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?

Story continues below

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

[Lilly06]

America has gone into Iraq to 'enforce', oh I mean 'bring' democracy to the Iraqi people. In doing so, Iraq is the peaceful haven it is now.

Just because you don't understand someone else's religious and cultural beliefs it doesn't mean you shouldn't respect it. When you try to enforce your ideas of freedom, you get anarchy. As you can see in Iraq.

The first lady is an example of a public figure who uses wisdom in the Middle East and shows some respect to culture that is foreign to her. It is a shame some people posting on this site can't see that for what it is.

[cynic]

nothing that is shown to the public regarding the bush administration goes out without being vetted for showing georgie & co in a favorable light. This is an example of media manipulation. You're being manipulated.

Not much was made of laura's wearing of the headscarf when it first occured. However, when Speaker of the House Pelosi wore a headscarf during her visit she was excoriated for bringing aid to "the enemy".

The current "flap" is nothing more than an attempt to make laura seem "understanding" and "wise".

Give me a break. This is spin.

Do you LIKE being manipulated?


ITMFA

[OlongapoEd]

Oh, there are many people in the USA who enjoy being manipulated, pandered to, lied to (as long as they are told the lies they want to hear), etc. It's probably an intrinsic human failing, but it seems to be inordinately common in the USA.

[boylane]

Well at least one Bush has some sense, but she's only a Bush by marriage. I guess that expalins it.

[cynic]

No. No bush has sense. She's married to georgie...

Do you feel manipulated yet? That's the whole point of this exercise. "At least [Laura] has some sense." It seems to have worked.

This is pure propoganda trying to whitewash shrub's legacy, and avoid total lame-duck status.

[SteveParadis]

Don't blame Wallace; he was quoting one Michael Goldfarb:

"This Isn't Right
When, earlier this week, I saw the pictures of the first lady sitting on a pink couch bracketed by, well, you couldn’t quite tell what they were, because they're wearing head-to-toe burqas, I thought she was making a powerful statement. Americans don't force their women to wear those ridiculous outfits, and by all rights they shouldn’t be forced to do so just because they are visiting a Muslim country. We live in a free country--if Muslims (or anyone else trying to go incognito) want to wear those things over here, that’s their prerogative. By the same token, any American woman wishing to brazenly flash a little ankle is also free to do so.

Most Americans traveling the Middle East have little recourse but to don the black sheets, but the first lady certainly does. She can dress as she likes. Which is why I find the image (at right) from Saudi Arabia so disturbing. The first lady represents the American people, she is not a private citizen, and she certainly isn't acting as a private citizen in her tour of the Middle East. That she would oblige her hosts by wearing a shmata on her head is a tacit endorsement of Islam's subjugation of women. Do I expect a visitor to a synagogue to wear a yarmulke? Yes, though I wouldn't force them, and a yarmulke isn't a sign of subordination to another group of people, but to God. And also, radical Jews didn't attack this country, radical Saudi Muslims did. This isn't merely a question of being a polite guest.

And what will happen if Hillary wins the White House in 2008? Will she be expected to don the burqa on her trips to Saudi? One would hope not. Sitting presidents don't take fashion commands from foreign dignitaries, and neither should first ladies. Where are the feminists when we actually need them?"

Although it's always amusing to hear Chris Wallace suggest that someone else his position to nepotism.

[olivia]

Laura's wearing of the scarf was 100% correct and her defense of it was intelligent and gracious.

I still don't like her, because she helps her husband kill for money.

[Collielady]

La la rambles on about the liberated Kuwaiti women. I know American oil people living there and, according to them, women are anything but liberated. The stories are numbing.

[Collielady]

When asked about the hijab controversy Lala responded, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me", as if she didn't know she was on TV to make cover for it.

Lala is prostituting herself for W. She's tolerated a lot from him throughout their marriage. He's not worth it but she's probably afraid to rebel against the Bushes. Thus, her donning the hijab was VERY appropriate and symbolic.

[Collielady]

Another slick maneuver by Wallace was in referencing the "scarf" that La la wore, rather than calling it the "hijab", which Fox repeated incessantly when Pelosi wore one.

[leftLibertarian]

Willam Kristol, the neo-con editor of the Weakly Standard, who never served in the military and yet advised Bush to invade Iraq, is giving tacit support to free-riding, lazy ass, draft dodging chicken hawks the world over.

[faretheewell]

Laura married beneath her in all ways but family money.

Right now, she is the only plus that lil Georgie brings to the table.

Sounds the like the Oklahoma legislators who returned the copies of eh Koran that they were provided. Religious zealots of all stripes are repugnant. If we could just designate a single continent for all of them, I would certainly support sending our religious zealots over.

[Collielady]

Good idea. Let them duke it out with each other while the rest of us move forward.

[in4success]

oh -- but it was ok when you liberals defended pelosi for wearing a headband, tight? hipocrytes and stuff. liberals love bin laden and borat osama.

[ContraEgoiste]

Let's re-cap bright boy.

