Laura Bush Blows Off Conservatives Who Attacked Her For Wearing Muslim Headscarf

This morning on Fox News Sunday, Laura Bush forcefully dismissed conservatives who attacked her for wearing a Muslim headscarf during her visit last wek to the Middle East. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she said, before disagreeing with one Weekly Standard columnist's claim that she had given "a tacit endorsement of Islam's subjugation of women."

"[T]hey saw this as giving me a gift from their culture," Bush said. "And it was the scarf with the pink ribbons and the pink edging on it, the breast cancer scarf, that I put on." She added later, "I think we all have these stereotypes of each other, Americans and Arabs, and it's a really good thing to be able to break those stereotypes down and get to know each other."

Watch it:

Full transcript:

WALLACE: Of course, Mrs. Bush, with a higher profile almost inevitably comes criticism. And some conservatives in this country are upset with you -- and we have a picture up there on the screen...

BUSH: Oh, you've got to be kidding.

WALLACE: ... for putting on a scarf given to you...

BUSH: Oh, really?

WALLACE: ... by a Saudi doctor. And let me put up a blast, if you will, from The Weekly Standard. That she would oblige her hosts by wearing a shmata, which is Yiddish for a scarf, on her head is a tacit endorsement of Islam's subjugation of women.

BUSH: Well, I did not see it that way at all. In fact, I'd had the meeting with them totally uncovered. I mean, you saw other photographs, obviously.

WALLACE: Right.

BUSH: And they saw this as giving me a gift from their culture. And it was the scarf with the pink ribbons and the pink edging on it, the breast cancer scarf, that I put on.

I will say that I told them that I had always felt like they were closed to me, that I wouldn't be able to reach them because of the way they're covered, and one of the women said to me -- she said, You know, I may be all dressed in black, but I am transparent.

And what they were saying to me is they want to reach out. They want American women to know what they're like. And these women do not see covering as some sort of subjugation of women, this group of women that I was with.

That's their culture. That's their tradition. That's a religious choice of theirs.

Now, I did meet, on the other hand, in Kuwait, where women just got the vote in 2005, with a group of women activists, several of them who had run for office the first parliamentary election after women got the vote -- didn't win, any of them, but they made the first step, certainly, by getting in the political process.

And in that meeting, very few women were covered. And they don't feel like they have to be. But you know, I think we all have these stereotypes of each other, Americans and Arabs, and it's a really good thing to be able to break those stereotypes down and get to know each other.

Comments

[Retrofuturistic]

01:13 AM on 10/31/2007

The Christo-fascist dons the Islamo-fascist headgear: Why is everyone surprised?

[usingmybrain]

04:24 PM on 10/29/2007

TimN--
Okay, okay, your imaginary friend can beat up my imaginary friend.
It's fun pretending, isn't it? Good boy timmy. Too bad you're an adult, how embarrassing for you.

[starrianna]

04:01 PM on 10/29/2007

"Laura Blows Off Republicans"

********************************************
The ONE thing she's good at.

Besides, of course:

(1) Smiling
(2) Killing people with her car.

[secondharmonic]

03:52 PM on 10/29/2007

Wait a minute! "Schmatta" is Yiddish for 'rags' -- sheesh, it connotes that what you are wearing is, ummm, not fit for goodwill, if you know what I mean.

[Truthwarrior]

03:22 PM on 10/29/2007

Let's all wear the scarves to stick it to the repulican fascists!

[Truthwarrior]

03:21 PM on 10/29/2007

Just because it pisses conservatives off, I think I'll start wearing one about town and have my daughter wear one too. I think the scarf is tres chique. It's so funny that people like wallace can't stand women wearing them because he's "protecting women" yet won't let women have an abortion is they're raped. Fuck you wallace.

[LoveOverGold]

03:04 PM on 10/29/2007

She's on Fox with Mike Wallace. It's orchestrated BS, a PR move meant to put a more human face on Bush. I will say that if she did not respect the standards of the culture she is visiting it would a major faux pas, like wearing a miniskirt to the Vatican. Just common sense and respect really, hardly worth mentioning unless you are grandstanding, of course.

[vickylee]

03:16 PM on 10/29/2007

I agree with LoveOverGold. Everything Laura "Stepford" Bush does is orchestrated. Her complicity with the most corrupt administration in history exemplifies "the banality of evil" (phrase courtesy of Hannah Arendt).

[revko]

12:32 PM on 10/29/2007

Do you think she might run over them in her car now?

