Crawford in his rear-view mirror

Rumor has it that President Bush is planning to dump his "ranch" outside Crawford, Texas as soon as he doesn't need it for those gritty, hard-workin' photo ops anymore.

Page Six speculates:

Some wager the Bushes would resettle in Highland Park, the tony township inside Dallas. Many Bush cronies live there, including Laura's pal Debbie ­Francis, whose husband, Jim, was chairman of the Bush Pioneers fund-raising group in the 2000 campaign.

Say it ain't so! Bush is a cowboy! How could a cowboy be content living in some ivy-covered, flagstone-paved uptown neighborhood in Dallas? How could he be happy without brush to clear?

Oh, that's right. Because he is no more a cowboy than he is a fighter-pilot. If you were a pampered multi-millionaire who has spent his entire life in the lap of luxury, where would you prefer to retire?

Here?


Or, here?


Kind of a no-brainer, yes? Especially when you consider some of Highland Park's vital statistics:

Median resident age: 42.0 years
Median household income: $149,389 (year 2000)
Median house value: $685,700 (year 2000)

Races in Highland Park:

White Non-Hispanic (95.5%)
Hispanic (2.7%)
Other race (0.8%)
Two or more races (0.6%)

Compared to poor, dusty Crawford... well, if your name is Bush, there is no comparison.

Median resident age: 34.8 years
Median household income: $38,015 (year 2000)
Median house value: $51,300 (year 2000)

Races in Crawford:

White Non-Hispanic (83.1%)
Hispanic (11.5%)
Other race (6.0%)
Black (4.4%)
Two or more races (1.1%)
American Indian (0.6%)

Gotta give it to Mr. Rove, though. The American people swallowed that down home man-of-the-people bit hook, sinker and twine. "I'd rather be clearin' brush," indeed.

Crawford? Sure. Ranch? Heck, yeah. Just don't expect him to stick around after there is no political advantage in pretending to be jus' plain folks.