My dad was fond of Bullock, a temperamental rabble-rouser in his heyday. Here is one story my dad told me back when Texas politics was chummier than it is now. In the late 1990s, Bullock was friendly with George W. Bush, then the governor. Bullock had told Bush that some bill the governor didn’t particularly care for wasn’t going to make it to the floor for a vote. Dubya was popular in Texas.