Two of the most-buzzed-about parts of Laura Bush’s new memoir Spoken From The Heart have to do with her speaking about the 1963 car crash where she killed a classmate (something she’s never opened up about publicly before) and a decently startling revelation that during a trip to Germany, when she and President GWB fell ill, they believed they might have been poisoned. Oh, and then there’s the part where she plays Ultimate Marriage Defender to that husband of hers.
“In 2004 the social question that animated the campaign was gay marriage,” she writes. “Before the election season had unfolded, I had talked to George about not making gay marriage a significant issue. We have, I reminded him, a number of close friends who are gay or whose children are gay. But at that moment I could never have imagined what path this issue would take and where it would lead.”
That’s clearly not enough to gauge whether she acted to stop Bush from pursuing the constitutional amendment, or even whether she thought that was her responsibility. We hope she felt it was, the same way we hope Michelle Obama finds reason to confront her husband about his own LGBT issues.
Cam
But why should anything outside his life touch Bush? Any time he’d gotten in trouble his parents came along with a check to bail him out, other peoples lives and struggles would hardly seem real to a person that had never had to pay any consequences in his own life. Probably why he didn’t mind blowing out the Deficiet also, he figured Dad would be there with a checkbook to make it all better.
Fitz
She is an accomplice to evil. I wouldn’t give her CPR.
Gay Marriage Now
“they believed they might have been poisoned”… If only!
james_in_cambridge
“That’s clearly not enough to gauge whether she acted to stop Bush from pursuing the constitutional amendment, or even whether she thought that was her responsibility. We hope she felt it was, the same way we hope Michelle Obama finds reason to confront her husband about his own LGBT issues.”
Always have to get your digs in on Obama Queerty? Obama is not Bush. Not even close. I sincerely hope you cut this anti-Obama shit before a Mike Huckabee gets in in 2012 or maybe that’s what you closet-case Republicans at Queerty are hoping for. So sick of your anti-Obama bullshit…
jason
I’ve always like Laura Bush. She came across as a reasonable, decent woman who was not homophobic at all. Keep in mind that Laura and George invited gay people to the Easter Egg roll during their time in the White House.
Of course, Laura was part of the Republican Party. However, I’ll give her credit for being a decent human being and a fair and reasonable woman.
Andrew
@Fitz: You justify bastards like FF and FRC with this kind of hateful spew. What makes it ANY better?
HATE does not get rid of HATE.
Andrew
Now with that being said, Laura Bush has always come across as a sensible person, and along with Condi and Powell, was one of the few people I could actually respect in the Bush Whitehouse.
She was saying long before this memoir that it shouldn’t be made an issue. If anything else, even if she may personally disagree [this hasn’t been shown nor said] at least it seems like she RESPECTS people and their differences, and doesn’t think harming people or making LGBT people bait is a good idea.
And hey, it’s been proven before, Gay friends is the first step towards positive acceptance as more Gay people come out and people realize, “Hey! They are people we already know, perfectly normal every day people who we vacationed with last year”
… Well you get my point. ;]
Fitz
@Andrew: I don’t need to take the high road. I am tired of taking the high road. Too damn old and seen too much damage from assholes like her and her family.
Andrew
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” – MLK
Your justified in your anger, but I still believe that the best way forward for the LGBT community is not to respond with the same kind of hatred that gets thrown at us.
Does that mean we have to sit and take it? Hell no. But we can be intelligent, well explained and civil in OUR response.
We’ll leave the right-ring bigots to discredit themselves when their rhetoric doesn’t fit up with a Gay friend or Gay brother, or even acquaintance.
Qjersey
Yeah and RNC Saint Nancy told Saint Ronnie about their friends with AIDS and we all know how that turned out. The Gipper flat out lied to the American public about the dangers of casual transmission…and 20 years later, GW flat out lied to Americans about gay marriage.