Headline:

"Laura Bush Blows Off CONSERVATIVES Who Attacked Her For Wearing Muslim Headscarf"


Heh. Why do I get the feeling that success is something that eludes you.

[CheneysACoward]

When you people post.."You Liberals" you show one thing...Your IQ is lower than whale shit!

[Collielady]

I didn't know Pelosi wore a "tight" headband". Also, what's a "hipocryte"?

How can you expect to make your point if you don't reference a dictionary?

Just asking.

[revko]

FLAGGED AS SCRAMBLY

[Stevelagain]

Laura still enjoys high ratings from the public. Much better than the president and obviously much better than the democrat congress. She is a souther bell. Her manors and her kindness truly win people over. Maybe she should run for President against Hillary? I think she would crush Shrillary!

Clearly she didn't pull a Pelosi and wear it to humble herself or submit herself before them. It was a gift given, and received. It was worn briefly, not to be able to meet anyone, not to speak.

And here we are, on this blog that is supposed to be coming out with ways to support women...and you folks smear Laura who went overseas to help women to fight cancer.

The left is a mean a vicious crowd.

[VOTER]

Bow Wow!

Please take your yammering elsewhere. Your wonderful southern "lady" has killed a young man and has raised two slut daughters.

Her marriage to The Killer Chimp and her take of war profits is, also, most unbecoming for a TRUE LADY.

As the old saying goes, "She ain't no lady."

[JoeBlough]

She married him for his money.

[Collielady]

In an interview, a few months back, she stated that there is great progress in Iraq; that the problem is with the media's continuing to report "that one bombing a day". Actually the average number of bombings each day are around 80.

That's life in Lala Bush's Lala Land. Why does anyone even interview the twit?

[CountryBeforeParty]

This from the people who smear sick little kids, and women who lose their sons in wars, and 9/11.

right....

[buddhistMonkey]

((( "The left is a mean a vicious crowd." )))

And the right not know grammar muchly.

For the record, too, it's "democratic congress," not "democrat congress." Either way, get used to the phrase, because you'll be using it for the next 20 years, thanks to your republic president.

[cynic]

Dearest Stevlagain,

You do uch a marvelous job of restating the entire purpose of this brouhaha. "Isn't laura so wonderful!"

You're full of shit. laura is as despicable as her husband. No amount of his hiding behind her skirts will obviate the fact of his incredible, deadly incompetence.


ITMFA

[demigod]

Laura Bush has high ratings ? Maybe at the Heritage Foundation. Maybe at the DAR. She's fighting cancer, that deserves credit, but among a people who can't even mention the disease and certainly won't let a doctor of the opposite sex examine or treat them. They see a doctor only in the advanced stages when nothing can be done. They ARE an oppressed and backward people because of their religion, there's simply no way around it. Politically speaking, Laura Bush is every bit as backward. She was asked about the prospect of a first woman president - she just said "I'm voting Republican." OF COOUUURRSSSSEE - she's a troglodyte who will continue the war. Do you suppose Laura and George used birth control ?

[midtown]

Good for her. And the Weekly Standard used "schmata?"

Spare me.

[barrycourage]

"The Weekly Standard" literally IS a shmatah.

[buske]

The Weekly Standard literally is shit.

[MoeJava]

OK so she wore the pretty pink one but the other photos, demonstrating the black headscarf, doesnt represent any sentimental bond between Laura and those women. Sure it's a cultural thing and a religious choice but it still represents women being TOLD to wear it (no questions asked) and Islamic women (generally) are treated as a different class from men, usually beneath them. They cover themselves from head to toe because the Men "punish" them if they are not "properly" covered. That goes especially when outside their homes. Am I missing anything here?

[HarkaDahl]

You're missing a lifetime's education in fact, and empathy. A huge amount of Americans cannot see the totally US centric bubble they live in. Thats what makes speculative wars possible.

[wry]

A lifetime's education won't change the fact that women are subjugated in Islamic countries. I do not live in a "US centric bubble" because I believe in womens rights, nor will I look the other way due to "cultural differences"."Speculative wars" are usually due to greed.I am 100% against the war and 100% against women walking around covered up like there is something shameful about them.

[lornejl]

Word is Eva Braun was a really sweet gal.

[Forest]

Too little too late.

[Rainman]

Laura Bush has done the right thing she has helped a culture that is trapped see the suffering of women by focusing on Breast cancer which is a real killer of Arabic women. She is to be commended for that.

Her focus for human rights in Burma is also commendable. It is sad to see a great country like INDIA abandon an opportunity to support the forces of Democracy but instead sell arms to the junta. INDIA seems to be blinded by greed like China....this too is sad.

Laura Bush has kept the tiny flickering flame of Aan Sang alive, for that she has my respect and admiration.

[cynic]

Laura bush is a shameless whore, still married to the war-criminal georgie.
the whole point of this "conservatives attack" bullshit is for cowardly little georgie to hide behind laura's skirts.