The "Suffering" of Laura Bush

Appearing on the Today Show this morning, First Lady Laura Bush once again insulted our troops and their families. Mrs. Bush offered the American people this shining nugget of detachment and tone-deafness:

"No one suffers more than their President and I do."

As BlueOregon contributor Jon Perr details on his blog, Laura Bush's shocking callousness today is hardly her first offense. Back in February, the First Lady cautioned Americans against being disheartened by the occasional blast in Baghdad:

"Many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, of course, what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages everybody."

That calming assessment was just the latest from the consistently upbeat - and seemingly medicated - First Lady. Last May, Mrs. Bush casually dismissed the consensus negative view of Iraq shared by the American people:

"I don't really believe those polls. I travel around the country, I see people, I see their response to my husband, I see their response to me...A lot of people come up to me and say, 'Stay the course.'"

There's more on the Bush family's casual disregard for the concerns of the American people over at PERRspectives.

  • Phil Jones (unverified)
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    I wonder if the surviving relatives of the young man she killed in 1963 in Midland, Texas still suffer?

  • cw (unverified)
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    can you please explain that comment?

    I wonder if the surviving relatives of the young man she killed in 1963 in Midland, Texas still suffer?

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    When Laura was 17, she ran a stop sign and hit another car. In that car was her boyfriend, who was killed. Some reports said he was ejected and broke his neck.

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    Laura Bush is truly suffering.

    After all, over in the parallel universe, her two daughters decided against going to college and instead enlisted in the US Army. Ever since Laura and Barbara were killed in that suicide bombing while on patrol in Fallujah, the First Lady has been in mourning. She doesn't leave the White House residence, and rarely sees even close friends and family.

    Oh wait. Guess not.

    What the hell is she talking about?

  • LiberalIncarnate (unverified)
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    Laura Bush... the new spokesperson for Labotomy.com!

  • Jon (unverified)
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    FYI, more psychosis from "The Beautiful Minds of the Bush Family"...

    [SNIP]

    On January 16, 2007, President Bush poo-poohed Jim Lehrer's description of the day's carnage in Baghdad, saying, "death is terrible." Two days earlier, Bush admonished the Iraqi people, telling CBS 60 Minutes "I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude." In that same interview, Bush echoed his wife's assessment of the Iraq horrors Americans witnessed on their televisions, "They sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night."

    Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Bush continues to maintain his claim of compassion. One month later on February 12th, George W. Bush proudly declared, "I made a name by being compassionate." Just two days later, President Bush refused to acknowledge the civil war in Iraq, amazingly telling a press conference, "It's hard for me, living in this beautiful White House, to give you an assessment."

    No discussion of the beautiful lives of the Bush clan would be complete without a discussion of family matriarch Barbara Bush. Barbara, of whom Richard Nixon famously said "she knows how to hate," offers us a rich history of outrages against the poor, her family's political opponents and even her own staff. Back in a 2003, Barbara Bush foreshadowed her daughter-in-law's recent despicable statement during an interview with Diane Sawyer:

    "But why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day it's gonna happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it's, it's not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that."

    With the American public overwhelmingly opposed to her son's course on the war in Iraq, why indeed?

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    Not to get too far off topic, but Bill Moyers has a new show that debuts tonight on PBS that will look at a constellation of related issues. Or anyway, tonight's edition will. I'm excited to see it.

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    As if she could possibly be suffering more than...

    • a widow whose husband died before he could see his new baby... maybe even before the baby was born

    • a mother whose 18 year-old son was killed

    • a soldier horribly burned in a roadside bombing

    • a child whose mother or father was killed

    Talk about being completely self-centered. Only a self-centered person could believe they were suffering more than those directly impacted.

  • veeper (unverified)
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    Recently, in Salem's excuse for a paper was an column by Charles Krauthammer justifying and defending what Laura is grieving over.

    Krauthammer, Chaney, and Bush have consistently been cheerleadesr for the war. Krauthammer's articles began with misleading the public about Iraq, using 9-11 as the basis for an end that had nothing to do with the events of that day.

    As the war has gone south, he, along with Bush, Chaney, and now Laura, use the spectre of withdrawal to justify being there in the first place. they are now in the position of having to bet double or nothing, because we are so deep into it.

    Americans are finally beginning to see through the twisted logic of the architects and supporters of this war. They are finally beginning to answer, in response to "we'll be turning Iraq over to the terrorists" by saying there was no terrorist issue until we went in.

