Barbara Bush's remarks

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Barbara Bush–our president’s mother–seems to have exposed where Bush learned his attitudes about the poor of this country.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.suntimes.com/output/hurricane/cst-nws-hbarb08.html[/url]”>http://www.suntimes.com/output/hurricane/cst-nws-hbarb08.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>"What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.‘’</p>

2

<p>For God’s sake, will you people let this go!!! She is a really kind, heartfelt woman who put her foot in her mouth by saying something that on the surface sounds completely insensitive. I am sure that she is horrified by this and the inference that is being made from it. She has more that shown on many other occasions what a generous, giving person she is! GIVE IT A REST!!!</p>

<p>We can only thank heavens that people are not following us around all the time with a microphone to catch us speaking before we think. I know that I have been guilty of saying stupid things that afterwords I thought, “How could I possibly have said that!” And you know, if you truly look at yourself that you have too.</p>

3

<p>You know, ag54, that’s precisely the problem. Barbara Bush knows that when she gives a radio interview EVERYTHING she says will be examined carefully. And yet, she said it anyway, and she didn’t pause and say “how could I possibly have said that?”</p>

4

<p>I was wondering if I was the only one left scratching my head after I read these comments.</p>

5

<p>You are not alone, alongfortheride.</p>

6

<p>So she should have said they were being poorly cared for and this( the care and future help) was sucking for them??</p>

7

<p>She has experience, she was First Lady. It the “underpriviledge anyway” part that is so disgusting. As if losing everything they had was not so bad cause they didn’t have much.</p>

<p>If someone told you “well, you lost all your memories-wedding albums, all your records, your jobs, your pets, your school your church, your friends, but you were poor so this is a good thing”</p>

<p>What part of that is kind?</p>

<p>Exucse here all you want, she knew exactly what she was saying</p>

<p>She acted as if these people had little to lose, so this was a good thing</p>

<p>Look around you, if losing everything you had, how in anyway would that be a good thing and workng out well for you? No matter how much money you had.
Faring better than before- when they have nothing</p>

<p>And its not like these people weren’t working, having homes, having kids in school. If these were people living under a bridge before, maybe, it would be a good thing. But these people had lives that are desimated. But, hey this is working well for them.</p>

<p>Cruel.
I know I will get slammed for talking about this again. I don’t really care. I know meanness when I see it. Good she ws there helping, but after saying what she said, I don’t really think she cares very much.</p>

<p>A person who truly cared would realize what she said was hurtful to those that lost it all. That living in a dome is not “working out well” when you have nothing but the shirt on your back.</p>

8

<p>Your ability to read into the mind of a person through a few words betters Kreskin.</p>

9

<p>Believe what you want, I am not going to change your opinion. BUT, I KNOW that she is anything but a cruel person. She spends countless hours helping the “underpriveledged” in our city. She donates not only money, but herself in these endeavors. I KNOW that she cares deeply and will be doing more than any of you in the coming days to help these people find an, at least, comfortable life here for as long as they need it or want it. AND, I who have personally worked with these evacuees KNOW how much they appreciate what is being done for them. We are well aware that they have lost everything, and we are trying to make their conditions as comfortable as can possibly be under these circumstances. We are trying to get them out of the dome and into housing. For example, my street has “adopted” a family, we are paying their rent, buying them furniture and household items, and trying our best to comfort them however we can. Please pull in the swords and spend your time doing something constructive instead of wasting it on attacking an old woman who is one of the biggest philanthropists in the city.</p>

10

<p>Opinions are not swords. Excuse me, though, I have to answer emails and take up collections. You see, I am volunteering to take over a portion of the fundraising efforts for my daughter’s high school.</p>

11

<p>So glad to hear that alongfortheride. The more we can do as a country to help these people, the quicker they can get back to some semblence of normalcy. I hope your fund drive is hugely successful!</p>

12

<p>In all her years of public service, if you choose to hang onto one misstatement by our former First Lady in order to slam her, then you are not looking for the truth. I would take Barbara or Laura Bush over Hillary, Teresa Heinz Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, or Cindy Sheehan any day.</p>

13

<p>While these “barbs” against Barb are meant to be hurtful, Barbara Bush is much bigger of a person than those attacking her and she probably just lets it roll of her back.</p>

14

<p>I think she did speak from her “heart of hearts” and from her “silver spoon” world, this is how she sees things (i.e. that these people may (ultimately) be better off). </p>

<p>This does not make her a bad person, a hateful person or an uncaring person. She, like her son, are simply ignorant people you don’t understand the plight and condition of others less fortunate than they are or who differ from them. With that ignorance, they presume to know what’s best for others.</p>

15

<p>What exactly is even wrong with taking an opitimistic note that the evacuees might end up better off in the long run?? They already know what they lost. Smart people look to the future and make the best of what comes along. Maybe she is giving them more respect than you by assuming they will look to the future and opportunities that may arise out of the disaster.</p>

16

<p>“She are simply ignorant people you don’t understand the plight”</p>

<p>Who is the ignorant?</p>

17

<p>Just looking at the quotes in the linked article, there really is not enough information to pass judgement on what she said. You don’t know how many people she spoke to earlier, what they said, nor do you have a transcript of what she said before and after the offending quotes, nor do you have her tone, or inflection. Maybe she had just spoken to 10 families who all assured her that their current living conditions were superior to where they were living in NO before the Hurricane. Maybe it was only in comparison to conditions at the Superdome (there’s a safe statement!). I just can’t get around to condemming her comments without hearing and seeing her make those comments live, with at least 10 minutes of tape to see what she was doing and saying before the comments. Don’t take things out of context.</p>

18

<p>I agree that these statements may have been taken grossly out of context, given Barbara Bush’s general reputation. But I have also personally worked with evacuees in a local shelter. A large portion of the people living in the shelters (as opposed to people who evacuated in their own cars and are staying in hotels or with friends) were living in significant poverty before the hurricane. They have been met with an extraordinary outpouring of contributions and volunteerism. So much so, that in my community the local homeless are trying to get into the shelters, under the guise of being refugees, because the conditions are better than they are at the homeless shelter. Many evacuees had need of significant social services before the hurricane (more than they were getting from Louisiana), and they will probably have even greater long-term need in the future. That is a potential long-term problem for the communities trying to absorb large numbers of them.</p>

19

<p>xiggi-you might want to quote me correctly. My statement was "She, like her son, are…</p>

<p>As to your question “Who is the ignorant?”-I think YOU’ve answered it.</p>

20

<p>Xiggi is correct. He knows his grammar!</p>