“Never tell anybody outside the family what you’re thinking again.”- Don Corleone to Sonny

In this morning’s New York Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg examines the angst of the patriarch of the Bush Crime Family, Don G.H.W. Bush. Poppy, it seems, is suffering in his soul as he watches his wayward son screw up the family business.

There are times in the life of George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States and father of the 43rd, that people, perfect strangers, come up to him and say the harshest things — words intended to comfort but words that wind up only causing pain.

It doesn’t feel good to be told:

“I love you, sir, but your son’s way off base here,” they might say, according to Ron Kaufman, a longtime adviser to Mr. Bush, who has witnessed any number of such encounters — perhaps at a political fund-raiser, or a restaurant dinner, a chance meeting on the streets of Houston or Kennebunkport, Me. They are, he says, just one way the presidency of the son has taken a toll on the father.

“It wears on his heart,” Mr. Kaufman said, “and his soul.”

The Bush Crime Family lives by a simple code.

“Fredo, you’re my older brother, and I love you. But don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever.”- Michael to Fredo

Here’s how Poppy puts it:

“Any parent in this audience knows exactly how I feel,” Mr. Bush said in response to a question about what it was like to have a son as president. “It’s no different. You’ve got to look at it strictly as family — not that anyone is a big shot, even though he’s president of the United States. It’s family. It’s the pride of a father in his son.”

Or, as Don Corleone put it:

“I have a sentimental weakness for my children and I spoil them, as you can see. They talk when they should be listening.”- Don Vito to Sollozzo refering to Sonny

But, even when the son doesn’t listen, criticism is out of bounds.

They talk almost every morning by phone, and Mr. Bush studiously avoids saying anything critical of his son, close associates say. But he has privately expressed irritation with some of his son’s aides.

The corollaries between the Bushes and the Corleones extend all the way to Dubya dubbing his Attorney General with the name ‘Fredo’. The big difference is that Don Corleone wanted to keep the Family out of the drug business.

Michael: “My father is no different than any other powerful man — any man who’s responsible for other people, like a senator or president.”
Kay: “You know how naive you sound…senators and presidents don’t have men killed.”
Michael: “Oh, who’s being naive, Kay?”

It’s hard to muster up much sympathy for Poppy Bush as he suffers the torment of his son’s ineptitude.

“Look how they massacred my boy.”-
Don Corleone to Bonasera re: Sonny

In the long arc of history, crime doesn’t pay. Michael Corleone eventually found that out. So will George W. Bush.