Text of Speech by Jenna and Barbara Bush

AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/31/04 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

Text of a speech by Jenna and Barbara Bush delivered Tuesday at the Republican National Convention, as transcribed by e-Media Inc.:

JENNA BUSH: It's great to be here. We love Arnold. Isn't he awesome?

Thanks to him, if one of us ever decides to marry a Democrat, nobody can complain, except maybe our grandmother, Barbara. And if she doesn't like it, we would definitely hear about it.

We already know she doesn't like some of our clothes, our music, or most of the TV shows we watch.

Gammie, we love you dearly, but you're just not very hip.

She thinks "Sex and the City" is something married people do, but never talk about.

We spent the last four years trying to stay out of the spotlight. Sometimes, we did a little better job than others.

We kept trying to explain to my dad that when we are young and irresponsible, well, we're young and irresponsible.

BARBARA BUSH: Jenna and I are really not very political, but we love our dad too much to stand back and watch from the sidelines.

We realized that this would be his last campaign, and we wanted to be a part of it.

Besides, since we've graduated from college, we're looking around for something to do for the next few years.

Kind of like dad.

JENNA: Our parents have always encouraged us to be independent and dream big. We've spent a lot of time at the White House, so when we showed up the first day, we thought we had it all figured out. But apparently my dad already has a chief of staff, named Andy.

BARBARA: When your dad's a Republican and you go to Yale, you learn to stand up for yourself.

I knew I wasn't quite ready to be president, but number two sounded pretty good.

Who is this man they call Dick Cheney (news - web sites)?

JENNA: I think I know a lot about campaigns. After all, my grandfather and my dad have both run for president, so I put myself in charge of strategy. Then I got an angry call from some guy named Karl.

BARBARA: We knew we had something to offer. I mean, we've traveled the world; we've studied abroad. But when we started coming home with foreign policy advise, dad made us call Condi.

JENNA: Not to be deterred, we thought surely there's a place for strong willed, opinionated women in communications. And next thing we know, Karen's back.

BARBARA: So we decided the best thing we could do here tonight would be to introduce somebody we know and love.

JENNA: You know all those times when you're growing up and your parents embarrass you? Well, this is payback time on live TV.

BARBARA: Take this. I know it's hard to believe, but our parents' favorite term of endearment for each other is actually Bushy.

And we had a hamster, too. Let's just say ours didn't make it.

JENNA: But, contrary to what you might read in the papers, our parents are actually kind of cool. They do know the difference between mono and Bono. When we tell them we're going to see Outkast, they know it's a band and not a bunch of misfits. And if we really beg them, they'll even shake it like a Polaroid picture.

BARBARA: So, OK, maybe they have learned a little pop culture from us, but we've learned a lot more from them about what matters in life, about unconditional love, about focus and discipline.

They taught us the importance of a good sense of humor, of being open-minded and treating everyone with respect.

And we learned the true value of honesty and integrity.

JENNA: When you grow up as the daughters of George and Laura Bush, you develop a special appreciation for how blessed we are to live in this great country.

We are so proud to be here tonight to introduce someone who read us bedtime stories, picked up car pool, made us our favorite peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cheered for us when we scored a goal, even when it was for the wrong team.

BARBARA: Someone who told us we actually looked cute in braces, always welcomed our friends and was there waiting when we came home at curfew.

JENNA: Ladies and gentlemen, one of the two most loving, thoughtful people we know.

BARBARA: Your president and our dad, George W. Bush.

[TOUGH STOUGH]

There was nothing at all sanctimonious about my reply.

Your comments reveal that you place far to high a value on whether or not your children are considered "cool" and expose you as immature and shallow. If my children had the reputation you claim your children possess, I'd be worried.

[DrDeb]

No, your comments reveal you for the immature, shallow person that you are! [Just how large is that 'log in your eye'?!]

I invite you to re-read my post at #227 -- a post that details my FINAL thoughts relative to this issue.

[BBT]

Haha! I still have my long, flowered dress from 1972. Wish I could still get into it.... :-(

[TOUGH STOUGH]

Your original comment,"I gauged the Twins success by monitoring the reaction of my teenage son and his friends -- who, by-the-way, are considered the coolest of the cool at their Catholic high school!", is as immature and shallow as they come.

Instead of fessing up to it, you attack me. Your argument about the log in my eye, is not relevant to his discussion. There is nothing immature about pointing out the immaturity and shallowness of your comment.

[TOUGH STOUGH]

Your original comment,"I gauged the Twins success by monitoring the reaction of my teenage son and his friends -- who, by-the-way, are considered the coolest of the cool at their Catholic high school!", is as immature and shallow as they come.

Instead of fessing up to it, you attack me. Your argument about the log in my eye, is not relevant to his discussion. There is nothing immature about pointing out the immaturity and shallowness of your comment.

[nuconvert]

You have my sympathies.

[embedded_rebel]

I think it was a good move on the part of organizers to bring the bar down a few notches after Arnold's magnificent speech last night.

After Mccain and Juliani, I thought Arnold would flop, but he was excellent. Putting the First Lady on right after Arnold would have put a lot of pressure on Laura. The First Twins and the President provided a perfect buffer between the two speeches.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Now. In all honesty. If this were 1996, and CHELSEA CLINTON had gone up there and said the exact same thing, the exact same text, there would be a FR thread at least 800 posts long, and 99% of the comments would be bashing her and talking about how ridiculous she was, with all kinds of clip art, jokes, you name it. I like a lot of things about FR. But one thing I don't expect is much objectivity on this issue here. Although I see there are some sane people out there who DO want to raise national political conventions back to the inspiring, decorum-filled and uplifting things they used to be, gavel to gavel. Overall, its no biggie anymore. I am sure they learned their lesson and will finish the convention on a little higher class note.

[Fausto]

You have my sympathies.

Well, women by the time they get to my age are normally more *grown-up* (I think the maturity really hits at 25). Actually, this speaks a lot about the wealth of the world we now grow up in. We normally don't have to grow up fast these days because of an overall healthy economy, no real war to worry about (meaning an all-volunteer military) and more and more people going to college after high school as opposed to being exposed to *the real world*. Now the only real world they are exposed to is the TV show. Ohh, and college is lasting longer too.

I watched that last night saying basically the same thing as a lot of people here...that I expected both girls to "act" a bit older, but then I remembered I have numerous friends and the such that are just like this. They'll speak well to those who were channel surfing and came across Arnold.

[Revolting cat!]

[ClintonBeGone]

I agree. I try to be objective.

[boycott]

child

Calling someone a child on an Internet board is sort of childish.

[Porterville]

Exactly, the root of childish is child- very good... how about something more obvious?

[boycott]

Exactly, the root of childish is child- very good... how about something more obvious?

Okay, you win.