    In today's paper, the ante gets raised: if we leave Iraq, the terrorists will go to Afganistan. Yeah, they probably will, thanks to Mr. Bush, Mr. Chaney, Me. Krauthammer and Laura. The ultimate demonstration of political incompetence is to act in such a way as to end up on the horns of dilemma.

    Those who failed to go beyond the hype and rhetoric in 2002 have a moral burden because of the consequences of their failure to exercise their responsibilities as citizens, whether of a democracy or a republic. Our military are dying daily for what is clearly a political war.

  • Garrett (unverified)
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    "I don't really believe those polls. I travel around the country, I see people, I see their response to my husband, I see their response to me...A lot of people come up to me and say, 'Stay the course.'"

    Well Laura, that's because the people you see are carefully screened before they get to you. If you bothered to go over to the "free speech zone" you would see where all the people they are polling and think your husband doesn't know his head from his ass.

  • springfielder (unverified)
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    They're suffering so much that Bush was recently given a Purple Heart:

    "We feel like emotional wounds and scars are as hard to carry as physical wounds," Thomas said. http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=15367

  • js (unverified)
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    The video of the young son of a soldier you posted a few weeks ago still haunts me. Anyone who thinks they have suffered more than this boy is messed up.

  • nina (unverified)
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    while her comment is utterly callous and without any merit, we have to remember that she is likely told what to say. she is, afterall, part of the bush dynasty and as such, is likely a little puppet who has been put into a corner and told to be a "good girl" or else.....

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    js--

    Yes, a few nights before when I saw the video on a local news station web site it brought tears to my eyes. Actually, it still does.

    My husband almost re-joined the military after we moved to Oregon because I was having a hard time finding a job and we needed the money. He was in the military during the first Gulf War, but thankfully was stationed in country doing homeland security (or whatever they called it back then). I am so glad he didn't go, especially since we have a toddler.

  • Jägermeister (unverified)
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    Maybe she meant suffering in the polls? "No one suffers more [in the polls] than the President and I do"? Because it sure as hell isn't emotional suffering.

  • pat malach (unverified)
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    Reminds me of the scene from "To Die For" where Nicole Kidman, who has just recently convinced her teenage boyfriend and friends to murder her husband, shows up for the funeral with a boombox and plays "All by myself, don't wanna be, all by myself" as her husband's astonished relatives look on.

    Just like that self-absorbed movie charater, it's all about Laura and George all the time. Gus Van Sant's dark humored movie isn't quite as dark as the reality we have in the White House.

  • BlueNote (unverified)
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    It is hard to imagine a worse fate than to be married to "W", so maybe she is telling the truth about suffering.

    Do you suppose W asks her to pretend to be Dick Cheney while they share intimate moments of presidential bliss?

    Just wondering.

  • anele (unverified)
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    did that comment remind anyone else of Marie Antoinette?

    Let them eat cake!

  • Intercaust (unverified)
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    Just when I thought I couldn't hate her any more than I already do. She's a self-absorbed idiot.

  • LT (unverified)
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    First Lady Laura Bush is just another example of a person who sees and hears only the things she wants to see and hear. She seems to live in a wonderful place called "La, la, land." It may be a bit easier to be this way when you are in the top percent of the nations wealthy and can afford to shelter yourself from many of the harsh realities that average folk must face.

  • Craig Struthers (unverified)
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    I recently saw a picture of how much GWB was suffering and added Laura's line of text to it. The photo can be found here and feel free to post it wherever you wish to post it. http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n81/cstrut/?action=view&current=_42854329_bush_getty.jpg

  • Craig Struthers (unverified)
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    Try this URL for the GWB suffering pic http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n81/cstrut/_42854329_bush_getty.jpg

  • red (unverified)
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    Yes, the story of laura bush running the stop sign and killing her ex-boyfriend is true. You won't hear anything from the young man's relatives, however, because he was an only child, and his parents (who apparently moved out of town soon after the incident) are long since deceased. As a member of a prominent Texas family, laura was not charged after the crash. As for w bush, his compassion was shown in an interview several months ago. After actually visiting some seriously wounded soldiers in the hospital, he stuttered a few solemn words, then smilingly turned toward the camera to point out a scratch on his forehead. He laughingly joked that he was wounded while clearing brush. Imagine the reaction in the "press" if any Democrat had done the same thing.

  • jar jar bush (unverified)
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    I would question why Ann Curry did not ask the First Lady why she has been residing at the Hay Adams Hotel across from the White House. Could it be because George has crawled into the bottle again?

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