Posted on 10/01/2004 9:50:59 PM PDT by wildbill
A hit piece on Neil Bush about his divorce almost two years ago with interviews of his bitter ex-wife.
"In attempting to reach out to her in-laws, Sharon said she received a baffling response.
"I just really basically was turned off, turned away," Sharon said, though she recounted a conversation with her mother-in-law, Barbara. "I said I think Neil is having a mid-life crisis. You know, I'm worried about his business and maybe stress was leading to this e-mail. And she basically said, you talk to your mother and Neilsy will talk to me. And Neilsy will never abandon his children. And that was it."
Sharon Bush said her divorce settlement only allowed for four years of alimony at $2,500 a month, and further contends that she will soon have to sell the family home in Houston. Meanwhile, Neil and his new wife are building a multi-million dollar house next door to his parents.
"They were my family for almost a quarter-century," Sharon said of the Bushes. "I believed in families, and I believed in the family values. And I thought they did, too. So, I thought I would get help from them."
But Swartz, a veteran of the Houston social scene, thought otherwise.
"It's very much like the presidency of George W.," she said. "I think you're either with them, or you're not, and if you're not with them, you are on that ice floe for the rest of your life."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I'm not talking about the propriety of putting on a piece of out-of-date, sensationalist trash about the Bush family only a few weeks before the election. Others have no doubt covered that ethical lapse.
However, the First Brother segment used shots of prostitutes and an Asian red-light district intercut with bits from a deposition of Neil Bush talking about sexual liasons in a Hong Kong hotel more than five years old.
The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics states: "Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility.
Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
Never distort the content of news photos or video. Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it."
By using the out-of-context, misleading re-inactments, the producers of this 20/20 segment clearly violated their profession's Code of Ethics. But it's obvious they don't subscribe to any Code of Ethics.
Never let it be said that ABC didn't do its partisan best to sway the election for the Democrats.
poor bitter Sharon.
any word of laura peddling drugs in college?
Last I checked, Neil Bush's private life was none of my business. What gives anyone the right to start chastising family members of elected officials. This is reprehensible and will not be accepted by most Americans.
Well Sharon, maybe you need to get off your azz and go to work.
Ah the wonders of McCain-Feingold! Stop all political speech and give the leftist media have a free-for-all with thier hate-ridden agenda. All of the alphabet soup outfits should be forced to register as 527s and admit that they are just mouthpieces for the 'Rats.
poor bitter MSM
I don't know a whole lot about Neil but he's probably got some problems like the rest of us and maybe he is a sleazeball but what the heck does this have to do with President Bush. Neil isn't running for anything. If they are going to feature black sheep brothers, when are they going to do a piece on Edward's little brother? I've heard he has had some problems. Was a piece ever done on ABC about Roger Clinton?
I believe the media has already told us that it's not about sex or private lives when Prez Clinton was receiving oral sex from a young girl in the White House.
What is this?!--The media cretins are coming out of their sewers and are pulling out all the stops to oust W.
Quite Right Sir!
There is always two sides to every story.
I've been divorced and I know it strains family relationships. I don't see anything astonishing in this story. She will probably be on Oprah soon telling her sad story. Buck up and get on with your life.
"To err is human to forgive is divine"
Neil Bush is a private citizen and therefore should be off-limits to media scrutiny.
Good advice but some she probably doesn't want to hear. She's getting $120,000 over four years and has the family home which is worth goodness knows what. Also, we don't know what other concessions she got. I'm not going to lose too much sleep worrying about Sharon Bush's plight.
She'll be on Oprah BEFORE November 2nd, you can bet that.
I am divorced, too. Believe me, my ex-in-laws did NOT feel the urge to support me after the divorce.
I don't have an opinion of Neil and Sharon. Divorces are typically messy. No suprise this was one was any different.
It still has nothing to do with G.W.B. A hit piece against the President that mis-fired because no one cares about his brother and ex-wife. They aren't celebrities, Neil isn't a Governor nor the President.
It's not even an A-Grade attack. Pathetic B-Grade hit by the MSM.
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