn鈥檛 reported on the seriousness of Bush pere鈥檚 illness. But here鈥檚 a little journalistic secret: Most in the mainstream media knew that something was up. This is not due to any publishable inside knowledge, so don鈥檛 cry conspiracy. It鈥檚 due to rumors and the context 鈥� when an elderly ex-president is hospitalized for any length of time, it is best to begin planning coverage for all eventualities.
As to the rest of the stuff, the thing that jumps out at us is George W.鈥檚 artwork. Yes, he鈥檚 a painter now. That鈥檚 been known for some time. So were Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower. That鈥檚 pretty good artistic/political company to keep.
W. mentioned this last year at a semiprivate gathering in Memphis, Tenn., where he was interviewed by daughter Jenna about his life for an audience of business and civic leaders. At the time, he said his artistic subjects were mostly dogs.
鈥淚 guess you can teach an old dog new tricks,鈥� .
But the hacker-obtained material includes at least two images of current W. paintings, and they鈥檙e not dogs. Apparently, he e-mailed some examples of his latest work to sister Dorothy Bush Koch, and they鈥檙e self-portraits of him in the shower and bathtub.
Amateur mind-readers, start your engines! In the shower one, you see Bush鈥檚 torso from behind, staring at the wall, while his face shows in a wall-mounted mirror. To us, it appears as if he鈥檚 actually looking in another direction, and the face should not be showing. Is that a subtle comment on the nature of self-observation? Or a mistake? You decide.
The one in the bathtub has a nice geometry to it, with his toes sticking out of sudsy water, the faucet and handles in the background. Brushstroke might use a little work, though.
There鈥檚 also a photo of Bush painting something that appears to be a church, and him posing with cardboard cutout of himself as an artist. Very meta. We鈥檇 be unsurprised if a Bush art show, all proceeds to charity, is not far away.
