President John Tyler's Grandson is Still Alive and Has Delightful Political Opinions
The 10th President of the United States, John Tyler, was born in 1790 and still has two living grandchildren. And one of them, 84-year-old Harrison Tyler — born 138 years after his grandfather — just got suckered into a Politico interview, in which he had much to say.
- On television: "I can't stand watching television."
- On the 2012 presidential candidates: "I don't really like any of them."
- On Newt Gingrich: A "big jerk" who "needs to stick with the same wife, that's what my mother taught me."
- On President Obama: "Well, I think he's a charming man, but he grew up in the society where he believes in running the show and changing the apple cart and taking it away from those that have."
- On what he does most of the time when he's not occasionally reading about soul-destroying trivial political bullshit: "I'm 84 years old. I drive around, I bought a lot of additional land, beautiful land around the river. I just drive around watching all the deer and all the turkey."
Republicans would be fools not to go with a Tyler/Perry '12 presidential ticket.
[Portrait of John Tyler by George P.A. Healy, National Portrait Gallery]