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george h w bush
Former First Lady Barbara Bush was released from Houston Methodist Hospital late Saturday morning, the family spokesman, Jim McGrath has announced.
Barbara Bush, the wife of former President George H.W. Bush, has been discharged from a Texas hospital where she spent nearly a week being treated for pneumonia.
Barbara Bush spent nearly a week in a Houston hospital being treated for pneumonia
Barbara Bush, 88, had been hospitalized since Monday.
Barbara and George H.W. Bush, the nation’s longest-married presidential first couple, will celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary Monday.
Former US President George H.W. Bush prematurely announced Nelson Mandela’s death on Sunday morning.
The mix-up happened when George H.W. Bush’s spokesman Jim McGrath misread a Washington Post news flash.
“The 41 stmnt sent this morning was the result of my mis-reading the header on the WaPo news flash. Stupid mistake by me. Apologies to all,” Jim McGrath tweeted Sunday morning.
The original statement read: “Barbara and I mourn the passing of one of the greatest believers in freedom we have had the privilege to know. As President, I watched in wonder as Nelson Mandela had the remarkable capacity to forgive his jailers following 26 years of wrongful imprisonment – setting a powerful example of redemption and grace for us all. He was a man of tremendous moral courage, who changed the course of history in his country. Barbara and I had great respect for President Mandela, and send our condolences to his family and countrymen.”
The South African presidency corrected the statement, saying former President Nelson Mandela is still alive.
Former President George H.W. Bush announced Nelson Mandela’s death after his spokesman misread news flash
“It is clearly incorrect. We see it as an error on his side” and aren’t going to “make a big deal about it” presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said.
Nelson Mandela was discharged from the hospital Sunday after initially being admitted in June for a lung infection. He is still in critical condition.
South Africa’s first black president was taken by ambulance to his home in Johannesburg which has been set up to provide intensive care.
In a statement, the South African government said: “Madiba’s condition remains critical and is at times unstable.
“Nevertheless, his team of doctors are convinced that he will receive the same level of intensive care at his Houghton home that he received in Pretoria.”
George H.W. Bush, 89, is also dealing with health problems of his own.
He was unable to attend the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial last Wednesday because his old age has confined him to a wheelchair.
Jim McGrath told the LA Times that he is “unable to participate in events like this anymore due to his mobility situation”.
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Newly released tapes show two future US presidents called Richard Nixon in support after he gave a speech on the Watergate scandal amid a staff exodus.
Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush attempted to boost Richard Nixon as he denied any knowledge of the infamous break-in at his political rivals’ offices.
The calls are among the final installment of recordings to be released from the Republican’s administration.
Richard Nixon, who quit in 1974, remains the only US president to have resigned.
His second term was engulfed by scandal after burglars tied to his re-election committee in 1972 broke into the Democratic party’s headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington DC, in an attempt to dig up dirt on his political adversaries.
The recordings are the last of a total of 3,000 hours of tape released by the National Archives and Records Administration.
Another 700 hours remain restricted by national security and privacy concerns, but the archive says they will now be reviewed in order to see what can be released.
The tapes cover the time period between 9 April and 12 July 1973, the day before the existence of Nixon’s secret recording system in his offices was made public to a Senate panel probing the Watergate scandal.
The tapes implicated him in a cover-up about the break-in.
The calls from the future presidents came on April 30, after Richard Nixon had made a public address about the growing scandal.
Earlier that day, three senior White House officials had resigned over the affair and another was sacked.
Ronald Reagan, who was governor of California at the time, told Richard Nixon the Watergate speech had been the right one to make
Ronald Reagan, who was governor of California at the time, told Richard Nixon the Watergate speech had been the right one to make.
“You can count on us,” he said.
“We’re still behind you out here and I wanted you to know that you’re in our prayers.”
George Bush called the same evening. The newly appointed chairman of the Republican National Committee said he had watched the speech with “great pride”.
Richard Nixon complained to George Bush about the reaction from broadcasters.
“The folks may understand,” Richard Nixon said, adding: “To hell with the commentators.”
The tapes also show Richard Nixon press secretary Ron Zeigler briefing the 37th president about the possibility of further serious revelations by the Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward.
Despite the crisis engulfing him, Richard Nixon remained actively engaged in global diplomacy.
