Laura Bush: from reserved to a rising star

[RedEarth]

NEW YORK - When she first moved into the White House, she was called the "anti-Hillary." She had long ago given up her own career to support her husband and raise her children. She had married George W. Bush on the condition that she never have to deliver a political speech. She largely avoided controversy.

That Laura Bush is no more. Now in the thick of her husband's reelection campaign, and speaking at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night, she has for months crisscrossed the country, raising millions of dollars and delivering speeches on the economy, jobs, women, and, lately, the hottest of hot-button topics, stem-cell research.

In an interview in this week's Time magazine, she was asked whether the recent ads by anti-Kerry Vietnam veterans were unfair, and replied, "Not really. There have been millions of terrible ads against my husband." The Kerry campaign hit back, saying Mrs. Bush's statement showed that "these attacks have been coordinated from the top down at the White House."

If being hit by the opposition is a sign of having "arrived" politically, then Laura Bush is there. And she is uniquely positioned to speak to voters in a way that other surrogates can't. To her husband's strategists, fighting for every advantage possible in a neck-and-neck race, Mrs. Bush's months-long transformation from shy helpmate to campaign heavyweight took place not a moment too soon.

"She's incredibly important to the campaign," said Ken Mehlman, manager of the reelection effort, speaking to reporters recently. "She appeals across the board, she appeals across the country, she appeals to our base, she appeals to swing voters, she appeals to Democrats."



http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0831/p01s03-uspo.htm

[Jo March]

1. She doesn't appeal to me

She makes me want to barf. I think that she looks drugged out of her mind half the time and smug and self-righteous the other half.

[revree]

2. SHE SETS WOMEN BACK A THOUSAND YEARS...

right into the damned times of witch burnin's and dark ages...

Didn't she kill somebody?

OH AND SHE DOES NOT APPEAL TO DEMS. WE THINK SHE IS A DOLT.

[radwriter0555]

3. oh yeah, a real right-wing EVITA in the making...

***snarf***

[Catfight]

4. Just Run Over Everyone Laura!

[radwriter0555]

5. the peddle on the LEFT, the LEFT!

NO laura! NO!!!!!

[wishlist]

6. I liked her better before she opened her mouth- now I can't stand her

I thought of her four years ago as just a well-intentioned and long suffering Stepford Wife. Now I consider her to be a despicable conniving enabler.

[BeyondGeography]

7. Now here's a gem:

"To this day, even as the Bush campaign puts Laura out on the trail, little is left to chance - except perhaps the chocolate custard cone she ordered during a recent unannounced stop in suburban St. Louis, while wearing a light-gray pantsuit. (By all appearances, she managed not to spill.)"

Political campaign analysis at its most mundane.

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. Yet another shameless PR foist of an utterly boring and offensive

rich nobody on the public. Paris, move over.

[George W. Dunce]

10. I love how Chappaquiddick

is the butt of so many rethugs jokes but no one dares to mention Luras driving record.She was sober and it was a clear day.

[BJ]

9. Why isn't Dubya putting his real wife more in the limelight?

Condoleezza Rice!
http://www.thegully.com/essays/america/img_usa/rice+bush.jpg
"As I was saying to my hus...er...the pResident."

[CBHagman]

11. Have a little problem with exaggeration there, LWB?

"In an interview in this week's Time magazine, she was asked whether the recent ads by anti-Kerry Vietnam veterans were unfair, and replied, 'Not really. There have been millions of terrible ads against my husband.' The Kerry campaign hit back, saying Mrs. Bush's statement showed that 'these attacks have been coordinated from the top down at the White House.'"

I knew Laura Welch Bush was a moral coward, but I had no idea she had such a nasty streak. Boy, that smile is poisoned with the same old Bush family vindictiveness and win-at-all-costs mentality.

I was willing to cut her some slack. Forget that. If she's with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, she's just as morally suspect as any Nixon operative. Vile woman, and a real phoney.

[CBHagman]

12. Read that Time interview.

http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101040906/lauraqa.html

I find it sick-making.

[JitterbugPerfume]

13. how could anybody think she is not vile?

she was not born a BUSH she chose to be one


and that my fritnds is vile

[SemiCharmedQuark]

15. Vacancy! Vacancy! Vacancy!

Honestly I read that and couldn't imagine a single thought in that freaky head of hers. First, let's be clear. I have the upmost respect for homemakers. The amount of work and dedication involved is unbelievable. It's a demanding job. But like any other job, it should be voluntary, never expected or demanded. A homemaker is further entitled to form her own opinions and live her own life apart from that of her husband. Laura Bush doesn't. She can't even answer questions in a way that makes her use her own brain.

Parapharse:
-Are the ads unfair to Bush?
-Yes
-Are the ads unfair to Kerry?
-No


Bravo, Laura. Bravo.

[ReadTomPaine]

14. Rising star? Ummm, no.

[nookiemonster]

16. Mad Pickles

on a rampage. Stay out of the intersection!

[falcon]

17. From reserved to.....

rising pile of horseshit.

[Lindacooks]

18. Oh please, she's a Stepford wife

frozen, vacuous expression, smiles sweetly while saying mean things, worships 'her man' no matter how cruel and vile he is.

BARF

[MichiganVote]

19. Snif....I'm just so moved, living with George all these years

my achey, breaky heart...NOT!

[Matilda]

20. Could it be that they're trotting out Laura because Bush himself

has so little credibility left?

[foo_bar]

21. jack nicholson's a republican??

Here's the USA Today graphic:

[Just Me]

22. How sweet *smile* preferring a life of privilege rather than principle.

Other than ensuring her privileged life via adopting her husband's voice as her own,...what are her "principles",...beyond protecting her beautiful mind from reality?

[LibDemAlways]

23. The corporate whores never mention

that Laura once mowed a teenage friend down with her car. Had I been responsible for killing someone, I don't know how I ever would have been able to recover from it. The mere thought of doing something like that upsets me. Yet she's been quoted as saying it happened a long time ago and she doesn't like to think about it. She was never held accountable for it either.

If Teresa Heinz Kerry had ever killed anyone, do you suppose the whores might have found space for it, demanded explanations, and then passed judgment that she wasn't fit to be first lady? Just asking.