But some seem to be immune from many people’s wrath and even get rewarded regardless.
I don’t think that’s the case anymore. Finally, people – all people – are believing women’s stories. Something flipped in the recent months.
Re: the elder Bush. If the guy has not exhibited such behavior previously, it is quite likely that it is a lost marbles issue and not a power/predator/etc. issue.
Believing something is not the same as finding it unacceptable.
Baby steps, ucbalumnus, baby steps…
My dad is 88 and spends much of his time in a wheelchair. The things he says now just amaze me. He feels happy and free to say any obnoxious thing he wants, no matter how out of line it is, and giggles to himself about it. Sometimes it’s really inappropriate and gross, leaving the family yelling, “Knock it off, we can’t unhear that!” If I posted some of the things he says or texts, half of you would be horrified and disgusted and the other half would be laughing hysterically (and disgusted). It gets worse as he gets older.
We’ve given up on this issue. He’s perfectly happy doing this.
Apparently Bush said something to the woman, as he put his arm around her back, like - My favorite magician is David Cop-A-Feel.
ugh - so cringeworthy.
Really, that’s just bad. Poor Barbara.
There’s the phrase “dirty old man” for a reason.
Nobody ever said that GHWB got game. 
FWIW, unless some long-term pattern emerges, I agree with @busdriver11 ; I’ve seen many older relatives whose filter seems to have vanished with time.
But we also got these responses, which are telling -
My dad seems to be interested in things that a toddler would (though he’s still very smart and seems to have most of his marbles). Anything to do with bowel movements or urination is quite exciting, and must be discussed at length. Graphically. Lots of “poopy” comments and silly, crude references. Zero filter.
So you don’t think there’s any of that going on? Four years after the fact, going public and calling it, “sexual assault”?
And what is it with everything now being labeled as sexual assault? From rape to an old man in a wheelchair patting one on the butt. I think it really waters down the meaning, to put it all under the same category.
With reference to the senior Bush, if the people around him are seeing a major change in him like losing his filter and saying or doing things that he didn’t normally do due to age or disease, they should have taken steps to warn people or taken steps so an incident wouldn’t occur. They failed those woman who were groped. Why did they let these women stand next to his wheelchair for the picture, they should have place Barbara Bush between the senior Bush and actress.
It is better to acknowledge the issue (mental deterioration due to age or medical) upfront so that people are more understanding and can protect themselves so something won’t happen.
this incident make me understand why Nancy Reagan did not allow the public to see her husbands at the end of his life while he suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
Of course what Bush Sr. did was a far cry from the years of harassment from Harvey Weinstein, Roger Ailes, etc. He’s in the “dirty old man” category but that’s neither an excuse nor an apology. I don’t have any experience with men being like that and I would find it shocking, especially from someone who was President. I’m sure the women who came forward felt the same way.
What bothers me are two things - his family and other people trotting him out for these occasions, knowing about it, joking about it, and offering non-apologies/apologies after the fact. (Barbara Bush apparently joked, “he’s going to get himself put in jail”.)
And people, especially people who have experience with the “dirty old man” phenomenon, taking potshots at the women who came forward, assuming they’re out for money, fame or whatever. It’s part of the same victim blaming and woman bashing that we’ve been dealing with forever and I find it offensive.
I find it offensive to call what is probably an issue of dementia, sexual assault. Calling everything sexual assault trivializes it. I dislike the perspective that every man must be a predator, and every women is a helpless victim.
I agree with that. People don’t like to see former leaders falling apart from the same maladies that haunt the rest of us. We like to remember them how they were.
I suspect Reagan looked horrible and could barely sit up. It’s not at all surprising that she kept him from view.
Those under 9 and over 89 are often lacking in mental capacity and judgement, as their caregivers will often say. I don’t judge what people with diminshed capacity do in the same way as competent adults. There are plenty of sane grown men with power who we can judge more fairly.
I hold nothing against the women who have come forward about GHWB, but I’m having a hard time getting worked up over an 93 yr old man in a wheel chair touching their bums and telling a crude joke, especially given he who shall remain nameless doing far worse things and suffering zero consequences.
Ditto, Emily.