Our President Bush, A man with character...

[Anonymous Poster]

An insight of our President and First Lady

This is a small, short, but true story to give you an
idea of the kind of man and the kind of woman we have
in the White House right now.

As you may know, the President and Mrs. Bush visited
the Washington Burn Center on Friday 14 September.
Among those they visited was Lt. Col. Brian
Birdwell, who was badly burned in the Pentagon
attack.

Mrs. Bush went into Brian's room, spoke to him for
about a minute, all the time as if they had
been life-long acquaintances. She then turned to
Brian's wife Mel, who at this time had been at the
hospital for probably 2 1/2 days, and apparently,
according to Mel herself, was dirty, grimy and had
blood on her shirt.

Mrs. Bush hugged Mel for what Mel said seemed like an
eternity, just as if Mel were one of her closest
family members. Mrs. Bush then told Brian and Mel
that there was "someone" there to see him.

The President then walked in, stood by Brian's
bedside, asked Brian how he was doing, told him that
he was very proud of them both and that they were
his heroes. The President then saluted Brian. Now,
at this point in time, Brian is bandaged up pretty
well. His hands are burned very badly as well as the
back of him from the head down. His movements were
very restricted.

Upon seeing the President saluting him, Brian began
to slowly return the salute, taking, from the accounts
so far, about 15-20 seconds to get his hand up to his
head. During all of this, 15-20 seconds, President
Bush never moved, never dropped his salute.

The President dropped his salute only when Brian was
finished with his, and then gave Mel a huge hug for
what also probably seemed like an eternity..

No further comments.

Pray for our leadership. Thank God for what we are,
have, and will be.

*** As a note to those of you who might not be
familiar with military protocol, the subordinate
normally initiates a salute and will hold it until
the superior officer returns the salute. President
Bush acted in the role of the subordinate to show his
respect and high regard for the injured man.

Submitted by:
Richard M. "Dave" Davidson, MGySgt. USMC (Ret)

~~~recently received email-validity unknown~~~

 

[njrqs]

Yes for a politician he comes across (on our media anyway) as a very caring person.

Everyone seems to love him. (As I say, at least that's what we see /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif)

Cheers

 

[blurrybill]

Character counts; always has and always will. From my perspective, recent events have to a certain degree been made possible by those who overtly and openly have none (to be clear: the previous administration). If there is a blessing in these tragedies, it might come in the form of Americans recognizing again that ethics and principle are NOT relative. A bio-medical ethicist once wrote "Ethical principles count, even when they don't win." Bush is not my hero on a number of counts; he may not be a very articulate Chief Executive, but who would you rather have in the White House at the moment?

The story may not be true, but I would not be surprised if it is. Let's hope that politics stays out of the necessary decisions that need to be made so that our children have the chance to grow without the shroud of terrorism looming over their lives. I'm on a roll, but look at history's lessons -- Chamberlain prior to WWII and other examples throughout our history. Millions were killed because we tried to appease evil. Could you imaging standing up to the greatest military power in the world as a Revolutionary War patriot. Intruding in other cultures is not a virture, but protecting our way of life by obliterating terror may be necessary. "Gentlemen may cry, 'Peace. Peace. But there is no peace. The war is actually begun..."

Patriotically,
Bill

 

[njrqs]

I may stir up trouble here, but am not having a go at you guys......

I appears that no matter who was in office on Sep 11, it seems as long as he struck back like GWB did, then you would all love him??

Again, that's only my opinion. He does seem to have stirred up a lot of patriotism by his actions. Gee he even gets me going with some of the speeches in parliament, from Ground Zero etc.

Cheers

 

[BMW]

Neil,
You're probably right, but some of us believe that a president from the "previous administration" would not have struck back the way GWB did. You never know

Later
Mark

 

[Devildog]

Neil,
I dont know if your trolling for a certain answer here?(no flaming intended)But in the begining I wasnt much on GW(Our President) Since he has been in office he has won my approval hands over, and the best thing I can say is he has brought Respect back to our White House.

On Edit: J.M.III true or not it is a great read.

Take care, Jim

 

[rancar]

I am glad we have Mr. Bush in the White House with all the current problems in the mid-east. Of all other presidents, I'd say he reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt (speak softly but carry a big stick). Time will tell what kind of stick Mr. Bush is carrying.

Trivia Note: Did you know the Teddy R. was the only president who mastered the martial art of jujitsu. I wonder what Mr. Bush is up to with all those daily one hour workouts in the White House gym!

 

[njrqs]

No don't get me wrong, I do think he is doing a great job. Someone needs to stand uo to these clowns and clean the world up,

I just wondered maybe we were getting all the good media.

He seems to be able to take a joke (Pretzels) but get serious when he needs to.

Yes I agree the previous administration seemed to not take a joke, but be a joke (Then again that's the way the media showed it)

See how big your place is? - We know all about your adminstration but I bet half of you wouldn't know who our Prime Minister was. (Not that you need to I suppose)

Cheers

 

[Alan L.]

The rest of America is finding out what we in Texas already knew. GW is an unpretentious, credible man who goes for results and doesn't give a flip about what makes GW look good, but what is good for Texas, and now America. He won over most in Austin, some of his best buddies were from across the isle. I didn't know that guy in the campaign, but this guy is the governor of Texas.

 

[JoeR]

Thinking back (Any President who strikes back, we would love...), Clinton struck back at Iraq... I don't think we all loved him after that??

The U.S. bombing of Iraq, June 26, 1993, in retaliation for an alleged Iraqi plot to assassinate former president George Bush, "was essential," said President Clinton, "to send a message to those who engage in state-sponsored terrorism ... and to affirm the expectation of civilized behavior among nations." *

My opinion:

Although, Clinton failed to rally allies and spend money towards the defense of the U.S. Clinton failed to follow through on sending a "message to those who engage in state-sponsored terrorism." He was more interested in being politically correct, rather than ensuring the Nation's Sovereignty. Americans are tired of being pushed around by Nations who consider the "West" evil, yet they will take our money and support. Remember Jimmy Carter? He had numerous failed attempts to get American hostages out of Iran. Then he lost the election...

The United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, etc... are some of the most powerful nations, yet they all become passive for fear they will be considered bullies. It is a shame we have to lose thousands of Americans, British, French, Canadian, Japanese, etc... citizens before we respond with full force. On the other side of the coin, all of us had a hand in creating terrorist countries (U.S. and Russia in Afghanistan, France and Morroco, and Great Britian still gets blamed for breaking up the Ottoman Empire). This is not a statement of right or wrong, but a realization that at one point in our history there was some sort of foreign policy regarding the Middle East that may have not been in our best interest. Overall, we should have been proactive in thwarting the terrorists, but the Clinton Administration's policy was lacking.

Joe