Laura Bush sees no fair shake for Sarah Palin; but that's tough and so's she

When Laura Welch and George W. Bush took their wedding vows, they exchanged another promise too. The new wife promised she would work out with her new husband and he promised she'd never have to make a political speech.

Neither one kept those promises.

In fact, the current first lady gave her first political speech during her honeymoon on the steps of a West Texas courthouse in her husband's vain attempt to unseat an incumbent House Democrat.

Although many do not think of Laura Bush as a very political person, this fall is only the second presidential campaign in 28 years that she has not been out on the trail for her husband or father-in-law.

You can bet that's fine with her. She'd rather be reading her third book this week anyway.

But last night Bush did tell Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren how much she likes another woman on the presidential campaign trail this year -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

"I'm just crazy about Sarah Palin,'' Bush says. "I like her very, very much. I loved watching her in the debate last week.... She's a really tough Western woman...(and) I'm really thrilled to have the opportunity to vote for a Republican woman for vice president."

Soon, Bush will be out of politics and back in the Crawford-area ranch house that she so carefully designed for their retirement days. But first she was asked if Palin was getting a fair shake:

"No," she said. "I think she can take it though, for sure. There's no doubt about it. But, you know, I guess they say, all is fair in love and war. And I guess politics is part of that."

It's not just being a woman that makes it tougher for Palin in the media, the first lady suggests, but also being a Republican woman. "My advice is just, be strong,'' says Bush. "That this is what happens in politics and you're really in the big leagues when you're on the ticket, on the presidential ticket."

Something Laura Bush will soon be done with -- for the moment anyway.

--Andrew Malcolm

To receive instant alerts of all Ticket items just go to Twitter and sign up for free automatic notices sped directly to your cell.

Photo credit: The White House

Comments

[wfcwfc]

THIRD TERM
Why George Bush Loves John McCain
“The Words of John McCain”

Love-Birds

McCain on Bush: "He has earned our admiration, and our love.” USA Today 8/10/04
Bush to McCain: “I love you, man!” Washington Post 2/11/08

McCain: “George W. Bush is ‘one of the great presidents of the U.S.’” Chicago Tribune 4/14/06
Bush: "I'm proud to be with a fine American, a great friend, John McCain.” Central Point Or. 10/14/04

Economy--Recession

McCain: “I admit I don't know anything about the economy. I didn't pay nearly the attention to those issues in the past.” New Republic 1/31/08; NBC Meet the Press 1/27/08

Bush: "The fundamentals of our economy are strong." Chicago Tribune 8/10/07
McCain: "I think our fundamentals are strong." Hilton Head Island, S. C. 1/18/08

Bush: "The fundamentals are strong. We're just in a rough patch." LA Times 2/2/08
McCain: “The fundamentals of this economy are strong. This is a rough patch." Fox News 1/10/08

McCain: "Americans overall are better off" now than 8 years ago. CNN Republican debate 1/30/08
[McCain owns nine homes and has an estimated worth of $100 million] Wall Street Journal 4/17/08

Iraq War

McCain: "Saddam Hussein continues to acquire, amass, and improve on his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction." Asheville Citizen Times 10/13/02
Bush: Iraq will be a" relatively bloodless war.” Washington Post 10/21/04
McCain: Iraq people will "greet us as liberators. We will win this conflict. We will win it easily. Iraq war is going to be relatively short.” NBC, 3/20/03; MSNBC, 9/29/02; NBC 3/30/03

Bush: "We've got to stay the course and we will stay the course." Newsweek 4/19/04
McCain: "We've got to stay the course." ABC News 10/24/04
McCain biographer: "McCain offers a more militaristic foreign policy than any other US president in a century." Economist 2/7/08

McCain in response to citizen saying "President Bush is talking about our staying in Iraq for 50 years." McCain: “Make it a100 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so, we've been in Japan for 60 years." “I don't think Americans are concerned if we're there for 100 years or 1,000 years or 10,000 years." Concord, New Hampshire 1/3/08; CBS Face Nation 1/6/08

