Thread: Laura Bush on immigration: US should be a `welcoming country

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2006/05 ... _us_s.html

Laura Bush on immigration: U.S. should be a ``welcoming country.'' Not asked about Stephen Colbert
First Lady Laura Bush, a librarian, is in New Orleans today to help rebuild school libraries. She was booked on the morning shows today ...
Bush tells Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson (in separate interviews) she thought the line about her being ``hot'' and muy caliente at Saturday's White House Correspondents Dinner was very funny. And no, Couric and Gibson did not ask about Stephen Colbert.

Laura Bush on NBC, ABC and Fox News....


THE WHITE HOUSE


Office of the First Lady


__________________________________________________ _____

For Immediate Release May 3, 2006



INTERVIEW OF THE FIRST LADY

BY FOX NEWS


Jackson Square

New Orleans



7:22 A.M. CDT


Q And today First Lady Laura Bush will announce the first grants for rebuilding school libraries in the Gulf region that were destroyed by hurricanes. The First Lady joins us now from New Orleans. It's great to have you back with us.


MRS. BUSH: Thanks so much, E.D.


Q So, tell us about this. Louisiana has such a rich history, and I know that many of these libraries contained old and rare collections of books, some of them the entire collection of Life Magazines going back decades. How are you helping out the libraries?


MRS. BUSH: That's right. Well, the Chalmette High School, where I'll be later this morning to announce all the different grants, did have a collection from the '30s of Life Magazine. They used these as primary sources when their high school students studied American history. They could read these magazines as the lead up to World War II and really see what America was like during that time. And that was one of the saddest things they lost, when they lost their whole library.


So today they will be receiving a grant from the Laura Bush Foundation to restock the library. And then the great news is Time Warner, someone from Time Warner will be there who has gone back and gotten all of those Life Magazines since the '30s to be able to present to Chalmette High School. So that's very exciting.


One other really great thing about this high school that I'm going to visit is how one school superintendent, Doris Volitier, just went to work right after the hurricane, right after the flood waters went down in St. Bernard Parrish, and rebuilt this high school. She opened it in November. She thought maybe 50 to 100 kids would come back, but instead many more children came, both high school and elementary school age, because she was only able to open the one school.


Now there are more than 600 kids back. They want to be back in their own schools. So this fall St. Bernard Parrish is going to -- Chalmette is going to open an elementary school. And that's good news. That shows that people are coming back. When kids are coming back to school, then you know families are moving back to the Gulf Coast.


Q So the Laura Bush Foundation will award grants to these schools, and there will be a second round of grants by the end of the summer.


MRS. BUSH: That's right. We're awarding ten grants today, three in Mississippi, seven in Louisiana, to schools that are ready to restock their school libraries. And then as other schools are rebuilt, as they're ready to restock, they need to go ahead and apply. And we should have another round of grants next fall, I hope.


Q I talk to you, and of course I know that you're the First Lady, but you're also a pretty regular person like the rest of us. (Laughter.) When you were watching television -- I know it's hard to do in your position, but when you were watching television on Monday, and you saw the protests and the rallies for the extended rights for illegal immigrants, what was your reaction?


MRS. BUSH: Well, I think we have to do something about immigration. We need to have a humane and sensitive immigration policy, and we need to work on that to make sure people don't die in the desert as they cross Texas or Arizona because they are coming in illegally. We need to figure out a way to have legal immigration, including a guest worker program like the President has suggested, that will give people a legal way to be in the United States so they can go back home to Mexico and they can come back in for jobs without worry of having to sneak in across the desert.


Our country is a country of immigrants. We nearly all are immigrants, and our families came at different times for different reasons, a lot of them political, from around the world. And I think we need to be a welcoming country. On the other hand, I think people who have stood in line to become legal citizens should not be preempted by other people. I think we should have an orderly and legal, obviously, citizenship process.


Q All right, well, we appreciate your time this morning. And wonderful that you're using your celebrity, your position to do such great things for these Gulf Coast schools. Thank you.


MRS. BUSH: Thanks a lot.


END 7:27 A.M. CDT
===============================================
THE WHITE HOUSE


Office of the First Lady


__________________________________________________ __________

For Immediate Release May 3, 2006



INTERVIEW OF THE FIRST LADY

BY GOOD MORNING AMERICA, ABC


Jackson Square

New Orleans, Louisiana


7:35 A.M. CDT


Q It is good to have you here. And Mrs. Bush, I was --


MRS. BUSH: Thanks, Charlie.