Hey screwing your friends over to stay on top is a Republican tradition.
the crustybastard
This just in: Laura Bush also thinks her husband is an asshole.
delurker again
@james_in_cambridge: Yeah, the Obama Derangement Syndrome coming from the queertard editors is bordering on (misspelled, poorly edited, ungrammatical) parody.
tjr101
I’ve always had the utmost respect and admiration for Laura Bush even though I’m a liberal democrat and think her husband is easily the biggest asshat in history. It’s obvious her opinions on LGBT issues didn’t go far during that administration. Her husband trusted Karl Rove’s opinion on LGBT issues a lot more.
Having said that, does queerty always have to plug the Obama name in every post… it’s beyond ridiculous.
Peter
This little quote probably was tested on focus groups to see if it would bring in more sales to the Log Cabin gay republicans or GOProud, and not offend too many straight sales. Her smile always gives her a face like her ass itches, and she can’t wait to scratch.
Jon (there are others)
That is ONE CRAZY-ASS book cover. CREEPY . . .Yikes!
Chal
Isn’t that typical republic behavior? “Oh, since we know a few gays then let’s not be dicks to them.” They only see their own fucked-upness when they apply it to themselves. Like if their teen daughter gets pregnant, then all of a sudden they’re pro-choice. Give me a break.
Cam
No. 16 · Chal
Isn’t that typical republic behavior? “Oh, since we know a few gays then let’s not be dicks to them.” They only see their own fucked-upness when they apply it to themselves. Like if their teen daughter gets pregnant, then all of a sudden they’re pro-choice. Give me a break.
_______________
You NAILED it, for example, John McCain was anti-Stem Cell research and then a friend of his got parkinsons and suddenly because of that he is pro stem cell research. Well He was anti-Abortion so i’m just wondering where he thought those stem cells were coming from. But it shows how shallow they are. They are unable to put themsevles in others shoes but if something happens to THEM suddenly they are willing to change overnight.
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
@ Jason: as I recall, the Bush Reich did not INVITE gays to that ultimate expression of gay equality: the White House Easter Egg Roll, but simply didn’t STOP them from attending. Most tickets are distributed on a first come first served basis.
Regardless, “decent human being,” my ass. She was simply Shrub’s Eva Braun, standing loyally by while he demonized gays and ATTEMPTED TO WRITE US OUT OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION!
Though I think by “path” she means she didn’t realize it would get as vicious as it did, I think Chris Geidner’s take is the most accurate on her own guilt when he translated her advice as: “Don’t hurt our gay friends—any more than you NEED to do.” [And, it’s nice to see him take time off from his frequent raison d’etre: defending Obama Wan Kenobi.]
What I also hate about this is that, as posts here and elsewhere demonstrate, it’s an excuse for another round of examples of Silly Savage Stockholm Syndrome: “SEE! We told you George and Laura don’t PERSONALLY hate gay people so what he did is forgivable.” Sometimes such beliefs are pure fantasy, and sometimes they result from simply not listening carefully, such as the invincible and invincibly ignorant myth that Cheney supports marriage equality more than he does “states rights.”
EARTH TO SUBCONSCIOUSLY SELF-LOATHING GAYS: None of us should care what the personal FEELINGS are of ANYONE versus what they DO, and, yes, Bots, that INCLUDES, most critically, the CURRENT President. Whatever his “feelings” are, no matter how many gays he has working for him or invites to roll White House Easter eggs, he doesn’t get forgiveness for playing even a passive let alone an active role in our continued oppression. The arrogance and ego exhibited in those flashes of rage when he was interrupted by GetEqual in LA recently was manifested in another way last year during Obama’s interview with Catholic media whom he told:
Gosh, Pope Barry, our hearts go out to you and your anguished religiofascism-endorsing soul.
Meanwhile, back at current events:
Exhibit A: Obama is ACTIVELY obstructing a vote on DADT repeal in Congress by empowering the vote-stalling and PHONY “study”and by refusing to publicly state he wants repeal THIS year and by refusing to personally arm-twist members of Congress to do it. YES, he CAN!
