Laura Bush Aiding Clinton Conference

AP ^ | September 14, 2006 | JENNIFER LOVEN

[ConservativeStatement]

Another member of the Bush family is getting cozy with former President Clinton.

First lady Laura Bush joins the former president as a keynote speaker opening his three-day Clinton Global Initiative in New York next week.

Clinton has famously formed a close friendship with the current president's dad. Clinton has been a repeat guest at the Kennebunkport, Maine, home of George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara.

Clinton also sparked curiosity when he was spotted at the White House last month. It turns out that he and the current president were having lunch, something White House aides said they do occasionally.

Now, aware of Laura Bush's involvement in issues that his foundation addresses, Clinton called several months ago to solicit her participation in the conference, said Anita McBride, her chief of staff.

[ConservativeStatement]

I saw this on Drudge and didn't see it posted here.

[no dems]

Awwwwwww, I feel a group hug coming on.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer comes to mind.

[knarf]

What the ???

[Darkwolf377]

When you read the whole article, Laura's appearance is fine, and part of her larger initiatives. But there are some Laura haters here who will of course start with the names.

Laura seems to dwell in this special place of her own, where she doesn't care a bit about the aholes who attack her husband, she just goes about her business. Classy lady.

[HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath]

Keep Bill on the charity circuit, where he can do no damage. Besides, its good for his soul. It's a class act on the Bush's part for being like an extended family, one he never had growing up, and what created a lot of problems for him and our country.

[ConservativeStatement]

Who could hate Laura?

[Antoninus]

It's this kind of stuff that makes me nod my head in agreement when I see those "Can't wait for '08" bumperstickers.

Sick of the Clintons. Sick of the Bushes. Can we have some new blood in DC, please?

[Darkwolf377]

Just wait, and you'll find out. I was really surprised to find some posts about her last week that called her all kinds of names.

I can't imagine what the DUmmies have to say about her.

[Southack]

It's an interesting contrast, a yen/yang, to see President Bush having lunch with former President Clinton.

The spin is that WJC is a policy wonk, of course, but the reality is that WJC passed not a single one of his campaign promises into law in his 8 years in Office.

On the other hand, the spin is that GWB is lost on policy, yet the reality is that he's passed into law the deployment of his national missile defense campaign promise, a ban on partial birth abortion, jailed Saddam Hussein, passed his tax cuts into law, killed the Kyoto treaty per his campaign promise, etc.

If you ignore the spin and examine accomplishments, President Bush could use a bit of WJC's public speaking charm, while former President Clinton could have used GWB's policy skills.

So even though they are on opposing ideological sides, both men can probably see at least one trait to admire in the other. That and being President for more than 1 term is bound to make for some interesting lunch conversations!

[billclintonwillrotinhell]

Laura seems to dwell in this special place of her own, where she doesn't care a bit about the aholes who attack her husband, she just goes about her business. Classy lady.

Is this the same Laura Bush who suggested sexism might be the reason many conservatives were against the Harriet Miers nomination? She didn't have any evidence, but apparently she has more hate in her heart for conservatives than conservatives have for her.

You really think she's a classy lady? Well, your classy lady was out here in Washington state recently, campaigning for an unfortunate GOP senate candidate named Mike McGavick. Laura Bush was offering to pose for pictures with people - as long as they coughed up $1,000. Real classy. She was in and out of here in just a few hours.

[Marine_Uncle]

I often agree most heartly with your statements but for the life of me, I cannot see any trait GWB would admire in this scum bag. The frigen bum probably cheated like hell when playing golf with GWB's dad.

[Southack]

WJC has a way of charming audiences; a cult of personality sort of trait.

That doesn't mean that you admire the man, just that you give credit where it is due. Governor George Wallace was a great speaker, imminently capable of charming certain audiences, but that doesn't mean that you have to admire him or like racial segregation, for instance.

[nathanbedford]

Having sodomized Monica Lewinsky with a cigar and masturbated into the oval office sink, Bill Clinton was impeached for committing perjury and lying about it, concealing evidence, suborning perjury, and otherwise attempting to fix a court case for personal profit. He also misused government assets in furtherance of this criminal scheme and shamefully attempted to destroy the reputations of potential witnesses and even physically intimidated witnesses to his crimes. The overwhelming weight of evidence throughout Bill Clinton's life reveals him to be a sociopathic serial abuser, assaulter and even a rapist of many women. If one were to compare Bill Clinton with John Gotti, apart from the heinousness of Gotti's crimes, we could say that there is not much to choose between them except that one is better dressed and the other is more charming,

Bill Clinton should have been convicted and thrown out of office. He should've been convicted of his crimes and been punished. At the very least, he should be shunned as we shun O.J. Simpson. He should be shunned because it's morally right to set the proper example when an icon betrays his trust. It should be shunned because it is morally wrong to condone criminality in high places. It is doubly bad when the President of United States repeatedly sets the wrong example in this regard.

