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The Daily Signal
NPR Cut Dana
Perino’s Heartwarming Story About George W. Bush
Rob Bluey
April 23, 2015
Dana Perino’s new book features a touching encounter between President
George W. Bush and an injured—and intubated—Marine receiving the Purple
Heart. She follows it with another story involving a dying soldier’s
mother yelling at the president about the war.
Both stories were recounted by Perino in an excerpt from “And the Good
News Is…” that was published by The Daily Signal this week. But if you
listened to NPR’s interview with the former White House press secretary
on “Morning Edition” today, you would’ve only heard one.
NPR’s edited version of the interview that aired included the story
about the mother who yelled at Bush, but not the more uplifting story
about the Marine, who happened to be intubated in his hospital bed but
opened his eyes upon Bush’s comments to the Marine’s son.
Here’s part of that story:
Everyone stood silently while the military aide in a
low and steady voice presented the award. At the end of it, the
Marine’s little boy tugged on the president’s jacket and asked, “What’s
a Purple Heart?”
The president got down on one knee and pulled the
little boy closer to him. He said, “It’s an award for your dad, because
he is very brave and courageous, and because he loves his country so
much. And I hope you know how much he loves you and your mom, too.”
As he hugged the boy, there was a commotion from the
medical staff as they moved toward the bed.
The Marine had just opened his eyes. I could see him
from where I stood.
The CNO [chief of naval operations] held the medical
team back and said, “Hold on, guys. I think he wants the president.”
The president jumped up and rushed over to the side
of the bed. He cupped the Marine’s face in his hands. They locked eyes,
and after a couple of moments the president, without breaking eye
contact, said to the military aide, “Read it again.”
So we stood silently as the military aide presented
the Marine with the award for a second time. The president had tears
dripping from his eyes onto the Marine’s face. As the presentation
ended, the president rested his forehead on the Marine’s for a moment.
Perino told The Daily Signal she recounted the whole story to NPR’s
David Greene when he asked about the hospital visit. When The Daily
Signal reached out to NPR to understand why it chose to feature only
part of Perino’s interview, a spokeswoman told us this:
Dana Perino told many anecdotes in her wonderful
interview. It’s too bad we could not include them all because of time
constraints.
She spoke, for example, of the president’s
graciousness with her father. She also spoke of a mother who yelled at
him—and then described how the president quite deliberately stayed and
listened and absorbed the woman’s anger. It was an interaction the
president himself remembered on Marine One, as Dana recounted. For
these reasons, we chose to include it, while making sure to highlight
that the reaction in that room was an exception.
You can find the entire story—and more—in Perino’s excerpt on The Daily Signal.
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