At one point – in discussions with an aide – Richard Nixon can be heard describing the Chinese as “the ablest people in the world”.
The president can also be heard holding a lengthy Oval Office conversation with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev before a June 1973 summit.
Richard Nixon expresses a close interest in ties with China – a relationship he describes as the “key to world peace”.
In the hour-long one-on-one, assisted by an interpreter, the two leaders chatted about personal topics, including their families.
“We must recognize…. while we will naturally in negotiations have some differences, it is essential that those two nations, where possible, work together,” Richard Nixon said to Leonid Brezhnev.
“If we decide to work together, we can change the world,” he said.
“That’s my attitude as we enter these talks.”
Previous releases show the president as a paranoid man who was obsessed with the Kennedy family.
Richard Nixon considered Senator Ted Kennedy such a political threat that he ordered surveillance in the hope of catching him in an affair.
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President Barack Obama has declared on Wednesday that his favorite food is broccoli after nearly 25 years since President George H. W. Bush divided the nation saying that he hated the nutritious green veggie.
One Republican commenter went so far as to say the comment shows that President Barack Obama is elitist.
Comedy Central‘s political blog mocked the answer and said the president must be lying.
“Obama tells kid journalist his favorite food is broccoli. And his favorite activity is lying to children,” tweeted “Indecision”.
Barack Obama made the comment as he addressed student reporters at the White House Kids’ State Dinner on Tuesday.
The White House event was part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s push to get kids to eat healthier.
Twitter and the Beltway gossip crowd almost immediately began to froth at the mouth.
President Barack Obama has declared that his favorite food is broccoli after nearly 25 years since President George H. W. Bush said that he hated the nutritious green veggie
“What kind of POTUS says his fav food is Broccoli?” CNN commentator Ari Fleischer, who worked as George W. Bush’s press secretary, tweeted.
“Same one who in 2008 complained about the price of arugula at Whole Foods.”
Numerous serious journalists chimed in on the scandal, which was quickly deemed “broccoli-gate”.
“Everyone CALM DOWN! We have charts about broccoli,” Ezra Klein of the Washington Post tweeted.
BuzzFeed‘s Andrew Kaczynski soon after tweeted a Photoshopped picture of Obama as a head of broccoli.
The mostly-humorous debate threatened to turn serious when Breitbart.com wrote that Andrew Kaczynski was an “Obama-sycophant”.
The site claimed the story was actually an Obama spin machine attempt to make liberal news outlets look like they were criticizing the president.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush famously denounced the veggie and banned it from being served at White House dinners.
“I do not like broccoli, and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!” he said.
Furious broccoli farmers sent truckloads of their produce to Washington to protest the denigration of their beloved crop.
Barack Obama could be on the winning side of history with this answer – whether it is to be believed or not.
It is prized as a healthy food – one cup of steamed broccoli contains just 51 calories, one gram of fat and 5 grams of fiber, as well as high levels of vitamin C, vitamin A, calcium, iron and protein.
The vegetable’s popularity has soared since President H.W. Bush maligned it in 1990. Consumption of broccoli has more than tripled in the last 30 years to nearly 5 and a half pounds per person per year in America.
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George H. W. Bush has been in intensive care with a fever since Sunday, a family spokesman has revealed.
Jim McGrath said he had had a “series of setbacks” and remained in a “guarded condition”, but was alert and conversing with family and doctors.
Former US President George H.W. Bush, aged 88, has been in the Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, since he was taken there for bronchitis treatment on 23 November.
He is the oldest living former president and a World War II veteran.
George H. W. Bush has been in intensive care with a fever since Sunday
George H.W. Bush was Ronald Reagan’s vice-president for two terms and became the 41st president in 1989, but was defeated by Democrat Bill Clinton when he stood for re-election in 1992.
The former president was now on a liquids-only diet, the spokesman said, describing his ailment as “a stubborn fever that won’t go away”.
He said George H.W. Bush had not been able to celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense but his family was with him.
“He’s conscious and he’s able to engage in humorous banter with his doctor,” Jim McGrath said.
He also said that doctors were cautiously optimistic about George H.W. Bush’s treatment.
When first admitted, the former president had only been expected to stay in hospital a few days, but a persistent fever kept him in hospital until and over Christmas.