Q I was stunned by the numbers. I just mentioned 1,100 schools damaged, washed away. That is an enormous number of books.


MRS. BUSH: It's enormous. It's also an enormous number of schools. It's unprecedented, really, for school district superintendents and state school officers to have to rebuild this many school districts. So they -- we all know they need a lot of help from everybody, every way they can, and I'm really happy that the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries is making grants to ten schools today -- seven in Louisiana and three in Mississippi. These are schools that are rebuilt and they're ready to restock their libraries. And to stock a school library is not inexpensive. A good elementary school library, basic collection, costs about $50,000, and a good high school collection costs about $100,000. So they will be getting --


Q Yes, I'm sort of a --


MRS. BUSH: Go ahead.


Q -- freak for numbers, and when I saw those numbers in the White House material, just multiplying by the number of schools, if you just take that basic $50,000 figure, if you assume that every school is an elementary school, $50,000 to restock a library, and 1,100 schools, that's $56 million worth of books. And that's just an enormous amount to do.


MRS. BUSH: It's a huge amount, it really is. Not, of course, all of these schools, the 1,100 that were damaged are destroyed. Some were only -- had a little bit of damage. A lot of libraries were not totally destroyed, but some were. And today, we'll be at Chalmette High School in St. Bernard Parish. That's a very heroic story. Their great superintendent, Doris Voitier, determined that she was going to rebuild their high school so kids could come back. It had been flooded totally on the first floor, but when the flood waters went down, she started the restoration, and she opened the school on November 14th, expecting about 50 or 100 kids. And instead, now she has 600. So she will open an elementary school this fall, so both the elementary school and Chalmette High School will be receiving grants to restock their library.


Q It's interesting you mentioned Chalmette. That's, as you mentioned, in St. Bernard Parish. And this is a school that actually, as you mentioned, put itself back together. If they had waited, frankly, for federal help, it would have been months later. They did it on their own.


MRS. BUSH: That's right, she did it on her own. She's a go-getter, and she just started rebuilding, and then she billed FEMA. (Laughter.)


Q She's going to bill FEMA later, is that what she's going to do?


MRS. BUSH: She did bill FEMA, that's right.


Q Well, this is a very worthy effort, and I know there are many more schools to be done, and I suspect your foundation is going to be very active in doing them. And this is certainly worthy, as I say, and to be congratulated for doing that.


This is a little impertinent to ask, but I just want to make sure, is it actually Laura Bush I'm talking to, or are you an impersonator?


MRS. BUSH: It's really me. That was funny.


Q It was very --


MRS. BUSH: It was very funny.


Q I just want to play a little clip, because we had Steve Bridges on yesterday, who is the fellow who impersonates your husband.


MRS. BUSH: Oh, you did? Great.


Q And he was very nervous about the one line that everybody is talking about.


(Video clip is played.)


Q Steve said he wasn't at all sure he was going to be able to do that line. Did you know it was coming?


MRS. BUSH: No, I didn't know it was coming. I really hadn't seen the whole script. I knew, of course, that George had Steve coming to be his alter-ego, but it was very funny.


Q Well, Steve said that the President had passed on the line, and he said, if it was okay with him, then I guess it was going to be okay with Mrs. Bush. (Laughter.) Anyway, congratulations to you, the foundation doing good work.


MRS. BUSH: Thanks so much.


Q This is very important, not only books in the -- by the way, you're a former librarian, do you have some favorite books that you would put in libraries?


MRS. BUSH: Well, in children's libraries, of course I put in my sentimental favorites, like Little Women, which my mother read to me before I could read; Dr. Seuss books, like Hop on Pop, which was one of George's favorites to read to the girls, and they took it literally and jumped on him while he read that; of course Good Night Moon, that we read to them as babies. But what we want for these libraries is a big, full collection of fiction and very good, up-to-date non-fiction to support the curriculum of these schools.


Q Absolutely. All right, Mrs. Bush. Thanks very much. By the way, were the twins good in finding the mouse in Good Night Moon?


MRS. BUSH: Yes, they could always find him. That was fun.


Q There's the mouse, there's the mouse. Every night I read that to my daughters, as well. All right, Mrs. Bush.


MRS. BUSH: Thanks so much, Charlie.


Q Thank you, very much. Good to have you with us.


MRS. BUSH: Bye-bye.


END 7:39 A.M. CDT===============
==========================================
THE WHITE HOUSE


Office of the First Lady


__________________________________________________ _________

For Immediate Release May 3, 2006


INTERVIEW OF THE FIRST LADY

BY THE TODAY SHOW, NBC


Jackson Square

New Orleans, Louisiana


7:11 A.M. CDT


Q Mrs. Bush, good morning. Nice to see you, as always.


