George H.W. Bush Acknowledges Groping Multiple Women
Source: NPR
Former President George H.W. Bush has acknowledged touching multiple women inappropriately in what his spokesman called "patt[ing] women's rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner."
Two women have reportedly accused the former president of groping them while posing for photographs with Bush in recent years.
Actress Heather Lind wrote a post on Instagram, which has since been deleted, about an incident from early 2014.
"[W]hen I got the chance to meet George H. W. Bush four years ago to promote a historical television show I was working on, he sexually assaulted me while I was posing for a similar photo," Lind wrote in a post Tuesday, according to CNN. "He didn't shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again."
Read more: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/26/560148936/george-h-w-bush-acknowledges-groping-multiple-women
ExciteBike66
(2,372 posts)I couldn't help but laugh when I read the statement from Bush's handlers. They just matter-of-factly come out and say "yeah, he pats their butts and tells a dirty joke, he thinks it puts them at ease." How does even a seasoned public-relations person say that with a straight face?
JI7
(89,262 posts)it . they treat him like the crazy old uncle always spouting off things but everyone just ignores.
except this is happening to women who do not know or even are aware of the dementia.
they need to keep him away from people who don't know him.
LenaBaby61
(6,976 posts)The former President isn't always very "all there." He's in and out if you catch my drift.
I have a friend whose late Dad suffered from Alzheimer's, and he used to tell the pretty nurses in the office he used to get his check ups in how beautiful they were, he'd ask them for kisses and hugs--she said he'd do some serious flirting with them, and she told her Dad "I'm gonna tell Mom how naughty you've been," and he'd say "Oh no, Please don't tell Mom on me," and he'd stop for that type of behavior for a bit. His wife/her Mom had been dead for 15 years to that point and they were extremely devoted to one another, plus my friend told me that before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's he'd never exhibited that type of behavior. It only happened as his Alzheimer's progressed.
I'd never excuse this type of behavior, but IF the former president IS suffering from something ....
Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)Tolerance sends the wrong message in that it endorses privilege at the expense of those historically most threatened by privilege.
Laurian
(2,593 posts)Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)cheated on his wife. It was well known in DC. He had a 10 year affair with Jennifer Fitzgerald (Google her) who traveled the world with him as his "secretary" who could not type! There were others, too. While he was lambasting Clinton, he was doing the same type of things, but since he is gop, it was covered up.
Response to Scarsdale (Reply #16)
Not Ruth This message was self-deleted by its author.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)someone suggested he choose a female for VP. The democratic rep. from Colorado, Kay Schroeder (?) quipped "Yes, but they will still need a MAN on the ticket"!! So he was considered a wimp. Maybe Barbara is hoping the he will forget who she is, and pat her on the rear end one of these days? What a farce of a "marriage"
OldHippieChick
(2,434 posts)eom
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)Smart lady. What happened to her, by the way?
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)These wankers need to abandon their degenerate so-called "republican family values" and embrace American values like honesty, dignity, fairness, respect, and loyalty (not to monetary profits or the freaking evil empire* kremlin, but to the USA).
* per ronald reagan
pangaia
(24,324 posts)Laurian
(2,593 posts)He's 93 years old for Christ's sake.
kaotikross
(246 posts)I've seen it personally. I even know some old guys that think this way. It's part wishing they could still do something about feeling frisky, part senility, part not knowing right from wrong anymore, part knowing they'll likely get away scot free, and part just being so old they don't care. At that age, they're children again. You wouldn't slap a toddler, same thing. Doesn't make it right, but at least we understand that we're dealing with guys so old they likely don't much know any better anymore. They see a nice butt, like a kid with a toy, they grab for it. As much as I disliked him politically, ol George never started doing this sort of thing until he was pretty darn old. His Secret Service people should probably be advised to stand near his hands to deter this sort of thing, not grabbing his arms or anything, just being or moving "in the way" in cases like this, and any ladies advised of his tendencies in advance.
Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)truthisfreedom
(23,152 posts)The CIA wishes to thank you.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)Using the same phrase for both having 93yo wheelchair-bound dementia-suffering former POTUS pinch your booty and tell you an off-color joke ... as would also properly describe a person being sexually brutalized by a gang of escaped convicts ... takes shit a bit too far for my taste.
Not excusing the behavior, just taking issue with that particular description. Think it's fair to say that 'Groped' is the applicable term.
cubbies01
(85 posts)1) You are assuming his account is 100 percent true that he was just gently patting pretty young girls behinds
2) This happened 4 years ago and you have no idea the state of his Dementia both then and now as it pertains to this
3) Touching a womans private area or breasts, repeatedly is sexual assault. Period. Apparently in your world sexual assault has to be some sort of brutalized attack by a gang of convicts. WTF
4) congrats on defending the groped and attacking the victim
tblue37
(65,483 posts)pat but an aggressive grab and squeeze.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)A butt pinching does not, IMHO, meet the definition of a 'sexual assault'. I'm certainly not saying "Hey it's fine!" Cause hell no it's not fine.
I'm saying it I don't think it crosses the threshold of meeting the definition. Especially not with an 89 year old having cognitive decline.
Now, if he pinched hard enough to actually hurt someone, then it's properly called an 'assault', of course!
I never said 'you must be ravaged a gang of convicts for it to constitute sexual assault', you're reading something that's not there.
