Newsweek: Barbara Swings Away

[kskiska]

(snip)

At 78, with one son in the White House and another in the Florida governor’s mansion, the self-described Bush family “enforcer” seems to feel less compunction than ever about keeping a lid on her blunt assessments. Her new memoir, “Reflections: Life After the White House,” was toned down considerably by her editors at Scribner. “Yes, Miss Frank over there,” her husband says over lunch at their home in Kennebunkport. To ward off libel suits, he says, “the publisher had to take a lot out.” In her public remarks, she tries to stick to a prepared text: “If I didn’t have notes, I’d be telling them everything I know,” she says on the morning of our trip to the hospital. “You’ll see by the end of the day.” Or sooner.

At the hospital, she reads a story to some young patients and makes them laugh. But back in the van for the drive home to Kennebunkport, she says that the book she was given to read was without educational value and that the hospital administrators were obsequious—a quality she dislikes. “They thanked me three times, when once would have been fine.” Then, softening abruptly, she thinks back to that morning’s visit to the hospital’s neonatal ICU, where she saw premature infants in incubators. “Where do you draw the line” in saving those who would not have survived in another time? “What kind of quality of life? It’s the same thing with old age. Are we doing the right thing?” Then again she says of one severely impaired newborn, “But, they say she’s brought great happiness ...”

(snip)

It’s actually “a pain in the neck” to be the sibling of a sitting president, she says, and tells how her daughter, Doro Koch, picketed outside Vice President Al Gore’s residence “in disguise” during the 2000 recount. “That’s Doro!” Mrs. Bush hoots when telling about it. “She felt better” after yelling at the Gores’ house for a while, Mrs. Bush says.

more…
http://www.msnbc.com/news/981361.asp

[Punkingal]

1. If that isn't the limit.....

she's proud of her daughter for being one of those goons outside Gore's house? :puke:

[madrchsod]

3. yes!!my daughter

is a proud brownshirt! wouldn`t the grandparents be proud....

[blm]

5. Class, eh? What lowlives.

.

[julka]

6. this is such an iceberg tip

Ed Rollins' autobiography is VERY upfront about what a big B is big fat Bug-eyed Bar. He doensn't come right out and say it, which is the best part, but mentions several incidents in which she reveals the considerable nastiness that is at her core.

here, from Amazon:

Reviewer: A reader from Reno, NV USA
Too bad this book's 96 release was too soon to receive much boost from the internet. Would have liked to read of author Rollin's take on the Monica/Clinton sex scandal. Rollins is observant enough to mention qualities of public figures that are seldom mentioned (such as Barbara Bush's mean-spiritedness).

his book has a picture of her at a WH function, in which she looks like a rabid terrier, about to snap off Rollins' head.

If I can find the book, I'll scan it, and upload it, cause it perfectly catches the virago lurking very closely beneath the faux-grandmotherly exterior.

[indigo11153]

11. That would be great

I want to see that!
Thanks

[Mel]

8. What's worse for me

was this:
she saw premature infants in incubators. “Where do you draw the line” in saving those who would not have survived in another time? “What kind of quality of life? It’s the same thing with old age. Are we doing the right thing?”

I swear if it was up to her I think she wouldn't think twice about throwing those babies out of the incubators or letting old people just die in the streets.
{heaven knows her brat has put us on that path with his economic policies}

BTW my cousin was in one of those incubators over 20 years ago and he is a fine healthy liberal! :) Barbara shut-up you ask questions about things you know nothing about nor do you really care about other than what it costs.

She has some serious mental problems and what I want to know is why don't the repukes hear her for what she is a snobby elitist?

[ant]

10. opposite reaction here

I was actually surprised to hear her say that; I agree with her. However, I think it contradicts the Right's "all life matters no matter what" position as reflected in their opposition to things like partial birth abortion and euthanasia.

I know the Bush elders have never really been big on religion other than as a political tool, but with Bush Jr.'s whole reborn thing I'm surprised a statement like that wouldn't raise some eyebrows in the fundie set.

[kskiska]

2. And this, further down

One of the most startling passages in her book is an anecdote about how panicked and vulnerable she felt when she and her husband had to leave the White House. An aide told her she would have to keep a paid staff. “I couldn’t believe my ears. She said Betty Ford... still spent $100 a month on postage alone. I felt like crying.” Though her insecurity seems irrational given her family’s wealth, she writes, “Everyone knew I had never earned any money, as I had never seriously worked in the 48 years we had been married. So besides losing the election, now at 68 I was going to have to work?”

[skypilot]

4. "Where do you draw the line..."

Woah!!! WTF!!!

So what, just because these babies might not have survived in "another time" we shouldn't waste the time and technology keeping them alive now? Did I misread this statement? Because if I didn't I would think that Jeb Bush would be very interested in what mommy has to say considering the whole Terry Schiavo controversy.

[blueseas]

7. Hmmm, they sure had a lot of 'protestors'

At Al Gore's house, I wonder who else was there under "disguise".

:think:

[KoKo]

9. Passing out the after dinner toothpicks? Yuccccck! How disgusting!

"As she’s passing out the
after-dinner toothpicks, I notice that I seem to have lost my
little Secret Service pass, and she laughs. “Oooh, let’s dump
her,” she says to her aide. “I’m not sure we want her around
anymore anyway.” Just joking, of course."

[GCP]

12. Anyone who hates flowers has something very wrong with them

"I hate flowers. waste of money"

Flowers are the most beautiful things and I always try to have some around me.

What a cold bitch she is.