On Christmas Day, George H.W. Bush was visited by his wife, Barbara, his son Neil and other family members.
The former president has also been visited twice by his son George W Bush, who served as 43rd president in 2001-2008.
When Jenna Bush Hager interviewed her grandfather, former US President George H.W. Bush about growing old – they both broke down in tears.
Visibly choked up at points throughout the interview, which marked the former President’s 88th birthday, Jenna Bush Hager couldn’t help blubbing when her grandfather read out an emotional poem he’d written for his family.
In the heartbreaking poem George Bush began crying as he told his family: If you need me I’m here.
Before the interview is shown Jenna Bush Hager confessed on NBC’s Today show: “I tried as hard as I possibly could not to cry, but we are the family criers.”
In the revealing interview George Bush told how he still has one more wish he wants to fulfill – to see his great granddaughter grow up.
George Bush said that being around 10-month-old Georgia Bush “just takes me back” and that he longed for more time with her.
He also told how he is not scared of death and looks forward to being reunited in heaven with daughter Robin, who died of leukemia aged four in 1953.
In the seven-minute interview, George Bush was by turns funny, reflective and honest about his life.
He said that being married to wife Barbara, 87, for the last 63 years has been a “challenge and a reward” and that she is a “wonder”.
George Bush said that the couple “rejoice” in their six children, 17 grandchildren and great grandchild Georgia Bush, who arrived last year.
The former President said: “She’s a beautiful girl and she just takes me back. I just wish I were going to be around to see her grow old. I won’t be…
“…I think about death. I wonder what it’s like. There’s people in heaven I want to see, definitely.”
As for who he wants to see first, George Bush said: “It depends if Barbara pre-deceases me.
“Probably go with her, but I think my mum and my father, and maybe Robin our little girl that died.”
When Jenna Bush Hager interviewed her grandfather, former US President George H.W. Bush about growing old - they both broke down in tears
In the poem, which brought George Bush and Jenna Bush Hager to tears, he writes of how in his life the summer is fading out and the “wind is a little colder” – but that he still has a zest for life.
He writes how he’d love to wind back the clock and overcome his failing health and do all the things he used to.
The final, deeply poignant passage reads: “There’s so much excitement ahead, so many grandkids to watch grow, If you need me I’m here, Devotedly, Dad.”
Asked about how he feels about turning 88, George Bush said: “It’s pretty darn old. I never thought I’d get this old.
“Ageing is alright, better than the alternative, which is not being here.”
With characteristic good humor he added that nowadays he sometimes pretends that he can’t hear what people are saying and just tells them “what?” – just to “keep them on the ball”.
As a Navy pilot George Bush was shot down over the Pacific on September 2nd 1944 but survived and grabbed his “second shot at life” with both hands.
Reflecting on his career he said: “I’m sure I could have done a lot of things better.
“It’s been a fulfilling time with a lot of experiences, including being president of the United States. [That’s] not too shabby.
“I want somebody else to define the legacy. I’ve kind of banned use of the L word. History will point out some of the things I did wrong and some of the things I did right.”
George Bush said one of the things which still stings was the suggestion made by some that he did not try his hardest during his 1993 election defeat to Bill Clinton.
He said it was a “terrible feeling, awful feeling”, adding: “I really wanted to win and worked hard and later people said I didn’t care, it was just crazy.
“I worked my heart out and it was terrible to adjust but then you figure life goes on, just do what the next challenge is.”
Recently George Bush returned to the White House to see the portrait of his son George W. Bush hung close to his own, a ceremony he described as filling him with “awe and wonder”.
Going back into the White House caused “a lot of memories to come flooding back” – but for many people it was George Bush’s brightly socks that were the talking point.
Speaking to NBC George Bush admitted he likes a “colorful sock”, going so far as to describe himself as a “sock man”.
Asked by Jenna Bush Hager if he sees the comparison to Justin Bieber, who also wears bright socks, George Bush said: “Bieb? Is he a sock man. I don’t know much about the Bieber. Never seen him, I don’t know what he does.”
Jenna Bush Hager then sang Justin Bieber’s hit Baby, to which George Bush replied: “Is that his song? I don’t know it. I don’t think I’d like it.”
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