Passing the Torch?

You both have a perspective on war that a lot of people don't. You're married to men who are commanders of forces or oversee them. Mrs. McCain, in your case, you have two sons—one who's been in harm's way, and one who may well [be heading there]. I'm just wondering what's that like….How do you cope really, knowing your sons are possibly in harm's way and trying to support your husband as he makes these critical decisions?
McCain: Well as you know, Governor Palin also has a son who is about to deploy [on] September 11th. It's not about coping; both of my sons made a choice to do this. I'm also a mother, so of course I worry, and I would worry if they crossed the street...That's just what I do.  But I'm so proud of them, and they had every option in the world to do whatever they wanted and they chose this. I would encourage anyone who has never been to a ceremony for when these troops come home, or when they leave: Go. You don't have to be a member of a family to go. Because these are proud young men and women, and they are the finest America has to offer.  So I console myself, on the nights when I am worried, with the fact that I know that they're the best trained, the best equipped, and absolutely the best forces we've ever had.

Mrs. Bush, being married to a commander in chief…Lincoln used to say, 'I go to my knees because I don't have any place else to go.' President Roosevelt had sons in the military. When he comes home, do you not talk about it, does he talk about it?
Bush: No, of course, we talk about it, and that is by far, the most difficult decision the president ever makes, and that is to send our troops into harm's way.  And it is a burden of worry on the president, and on the president's family as well as on every single family who have a loved one in the military—every single day, every single minute. I mean, that's just a fact of life, that's how it is. And on the other hand, do I think it was the right thing to do? Absolutely.  And we're seeing some good results, we just saw Anbar Province turned over back to the Iraqis, I think that's really good. I visited, with women in Afghanistan who can walk on the road and have jobs, and go to school and do all the things that they were not allowed to do under the Taliban. And is it tough? Absolutely. It's very tough, but Americans can do things that are hard. And is it hard on the commander in chief? You know, harder on him, I think, than on anyone else, except for, of course, the families who are also involved.

Did it help that the president's father had been in the same position?
Bush: Maybe, I mean, I don't know about that, I don't know if you can practice for that, for coping, as you say that you have to do. There's no doubt about that, but yeah, I mean, I can remember when President Bush, when watching television in Dallas, when the U.S. went in to liberate Kuwait, you know, I can remember that. I can remember how worried he was, how worried sick he was about it. So I think John McCain is certainly a student of history, I mean he's lived through very, very historical times himself… And he knows, and I think anybody who's running for this office knows, that those are the kind of challenges that you may have to face.  We didn't expect that, you know we never expected that. Both of us thought that we would have a time of almost total domestic issues, and those would be the big issues.  The Cold War was over, the central European countries were liberated from the Soviet Union, that's just what we thought it would be. But the one thing you know, and I know John McCain knows this, is that when you are running for this job, you don't know what is gonna happen, but you know things are going to happen.  And you have to be prepared, and he is prepared, and I think that's what makes him, by far, the candidate that everyone ought to support.

You both are also married to men who have—formidable mothers would be a safe way to say it. I wouldn't cross either one of them.  How do you think that influenced them?
McCain: Oh, in my husband's case, she was clearly the strongest influence in his life, because his father was gone so much.  She not only shaped his sturdiness—and by that I mean his grit, his demeanor—a large part comes from his mother, but also his values, the way he approaches things. I think a lot of his straight-talk attitude comes from his mother. And I love it. I don't know if you ever met her, but she's a pistol, and I love her to death.

Not only that though. I think her perseverance for many, many years being a single mother, and having to raise the kids. I know this story she tells about driving cross-country, during World War II, with her kids in a car with no air conditioning in the 40s. I can't imagine what that would be like. And doing it because it was the right thing to do, because her husband was serving, and they were serving. So I've learned a great deal about my family, as certainly have my sons from her, from her attitude towards service.

And your mother-in-law?
Bush: I think George really likes women. And I think that happened because he liked his mother, and he has a very close relationship with her, as the oldest child he did. And she was just 18 or 19 when she had him, she's just not that much older than we are, really. Plus, a lot of the same things Cindy said, both our husbands are pretty out front, and I think their mothers are, too.