“He does care about women. We all know that.” - Barbara Bush speaking about Bill Clinton during a 1992 presidential campaign stop in Cincinnati.
Barbara Bush’s sweetness and charm earned her the title of "everybody's grandmother." But the former first lady – only the second woman to be both wife and mother to U.S. presidents – could also be a tough-talking, no-holds-barred campaigner.
Both sides of Mrs. Bush, who died Tuesday at age 92, came through during an interview with WCPO’s Carol Williams just two weeks before the 1992 presidential election between her husband, George H. W. Bush, the Republican incumbent, and Bill Clinton, Democratic governor of Arkansas. The first lady criticized Clinton’s record on education and the environment, but she lowered the boom with a smile when Williams mentioned that women voters she talked to believed Clinton would be more favorable than Bush to women’s issues.
“He does care about women. We all know that,” Mrs. Bush laughed.
Mrs. Bush was referring to Gennifer Flowers’ claims during the campaign that Flowers had a 12-year relationship with Clinton. Six years later, Clinton admitted that he had a sexual encounter with Flowers in 1977 – two years after marrying Hillary Rodham Clinton.
WATCH Mrs. Bush on another visit to Cincinnati in 1994:
Two years after Clinton won the '92 election, the former first lady returned to the Queen City as the nation's grandmother.
Always an advocate for kids, Mrs. Bush came to speak at a fundraiser for Boys/Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati. She made a hit with the youths by mingling with them, going through the food line with them and sitting with them at dinner and not on a stuffy dais.
She also made a hit with the adults, who gave her a standing ovation after she spoke and contributed nearly $100,000 - about three times what the annual dinner usually raised.
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