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Subscribe to RSSThere may be reason for optimism about the health of former President George H.W. Bush, according to an email from his former chief of Staff Jean Becker. NBC's Janet Shamlian has more details.
Former President George H. W. Bush remained in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital on Friday, but "continues to improve" and his exchanges with medical staff now include singing, according to a statement from a Bush family spokesman.
Bush, 88, was admitted to Methodist Hospital on Nov. 23 for bronchitis. He was transferred to intensive care on Sunday after setbacks including a persistent fever.
"President Bush remains in the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital, where he continues to improve," family spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement. "The president is alert and, as always, in good spirits -- and his exchanges with doctors and nurses now include singing."
The statement said that the Bushes, like their doctors, are "cautiously optimistic that the current course of treatment will be effective." The Bushes thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes, McGrath said.
Bush has lower-body parkinsonism, which causes a loss of balance, and has used a wheelchair for more than a year.
Bush was the 41st U.S. president and is the father of former President George W. Bush. In a political career spanning four decades, Bush, a Republican, also served as a congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, envoy to China, CIA director, and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.
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Wish him and the family well. And hopefully it's not the calm before the storm.
Only good thoughts for a full and speedy recovery, Mr. President, and good health in 2013. And thank you for your long and faithful service to our country.
So glad to hear he is doing better.
I'll bet he can't sing worth a crap. Make your kid listen to you. Here we go.
Mary Jones: Go to he(( you nasty beotch. President Bush is so much a better person than Obama.
Ohhh . Your so mean. George Bush was a rotten president. And his kid was alot worse. And if go to he11 Jan ,please save me a seat.
@jan HI!
Mary Jones has a nice seat in He11 waiting for her. George Bush was awesome and I met him in person while installing a computer for him. Honestly Bill Clinton was nice, young George was nice too. Anyone who truly hates a president needs to get a life. Everyone including Obama have accomplished more by 1000 than most of us have in our whole life.
@mr nick. You must have a sad life. Name me one thing he did that was any good. Just one!! I don't care about Oboma. I don't care about what he's done. He's a bozo. Just state your facts.
Children, children. Is this really the place for that? All incivility, all the time?
@Mary Jones... if you hate on his son you'd enjoy he criticized his own son's handling of the war in Iraq. Since you like to comment negatively on other people's lives you must be the lonely and sad one. People tend to be negative to cover up their own failings in life.
@mr nick. I'am not failing at anything. The Kuwait war was a sham. The younger Bush just cost you more money.
YOU must BE JOKING,he sent our men/women to war, so as to fill his pockets with th spoils of war! All this from the blood of so many solders. AND YOU CALL HIM GREAT????????????????????
Glad things are looking up for him.
And I hate his son even more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How do you kill a bush? ROUNDUP!!!!!!!!!!!
Is that a threat? I will be happy to report you to the Secret Service.
I don't think that's a threat. I just think he's commenting on the Bush regime. You don't think it's odd?
Good grief! You folks are really something.
If the bunch of you could agree on a time, you could meet in the primate facility of the local zoo and throw your poop at each other ( although the other apes and monkeys might not appreciate your presence there because your persistent level of incivility would set a bad example for their offspring ).
He is talking about killing a bush and he seems delusional.
He made a joke about Roundup. That's a brush killer. And what in Gods name makes you think he's delusional. How the he11 did you know how to spell delusional. Or did we both spell it wrong. I just copyed yours.
Mary , read his posts. He is full of hate much like these people who shoot people in malls and kids in schools.
He only had one post. It was an easy read.
He should be getting better, he is getting the best medical coverage our money can buy.
Mary, read on. Melvin's posts are semi literate rants filled with hate.
lulu. I have read down. He is getting a little crankey. My mistake. Lighten up dude. There have been worse. Like his kid. Take it easy.
Hey Melvin. I think you need to talk to Ann Landers or Doctor Phill. He really wasn't that bad, unless you have a personal reason for disliking him. I don't like his kid. You take care now. Really
Great news......he and his family are in our prayers. Hope he will be home soon. God bless.
I think Mary Jones is a south pole elf
In Post #1.1 Robert in Oregon thanks George H. W. Bush for his "Long and faithful service to our country."
Robert, are you nuts?
Try long and faithful service to the crown princes of Saudi Arabia.
George the elder was a pretty good President and had the good sense recently to ask "who the hell is Grover Norquist?" He got clobbered by the NO TAXES EVER EVEN WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGE crowd; and, unfortunately, his least talented child was inflicted on us for eight years. Not his fault, but ours.
