Thumbs: Abbott has shame?

Also: George W. Bush’s gaffiest gaffe; Fox host disses vet’s injury; Fertitta’s big check to UH med school.

Thumbs down: Apparently, Gov. Greg Abbott has shame. That’s not always clear, but on Thursday night he actually seemed to second-guess one of his misguided stances. He had joined the social media fray as his favorite new Texan, billionaire provocateur Elon Musk, was defending himself against a report that he’d exposed himself to a SpaceX flight attendant and propositioned her for sex aboard his Gulfstream jet in 2016. Musk called the accusation “despicable,” saying it should be viewed “through a political lens.” The governor tweeted, and then quickly deleted, a supportive message: “@elonmusk picked the right state to move to.” We’re not sure what he meant — that Texans have become desensitized to “despicable” allegations or that we’re always willing to view them through a political lens if they involve a guy we like. Both are true. Ask our long-indicted attorney general.

Thumbs twiddled: But maybe don’t ask George W. Bush. Even in his own party, or perhaps especially in his own party, he’s persona non grata for his despicable notions of compassionate conservatism — and, oh yeah, his unprovoked 2003 invasion of Iraq based on faulty intelligence that led to the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops. Many will never forgive Bush for the war. A gaffe this week — perhaps his gaffiest ever — suggests Bush may not have forgiven himself. In a speech at his presidential center in Dallas, Bush condemned the “decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq.” He quickly corrected: “I mean, of Ukraine.” Rather than leave it there, and leave us to merely infer the Freudian machinations of the slip-up, Bush promptly muttered under his breath, “Iraq, too.” Ever the class clown, though, he chased that down with a disarming punch line: “75.” Maybe he meant being 75 years old gave him license for confusion or maybe that’s just the level of maturity it took for Bush to admit his grievous mistake.

Thumbs down: Bush is a hard character to cancel altogether because beneath his many shortcomings, there appears to be a soul. We can’t say the same for Tucker Carlson, whose only shred of soul seemed to be those quirky bow ties he dispensed with years ago after repeatedly being screamed at in public. “You know, this is pointlessly provocative,” he told the L.A. Times. “People really hate you when you wear a bow tie.” They love you, though, when you tell them they’re being replaced by an onslaught of foreign “invaders” with menacingly ample melanin. And when you poke fun at a severe injury suffered by a Navy SEAL as he was serving in Afghanistan. Carlson’s sophomoric adhominem hurled at U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw this week, denouncing him as “eye-patch McCain,” was beyond the pale, as was his disparaging of the late Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. Just where does Carlson get off dissing the sacrifices of war veterans? The patriotic pedestal of Fox News.

Thumbs Up: Some pedestals, however, are earned. We think billionaire businessman and Houston booster Tilman Fertitta earned his this week with news of his family’s “transformational” donation of $50 million to the new University of Houston medical school. The school, to be named for Fertitta, aims to strengthen community health care and ease the physician shortage. To that end, Fertitta’s generosity is just what the doctor ordered.