# Barbara Bush sees the bright side **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 6, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266 "2005-09-06T00:09:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/21 "2005-09-06T03:08:56Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > I thought it was Connie Chung. Nope: “I can’t say it, but it rhymes with rich,” Barbara Bush said of Ferraro (the then opponent). She later apologized and insisted she had meant Ferraro was a witch, not bitch. She is also partial to saying things like “I’m through with you” to end conversations, which she claims is only meant to be funny. Yeah, like yogurt is funny :rolleyes: . ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/22 "2005-09-06T03:22:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I thought it was Connie Chung. I believe it was Newt Gingrich’s mom who referred to Connie Chung as a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/23 "2005-09-06T03:26:16Z")
You are correct **Baldwin** … from [www.mediaresearch.org](http://www.mediaresearch.org) “With Connie Chung set to interview Gary Condit, recall her infamous 1995 exchange with Newt Gingrich’s mother in which she urged Kathleen Gingrich to reveal her son’s opinion of Hillary Clinton: “Why don’t you just whisper it to me. Just between you and me.” Chung was far nicer in 1993 to Bill Clinton’s mom.” ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/24 "2005-09-06T03:29:03Z")
You can watch the Connie video [here](http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20010821.asp#4) …if you can see past Newt’s mom’s cigarette and his pops constant sloughing. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/25 "2005-09-06T04:11:38Z")
Shame the cannibalism rumours turned out to be false: she could have fed a family for a week. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/26 "2005-09-06T04:26:30Z")
And risk all the choking deaths from those goddamn pearls? ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/27 "2005-09-06T04:36:50Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > And risk all the choking deaths from those goddamn pearls? They’re just prizes. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/28 "2005-09-06T06:01:08Z")
Dear Elder President Bush: I speak for a number of your observers when I note with approval your reported friendship and warm paternal affection for Bill Clinton. I’m sure any man who’s children have been such a disappointment can readily relate. But we fear you are at some risk, a “moral hazard”, as it were, by associating in such intimate proximity with a known adulterer, one who’s depraved adherence to liberal “situational ethics” denies the accepted and timeless standards of correct behavior. If marriage vows are to be taken lightly, can respect for private property long endure? It could be said that your Christian charity to the repentant sinner speaks well of your character. I have no opinion. However, under the circumstances of your marriage, I think it safe to say that, should you suffer a lapse of moral rigor such as so frequently befalls Mr. Clinton, you may find the American people generous in thier understanding and acceptance. By the same token, we hope you will accept our tendency to make whip-lash sound effects when ever your name is spoken. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/29 "2005-09-06T21:40:25Z")
> [@sj2](#): > > She is also partial to saying things like “I’m through with you” to end conversations, which she claims is only meant to be funny. Yeah, like yogurt is funny :rolleyes: . I laughed at the yogurt line. Which means that yogurt really is funny. Which means that Barbara Bush is also funny. Which means that the analogy is invalid, and that the yogurt line really isn’t funny. So Barbara Bush isn’t funny either. Which means that the analogy is valid, and the yogurt line _is_ funny, which means that Barbara Bush is funny which means that the analogy isn’t vlaid again and dammit my brain just exploded. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/30 "2005-09-07T03:31:34Z")
What is Al Franken’s take on this? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/31 "2005-09-09T08:56:33Z")
Well, at the risk of getting myself flamed in two threads at once, I will say that I have been thinking along similar lines. Look at it this way. Much has been made of the fact that the NOLA hurricane victims are poor, which is why they didn’t evacuate, and why they did this and that over the past week. I can’t help thinking that, for these people who lost everything, and yet didn’t have much everything to lose, who were unemployed, underemployed, or on public assistance, this could be a chance for many of them to start over. If their debts have been wiped out along with their possessions, if they’re given a chance, and if they take it, then they can look at themselves as having nowhere to go but up. :::Rilchiam dons riot shield and steps back::: ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/32 "2005-09-09T10:45:48Z")