Bill Clinton should be shunned by every decent American. One of the reasons he has not been the object of healthy opprobrium is that he has been forgiven and anointed by the Bush family as though they had recovered The Prodigal Son. The entire conservative movement in the Republican Party pays a price for this, as we pay a price every time the president unnecessarily validates Teddy Kennedy. Why does the Bush family persist in this course of conduct?

Sometime ago I wrote a post which I think sums up how the Bush family thinks:

The problem with George Bush is that he is not primarily a conservative, he is primarily a Christian, and he does not have a calculus that is congruent with yours or mine, even though both of us might be Christians.

George Bush sees partisan politics as petty and ultimately meaningless. We see partisanship as the indispensable stuff of freedom. At election time the Bushes will hold their nose and dip into partisanship. But it is not in their essential nature to wage war for tactical political advantage.

George Bush wants what Bill Clinton wanted: To fashion a legacy. He does not want to be remembered as the man who cut a few percentage points from an appropriation bill but as the man who reshaped Social Security. I've come to the conclusion that the Bushes see politics as squirmy, fetid. It must be indulged in if one is to practice statesmanship but it is statesmanship alone that that is worthy as a calling.

They are honest, they are loyal, they are patrician. There would've been admired and respected if had lived among the founding fathers. But it is Laura Bush and Momma Bush who really and truly speak for the family and who tell us what they are thinking and who they are. There's not a Bush woman who does not believe in abortion. They believe in family, they live in loyalty, they believe in the tribe, but they do not believe in partisan politics.

I believe it is time for us to decide no longer to be used by the Bush family as useful idiots and instead to begin to use the Bushes as our useful idiots . I say this with the utmost admiration and respect for everything the Bushes stand for. Who would not be proud beyond description to have a father or an uncle who was among the first and youngest of naval aviators to fight in the Pacific and to be twice shot down. Not a stain or blemish of corruption or personal peccadillo has touched the family(except for the brother whom I believe was cleared of bank charges). They are the living embodiment of all that is good and noble in the American tradition.

But they are not conservative.

[Southack]

Former President Clinton did very bad things such as send tanks in to burn down a Branch Davidian church in Waco, kill more than 10,000 european civilians in his 1999 Kosovo air war over Serbia, etc.

That wasn't my point. I said that there was at least one trait that he possessed that could conceivably fascinate another President.

Now, as for whether or not GWB is a conservative, you have to separate fiscal conservative from social conservative.

President Bush is a social conservative (not a "Christian first," just a Christian) as in pro-death-penalty for criminals, war to kill terrorists, banning abortion to save innocent children, cutting income taxes, killing the Kyoto global warming nonsense, killing the International Criminal Court, deploying our national missile defenses, etc.

[Razz Barry]

Laura Bush agreed, hoping to tell people about the good that their tax dollars are doing and to persuade other nations of the United States' good intentions.

"We've got a good story to tell. We've got something to say," McBride said. "We've got something to show that we are not only as Americans a compassionate and generous country and she wants Americans to know that they're making a difference."

This year's Clinton Global Initiative is a follow-up to the 2005 event that brought $2.5 billion in pledges to help solve challenges such as the HIV infection in Africa.

The first lady's speech next Wednesday will cover topics such as literacy and education, AIDS and women's rights that she has highlighted in her travels. They include 11 solo trips to 27 countries in the nearly six years of her husband's presidency.

She also is bringing a pledge of her own: the announcement of a partnership between the Bush administration and an American foundation to help provide clean drinking water in Africa _ a key component to improving health on the poverty-stricken continent.

I'm just sick of all these people. I'm sick of their compassion and generosity with my tax dollars.

[nathanbedford]

William F. Buckley has said, "George Bush is not a movement conservative."

I agree with you on the distinction you make between the social conservative side and a fiscal conservative side, but in trying to come to some understanding of the inner man, I think there is another dimension, his applied Christian faith, which furthers a fuller understanding of the man and explains, for example, his dalliances with the Clintons and why he is not a movement conservative.

[jeremiah]

But they are not conservative truer words never spoken.

[billclintonwillrotinhell]

Bill Clinton should be shunned by every decent American. One of the reasons he has not been the object of healthy opprobrium is that he has been forgiven and anointed by the Bush family as though they had recovered The Prodigal Son. The entire conservative movement in the Republican Party pays a price for this, as we pay a price every time the president unnecessarily validates Teddy Kennedy.

That is an excellent observation. Each time the Bush family does something like this, the real conservatives out here look more and more like right-wing nuts filled with hate.

[xarmydog]

I was thinking,something smells funny.I came upon your post,and cracked up!We are smelling BC rotting!Too bad he is still above ground!!He should not leave his Limo in TX.,or the buzzards will have a field day!Can buzzards catch STD'S?