False Opposition in One Lesson: Bush women endorse Obamacare, Abortion, and Gay Marriage

Bush women run afoul of GOP orthodoxy
Yahoo! News
Jun. 14, 2010

She may have been born into a Republican family, but Barbara Bush, the 28-year-old daughter of former President George W. Bush, sounded more like a Democrat this weekend during an interview with Fox News. When "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace asked her whether she supports President Obama's health care reform plan, she responded: "I guess I'm glad the bill was passed." You can watch the exchange here (video courtesy of Fox News):

"Why do, basically, people with money have good health care and why do people who live on lower salaries not have good health care?" she said. "Health should be a right for everyone." She is president of the Global Health Corps, an organization that champions global health equity.

No Republican in Congress voted for Obama's health care legislation.

Barbara Bush's comments come just weeks after her mother, former First Lady Laura Bush, professed views that departed sharply from the Republican majority opinion. During a Fox News interview, Laura Bush was asked to comment on Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court.

[Photos: See a slideshow of Barbara and Laura Bush and their family]

"I think it's great," she responded. "I'm really glad that there will be three [women] if she's confirmed. I like to have women on the Supreme Court." And in an interview with CNN's Larry King last month, she came out in favor of abortion rights and gay marriage.

That makes at least two Bushes who probably won't be invited to headline Republican campaign rallies anytime soon.

— Rachel Rose Hartman is a politics writer for Yahoo! News.