# Bush Laments that Ob-Gyn's Can't Practice Their Love with Women **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 7, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426 "2004-09-07T01:14:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/21 "2004-09-07T03:19:10Z")
It’s nice to see that [BronzeLion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=80750) found gainful employment as a speechwriter. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/22 "2004-09-07T03:31:38Z")
> [@iampunha](#): > > It’s nice to see that [BronzeLion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=80750) found gainful employment as a speechwriter. Ahem, I beat you to it already! ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/23 "2004-09-07T03:33:20Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Ahem, I beat you to it already! The hell you did. You think Bush doesn’t have anything more important to do than write speeches like that? …you think Bush is capable of writing something that coherent? [sub]You get the link from the LJ community too? We should send **Geobabe** a fruitbasket or summat.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/24 "2004-09-07T03:36:52Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Maybe Barbara advocated literacy because of her son? You know, thinking he might actually get a clue? 😃😃😃 Hasn’t worked, has it? How that inarticulate foolish little man can lecture anyone about education standards I’ll never understand . . . ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/25 "2004-09-07T03:38:54Z")
> [@The Devil's Grandmother](#): > > I’m trying hard to be charitable towards a president I loathe, so I’m, going to guess that he meant “practice in the profession they love, _for_ women all across the country.” > What’s wrong with those Bush guys anyway? How the hell can Barbara promote literacy, and Laura be a librarian and stand to be married to those sentence-thrashers? You’d think they’d be visibly cringing every time their husbands spoke. They probably do. Hell, I support 'em and _I_ do. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/26 "2004-09-07T03:54:12Z")
Here’s the quotation in context: > [@](#): > > But let me tell you what else we need to do. We need to do something about these frivolous lawsuits that are running up the cost of your health care and running good docs out of business. (Applause.) We’ve got an issue in America. Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country. See, I don’t think you can be pro-doctor and pro-patient and pro-hospital and pro- trial lawyer at the same time. (Applause.) I think you’ve got to make a choice. It sounds like he _was_ trying to say something about practiceing a _profession_ they love but Bush’s speechwriters should have known better than to let him go anywhere near the subject of gynecology and especially not link it with the word “love.” By the way. I am actually more offended by by his disingenuous slap against “trial lawyers.” Lawyers are an easy target and the morons in the audience (and the electorate) eat that shit up but if Bush thinks we should “pro-patient,” how does he expect to protect patients without lawyers? ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/27 "2004-09-07T03:57:05Z")
I just wanna know…if he’s pro-patient and has been presumably “pro-patient” for the past 4 years, where the fuck is my health insurance? ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/28 "2004-09-07T03:59:05Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > …if Bush thinks we should “pro-patient,” how does he expect to protect patients without lawyers? Were I a wiser man I would ask in very specific words (so as to leave no doubt regarding meaning) what Bush has done to advance patients’ rights other than to try and limit the money they can get when doctors fuck up with permanently and serevely debilitating results (biased? Me? Bet your ass.). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/29 "2004-09-07T04:09:20Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > …how does he expect to protect patients without lawyers? My guess? He doesn’t. He’s been told by his handlers that all malpractice lawsuits are frivolous and he believes it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/30 "2004-09-07T04:15:43Z")
Not even Reuters knows [Bush: OB-GYNs kept from ‘practicing their love’](http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06540712.htm) > [@](#): > > POPLAR BLUFF, Mo., Sept 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush offered an unexpected reason on Monday for cracking down on frivolous medical lawsuits: “Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” > > The Republican president, long known for verbal and grammatical lapses, included the anecdote about obstetrician gynecologists in his stump speech attacking Democratic presidential rival Sen. John Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, a former trial lawyer. > > At a rally of cheering supporters in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Bush made his usual pitch for limiting “frivolous lawsuits” that he said drive up the cost of health care and run doctors out of business. > > But then he added, “We’ve got an issue in America. Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” > > Unfazed, Bush went on to deride his rivals as “pro-trial lawyer,” and concluded, “I think you’ve got to make a choice. My opponent made his choice, and he put him on the ticket. I made my choice. I’m for medical liability reform now.” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/31 "2004-09-07T04:17:59Z")
