Snopes confirms Barbara Bush "Beautiful Mind" quote

[RobertSeattle]

Not that we had a question about it, but enough people must have bugged Snopes about it so they confirmed it

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/barbara.asp

Claim: Former First Lady Barbara Bush said of the war in Iraq: "Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? It's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

Status: True.

Origins: While niggling memories of the title of the film that took Best Picture honors in the 2002 Academy Awards might leave some to question the veracity of the purported Barbara Bush "beautiful mind" quote, the remark was indeed the real thing. The former First Lady made this remark on national television shortly before the commencement of the invasion of Iraq.

The comment arose during a Good Morning America interview with the couple who were formerly President and First Lady, George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush. The interview was conducted by Diane Sawyer in Houston scant hours before the couple's son, President George W. Bush, delivered a televised ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to step down from power and leave Iraq or face U.S.-led military action. The chat with the senior Bushes aired the following morning, 18 March
2003.

(More at link)

[BlueEyedSon]

1. "I've got a life to live". --George W. Bush

Like mother, like son....

"But I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life ... I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy. And part of my being is to be outside exercising. So I'm mindful of what goes on around me. On the other hand, I'm also mindful that I've got a life to live and will do so.''

[opihimoimoi]

3. Its all about me" sez the Pyscho prezzz...why does he speak in 4thGradese

Damnnnnn

[Deja Q]

15. So did 1800 people... but couldn't because YOU wanted Saddam's pistol.

Oh well.

[ixion]

2. Bushies can't be bothered with the death and suffering of the common folk

it's really beneath them. :eyes: :puke: :grr:

IMO, the Bush family has done more damage to this country than any other single family.

[NJCher]

4. they could have just asked me

I saw her say it. She leaned back in her chair and gesticulated expansively, her hand waving off any criticism.

No, not self-absorbed at all, these bushes.




Cher

[Freedomfried]

6. LOL, she looks like a demented Phyllis Diller!

But not funny.

[Freedomfried]

7. LOL, she looks like a demented Phyllis Diller!

But not funny.

[Freedomfried]

8. LOL, she looks like a demented Phyllis Diller!

But not funny.

[Lerkfish]

9. that's an egregious insult to Ms Diller.

I"m just sayin

:)

[Deja Q]

16. 3 times over and yet the magical genie has yet to appear...

:rofl:

[Greeby]

5. Jeebus

At least Poppy knows how to keep his evil quiet. (and "suicide" anybody who comes sniffing close to the truth)

[evilqueen]

11. Not really...

"Sarah, if the American people had ever known the truth about what we Bushes have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - George Bush Senior speaking in an interview with Sarah McClendon in December 1992

[Skidmore]

13. Where do we find a copy of that interview?

[evilqueen]

17. I'm looking.

Not finding it yet, but if I do, I'll post another reply. The quote is all over the web, though.

[evilqueen]

20. info on McClendon

I can't seem to find any transcript of that interview yet, but McClendon was a legitimate journalist, and was interviewed several times for this oral history project at press.org...

Sarah McClendon. (1910 - ) Ms. McClendon began her career in Texas, working for the Tyler paper from 1931-38. She later joined the WACs and relocated to Washington, DC, where she established McClendon News Service in 1947. She has been a fixture for decades at presidential press conferences, covering every president since Roosevelt. An unabashed advocacy journalist for the poor and powerless, she has been a writer for various newspapers as well as a broadcast journalist. McClendon was continuing her Washington coverage at the time of her interviews.
http://npc.press.org/wpforal/int2.htm#sarah

[evilqueen]

21. Also seeing a citation...

The quote was cited in the June, 1992 Sarah McClendon Newsletter.
So, if it was a newsletter, I don't know if that would be found "in full" online or not.

[BlueEyedSon]

18. Google link

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22if+the+American+people+had+ever+known+the+truth%22&btnG=Google+Search

[Greeby]

22. Thinking of context

December 1992, a month after his defeat. I guess he thought that President-elect Clinton would expose it all, and he would indeed go to the gallows.

[zippy890]

10. Did you hear Franken call her "Queen Bitch"

the other day?

:rofl:

Catherine made him apologize, which he did.(halfheartedly, I thought)

[evilqueen]

12. Yeah, I heard that.

He told the airplane story again too.

[Swamp Rat]

14. poop!

:D

[ComerPerro]

19. And here is why I contend that Snopes is a Bush apologist site

And is usually biased to the right:

While maybe not "90 percent" of what was filling the air waves was supposition rather than hard news, Mrs. Bush's point that news of that moment was much more about what could or might happen rather than what was happening was valid. Her comment was not meant as a dismissal of actual deaths or suffering (troops had not yet been engaged at the time of her remark), but of news coverage that amounted to one expert after another making predictions about what they saw as likely to occur.



Why is it that Snopes always falls all over itself to make excuses for the Bushes?

[hlthe2b]

24. It would seem that a site devoted to refuting rumor, would not

take it upon themselves to interpret what someone "meant" by their quoted comments. Definitely apologist, and definitely not credibile for doing so.

[ComerPerro]

25. Exactly. Thank you

And I don't remember Snopes ever going this far to explain context for Kerry "flip-flops".

[blm]

27. Force of habit.

No different than most forms of media and the Bush family. Fear of being accidented or suicided goes a long way, especially with journalists who dare to get close to the dirty dealings of the Bush family.

[DeepModem Mom]

23. kick

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. What do you think about a woman who gets rid of her camero

because she knows she can't trust her grandchildren to resist taking it out for a spin. Lord knows her son can't take any more bad publicity.