Laura Bush’s ‘Right Thinking’ Shouldn’t Count for Much.

(cross-posted from U.S. of J.)

Admittedly, it’s nice that Laura Bush is pro-choice and doesn’t hate gay people, but still, it doesn’t actually count for anything. Her “right thinking” doesn’t make-up for the fact that she has offered nothing but unlimited support to her husband, whose actions as president cost the United States thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. And that’s to say nothing of secret prisons, torture, and the tens of thousands of lost Afghan and Iraqi lives. Or the many lives adversely affected by her husband’s decision to cut off funding to international women’s clinics that provided abortion. Or the thousand-plus lives lost in Katrina.

Yes, I understand that as First Lady, her (extremely problematic) job is to offer unqualified support to the president. Still, the fact that Laura Bush is a nice person shouldn’t be a mitigating factor in our judgment of her role in the George W. Bush’s disastrous administration.

Jamelle

Jamelle Bouie is a writer for Slate. He has also written for The Daily Beast, The American Prospect and The Nation. His work centers on politics, race, and the intersection of the two.

You can find him on Twitter, Flickr, and Instagram as jbouie.
  • McDevite

    Not only that, but to make matters worse, in one of the kiss-n-tells, we learn that Bush really didn’t want to be mean to gay people. The worst part is that both Laura n George treated their house fags so nice while gay-bashing for votes. What moral cowards, the pair of them.

    I want to see Laura Bush say this to Constance McMillen’s face.

  • Agreed, I never had a problem with Laura other than the fact she never opened her mouth to say boo, but now I understand why. She wasn’t about to stand there and be called a hypocrite for supporting her husband, but then again not supporting him.

    Peace, Love and Chocolate
    Tiffany