MRS. BUSH: Thanks, Katie, good morning.


Q I know that this is your 11th visit to the Gulf region, and while I know you just arrived in New Orleans last night, I'm curious about your impressions in terms of how the recovery efforts are going eight months after Katrina hit.


MRS. BUSH: Well, every time I come, things look better. There's a lot less debris here, so that looks a lot better. There's a lot of traffic, a lot of people going to restaurants. I think Jazz Fest was very popular and very successful last weekend, and then it will be again this weekend.


And then the really good news is that kids are back in school. Later this morning, I'm going to be at Chalmette High School in St. Bernard Parish, because they're one of the schools that's receiving a grant to restock their school library. And they opened -- they determined to open last November, even though they were just going to be able to go to school on the second floor of the high school and have all grades on the second floor whi

[Quote]MRS. BUSH: Well, I think we have to do something about immigration. We need to have a humane and sensitive immigration policy, and we need to work on that to make sure people don't die in the desert as they cross Texas or Arizona because they are coming in illegally[Quote]

Well, if you have a fence/wall/Military on the border and gaurded it with a BIG FIST these deaths in the desert would drop to almost nothing. Ugh.....

Is it just me, or does she seem like shes on another planet half the time, like theres nothing behind those eyes. Seems empty to me. I know shes very well educated but please....

Our country is a country of immigrants.

That's true, ma'am, but now you're beginning to sound like the radical reconquistas! Do you also believe in the Aztlan myth?

But - hey - you can live at your ranch in the middle of Texas without fear of illegals trampling your property, stealing your possessions, raping your children, turning your neighborhood into a third world slum.

Mrs. Bush was the only Bush I had reserved any respect for. Scratch that after these comments!

Quote Mrs Bush:
MRS. BUSH: Well, I think we have to do something about immigration. We need to have a humane and sensitive immigration policy, and we need to work on that to make sure people don't die in the desert as they cross Texas or Arizona because they are coming in illegally. We need to figure out a way to have legal immigration, including a guest worker program like the President has suggested, that will give people a legal way to be in the United States so they can go back home to Mexico and they can come back in for jobs without worry of having to sneak in across the desert.
__________________________________________________ ________
The questions I would ask are:
"Mrs Bush, what do you think of illegal Mexicans calling Americans "Gringos" and telling us we all need to "go back to Europe", and "DEMANDING THAT THE UNITED STATES GIVE THEM ALL AMNESTY AND ALL THE RIGHTS AMERICANS HAVE EARNED".

Mrs Bush: What do you think about all the illegal Mexicans entering our country with phony social security cards, liscenses, and birth certificates?

Mrs Bush: Why do you think your husband's approval ratings are so low? Could it be that MAYBE he has a problem performing his duties and the oath he swore as president of the U.S.?

And this is just my opinion Mrs Bush:
We arent a country of immigrants anymore. We are now a country that has been invaded by illegals who demand that we surrender to them our national anthem, our culture, our language, our history, and to bestow on them all the rights that were once reserved and owed to legal citizens only. I would say citizens of America, but they may want to change the name of that too.

She was on Fox and Friends this morning and on CNN a little later. I saw both interviews and thought. "The numbers are down and they are putting Laura out to help get the numbers up. She is popular, what she said about immigration is not.

What is she complaining about. Her husband has made sure not to secure the borders so we are a "welcoming Country"

We welcome daily from Mexico & South America:
Illegal workers that use our welfare system for free.
Drug smugglers that add their high morale values to our culture.
Criminals that are on the run from Mexican police.
Terrorists that can blend in and walk in any time.


Heck, we even sing a special worded version of the National Anthem to make them feel at home. I suspect next George will fly the Mexican flag over the White House.....how much more welcoming can we get!

I agree sending her out there is not going to save her husband in the polls what he is doing is wrong and he does not care about the american citizens of this country and the conequences of an amnesty/guest worker program and not securing our borders to stop creating the situation that we are currently in. She just wants to teach everybody to read, whoopee!!! Gimmee a break. I am sick of paying taxes for his mistakes.

She just wants to teach everybody to read, whoopee!!!

In English or Spanish?

Originally Posted by MopheadBlue

She just wants to teach everybody to read, whoopee!!!

In English or Spanish?

we want them to read too --- STAY OUT!

I don''t care if it is in english or spanish, stay out means stay out, LOL