[Luv2Purple]

11:30 AM on 10/29/2007

Unfortunately nothing the Bushies do now will find any sympathetic audience as they have compromised our entire governing principles, undermined the Constitution & raped our treasury. My question to Laura is this: How did you manage to run a stop sign in Texas (in her youth) KILL a man and not even get a ticket? One code of justice for the Bushies (see Gonzo & Libbygate) another for everyone else. God damn this administration - God Bless America!!! Peace on Earth goodwill towards men & women & the planet.

[NCGigi]

11:21 AM on 10/29/2007

Jeez, she's in a green hijab, you know the whole body covering, during this interview!! Does no one notice this?!

[Moshe]

11:13 AM on 10/29/2007

The Reich-wingers are insane, and highly dangerous.

When you pointlessly thumb your nose at the culture of others, and gratuitously piss them off just because you can, that shameful slap in the face will be long remembered.

There are 300 million Americans, and 6 billion others on this planet. You do the math. Our very survival depends on building good faith in the World and securing allies and mutual trust.

And what has bee the result now, of these years of neo-con cowboy "shock and awe" "kick your ass" international policy? We are increasingly isolated, hated, and going broke fighting a pointless war alone. We are far more vulnerable than we were, and quickly running out of military and financial resources to defend our nation, while pissing off billions of people on a daily basis.

To paraphrase Colonel McMaster: Everytime you disrespect others, you are working for the enemy.

Laura was simply being a decent human being, and showing common respect for other humans. So no wonder the neo-con Reich wingers attacked her. By conducting herself as a decent human being, she was acting contrary to everything they stand for.

[sebocd]

11:01 AM on 10/29/2007

I can't wait for Laura bush to visit a hasidic ommunity in Brooklyn where as a courtesy she can have her head shaved and a wig plopped on.

[forpeace]

02:30 PM on 10/29/2007

*

"sebocd
I can't wait for Laura bush to visit a hasidic ommunity
in Brooklyn where as a courtesy she can have her head shaved and a wig plopped on."
=========================

she has already purchased the "wig".

*

[Moshe]

05:10 PM on 10/29/2007

Dear SEB:

I can only hope that you are just trying to be funny, and didn't mean this to sound as insensitive as it does.

For anyone interested, the Hasidic movement is based on the Hebrew word "chesed" (loving kindness). Although we are Reform, our family's roots are in the Hasidic tradition, and to a person, every Hasidic Jew that I personally know is a person of good character and loving kindness.

To those that don't care, I would like to quote a bumper sticker I recently saw:

"MEAN PEOPLE SUCK"

Shalom to all.

[cynic]

10:39 AM on 10/29/2007

laura wasn't "attacked by conservatives" for her donning a headscarf. However. Speaker of the House Pelosi was excoriated for the same act.

This is an incredibly mendacious and hypocritical attempt to build up and reinforce laura's image. Wow, with a wife like laura little georgie must be okay. Their pillowtalk has a real civilizing effect on georgie. Oh BARF!


Anything, ANYTHING! to try and build up shrub's "legacy".

[Pennsylvanianne]

10:09 AM on 10/29/2007

I am as liberal as they come, but I also believe in good manners. Laura was in a tight spot. She was presented with a headscarf and wore it. Would it not have been a slap in the face to accept it without at least putting it on briefly, which she did? Pelosi was also castigated for wearing a headscarf. Can we please treat similar gestures similarly, people? Neither woman should have been criticized. Pelosi comes from a generation of Catholic women who traditionally wore head coverings -- scarves, hats or chapel veils -- to church and men removed theirs. Both were signs of respect for the presence of God. This scarf gesture shows respect for another culture. Both were right to wear headscarves and those who criticize them are wrong. Wearing the total covering would have been ridiculous. But a scarf, no.

[UltraClassic]

03:04 PM on 10/29/2007

Pen, you are a breath of fresh air in what seems to be a den of whirling hatred.

Just the mention of Laura Bush as well as the twins get's these leftist hotheads so worked up, it's a wonder they can see straight. For the life of me, I don't understand why HuffPo bait's these foaming crazies. Read these posts and tell me if they sound like anything from a reasonable person or are they the rantings of hate filled crazies?

It was right when Nancy Pelosi put it on and it was right when Laura Bush put it on.

[msfiskvletterman]

09:50 AM on 10/29/2007

10/29/07
9:50am
Burlington, VT

RE:
Laura Bush Blows Off Conservatives Who Attacked Her For Wearing Muslim Headscarf
| October 28, 2007 01:22 PM


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Not only "conservatives" think that this was the wrong thing to do. The "scarf" is not just a fashion statement as she appears to believe.