Bush daughter backs gay marriage
Former President George W. Bush’s daughter Barbara is speaking out in support of same-sex marriage.
“I’m Barbara Bush and I’m a New Yorker for marriage equality. New York is about fairness and equality and , everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love. Join us,” she says in a brief video released by the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.
In a break with her father, Ms. Bush, who lives in Manhattan, joins other prominent New Yorkers in calling on New York to legalize gay marriage, The New York Times reported Monday.
Human Rights Campaign said Barbara Bush’s position reflects a generational attitude, with a majority of young adults (18-34) supporting marriage for same-sex couples in New York.
She’s not the only daughter of a prominent Republican to be on the other side of what’s been a wedge issue in U.S. politics and red meat for conservative voters.
Meghan McCain, daughter of Arizona Senator John McCain, has also spoken out in support of gay marriage.
During his presidency, Bush called for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.
Washington Extra — Beck, Bernanke and baseball
An “American miracle” or an “exercise in self-aggrandizement on a Napoleonic scale”?
No, I am not talking about Reuters Washington Extra, but Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally which is due to take place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday. Beck, never one to hide his light under a bushel, has described tomorrow’s event as “a defibrillator to the heart of America”, “the Woodstock of the next generation”, and “the turning point” in American history. Eugene Robinson in today’s Washington Post was less optimistic about the rally and its “egomaniacal” host, who will be speaking a few steps down from where Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on the same day in 1963. Washington Extra is not taking sides.
Ben Bernanke’s speech at the Federal Reserve conference in Jackson Hole was considerably less dramatic than Beck’s is likely to be, but does merit a quick mention too. The Fed chairman said the economic recovery had weakened more than expected but downplayed concerns that it might slip back into recession. The Fed, he said, was ready to act if needed to spur growth and said the central bank still had ammunition left. He at least is not reaching for the defibrillator yet.
Finally, commiserations to all you Nationals fans after the news that rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg could miss at least a year and perhaps the whole 2011 season with a significant ligament tear in his right elbow. I will be wearing my Nationals T-shirt this weekend in sympathy.
Here are our top stories from today…
Bernanke says recovery softer, Fed to act if needed
Beck and the crazy tent revival crowd of his want to take the country back to 1868.
Laura Bush says every president faces unfair criticism
Former first lady Laura Bush says every president is unfairly criticized and it comes from both friends and foes.
She spoke to ABC’s “Good Morning America” from the Gulf Coast, where she is on a visit for the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Her husband, former President George W. Bush and his administration were sharply criticized for slow federal response to the disaster.
“The differences are huge now, five years later. Each time I came there was a little bit of improvement, but really now I think after five years things are starting to look great,” she said.
She was asked about writing in her book about the criticism her husband faced for flying over New Orleans after Katrina and not stopping, but said there was a purpose behind that.
“If Air Force One had landed in New Orleans that day, all of the assets that were actually being used to help people, the first responders, many of those first responders would be required to go to the airport even just from Air Force One landing. And he knew that and he didn’t want to use any of the assets that were being used in other ways to rescue people,” she said.
Laura Bush says her husband writes about it in his upcoming book as well — “that he realizes that that was a mistake, that it looked like he didn’t care.”
She was asked whether she felt the Obama family was now experiencing the criticism from all sides that her family had during their White House years.
Michelle Obama, Laura Bush to appear together at 9/11 memorial
First lady Michelle Obama and her predecessor, Laura Bush, will appear together next month in Pennsylvania at a ceremony marking the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Obama and Bush will participate in ceremonies honoring the victims of the attacks, including the 40 passengers and crew killed in the crash of United Flight 93, the National Park Foundation said in a statement on Monday.
“Their show of support honors the lives and memories of these 40 heroes and everyone we lost on September 11th, and serves as a valuable reminder of how important this memorial is to preserve and share their story,” National Park Foundation President Neil Mulholland said.
United Flight 93, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, crashed into a field near Shanksville, in western Pennsylvania. The passengers and crew on the flight are believed to have struggled with the hijackers who had seized the plane.
Three other hijacked planes crashed into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon outside Washington, killing nearly 3,000 people.
The anniversary ceremony will take place at a temporary memorial. A permanent Flight 93 national memorial is under construction and is expected to be dedicated on Sept. 11, 2011.
Photo Credits: REUTERS/Saul Loeb (Obama, Bush (R) at the U.S. Capitol, January 20, 2009); REUTERS/White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian/Handout (Bush (L) hosts Obama at White House, Nov. 10, 2008)
Bush book promo promises candid, gripping look at president’s life
Candid… Gripping… Shattering… are words being used to promote former President George W. Bush’s memoir “Decision Points.”
The book is due out on November 9, exactly a week after the midterm elections. But if past is prelude when it comes to newsmaker books, the details are likely to leak out earlier, possibly right around election day…
Bush writes about the contested 2000 election, the hours after the September 11 attacks, the moments before launching the Iraq war, his decisions on the financial crisis and more, the Crown Publishing online promotion says. He also writes about his “flaws and mistakes” and serves up new details about quitting drinking and his relationship with his family.
Bush’s spokesman David Sherzer tells me that the book is not quite finished, but close.
The former president has worked on it almost every day. ”President Bush has been working on it since the day after he left office, getting up at 5:15 his first morning as a private citizen and writing more than a thousand words before 9 o’clock,” Sherzer says.
“President Bush looks forward to readers better understanding his leadership style, his decision-making approach, and the information and advice he received while making some of the most important decisions in his life and presidency,” he said.