[So many were so eager for the lightest pat on the head that they failed to notice that fake repeal advocates Gates and Mullen all but teared up Feb. 2nd and said, “Discharges hurt us more than the hurt gays.”]
Exhibit B: Obama is passively letting discharges continue, day after day after day, even as you read this…even tho he said himself ten months ago that there was an “urgency” to stopping them both because they’re “unjust” and “weaken national security“…by refusing to use his Congressionally mandated authority under 10 USC 12305 to freeze discharges…wait for it…in the name of national security. YES, he COULD!
And with those regurgitations of how gay-friendly Les Bushes really were, will we see people excreting: “It was just his homophobic advisors like Karl Rove, not him” the way Obambots are drooling now that it’s solely Jim Messina’s fault and/or the fault of his boss Rahm Emanuel? Was Bush, is Obama, any less personally responsible despite their alleged personal “feelings”?
History Reminder: 2004 wasn’t the first time Bush and Rove had allegedly exploited homophobia—which helped elect him to his first office. He became governor of Texas in part on the back of a whisper campaign that incumbant governor Ann Richards was a lesbian. History Lesson: I’ve read that the Texas race wasn’t the first time Rove had exploited homophobia. Years before when he personally ran for head of the College Young Republicans his chief rival was a guy named Terry Dolan. A whisper campaign about Dolan’s very real but very publicly closeted homosexuality helped Rove win. But Dolan would go on to be briefly almost as powerful as Rove would become. He led a ruthless far right political pac campaign that drove several “too liberal” Senators out of Washington forever including George McGovern, Birch Bayh, and Frank Church before dying, still in the public closet, of AIDS.
No, I’m NOT imagining a univeral IMmoral equivalency between Bush and Obama, tho that case might be made in terms of pro-LGBT legislation. But are advisors who tell their President to obstruct gay equality for whatever reason that are Dems any less despicable than Repug advisors who do the same thing?
Finally, the larger point is that the fish rots from the top down, kids. It did in 2004; it does in 2010.
Sister Very Toomuch
@jason: And their jewish gay friends had the time of their lives.
Mike L.
@james_in_cambridge: You’ve got something borwn on your nose, what is that?
Yeah obama’s shit, quit sniffing his ass yo.
Mike L.
@Mike L.: meant to say brown.
Mike L.
@jason: And she is prochoice in when the woman has been raped, victime of incest, her health, something Palin is not for.
Male Nurse Dave
Y’all should stop being so mean to Laura Bush. The woman single-handedly wiped out AIDS on an entire continent by telling African people to stop having sex.
Dude
Read an American Wife! It tells the story of Alice Blackwell, a quiet librarian whose husband Charlie becomes the bumbling president of the United States. It is, in short, a fictional examination of the life of the First Lady that mingles real facts and incidents with the author’s imaginative, fanciful, sometimes sexually charged musings. The result is a masterful highbrow-lowbrow mash-up that satisfies as ass-kicking literary fiction and juicy gossip simultaneously.
bobito
@the crustybastard:
“This just in: Laura Bush also thinks her husband is an asshole.”
Just goes to show you, even a Republican isn’t always wrong about everything. Who knew?
gaylib
the Bush’s don’t hate gay people, just poor ones.
jazlow
So she speaks about her car accident that killed a classmate… anything about her husband killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis?
james_in_cambridge
LOL @ Jazlow.
BIG LOL @ Jon!
Big FU to Mike L.
Laura actually was a Democrat when she married Bush. I don’t know if she actually ever switched but like a lot of you I heard that she remained pro-choice and pro-gay. You can’t help who you fall in love with and once you fall hard, you wanna support them in whatever they do. But you still have to wonder: she was a teacher and a very intelligent woman so what was the deficiency in her personality that made her fall so hard for such a stone-cold dummy?
