Laura Bush

Well, we’ve faced very difficult decisions and challenges in our country, every one of us have, as we – since September 11th, as we fought the war on terror, all of those decisions that the President had to make to put young men and women in harm’s way.

Maybe it is the media that has us divided.

Jenna’s traveled with me; they’ve both traveled with their dad. This is the only time they’ve been old enough in all of their dad’s campaigns to really be involved in.

I would never do anything to undermine my husband’s point of view.

Every child in American should have access to a well-stocked school library.

Any first lady can do whatever they want to do. In this country, people expect them to work on whatever they want or to have a career of their own.

I don’t like that, because there are a lot of people whose works I admire as actors or actresses, or musicians. And you know, I’ve been a big fan of different musicians or actors.

I like politics. I like traveling in the United States.

When we look around the world today, when we see in Afghanistan that 10 million people have registered to vote in their upcoming elections, including 40 percent of those people are women, that’s just unbelievable.

I also know that there are a lot of people around the United States who want my husband to win and who are for him and who support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I feel good about those people, too.

I mean, the part you don’t like, I mean, that’s the only part. That’s the part no one likes, and that is the criticisms, and the unfair criticisms, I might add, of my husband. But that’s also just a fact of life in politics.

A love of books, of holding a book, turning its pages, looking at its pictures, and living its fascinating stories goes hand-in-hand with a love of learning.

I mean, we are facing so many very, very important issues and those are the issues that you heard talked about last night from the Republican convention, and that you’ll hear my husband talk about. And those are the really important issues facing our country right now.

But you know, it’s not easy when your husband runs for president. I mean, it’s not easy for me. I’m sure it’s not easy for her. There’s a lot of scrutiny on families that isn’t always wanted.

I’m not the one who was elected. I would never do anything to undermine my husband’s point of view.

I think there are a lot of reasons to be critical of the media in America.

In fact, I have the privilege of traveling around our country and meeting people all over the country who are making a huge difference in the lives of their neighbors and themselves. That’s what I’m really fortunate to be able to do.

You know, there are a lot of would-be governors of Texas sitting around today who never took the opportunity to get into a race when the time was right.

We always get up about 5:30, and George gets up and goes in and gets the coffee and brings it to me, and that’s been our ritual since we got married. And we read the newspapers in bed and drink coffee for about an hour probably, read our briefing papers.

It’s not easy to have the job of president. It’s not easy to run for it. And it’s not a job for the feint of heart.

I mean, it’s fun for us to talk about issues. You know, there’s no one issue we spend a lot of time on probably, because he gets to do that all day with somebody else who’s a lot more expert at issues than I am.

But we talk about issues, we talk about people, we talk about personalities. George is a very good reader of people, and he’s very perceptive about people, and you know, that’s fine.

No one likes to be criticized.

Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open.

They’re great girls. They’re very funny, they’re very smart, they’re fun to be with. They’re very lively, as I think people can tell. And you know, they’re very confident girls.

I don’t really feel like I have to have a debate with my husband over issues.

I also want to encourage anybody who was affected by Hurricane Corina to make sure their children are in school.

The power of a book lies in its power to turn a solitary act into a shared vision. As long as we have books, we are not alone.

We can overcome evil with greater good.

If I’m just at the White House, I have meetings in my office, I sign letters, I plan different things. Late in the afternoon, I’ll quit working and wait for my husband to get home.

Though my plans at the moment are vague, I can assure you that I’ll never run for the Senate in New York.

Politics is a people business. I like people.