And is why is 'repeatedly' important? Is it only 'SA' when done multiple times? Or did you mean 'intentionally'? And where does it say he touched her private parts or breast? Your butt cheeks are really not your private parts, at least not in my estimation.
If this is truly sexual assault, what he did, ffs charge him and drag his bony old ass in front of a judge and toss him in the clink. He needs to register as a sex criminal, right?
Let me ask you something else ... would you possibly take issue if she'd used the phrase 'a brutal sexual assault'? If so, then you should understand ... what I'm getting at. There's such a thing as taking something a bit far in one's 'descriptions'. So apparently you and I have different 'lines in the sand' as it were.
I think one risks trivializing the trauma associated with a sexual assault ... when they throw it out for a situation like this (given what we actually know and has been stipulated to), okay? That's really the only point here.
And I say this ... as a victim myself ... so maybe that's why I'm 'all fucked up' in my attitude about it.
johnp3907
(3,732 posts)Just wow.
no_hypocrisy
(46,159 posts)Of course some women probably work there ..... Spokesman for Bush said "he apologizes if his attempt at humour offended Ms Lind. "
That is not the correct response IMO
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)Most likely that'd be straight from the family lawyer's mouths, however.
The old coot is probably mostly drooling in front of the tv these days.
IronLionZion
(45,514 posts)as in "If presidents do it, then it must be normal"
I doubt female politicians have groped men and boys (I hope not).
YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)Unlike powerful men - who have collectively been getting away with all kinds of sexual harassment and assault for centuries, of course.
However, I should also state that there absolutely are women in positions of authority who abuse said authority to get their way sexually. I'm thinking specifically of those schoolteachers who rape (statutory definition) male students. The problem there, though, is that the flip-side of "boys will be boys" is this idea that men cannot possibly NOT consent to having sex with women, because they (we - I'm a man myself, full disclosure) are biologically wired to horn-dogs who'll happily fuck any woman they encounter. That ideology is damaging to men and women alike.
And of course, plenty of men and boys experience sexual assault from other men - look at prisons or the Catholic Church (talk about power and authority! ) Or indeed, a lot of pedophiles, or rape within LGBTQ circles (men, women, and transgender alike - the last of those three being especially vulnerable to rape and other forms of sexual assault, from what I understand).
All of this is to say: Sexual assault is about power and power inequities more than it is about any healthy form of sexual attraction (by definition, since I'm assuming that we all can agree that grabbing someone by the pussy, ass, breasts, cock, etc. without that person's consent is not part of a healthy, romantic, and loving sexual relationship...). The fact that men collectively and more often than not, individually have more power physically, politically, and culturally than women is the REAL reason for why what we call "rape culture" is so closely related to predatory male sexual dominance over women and girls (and to an underappreciated and even more under-reported extent, toward other men and boys).
For I refuse to believe that men are more "naturally" inclined to sexual assault than women, and this would certainly not be the case in a much more egalitarian society - one in which every aspect of social, cultural, economic, and political egalitarianism is real or at the very least, seriously strived for.
rurallib
(62,441 posts)Has this happened since Nixon?
mainer
(12,023 posts)He's the sweetest, most thoughtful man I know and has never behaved inappropriately. But as his dementia worsens, he's started doing inappropriate things like grabbing waitresses by the arm and not letting go.
janterry
(4,429 posts)is just shaking their head at this non-story.
I thought it was nice that he was on stage recently, for the fundraiser - and how heartening it must be for him and his family - that he is still included in these kinds of things.
OTOH, his 'people' need to be much more watchful and prep whomever he is around, so they are prepared.
Sorry about your father-in-law, btw. My grandfather, I am told, could be quite randy at 92 .
elehhhhna
(32,076 posts)janterry
(4,429 posts)who have suffered from cognitive decline?
elehhhhna
(32,076 posts)Yes but none of them had Secret Service protection to keep them from miss behaving
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Bengus81
(6,932 posts)Or...if only your a Bush and former President. I just don't know WHAT to tell my children!! sobbbbbbbb.....
Bayard
(22,128 posts)Isn't any person's ass kind of high up for a person in a wheel chair to reach?
I've also seen this in people with dementia though. Its like social norms go out the window. I suspect that not far in the future we will be having a presidential funeral....
Yupster
(14,308 posts)He looks just dreadful.
I'm thinking it takes a lot of willpower for him to stay alive.
After these revelations, my guess is he wished he died a year ago. Grandpa groping from the wheelchair is probably not how he'd want to be remembered, but it will be now.
Loyd
(309 posts)To be honest I've given both women and men a quick swat of a buttcheek on various occasions, after s/he has done a really good job on something. I've never groped anybody.
Old Vet
(2,001 posts)tavernier
(12,396 posts)you are absolutely right.
Inappropriate sexual behavior is very common for people with dementia or Alzheimers.
Not a fan of the Bushes, but IMO we should leave this alone.
xor
(1,204 posts)I haven't heard anything about him having these problems before. Still have to wonder why they are bringing him out as a presidential prop even though they are well aware of this behavior.
question everything
(47,521 posts)someone floated a rumor that he'd had a mistress. Perhaps to counter Clinton's "bimbo eruptions."
And everyone dismissed it. I think that one of grandchildren just laughed it off.
As for patting someone's behind - they do it in baseball, don't they?