The 400-page hardcover sells for $35. By adding a zero to that price, readers can acquire a limited, deluxe edition for $350 which is autographed by Bush, bound in a “full cloth case,” and individually hand numbered.
Poisoning at the G-8? Laura Bush says that was a concern in 2007
Were President George W. Bush and his entourage poisoned at a G-8 summit in Germany back in 2007?
Former first lady Laura Bush says that was a big concern at the time.
She made the comment in her new memoir, “Spoken from the Heart,” which is due to be released in early May. The New York Times and Politico obtained copies of the book. The Group of Eight summit at Heiligendamm, Germany, came at a time when there had been several high-profile poisonings in the previous year, including one with suspected nuclear material.
“I arrived (at the summit) and began my events but by the afternoon of (June) seventh, I could barely stand up,” Laura Bush wrote in extracts published by Politico.
“Over the next day nearly a dozen members of our delegation were stricken, even George, who started to feel sick during an early morning staff meeting.”
“Exceedingly alarmed, the Secret Service went on full alert, combing the resort for potential poisons,” the former first lady wrote.
Some of the reactions were severe. A military aide had difficulty walking, and a White House staffer lost hearing in one year, she said.
No. 43 slips under the radar in DC
Ole 43, otherwise known as former President George W. Bush, was in Washington today to address hundreds of people who worked for him over the years.
The whole thing was closed press and so we don’t have a complete read-out of the proceedings but suffice to say that Bush steered clear of the current volatile political climate in Washington.
This has been a consistent position of Bush. While he might chafe privately at some of the blame tossed his way by President Barack Obama, he doesn’t talk about it publicly. Having seen how tough the job is being president, he reckons Obama doesn’t need one more critic telling him how to do it.
Anyway, he spoke for a half hour then took questions for perhaps another 40 minutes to update people on what he’s been up to in the past year since leaving the White House.
His book about 12 monumental decisions he made as the POTUS is coming out Nov. 8. Laura Bush’s book is coming out in May.
Seen in the crowd of about 700 were two former chiefs of staff for him, Andy Card and Josh Bolten, and a deputy COS Joe Hagin.
Presiding was former White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto, who is president of the Bush-Cheney Alumni Association.
Crikey, talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing revisiting the scene of the crime…
About the best thing anybody can say for George W. Bush is: “At least he’s not Dick Cheney!”
Question of the Day: summer reading?
The Bush White House years may turn into the book wars, which one will you buy?
Former President George W. Bush is writing a book on the decisions he made while in office, working title “Decision Points,” scheduled for release next year.
Former first lady Laura Bush is writing a memoir about her life experiences, expected to be published next year.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney may provide some juicy tidbits in his memoir if it ends up criticizing (would that be book-stabbbing?) the president, it won’t be out until early 2011.
Here’s our guess on how the pages will turn.
George W. Bush’s book will be a straight-forward accounting of what went through his mind as the “Decider” in chief. Laura Bush’s book will not be as soft and fluffy as a stereotypical first lady memoir. And Cheney’s will offer the most surprises, only because he has been the determined silent type.
I’ll buy both. They are refreshingly real people. I miss them.
Meanwhile, in Dallas…
WASHINGTON – George W. Bush has kept a low profile since leaving the White House on Jan. 20 and moving back to Texas, but we’re starting to hear some bits and pieces of what he has been up to.
For one thing, we know that President Barack Obama phoned him on Friday to tell him most of the U.S. troops that Bush put into Iraq are going to come out over the next 18 months.
“President Bush appreciated the courtesy call from President Obama regarding the administration’s plans for Iraq,” said the former president’s spokesman, Rob Saliterman.
And then we hear Laura Bush gave an interview to ABC News and talked about George thumbing things into his BlackBerry and riding his bicycle around their new Dallas neighborhood.
You’ll recall that Bush gave up email to be president because he didn’t want every idle musing to end up as a presidential document that he would have to sort through once he got his library up and running. Or something like that.
Anyway, he has been in touch with his former staffers via email, the former first lady said.
“George is on the BlackBerry to them now all the time. But, you know, it’s a very, very different life, especially for the president, who had every problem in the world on his desk one day and then an empty desk the next day,” she told ABC News.
again president bush is as good as his word, he said he would leave the stage,and he has.this is bad news for the democrats as they are now finding the blame bush excuse sounding a little bit hollow these days
Bush looking forward to new domestic agenda
Former President George W. Bush says he’s got a new domestic agenda — mowing the lawn and taking out the trash.
He says he’s looking forward to his wife Laura’s home cooking, sort of, and plans on relaxing Wednesday on his first morning out of the White House – making Laura coffee, skimming the newspaper, calling friends, reading a book, going fishing, and taking a walk – all before 8 a.m.
“That’s what happens when you’re a Type A personality,” he said.
At a welcome back rally in Midland, Texas, just hours after Barack Obama’s inauguration as the new POTUS (President of the United States), Bush reflected on his time at the White House.
“We came face-to-face with kings, presidents, popes and a son-in-law,” he said, referring to his daughter getting married during his second term.
Bush said he had kept the same values that he left with from the Lone Star State.
“When I get home tonight and look in the mirror, I’m not going to regret what I see, except maybe some grey hair.”
The anti-Bush whiners never stop. Thank God we had an honorable man willing to do the right thing. For the dolts who think Bush – or any President – has a significant affect on the economy, go back to school.
I always knew she was the smart one. And pretty, too. Couldn’t Reuters have found a better photo?