McCain time-table to end Iraq War:
"A few months” (MSNBC 11/6/03) / "One year” (CBS Early Show 2/3/05) / "The end is very much in sight” (ABC Good Morning America 4/9/03) / "10 years” (Houston Chronicle 1/30/07) / "Two years" (NBC Meet the Press 6/19/05) / "Five years" (MSNBC Hardball 2/25/04) / "I don't have a date." (NBC Meet the Press 5/13/07).

McCain: singing "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran,” sung to the Beach boys "Barbara Ann."
United Press International 4/19/07

Lobbyists
"McCain has 134 lobbyists on staff or raising money for his campaign." Third Term, p108, 202-220.
McNasty

McCain's nicknames in school: “Punk” and “McNasty.” ABC News 4/1/08

McCain to Republican colleague: "F**k you! I know more about this than anyone in the room.” Washington Post.com, Capital Briefing 5/18/07

McCain to wife Cindy: when she joked about his thinning hairline: “At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you c**t.” [not a misprint] The Real McCain, p 49-50

McCain to journalist: in front of 4-year-old son: "You f**king son of a bitch. I saw what you wrote. We're not going to forget this." Washington Post 7/25/99

McCain: to fellow Republican senator: "F**k you!” New York Post 5/19/07

McCain: to fellow senator: "I wouldn't call you an a**hole unless you really were an a**hole."
Senator who witnessed: "I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger." Newsweek 2/21/00

McCain: to fellow Republican Senator: “Your problem is that you’re a f**king jerk.” Salon, 5/14/99

Women, Catholics, Seniors, and Children

McCain: in voting against Equal-Pay-for-Women Act: “It will only encourage more lawsuits.” Associated Press 4/24/08

McCain: re John Hagee’s Feb 2008 endorsement: “Pastor Hagee supports what I stand for and believe in.” Round Rock, Texas 2/29/08 [Hagee called the Catholic Church the "great whore” and said that Hitler was doing God's work through the Holocaust.] Associated Press 5/14/08; CNN 5/22/08

McCain advocates cutting benefits for children and for seniors while CEOs receive extraordinary profits. Carnegie Mellon University 4/15/08; Center for American Progress 4/9/08.

McCain has voted to cut, restrict, and under-fund Medicare and Medicare prescription drugs at least 28 times, including those for cancer patients. Third Term, Begala, p. 164

McCain voted to deny health coverage to 3.2 million uninsured children and not to renew coverage for 6 million children insured by the Children's Health Insurance Program because he said he felt the bill would cover too many children. U. S. House Resolution 976, 8/2/07

John McCain Votes with George Bush through the Years

2008 (thru May) 100%
2007 95%
2006 89%
2005 77%
2004 92%
2003 91%
2002 90%
2001 91%

Average 91%

"Once a political reformer, McCain has hung a For Sale sign on his most cherished principles and morphed into the second coming of George W. Bush. If you are an admirer [20% of Americans] of all that George Bush has done to America, you are going to love John McCain.” Third Term, 2008, Begala, back cover

[frieda]

She has been ONE classy first lady. I will miss her . All these years she stayed the same and going through these 8 years and not ONE scandal ...is quite BIG accomplishment in Washington D.C.

[Ann]

wfcwfc, great write-up, but you didn't mention McCain's crude and rude "joke" about Chelsea Clinton. I cannot believe anyone would stoop so low and make such a nasty comment about a child (which she was at the time).
Christian values indeed.

[Pigs in Lipstick]

If at Sarah Palin's Rallies people are shouting to kill Obama, then this is one sick disgusting candidate.

[miguel]

Shouldn't Mr. Malcom put a disclosure every time he writes a piece about Laura? This post reads like something he would have written back when he used to work for her.