It’s the holiday Friday Five, a listing of the indeterminate number of stories that caught my eye as we head into the weekend.

1. George H.W. Bush is a badass.
I’m a lifelong Democrat. I know, you’re shocked. I’m a journalist, a former theater major, pro-choice, anti-gun and divorced. And you’re a Dem? Didn’t see that one coming.

That said, I could not have smiled more broadly this morning when I read the “put the harps back in the closet” line from Bush the Elder’s camp. He’s always been unfairly painted as less-than-awesome. He volunteered for WWII and was the youngest aviator in history when he fought for his country. He graduated Yale in two-and-a-half years and was the captain of the baseball team while doing so.

He took every thankless job offered — heading up the Republican Party during Nixon’s free fall, head of the CIA during the transition to President Carter — and made each agency better than when he arrived. He understood better than the electorate the importance of the U.S.’s international standing — the Berlin Wall fell on his watch — and he was undone by the reactionary idiots in his party who put politics above governing and were mad because he wanted to balance our nation’s budget.

He resigned from the NRA when they went off the reservation, because he was a man of principle and intelligence and honor and grace and, let’s face it, better than almost anyone who ever criticized him, most Dems and me included. Here’s hoping he’s out of the hospital soon.

2. We always knew the Dewhurst campaign was throwing its money away.
Okay, I totally stole that joke from Bud Kennedy’s Twitter feed. But seriously, this story about Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s campaign manager being accused of stealing $600,000 from the campaign didn’t surprise me.

Not because I knew the man accused. Because having now been inside a few high-profile campaigns, and having seen how big-money donors and various political fundraising machines toss their cash around, I was fairly aghast at how easy such shenanigans would be. When I worked at fast food restaurants, it was harder to get money out of the till than it is a political campaign.

I’m not saying I saw anything improper. I just always thought, “Wait, is that how these things are paid for? Huh. That seems … loose.”

3. How do you refurbish a 100-year-old? Very carefully.
The Aldolphus, which just completed its first century, was purchased by a developer from Ohio. Having just stayed there in September, I can’t tell you how happy I am this place will get a facelift. A night spent there was like walking around inside a wheezing, dying family member. Although I suspect the sweet deal I got for a big suite will go away.

4. Jacquielynn Floyd realizes Mike Miles should turn things around.
Timely! Bonus points for making a Möbius strip reference.

5. Baylor kicks the ever-loving crap out of those baby-blue-clad wussies from California.
Go Bears! Go weekend! Go August Ferdinand Möbius.

Retweets

[SMDH]

Not me. I only did two of these things on Christmas Eve.