Not gonna flame you, Rilchiam, but that was kinda stupid. Poor people still have lives and homes; they also have families. A lot of the people who were there in the Astrodome had lost family members, and it really wasn’t working well for them. As for their debts being wiped out – not that simple. Your car may be underwater and totalled, but you still have to make payments. The horrible bankruptcy bill passed earlier this year (literally written by credit card company lobbyists) makes it a lot harder to declare personal bankruptcy. Barbara Bush said what she did because she’s a queen bitch. You, on the other hand, (I think) just haven’t thought it through. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/33 "2005-09-09T10:48:48Z")
Bush was proud of the way that Texans was opening their hearts and pocketbooks for the evacuees and was lauding them. And being relocated to Texas (as opposed to, say, Mississippi) was working well for the evacuees because most of the people she spoke to (who were underprivileged) planned to stay in Texas because they were so impressed with their Southern hospitality. Could she have been more articulate? Yes. She’s not a polished politician. ::shrug:: ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/34 "2005-09-09T11:24:42Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Could she have been more articulate? Yes. She’s not a polished politician. ::shrug:: Donnie Rumsfeld, is that you? I think she said exactly what was on her mind. I’m also surprised to hear that folks from Louisiana would need to be shown how to provide Southern hospitality. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/35 "2005-09-09T12:12:28Z")
Barbara Bush _not_ a polished politician? You’ve got to be joking. Former First Lady Wife of the Former Ambassador to the United Nations Wife of the Former Director of the CIA Mother of the current President Mother of the former Governor of Texas Mother of the current Governor of Florida She’s got more political experience in those roles than most members of Congress. The entire family has made a ton of political hay in trying to show how they’re “just plain folks.” Bullshit from day one. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/36 "2005-09-09T14:47:41Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > What a fucking clueless bitch. I hope it’s just cluelessness, anyway, and not deliberate heartless contempt for the poor. Nah. She’s just thrilled at how inexpensive it’ll be to get landscaping and other yard work done. Them Mexicans have got themselves some real competition now! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/37 "2005-09-09T15:26:08Z")
As if possessions make up all of life. Oh, wait, for Babs, they well may… These people lost their identities, their homeplace/neighborhoods; all aspects of what make up living. Yep-sleeping on a cot, not sure where (fill in the blank) is or if they are still alive–yep, it’s one big party in Houston! ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/38 "2005-09-09T15:46:19Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Nah. > > She’s just thrilled at how inexpensive it’ll be to get landscaping and other yard work done. > > Them Mexicans have got themselves some real competition now! You Bet! [Bush Suspends Pay Act In Areas Hit by Storm](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090802037.html) > [@](#): > > President Bush yesterday suspended application of the federal law governing workers’ pay on federal contracts in the Hurricane Katrina-damaged areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. > > The Davis-Bacon Act, passed in 1931 during the Great Depression, sets a minimum pay scale for workers on federal contracts by requiring contractors to pay the prevailing or average pay in the region. Suspension of the act will allow contractors to pay lower wages. Course, boy genious forgot to include Texas in the order. :smack: Mom’s gonna be pissed! ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/39 "2005-09-09T16:33:40Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Y > Mom’s gonna be pissed! Dumbass. Everyone knows you pay landscapers and the like under the table. See? No need to include Texas. Once you get two dueling groups of poor starving people you can save big. You can cut out all that OSHA shit and everything! Everyone wins! Everyone important, anyways. Well, everyone except for the poor people, and who gives a fuck about them? Nobody important gives a fuck about them, that’s who! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266/40 "2005-09-09T17:00:53Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Does Texas _have_ State Income Taxes? Anyway, I’ve always felt that Mrs Bush needs more time than the average to process information----she always seems to be a few beats behind the rest of the band. I mixed the two First Ladies; my comment applies to Laura Bush, and NOT Barbara Bush. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-bush-sees-the-bright-side/320266.md?page=3)