MSNBCMFE wrote:
'MSNBCMFE', you are making a fool of yourself....
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, George H.W. Bush joined the US Navy, after graduating from Phillips Academy in early 1942, he became a naval aviator at the age of 18. After completing the 10-month course, he was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve at Corpus Christi, Texas on June 9, 1943, just three days before his nineteenth birthday, which made him the youngest US naval aviator to that date.
He was assigned to Torpedo Squadron (VT-51) as the photographic officer in September 1943. The following year, his squadron was based on the USS San Jacinto as a member of Air Group 51, where his lanky physique earned him the nickname 'Skin'. During this time, the task force was victorious in one of the largest air battles of World War II: the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
After Bush's promotion to Lieutenant (junior grade) on August 1, the San Jacinto commenced operations against the Japanese in the Bonin Islands. Bush piloted one of four Grumman TBM Avenger aircraft from VT-51 that attacked the Japanese installations on Chichijima.[6] His crew for the mission, which occurred on September 2, 1944, included Radioman Second Class John Delaney and Lieutenant Junior Grade William White. During their attack, the Avengers encountered intense anti-aircraft fire; Bush's aircraft was hit by flak and his engine caught on fire. Despite his plane being on fire, Bush completed his attack and released bombs over his target, scoring several damaging hits. With his engine afire, Bush flew several miles from the island, where he and one other crew member on the TBM Avenger bailed out of the aircraft; the other man's parachute did not open. It has not been determined which man bailed out with Bush as both Delaney and White were killed as a result of the battle. Bush waited for four hours in an inflated raft, while several fighters circled protectively overhead until he was rescued by the lifeguard submarine USS Finback. For the next month he remained on the Finback, and participated in the rescue of other pilots.
George Bush in his TBM Avenger on the carrier USS San Jacinto in 1944
Bush subsequently returned to San Jacinto in November 1944 and participated in operations in the Philippines until his squadron was replaced and sent home to the United States. Through 1944, he flew 58 combat missions for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, and the Presidential Unit Citationawarded to San Jacinto.
Because of his valuable combat experience, Bush was reassigned to Norfolk Navy Base and put in a training wing for new torpedo pilots.
This was Mr. Bush's faithful service to our country by the age of 21.
This was followed by his service to the United States:
in the US Congress,
as Ambassador to the United Nations,
as Envoy to China,
as Director of Central Intelligence,
as Director of the Council on Foreign Relations,
as Vice President of the United States and
as President of the United States.
So 'MSNBCMFE', please list for us YOUR OWN resume of service to our country which you believe affords you the position of sitting in superior judgement of THIS man.
Take your time. We'll wait.
Melvin you're a MORON. Go away
First of all he's a human being people! Some of you need to move to North Korea to see how truly fortunate we are here in the USA. Bless you Mr Bush and Family. I pray for your health and happiness :)
people, please do your homework, the bush family is evil. yall hear something on tv and believe it and revolve your life around it. just take the time and research this family. when you buy a car or home i bet you do some investigating but when it comes to our country you just believe the tv. they control that and its called propaganda. do you really want to live a lie.
Robert in Oregon, you must have done a copy/paste from wikipedia on that, I just read it and was going to post the part about his pilot career for the US Navy. He fought bravely, and we should respect that. Although I have no use for today's GOP/TP, I freely admit that I voted for Bush senior, he was not a perfect President, but whoever was? I think it took a lot of guts to go back on his "no more taxes" pledge, he realized the situation called for an increase, and he had the gonads, unlike today's impotent US Congress, to do what he felt was right (apparently didn't give a damn what Grover thought). Get well Mr. Bush.
I'm singing in the rain. Just singing in the rain. What a glorious feeling, I'm happy once again....
Hey Georgie, hit that morphine PCA-pump again would you?
Oh Look Barbara! A thousand points of light......
I enjoy making fun of President Bush. I voted for him the first time but went with Clinton in 92.
But, I'd take President Bush's results of his term in office over what we have now.
Right on Robert in Oregon.
Not a fan. But get well soon, Mr. President.
hmmmm...
H.W Bush was in the plot with gerald ford, nixon, and hw bush to kill JFK for discontinuing operation 40
man..how disturbed the youth of America has become.
No, morin... the pieces of the puzzle constitute The Truth in the form of a documentary (NOT produced by Michael Moore BTW) , that group was in fact in cahoots to off JFK... but anyway... doc can be found on YourTube... I've seen it before
Keep singing, George H.W. Bush ... I hope you get feeling better soon, Sir.
A Thousand Points Of Light...
