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When you have two members of the Bush family publicly wringing their hands over the current Republican race, it's not the best sign that things are going as well as the GOP establishment would like. "I think it’s been the worst campaign I’ve ever seen in my life. I hate that people think compromise is a dirty word. It’s not a dirty word," former First Lady Barbara Bush said yesterday at Southern Methodist University, reports The Dallas Morning News. Here comments came a week after son (and to some, a unlikely G.O.P. savior) Jeb Bush dinged Republican candidates for drifting too far rightward and "appealing to people's fears and emotion." It's also worth noting that Mrs. Bush is known for making controversial comments in the past.

The Bush family, though, is hardly turning on its party. At the same Southern Methodist event, former First Lady Laura Bush was more cordial than her mother-in-law, describing the campaign as "just a part of American politics." While her mother-in-law hates the tone of the campaign, the elder Bush couple is sticking to support the forever establishment guy, Mitt Romney, with Barbara reiterating her husband's quasi-endorsement of him. But it's not like Romney or his fellow candidates should be too thrilled about their general election prospects when they have multiple Bushes asking them to steer back to the middle.

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