I should have added, I’m guessing he meant to say “livelihood”. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/32 "2004-09-07T04:18:55Z")
> [@percypercy](#): > > The transcript of the speech is up on Bush’s website as well. With “practice their love” and all. > -Lil Yep, and it’s also on the [official White House website](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040906-4.html). ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/33 "2004-09-07T06:00:51Z")
Okay, I’m officially counting the minutes until the next _Daily Show_. ---
**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 7, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/34 "2004-09-07T06:06:34Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I think the transcriptionist heard the sentence wrong. Obviously Bush is not advoctating sex between patients and doctors. Just one more reason he’s not getting my vote. Well, I’m sorry, but my doctor is _hot_! ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/35 "2004-09-07T06:18:38Z")
Geez, cut the poor guy a break already. He can’t [talk](http://www.bushisms.com/index1a.html), he can’t [ride a bike](http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/05/22/bush.fall/), he can’t [hold on to his dog](http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/graphics/bush_dogdrop.jpg), has trouble with [new technology](http://www.gothamist.com/images/2003_6_bushsegway.jpg), manages to [put the pope to sleep](http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/graphics/bush_pope.jpg), chokes on [on snacks](http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/Pretzels/PRETZELSgifs/lalo.jpg), and now you want him to act and speak as if he was the freaking President of the US of A?! Oh, wait… ---
**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 7, 2004, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/36 "2004-09-07T06:27:07Z")
In fairness, the Pope is so old now he’d probably fall asleep in the middle of the Second Coming. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/37 "2004-09-07T06:37:21Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > In fairness, the Pope is so old now he’d probably fall asleep in the middle of the Second Coming. Second coming? What is he, 18? Dude, he’s probably 20 years too old for a FIRST coming. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/38 "2004-09-07T06:57:35Z")
What’s really sad to me is not his poor choice of words. It’s the idea that our country can’t be pro-patient, pro-medical profession and pro-law profession at the same time. I know that there are unscrupulous patients, doctors and lawyers. And doctors _do_ sometimes make _needless_ mistakes. Some patients try to get money when a doctor has done the best she can do. Some lawyers are ambulance chasers. And I am aware that OB/GYNs have been particularly hard hit with rising insurance rates. But this is not a black and white issue. I hear a lot of that kind of thinking from Bush. Find solutions that are _fair_ to all concerned. > [@](#): > > **Bush** (in the same speech): So we strengthened and modernized Medicare. Our seniors got choices. Meanwhile, my Medicare payments are going up a record 17%. He left out that little detail. The Medicare perscription card discount has been wiped out by higher drug prices. And my mother said today that her Social Security payments are just enough to cover her medications. She can’t even rent (with Medicare’s help) a machine which she needs to keep the circulation going in her feet because it is too expensive for any stores in her area to afford it. And Medicare won’t provide the machine itself unless they know ahead of time that she benefits from using it. (So much for the “greatest generation.” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/39 "2004-09-07T06:59:56Z")
I’m so fucking tired of his “choices” bullshit. What this means is that seniors have been handed most of the administration and have to take a course in health-care law before they can understand which boxes to check. They have LOTS of choices now–about as many choices as you’d have if you ordered a computer and got a box of individual parts. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426/40 "2004-09-07T07:38:53Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I think the transcriptionist heard the sentence wrong. Obviously Bush is not advoctating sex between patients and doctors. Wait, wait, wait… After four years of hearing W. abuse his purported first language, your first thought to seeing a malapropism of his in print is to assume the transcriptionist got it wrong? Are you high or Ann Coulter? Yes, W. isn’t advocating free and frequent love between doctor and patient. I believe his use of ‘love’ is a shorthand in his mind for: Practicing medicine and making medical decisions out of pure (and platonic) love of their patients, rather than for the purely mercurial motives governed by HMO and governmental oversight. On the other hand, it might have been Fruedian. Who knows, maybe W. and Laura play doctor quite frequently. Peace. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-laments-that-ob-gyns-cant-practice-their-love-with-women/263426.md?page=3)