ABC News Interview With Former President Bush
N E W Y O R K, Sept. 2 -- As President Bush puts the final touches on his speech that will bring the Republican National Convention to a close, his parents will be ready to defend him, and the entire Bush family, from any criticism.
In an interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer, former President George H. W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush weighed in on Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam experience, their worries about "hate" surrounding the campaigns and about their family.
Vietnam Takes Center Stage
While the former President Bush says the American people will have to decide how they feel about Kerry's testimony to Congress on behalf of Vietnam Veterans Against the War when he returned from service in Vietnam in 1971, he says he would like to see the senator make a public apology for his actions.
"I do know that when he came back and kind of downgraded … everybody fighting there by talking about gouging out eyes and all that. That is totally offensive, and I think he may have said he's sorry. I don't know, but if he didn't, he ought to," Bush said.
In Kerry's testimony to Congress in 1971, he detailed atrocities he said were committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam, including rapes, beheadings and random killings of civilians.
Since then, the presidential hopeful has said that he was referring to incidents witnessed by other veterans at the time.
So Much ‘Hate’
While campaign mudslinging is often common, former first lady Barbara Bush says she's concerned about the vitriolic words being tossed around by outspoken political supporters.
"They use a word that, that I've never heard before, or maybe I haven't listened, but there's a lot of fanning of the word 'hate.' I don't hate anybody, and I don't hate John Kerry. I think that's a terrible word for Americans to use against America, and I think it is being fanned as a divisive kind of thing," she said.
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