REALLY! If your research is based on you Tube, man it MUST be true!
Good to hear .....Prayers Mr. President
Didn't care much for the son but thought Bush Sr was a class act. He did a great job with Desert Storm and handling the collapse of the Soviet Union making him possibly the best foreign policy President of my lifetime.
Glad to hear that President Bush is doing better and I hope the new year brings him renewed health and a recovery that allows for a parachute jump on his 90th birthday.
Looking forward to seeing that parachute jump, Mr. President! Get well soon!
I hope that before he shuffles off this mortal coil, he starts singing about Iran-Contra, and his and Republican Deity Ronald Reagan's complicit involvement in trading hostages for guns, the guns then being transferred to Ollie North's CIA-led "posse" tasked to bring down the democratically-elected government, and assassinate it's leader. Daniel Ortega. GHW Bush was just as much a war criminal as his father, Prescott Bush, who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler's rise to power from the early 30's on, and continued -- like the anti-semitic Henry Ford and the General Motors Corp., along with hundreds of other American companies, to trade with Nazi Germany right up to the surrender in the Spring of 1945. Didn't do them much good, as the Russians actually won the war, in terms of land gained, and industry captured and repurposed to Joe Stalin's nefarious plans.
and a Happy New Year to you too.....
You are right, but nobody in the right wing lunatic network would dare to mention the "underground government" that North conducted from the basement of the White House trading arms with the enemy and shredding documents, but they surely scream about that "Fast and Furious" mistake by the Obama administration.
Bart Brown - Stuff a sock in it!!!
You too - Rasputin!
For the love of God, you all sitting here talkin about crap when he was President... get a life and move on seriously. It takes a whole lot of anger and hate within a person deep inside to dwell on stuff for so long and to be that upset THIS MANY YEARS LATER????? You need help, and I pray you'll get it. Get out, read a book, pick up a hobby, grow up? I dunno but THANK GOD I'm NOT that person today. I lived in misery and hate and finally realized, thankfully, that all that was just ... wasted energy and it was my doing, not whoever I held all that anger toward's fault. Do yourselves a favor and learn to be happy.
nice try kim but they will never be happy!and you are right its easy to be happy. to much work being hateful but thats how they burn their energy. get well soon mr president
What ever happened to the drugs???????????????????? did they sell it to americans? All the while pretendyng to have a war on drugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Melvin, it seems you know exactly where drugs are.
Continued wishes for a speedy recovery Mr. President.
I hope he gets well, but I think that his son should be the one in hospital with no hopes of ever getting well.
You are disgusting.
I don't agree with his politics but to wish ill of someone is sick.
That not vewwy nice, Rasputin.
Of course is not nice, but a war criminal deserves what? Congratulations?
And I'm talking about George Jr., the inept and corrupt one.
Rasputin, prove he is a war criminal or shut up.
Liberals love to talk unsubstantiated BS. Nothing they comment on is ever researched or confirmed. They get it from the "Obama Liberal Handbook". Then when someone tries to make a rational substantiated comment, they talk all kinds of trash to dispute it but cannot prove it.
Why all this hate during the holidays????? Merry Christmas and happy new year. Try to quell the hate???
only the good die young
he ain't young.... so N/A
Is that some weird form of prayer?
I wonder what clone number Bush they are talking about? Clones degenerate rapidly and need to be replaced when they do. We are probably going to be getting "good news" reports about his health until the next Bush clone is ready to step in and looking fit.
@ William Are you nuts??? "CLONES" Wow man seek help! Please I think a lil time in the happy hospital will do you some good :P
Interesting... There is a lot of information about the post presidency of most presidents and the good things they did.
When you look up what GHW Bush did all you find if plain vanilla fluff. Nothing constructive, nothing destructive, just nothing. It's sort of what you can learn about GW Bush's service records in the Texas Air National Guard during Vietnam. A visit to a dentist, then nothing.
I do remember GW Bush's executive order sealing past president's and future past president's records until fifty years after they die. That would guarantee fluff wouldn't it.
I also remember some post presidency associations with oil and gold and other mneral oligarchies. But nothing more than fluff.
Maybe 41 and 43 never happened. But I remember the pain.
Really, I guess Berlin Wall escapes your brain. Try looking up Bill Clinton's history. Only idiots think that Bill walked in adn things magically improved. Fact is HIS work shows up under Bush Jr, as only idiots can't comprehend things don't take place overnight. Try Glass_Steagall Repeal in 1999...signed by clinton.
Try Gramm_Leach_Bliley Act of 1999, related to above.
