Too bad to check: George H. W. Bush voting for Hillary?

Allahpundit wondered if this might be in the works in his post last night about high-profile Republicans considering endorsements for Hillary Clinton. But has it really happened, or is it just an unfounded rumor coming from a longtime Democratic dynasty? Kathleen Kennedy Townsend posted a note on her Facebook page along with a picture of George H. W. Bush late yesterday, claiming that the former president had confided in her that he’s with Hillary.

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Really?

On Monday, Townsend posted a picture on her Facebook page shaking hands next to the former president and this caption: “The President told me he’s voting for Hillary!!”

In a telephone interview, Townsend said she met with the former president in Maine earlier today, where she said he made his preference known that he was voting for a Democrat. “That’s what he said,” she told POLITICO.

CNN took a little more caution with the story:

Jim McGrath, a spokesman for Bush, did not confirm nor deny the claim.

“The vote President Bush will cast as a private citizen in some 50 days will be just that: a private vote cast in some 50 days,” McGrath told CNN. “He is not commenting on the presidential race in the interim.”

Chris Cuomo takes this report with a grain of salt, but Washington Post analyst Philip Bump thinks it might be on the level:

David Gregory remarks at the end that the Bushes would almost certainly never speak publicly in support of Hillary. After all, they still have family members coming up the ranks of the GOP, including George P, who’s making his mark in Texas. Endorsing a Democrat to control the next two-to-four openings on the Supreme Court would damage his standing, and that of the Bushes overall. John McCain to this day gets dogged over his flirtation with endorsing his friend John Kerry over George W. Bush in 2004, and he never actually did it.

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But let’s say that they’ve priced that into a Hillary Clinton endorsement. Even if GHWB planned to endorse Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, what are the odds that he would choose as his leak target a member of the Kennedy family? It’s one thing to dislike Trump so much that you want to take him down; a number of Republicans who will forgive former President for that decision. It’s another thing entirely to Go The Full Democrat and link up with the Kennedys for that endorsement. You never Go The Full Democrat, man.

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