Bush: I Gave Up Golf For The Troops

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As violence in Iraq continues -- clashes today left 11 dead and 19 injured -- President Bush has for the first time revealed the great sacrifice he's made for the sake of our soldiers: he's given up golf.

From an interview with Politico and Yahoo News:

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

Bush said he made that decision after the August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which killed Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top U.N. official in Iraq and the organization's high commissioner for human rights.

"I remember when de Mello, who was at the U.N., got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man's life," he said. "I was playing golf -- I think I was in central Texas -- and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, 'It's just not worth it anymore to do.'"

Now watch this drive...

UPDATE: Brandon Friedman at VetVoice pokes some holes in Bush's story, highlighting a piece from Warren Street at Blue Girl, Red State:

Actually, it is far more likely that Bush quit playing golf because he was suffering from knee problems throughout the latter half of 2003.

Street then links to a CBS News article published in December 2003:

Bush, 57, will have an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) test on Thursday, Dec. 18. The body-scanning device enables doctors to see internal organs in 3D.

The MRI is being performed on the advice of the President's regular White House physician. Last summer, Bush suffered a minor muscle tear in his right calf and that injury, along with aching knees, forced him to abandon his running routine. The calf strain healed by August when he had his annual physical, but the president said in September that he suspected he had a meniscus tear.

... Bush actually played his last round of golf on October 13, 2003. This means that the reason he gave for quitting after the August 2003 U.N. bombing is dubious at best...

Comments

[klosskid]

03:28 PM on 05/17/2008

Bush lied? Really? This was unexpected? This is news?

[Vespasian]

12:12 PM on 05/17/2008

And I thought he had pretty much exhausted all the ways he could embarrass America. Go figure!

[Jackpatzer]

09:13 AM on 05/17/2008

Even though he couldn't give up his vacation time or horsing around in photo ops with country stars when New Orleans was under water, and he couldn't give up doing idiotic jigs at press conferences or making jokes about not being able to find weapons of mass destruction, and he had no choice but to spend more time on vacation than any President in U.S. history, I'm glad that President Bush gave up golf. It sends a good message and makes me feel a lot better about our decision to invade Iraq.

[gevan]

12:36 AM on 05/17/2008

I gave up golf until a black woman is elected President of the United States. So?

[JeanPaulSatire]

12:28 AM on 05/17/2008

I read the headline and thought it said "Bush: I Gave Up TRUTH For The Troops." Even though the headline doesn't say that, it turns out my first reading of it was right.

Truth isn't just the first casualty of war, it is a continuing one.

[sirgorpster]

06:07 PM on 05/16/2008

Does McCain golf? Looking soon for a commitment from John on playing golf for the next 100 hundreds years.

[meneghin]

02:48 PM on 05/16/2008

Following his very inspiring example I am seriously considering giving up my crossword puzzles, sudokus and tic-tac-tos and, oh boy, it's really working, I never felt so patriotic!

[2lib4oh]

12:02 AM on 05/17/2008

The real reason Bush gave up golf probably has more to do with Michael Moore's film that showed him and his dad riding around in a gold cart and having a great time.
Remember when he said,"Now watch this shot", with that smug look on his face?

[booksnmore4you]

02:55 AM on 05/16/2008

This president is totally beyond belief. He continues to show the intellectual depth of an immature high schooler.

[Liberoservative]

06:20 PM on 05/15/2008

We're sorry but this video is no longer available..
WTF?? Why isn't it available....

[JTyroler]

10:04 PM on 05/15/2008

That has been fairly common during the Bush Administration - things disappearing from government web sites. Bush also quit playing solitaire after it was discovered that he wasn't playing with a full deck.

[booksnmore4you]

02:56 AM on 05/16/2008

Here was sure he had won lots of hands, though!

[pinkerman2]

05:52 PM on 05/15/2008

Evertime I think that bush can't sink lower; Surprise!!!! He does. At least he is consistent. Consistently stupid, dishonest, perverted. The same chronic liar and all-around no good bum
who went into the Whitehouse in 2000 and has brought our country almost to it's knees.
To all the people who voted for the killer TWICE what were you THINKING!!!!!!!!! I'm angered when PBS runs the names, pictures and other information about our troops killed I want the faces shown because we need to see what bush has caused but I cry for the Families of our fellow Americans and honor the dead and wounded .Maybe if they started running pictures of Iraqis killed, esp. children, it might move even the war-mongering money- grabbing enablers to say 'No, 2013 isn't soon enough to stop this horrible mis-carriage of justice'. Nah, even that wouldn't make them stop. Sen Obama will make this stop sooner than Sen's Clinton and McCain. If you are mad about gas prices, oil is deliberately being kept under-ground to force prices up. Cheney;s idea? bush isn't smart enough to think of that ploy. I read this in a book by Greg Palast If you want to learn the truth try Greg.

[Hare]

11:57 PM on 05/16/2008

If Huckabee and friends have their way, Obama won't make it to the WH. They are enticing the AA haters to lose their minds, sink to lower depths and commit a despicable act. If he makes it I hope you are right and he puts a stop to the foolishness "ruining" the country

[SubparDude]

04:47 PM on 05/15/2008

:

When a leader lies for the purpose of Feigning Sincere Sacrifice,

and is able to direct it at "some Mom" of a Dead Son, as Artifice,

I can think of no more Despicable a Coward.

Forgive us all, Please.

:

[ellawensmom]

12:30 PM on 05/15/2008

"I don't want some mom..."

Is it just me, or does any other mother find this statement offensive?
I can think of a million ways to say this better, but to refer to women as "some mom"
You know, we lost a long-time family friend in April of '03, and knowing what his mother has suffered through since his death, this statement just repulses the hell out of me...
Once again, it shows how little we all mean to him and his good ol boy cronies who are getting richer and richer off this illegal war.

[massive]

11:57 AM on 05/15/2008

As usual, Bush got it all wrong. We need him to give up the presidency and take up golf. That would be a real way of honoring the people he's killed.

[Vinca]

11:36 AM on 05/15/2008

Whenever I hear the word IMEACH and the name GW BUSH doesn't follow that, I get upset, on GW Bush stop playing golf, he said thay once they pulled him off the course,so it wasn't worth it

[mari2JJ]

12:55 AM on 05/16/2008

Actually impeach is not even an option. The House could bring the impeachment charge but we did NOT send enough Democratic Senators to Congress last election to make certain they could convict on the bill of Impeachment. That, frankly is the voter's problem. If we want enough to do it after 2008, let us make certain there are enough Democratic Senators to get the job done. Vote Democratic like I am even though I am a life long Republican. But wait, wait, I NEVER voted for Bush. NO WAY.

[Wanjiru]

11:35 AM on 05/15/2008

..and yet, this man, along with all of his cronies, are going to walk out of the white house, as completely FREE MEN!...

...who should be responsible for this?...

.

[Playinjured]

12:40 AM on 05/16/2008

US!