Try 2 opportunities to KILL Bin Laden, to which Clinton REFUSED, and in 2002 acknowledged it was biggest mistake of his life. Try, ALL of the "bad" that happened under Bush Jr taking place when Dems took over Congress.
But, WHY BOTHER with facts. RIGHT?
the pain with number 44 is a thousand times worse
Singing:" I gotta go, where no one can go for me......"
Nah - he's singing "Sympathy for the Devil".
No. He was singing "Love Hangover" by Diana Ross.
and the hospital staff is wishing he would sing "Far,Far Away"
I despise all politicians, Democrat or Republican, including the current criminal in the White House, and I couldn't care less what happens to that doddering, old, soft palmed, elitist crook.
You mean the one that served this country in Military, and I doubt you ever did or risked what he did?
Bright person you be, says Yoda.
I don't care if he served or not - he's vermin.
Hitler was in the service too, if you remember, putz.
Wishing you a speedy recovery..
Wishing me a Speedy Gonzales...
Singing? I wish he'd sing some about his meetings with the Iranians during the 1980 campaign
Just remember Mitchell Grant - What goes around comes around. What a piece of work you must be as a human.
alamo, what we cant express our opinion. i guess only you can bud. if you want to be brainwashed then go for it. i hate all govt. and this pathetic country also.
Karma is BS ... so is god ... so take your idle threats and put them where the sun does not shine...
My prayer for you Mr. President, is that I hope and pray that "God" gives you the same treatment that you gave the world. If you were a servant of God, then you will be treated accordingly, if not, then its not God you will be meeting. Either way, I do pray for your soul and all the lives that have been damaged from it. Get well soon Mr President, I personally dont think you deserve to die just yet.. You still need to see the fruits of your labor, and by the way you and your people positioned it, your New World Order is just around the corner... and God knows you want to see that... ....
God this and God that, god, god , gods will, gods wont'...
God didn't have a damned thing to do with any of it.. Man made God, and god does not favor the spider over the fly or bles one country over another...
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again
The.... Ennnnnnnnnnnnnnnd.
--The Doors
( I recall Jim Morrison sounded like he was falling off a Fiscal Cliff at the end of that tune BWAAAhahahaha I krak me up. )
While I respect this man's service to our nation, it's always bugged me that he refused to recant the two repeated assertions that atheists could not be American citizens nor patriots. This is on video, I'm not making this up. I guess there were some of his generation that were like that.
I wonder if he would have said that face to face with the many atheist marines that guarded him during his years in office?
Oh well, I hope he feels better.
He will, they've infused $100 bills into his usual colloidal gold IV fluids and he is recovering rapidly.
I heard he told the doctors to "put away your harps, I'm not going anywhere', which I thought was funny. Good luck!
Is GWB singing Led Zeppelin?
They have security guards at the hospital to keep NRA and Tea PArty haters away. They loath the former President. I sort of like him....smart, analytical, persuasive, corageous, not afraid to speak his mind. A bit detached from your typical American but light years ahead of his dumb, wanna have a beer with, son W
You're a little confused. Obama is the one that has the beer summits.
Wishing you a continued recovery and a well New Year.
X
If this was you or I we would have been sent home days ago, it is ashame that there is special treatment for the wealthy, everyone as a life should be treated the same. I am horrified at the extra treatment he received as others would have just been sent home.
I don't think anyone that age would have been sent home with pneumonia. I am glad to hear he is doing better. I have always liked President and Mrs Bush.
Yes Dave, GOD forbid a man have the means to live outside of poverty. GOD forbid him do well in life and be "better" than YOU. Horrified, or jealous. It's a FINE LINE and boy, it sure seems you crossed. What other types of ENVY to you have of others?
Pathetic prick.
Don't hold water Dave. a welfare leach was in the room when my wife was recovering from open heart and a stroke. She had been in for over 3 months and wasn't expected to go home any time soon!
Really, Crowbar? You think the hospital was dancing around singing "We got a patient that isn't gonna pay and we're so happy"? Hospitals are infamous for kicking people to the curb as quickly as possible. Gotta keep the profit level up. If you have insurance they're going to milk that for all they can.
Our aunt after spending down $300k on her medical care is now on Medicaid. She is treated well and with respect. Her needs are all met. So , stop the damn class warfare.
Dave-check your facts with the Medicare office - it does not matter if you are an ex-president or Clint Eastwood - if you are 65 and over - you have to go with Medicare-it is the law for everyone 65 and older.
I just shake my head at this stuff, and can't believe people actually have this floating around in their minds. No wonder we're doomed.