Mystery deepens around alleged Bush poisoning incident

[kpete]

Source: Yahoo News

Did former First Lady Laura Bush hype a stomach flu (or some other virus) into a mythical assassination attempt in order to sell books? When Bush's memoir, "Spoken From the Heart," was released last month, dozens of headlines blasted out its most tantalizing tidbit: Bush suspected that a mysterious illness that befell her, her husband and their staff during the 2007 G8 summit in Germany may have been the result of an attempt to kill or incapacitate the 43rd president.

"Exceedingly alarmed" by the illness, Bush wrote, "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. e never learned if any other delegations became ill, or if ours, mysteriously, was the only one."

That's the sort of shadowy intrigue that's landed many a book on the bestseller list — just ask Dan Brown. However, there's no record of the episode ever happening, at least according to the Secret Service. Yahoo! News filed a Freedom of Information Act request looking for any documents — e-mails, investigation reports, incident reports, etc. — related to the alleged incident. In reply, the Secret Service informed us Monday that its review of records "indicates that there are no records or documents pertaining to your request in files."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100621/ts_ynews/ynews_ts2743

[Drunken Irishman]

1. A Bush lie? Never!

[Xipe Totec]

2. Good cover story for a hangover nt

[Demeter]

3. Or Alcohol Poisoning

[Warpy]

4. That's my guess

The oaf was blotto.

[Fly by night]

16. That whole Bush family wouldn't know the truth if it bit them in the butt (when they were sober)

For more evidence of talking the walk -- Bush style, visit this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=8497298

[LawnKorn]

9. Of course there was no record of the incident happening - Bush was falling down drunk

The Secret Service, the State Department, and the Military always covered for the idiot son. Bush was drinking and he got away with it.

[sam sarrha]

5. did the puke smell like Jack Daniel's..??

[HereSince1628]

6. Even if true, I can't imagine the SS providing any confirmation

Even if it's false I can't imagine the SS providing any statement confirming that.

I can imagine a zillion schizoid conspiracy addicts eating it up like popcorn.

[customerserviceguy]

8. I can't, either

And it would be extremely prudent of them to suspect any condition that was suffered by a President while outside their usual protected bubbles to have a possible malevolent cause or intent.

I'm glad they are professionals, and protect President Obama in the same fashion.

[No Elephants]

26. "No comment" or "We can neither confirm nor deny" would be the response in

the scenario you are imagining. "We have no record" is very different kind of response.

[seafan]

7. Bet it was that Jack Daniels fella. *smirk*

Mystery deepens around alleged Bush poisoning incident


June 21, 2010

.....

"Exceedingly alarmed" by the illness, (Laura) Bush wrote, "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. e never learned if any other delegations became ill, or if ours, mysteriously, was the only one."

That's the sort of shadowy intrigue that's landed many a book on the bestseller list — just ask Dan Brown. However, there's no record of the episode ever happening, at least according to the Secret Service. Yahoo! News filed a Freedom of Information Act request looking for any documents — e-mails, investigation reports, incident reports, etc. — related to the alleged incident. In reply, the Secret Service informed us Monday that its review of records "indicates that there are no records or documents pertaining to your request in (our) files."

.....

June 8 (2007) (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush fell ill with a mild stomach ailment this morning at the Group of Eight summit in Germany, forcing him to skip some morning meetings before resuming his schedule this afternoon.

Bush said he was feeling ``a lot better'' as he joined other leaders for a group photo.

The ailment was ``some sort of bug, probably more viral in nature, and highly unlikely to be related to food,'' White House Counselor Dan Bartlett said. ``After having an opportunity to rest, he feels rejuvenated.''

.... LINK

Yep, probably not related to food.

[jberryhill]

14. You realize that's a bottle of Buckler on the table... /nt

[seafan]

18. That one's for the cameras.

The brew, however, is identified as non-alcoholic Buckler. (An irresponsible person would, of course, wonder if the president took great pains to have himself photographed drinking a non-alcoholic brew precisely because he's really drinking again, as a way of throwing the media off the scent. That's what an irresponsible person would wonder -- not me, of course.) ---Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog

'Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again'

[crim son]

19. As an aside,

your sig line is the best thing to come out of the Bush Era.

[Bitwit1234]

10. I don't understand how the "poisoning" was so selective

if the food was poisoned then everyone should have gotten sick.

[Posteritatis]

11. Probably depends quite a bit on what was going on

If someone was aiming at his portion with malicious intent then that obviously explains that, but if it was something more mundane - say, a more or less mild contamination - and only one or two people present happen to react to it, then that falls into the list of things which'll just happen now and then.

(Or something like my own experience, when I discovered I'd apparently developed an allergy to scallops a few years back. This, incidentally, is a shake-your-fist-at-the-uncaring-universe affair of the lowest sort...)

Either way, as the intarwebz would say, 404; I have nowhere near enough information to do anything other than speculate.

[populistdriven]

12. wash your hands folks, even after using the pit toilets at home

[zappaman]

13. Is it possible

he forgot to wash his hands after flinging around his own poo?

[Thor_MN]

15. "combing the resort for potential poisons'

Did they check the wastebins and parking lot for empties? I can see Shrub winging empty bottles out an open window.

[bongbong]

17. "adult beverages"

Hangovers are a bummer!

[Habibi]

20. "Did Yahoo News re-hype this story to boost more book sales?"

[tanyev]

21. How do you incapacitate someone who's already completely incapacitated?

[tex-wyo-dem]

22. I think the "potential poisons" pickles is refering to is probably...

In the form of a combination of bourbon and cocaine...those open bars at swanky resorts can be dangerous.

[lynne]

23. Don't you think the Secret Service would do the same if any President -

- and First Lady and staff became suddenly ill while out of the country? Wouldn't you want them to do the same for Obama? It may have been viral, it might have been water or food related BUT I have no doubt that her recount of the Secret Service becoming alarmed and going on full alert and considering the possibility of poisoning is totally true.

Not to mention that it would be very easy to debunk this story based on Secret Service records.

[davidpdx]

24. Well the Secret Service has said they have no record

So either they are holding back the truth or Laura Bush is a lier. Take your pick...

[No Elephants]

27. The choice is "either the SS is lying about its records or Laura is lying about SS involvement."

Please see also Reply 26.

[No Elephants]

28. What "same?" The SS says it has no record of this ever happening.

Check the OP.

[jberryhill]

29. The question is whether the SS would confirm or deny threat info

...under any circumstances.

I doubt anything happened, but it would be odd for the SS to provide, by such responses, a roadmap of potential vulnerabilities.

[SpiralHawk]

25. Sign. Republicons have a fundamental problem with the truth

to the detriment of Americans

[joe black]

30. Who would want to kill the fucker.

Everyone knows Cheney's in charge.. oh wait.