Laura's Memoirs: Two Passages of Note

Courtesy of -- or blatantly stolen from -- Mike Allen's Playbook, here are two passages from Laura Bush's upcoming memoir that I find fascinating:


ON GAY MARRIAGE: -"In 2004 the social question that animated the campaign was gay marriage. Before the election season had unfolded, I had talked to George about not making gay marriage a significant issue. We have, I reminded him, a number of close friends who are gay or whose children are gay. But at that moment I could never have imagined what path this issue would take and where it would lead."

POISONED IN GERMANY? "I arrived and began my events, but by the afternoon of [June] seventh, I could barely stand up. ... Over the next day nearly a dozen members of our delegation were stricken, even George, who started to feel sick during an early morning staff briefing. ... [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. In the past year, there had been several high-profile poisonings, including one with suspected nuclear material, in and around Europe. The overriding fear was that terrorists had gotten control of a dangerous substance and planted it at the resort. ... [O]ur military aide's gait has never returned to normal, nor has our senior staffer regained full hearing in that ear. The most concrete conclusion any doctors could reach was that we contracted a virus that attacks a nerve near the inner ear and is prevalent in Heiligendamm." (pp. 390-1)"