TheOtherMark
@Fitz:
When I see gay people saying ignorant or hateful things (such as denying someone CPR), regardless of what you have been through, I wonder what side of the equality battle that person would be on had they been born straight.
Ogre Magi
@jason: I feel sorry for her, just imagine having to have sex with a chimp all those years.
jason
I actually think Dubya looked quite studly with his compact hips and revealing crotch, especially on that war ship. I love a man with compact hips. Men with child-bearing hips don’t appeal to me at all.
Fernando
She said that gay marriage was “very, very shocking”, so she’s not gay-friendly at all.
Swimmer - Chicago
She is a collaborator with the Republican kabal that hurts gay people everyday. If you are not rich and white – you don’t fit in with the repubs. Look at what the repubs are doing to the Latinos – Show Me Your Papers!
Baxter
I really like Laura Bush, but that picture is terrifying!
hephaestion
Laura should have SPOKEN OUT against the evil policies and opinions of the party that put her in the White House.
I knew she had a gay assistant at one time, and how he continued to work with her I will never understand. She never spoke out for us when she was in the White House. NEVER.
jason
And what has Michelle Obama done except for one or two brief appearances at a gay gathering? Michelle’s more interested in other things.
russaustx
“We have close friends who are gay or whose children are gay.” Such a statement is mostly about the speaker. Did she say, “Back off because making this an issue would be wrong?” Of course not. She’s part of the sick Bushy culture. With Laura and W, it’s mostly about Laura and W—it’s hardly ever about leading by doing the right thing. Sorry Laura. I’m glad you love books and were a fine teacher, but you sold out.
TVS
Two things: a)You shouldn’t be anti-gay-marriage because you have gay friends; you shouldn’t be anti-gay-marriage because it’s immoral to be so. I don’t have a single transgendered friend, but I’m still on board for their causes, because it’s the right thing to do.
b)If she is for gay-marriage, then why didn’t she make herself be heard? Because it would be bad for her husband’s political career. How sinister is that – that someone is willing to sacrifice their morality and ethics for a career? I think Laura represents a certain class of middle-aged, straight women (mostly Republican I assume) – who are in fact, pro-gay, but don’t care about it enough to speak it out loud. (Even Mrs. McCain, who is pro-gay, only came forward with it *after* her husband’s presidential campaign was over.)
Evan
I’m torn about Laura Bush.
On the one hand, I respect that not everyone – not even every spouse of a public figure – is comfortable in the spotlight. She’s a librarian, not a politician. I can see not wanting to make a public stand if that’s just not who you are.
On the other hand, if your spouse is doing things that are immoral on a grand scale, then to a certain extent you’re enabling him if you remain silently at his side.
Ronbolina
Bye Bye and good God go already! Don’t let the door slap your back on the way out.
Ronbolina
Ooops! Forgot to remind all that our very own BHO decided to take action in a VERY gay-unfriendly way (no action – studying the situation still). He says things that could be read as postive; but, he has thus far chosen to change NO law in our favor. As you know, “God is in the (bigots) mix.” I guess his God, hates GLBT persons also. Aren’t you glad they are on speaking terms?
Don’t hate me, I’m just tellin’ the truth. I do like the way makes Laura Bush look absolutely, positively liberal.
ewe
Surprise surprise. Laura Bush pimps herself out for cash.
ewe
@james_in_cambridge: I don’t think she is intelligent at all. It’s all some really bad hoodwinking display and i see right through it. She is not that smart of a person and i don’t care what anyone thinks, those lines around her mouth are from years of smoking weed. Of that i have no doubt. No proof but no doubt.
ewe
Laura Bush and Joel Osteen are identical hybrids.
candace
Laura Bush killed a man when she was 17
ewe
Why do we celebrate this woman? She is like an endless nauseating bake sale. And her husband is the burnt flakey tart.