Former First Lady Laura Bush claims that she, the president, and other members of their entourage were poisoned in 2007 in Germany during a G8 summit meeting. Mrs. Bush’s assertions open up a diplomatic can of worms in her new book, Spoken From the Heart. Members of their entourage also lost hearing, had difficulty walking, and other issues that seem more indicative of poisoning than a virus. The Secret Service went in to overdrive but came to no definitive conclusions. According to CNN:
“Nearly a dozen members of our delegation were stricken, even George, who started to feel sick during an early morning staff briefing,” Mrs. Bush writes. “[O]ne of our military aides had difficulty walking and a White House staffer lost all hearing in one ear. Exceedingly alarmed, the Secret Service went on full alert, combing the resort for potential poisons.”
“George felt so ill that he met with [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy and did not even stand up to greet him,” she continues, adding later, “We never learned if any other delegations became ill, or if ours, mysteriously, was the only one.”
Excerpts of the book were first published by The New York Times on Tuesday.
The 432-page memoir is both a recount of the rare experience of being a first lady and a reflection of the eight years she spent in the White House as her husband’s popularity gradually declined.
One has to ask themselves what makes a family choose politics. Is anyone thick skinned enough to have a loved one attacked like George Bush was attacked? Can you imagine being his parents or his wife and children? Perhaps politics are just too cruel for the average person to participate. Perhaps the Ukrainians throwing eggs at each other are ultimately more civilized than the American people and their politicians.
I suppose we will never know if the Bushes were poisoned. Wasn’t a shoe bad enough? Perhaps now Mrs. Bush has gone public, we will find out the truth.
Do you think they really WERE poisoned? I mean, if you are going to poison someone, wouldn’t you do it enough to kill him/her? Was the poisoner just trying to be annoying, or what? Something’s strange here.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a politician because the environment is antagonistic, mean-spirited, dishonest and toxic.
Besides being thick skinned, you have to have a huge ego and be into pain to be a real politician. Most people who have those qualities and work in that environment don’t end up being very nice people, IMO, in spite of their public image or even best attempts.
I don’t even want to think about family being politicians. Good grief, it’s hard enough to avoid politics at the dinner table. Imagine living it? YECH.
Sounds like a botulinum or staphylococcal intoxication problem. They could have occured from poor food preparation/sanitation or it could have been purposefully introduced. I would vote for the former. I am sure the White House medical staff cultured everyone’s poop and knows the answer, but it may never be inown by the general public.
Here is a pretty good rundown that I copied–
There are two major food intoxications caused by the bacteria. These are: (i) botulism caused by the presence in food of toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum, and (ii) staphylococcal intoxication caused by the toxin produced by S. aureus.Botulism is an intoxication caused by the ingestion of food containing the neurotoxin (toxin that affects the nervous system) produced by anaerobic, spore forming Clostridium botulinum. There are seven types of toxins recognized on the basis of serological specificity . Toxin production by C. botulinum depends on the ability of the bacterial cells to grow in food and to autolyse. Therefore factors influencing spore germination, growth and toxin production such as the composition of the food, temperature of storage and pH are important. The main sources of botulism are canned meat, fish, string beans, sweet corn, beets and other low medium acid foods. Spores of C. botulinum survive long storage periods in raw and precooked frozen foods and can grow when conditions are ideal. The toxin of C. botulinum is a protein. It is absorbed mostly in the small intestine and paralyses the involuntary muscles. The heat treatment necessary to destroy this toxin depends on the type of toxin. For example, heat treatment at” 80°C for 5.6 minutes will inactivate type ‘A’ toxin while type ‘B’ toxin can be inactivated only by heating at 90°C for 45 minutes.
Typical symptoms of botulism usually occur within 12-36 hours after consumption of the spoilt food. Early symptoms are digestive disturbances followed by nausea, vomitting, diarrhoea, together with dizziness and headache. Double vision may occur early and there may be difficulty in speaking. Mouth may become dry, throat constricted, tongue may get swollen and coated. Involuntary muscles become paralysed and paralysis spreads to the respiratory system and to the heart. Death normally results from respiratory failure. In fatal cases, death occurs within 3-6 days after the poisonous food has been ingested but the period may vary.
I would think it was food poisoning. It happens. I remember some years back when Kobe Bryant got food poisoned in Sacramento during a playoff series, made him miss a game. Hard to trace or prove.
She meant poisoned from what I read. One of the articles also revealed that overseas the secret service is involved in all food preparation because of fear of poisoning.
I don’t think anyone else other than the Americans were sick. hmmmmmm…..
Stay tuned for a diplomatic can of worms to spring open…
Holy cow, George. Thanks, I guess. That all sounds scary.
sound to me like a botched suicide attempt. he screwed up everything else. the only lasting effect was Laura’s smile…
b
As I said earlier today, I guess “dumb” can be transmitted by osmosis. I don’t suppose anyone will ever be able to find out the “truth” of the matter. But “poison” outbreaks of this nature are surely looked into into in great detail. Vomitus and feces are cultured to see if botulinum or staphlococcous can be grown. Food samples are also cultured and I am certain they were subject to other tests to see if other “poisons” were present. As Bruce wrote–if it was boulinum–the same bacteria used in botox treatment–it could account for Laura’s permanent smile 😎
Food intoxication and food poisoning are two different things. When I was a kid–about a thousand years ago–my borther and I were both “poisoned” by some milk. After we moved from our little farm, we took milk from a local dairyman. One day, he didn’t rinse all the disinfectant out of the bottles–I will leave the results up to your imagination, but it wasn’t pretty.