George W. Bush, Explained
This is just weird and creepy:
George W. Bush’s pro-life stance solidified when he was a teenager in Texas — after his mother suffered a devastating miscarriage and showed him the fetus in a jar, the former president said in an extraordinary interview that airs tonight.
“She said to her teenage kid, ‘Here’s the fetus,’ ” the shockingly candid Bush told NBC’s Matt Lauer, gesturing as if he were holding the jar during the TV chat, a DVD of which The Post exclusively obtained.
“There’s no question that affected me, a philosophy that we should respect life,” said the former president, who had to drive his distraught mother to the hospital at the time.“I never expected to see the remains of the fetus, which she had saved in a jar to bring to the hospital,” Bush writes in his new book, “Decision Points,” in an excerpt Lauer read during the interview.
I’m totally lost as to how a fetus in a jar would turn someone into a “pro-life” conservative. Sometimes, do you ever reflect on how deeply strange some anti-abortion activists are? Rep. Jean Schmidt talked about abortion to 1st graders. Keep in mind, these are the same people who freak out at any hint of sex ed classes.
Barbara Bush was the wire monkey mother, and the world paid the price for it.
Just keep that jar away from the Iowa caucuses.
I am sure they have Reagan’s head in a jar somewhere too.
how on earth is keeping the body of your dead child in a jar like a sideshow attraction in any way showing respect for the value of human life (as pro-lifers so often claim they are doing)? How long did they keep the jar?
reminds me of what I think whenever I see pro-life materials that feature those horrifying pictues of aborted fetuses at x weeks next to pennies, tiny severed arms etc. Who on earth takes those pictures? No self-respecting physician would after performing a procedure, so where do they come from? Did the abortion activists perform an abortion for the sake of their propoganda?
Didn’t Santorum and his wife do the same thing? What is up with this?
Maybe somebody should have put a dead Iraqi child in a jar of formaldehyde and shown it to him.
Geezer: it wouldnt have fazed him.
He’d just put it on the shelf next to the other jars.
OK, so the Bushes and the Santorums are passing around dead babies. Fine if that’s their thing (as long as it is legal). What I don’t get is why they feel the need to TELL everyone about it. Why do I even know this about them? That seems like the kind of thing you would keep to yourself.
WHOA–nothing wrong w/ women bringing “what happened” to the hospital. it helps the treating physician in assessing the situation w/ regards to bleeding and retention of placental products. Also, the pathology lab is right on board to detect other things via exam and dissection. This is a VERY, HIGHLY PERSONAL experience for a woman to go through–let alone think thru–to grab a jar, or container to isolate the remains. Many just flush, or discard, saying ewww–and then are left to describe (usually ineffectively) what they saw–often subjecting them to more medical intervention, then perhaps is necessary.
I think I am just kinda flummoxed how you guys are taking this personal, clinical event–obviously, and admittedly traumatic to a teenage son–and extrapulating the jar was kept like someone’s ashes. I think for GW he’s only alluding to the big “WOW–it looked like a real itty bitty baby!”. That’s all. Obviously, she was further along to assess that.
I’m just numb he would even discuss that private family moment–but oh well–I guess she said OK.
It just strikes me as how dishonest a lot of pro-lifers are. They talk about a fetus = a person, so you’re killing a real person. Most people would be horrified to put their dead relative in a jar of formalin and show it around.
Ah, ha! This is really the crazy train, now!
Remember Dr. Thomas Frank, who wrote that book a few years ago, _Bush on the Couch_, which was a bio/analysis? He had told the story of Dubya’s sister, Robin, who died when he was young and how the awful way the parents dealt with it.
I can’t wait to hear that interview!!! There’s some serious psychosis, for sure! PATHOLOGICAL!!!!
This is a VERY, HIGHLY PERSONAL experience for a woman to go through
Obviously not for Barbara and W. since it’s now in print. There are some very, highly personal experiences that should be kept private. Sheesh, he could have cited the miscarriage without the creepy details.
And what sort of mother shows this sort of thing to her teenage son? No wonder he’s so messed up.
Why didn’t they give it a Christian burial
Actually, I don’t even know what the various faiths’ rules are for burying someone who has not yet been born. But I am pretty sure “keep it in a glass jar” is not a sacrament.
Is that how hospitals dispose of still-born babies?
The fetus-in-a-jar story sounds like hooey to me.
Maybe the theocrats should have some respect for the female body’s ability to reject an unviable object.
Or maybe SkyDad just hates Babs.
Maybe the righties will begin arresting women who naturally abort. Bush had to throw a few ringers in the book that would take the heat off torture, illegal wars, permitting a city to drown, the Unpatriot Patriot Act, and other crimes against international law and the Constitution. He’s just trying to re-write history before the historians take a crack at him. My question is why the lame street media arent asking deeper questions. Do you believe that torture is legal under Nuremberg? Are yo afraid the International Court may come after you for admitting to torture? Bush would daze over.
No matter how intelligent we all think we are, we sure can focus in on odd little things, can’t we? I mean, as I read this, I wondered a lot of things…like how long they kept it, what did she tell little George, etc. but really, if this happened at home, it makes sense to take it with you to a doctor/hospital…but THEN what happened? Geez, what an odd story. People are weird.
But then, when I read anon’s “Actually, I don’t even know what the various faiths’ rules are for burying someone who has not yet been born. But I am pretty sure “keep it in a glass jar” is not a sacrament.”, I laughed out loud.