Opinion: Jenna Bush’s father-in-law sees his political fortunes sour

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A few weekends back, John Hager was the proud papa of the groom, no doubt beaming with pride and joy as his son, Henry, married President Bush’s daughter Jenna at a relatively low-key wedding near Crawford, Texas.

This last weekend, the elder Hager had little reason to celebrate -- he was ousted as chairman of the Virginia Republican Party at a confab in Richmond.

It is awfully tempting to assume that Hager’s fate just goes to show that there’s little political percentage in getting too close to Bush these days.

Tempting, but off point.

Hager, 72, was defeated by 32-year-old Jeff Frederick (of no known relation to your dutiful blogger). The winner offered himself as a more conservative, vigorous leader for the Virginia GOP. And if there was a connection that was hurtful to Hager, it was his link to former Democratic Gov. Mark Warner. Hager held a midlevel job in the Warner administration, proof of moderate credentials that the state’s Republican hard core didn’t much appreciate.

Warner, who after a successful term as governor briefly flirted with launching an ’08 presidential run, is back in the political news as his party’s candidate for an open Senate seat in Virginia. And at the same convention where the state’s Republicans consigned Hager to the sidelines, they picked as their candidate a former governor and a onetime (though very brief) presidential contender, Jim Gilmore.

-- Don Frederick