Selling Jenna

Kerry Howley | January 14, 2008

Here's George Bush, father and funder of the global war on human trafficking, talking about his daughter with the estimable People magazine:

Q: Tell us about your future son-in-law, Henry Hager. Did he do right and ask for Jenna’s hand?

The President: He kind of sidled up to me and said, Can I come and see you? We were sitting outside the presidential cabin here, and he professed his love for Jenna and said, would I mind if he married her? And I said, Got a deal. [Laughter] And I’m of the school, once you make the sale, move on. But he had some other points he wanted [to make]. He wanted to talk about how he would be financially responsible.

As an aside, who meets George Bush and thinks "Hey, I'd better defend my fiscal record"?

Via Charles Johnson.

Comments

|1.14.08 @ 2:48PM|#

Wow, all of Bush's biggest flaws in one paragraph:

he professed his love for Jenna and said, would I mind if he married her?

Gullible idiot.

And I'm of the school, once you make the sale, move on.

Stubbornly unwavering.

He wanted to talk about how he would be financially responsible.

Self-writing irony.

Episiarch|1.14.08 @ 2:51PM|#

I will never understand a woman who finds it acceptable that her boyfriend asked her father if he could marry her before the boyfriend asked her.

Urkobold™|1.14.08 @ 3:08PM|#

BOUNCY, BOUNCY.

|1.14.08 @ 3:09PM|#

Epsiarch,

Apparently Jenna is a conservative woman, well, once you get past the E and the all-night partying.

Also, keep in mind that your dating instincts are probably going to change when you're dating the daughter of the President of the United States. For instance, I wonder if the Secret Service agents report which bases were touched in which order...

Abdul|1.14.08 @ 3:09PM|#

I'm starting a limited liability company for buying Barbara?

Who wants to invest?

NP|1.14.08 @ 3:16PM|#

Oh, c'mon Taktix! Cut the man some slack here. After all this is his daughter's affair, not his.

Episiarch, I'm not sure that's exactly what happened but I think that's pretty reasonable. The boyfriend might ask the father first instead so he can be better prepared to talk to her gal in case he got a "no."

|1.14.08 @ 3:21PM|#

Anybody comes to me asking for one of my daughters' hand in marriage, gets an incredulous look followed by "Not my call. If she asks for my advice, I'll give it -- in which case you've just hurt your chances."

|1.14.08 @ 3:24PM|#

Married twice. Both times, family was appraised after the fact. No engagement announcement, no formal wedding, just go to the Justice of the Peace (The Fly By Night Wedding Chapel in Vegas the first time) and get hitched.

Oh, BTW, we got married last weekend. Family gets over it.

Rimfax|1.14.08 @ 3:24PM|#

"the presidential cabin"? Is that adjacent to the presidential shithouse, with the presidential truck parked out front?

|1.14.08 @ 3:27PM|#

Oh, c'mon Taktix! Cut the man some slack here. After all this is his daughter's affair, not his.

Well, if the guy had done anything to deserve said slack, like say, returning my civil rights, I'd cut em' right away...

ed|1.14.08 @ 3:37PM|#

This one is a bit of a reach. I miss Ron Paul already.

R C Dean|1.14.08 @ 3:55PM|#

I will never understand a woman who finds it acceptable that her boyfriend asked her father if he could marry her before the boyfriend asked her.

My first wife was from a very conservative Olde Richmond family. I asked her Dad first (technically, like she didn't already know), because it was part of the ritual. Got me beaucoup points with the old guy, and it made her happy because her Dad was happy. Definitely worth it.

|1.14.08 @ 3:55PM|#

It's a wonder he didn't marry her off to Putin.

Mister DNA|1.14.08 @ 4:00PM|#

After the honeymoon, will Henry Hager drape a bed sheet outside the hotel balcony with 'MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" scrawled across it?

|1.14.08 @ 4:08PM|#

Mister DNA for the win...

NP|1.14.08 @ 4:13PM|#

J sub D, congrats on your (second?) nuptials.

Taktix, ha. I hear ya, but again I wouldn't begrudge his daughter's wedding, or his being happy over it, for that matter.

Mutts, that's some scary thought you have.

And Mister DNA wins this thread.

Brandybuck|1.14.08 @ 4:16PM|#

I will never understand a woman who finds it acceptable that her boyfriend asked her father if he could marry her before the boyfriend asked her.

This is out of respect to the father. Granted, GW may not deserve a whole bunch of respect on the some fronts, but out of respect to the daughter you should respect the father. It's not out of a sense of parochialism, but of tradition.

Of course, tolerant cosmopolitans abhor voluntary traditions, so your mileage may vary.

tepid|1.14.08 @ 4:17PM|#

Mister DNA,

White on white?

thoreau|1.14.08 @ 4:17PM|#

My wife and I had already discussed marriage before the formal proposal. She told me that her father was the sort who would appreciate the courtesy of asking him before I formally popped the question to her. So I called him and said that I would like to give her an engagement ring, and he was happy.

I don't see anything wrong with that. The time of the formal marriage proposal should not be the first time you've discussed this with the fiance. It's more of a ceremonial thing, and I see nothing wrong with telling parents before doing the ceremonial thing and making it official and public.

thoreau|1.14.08 @ 4:19PM|#

As an aside, who meets George Bush and thinks "Hey, I'd better defend my fiscal record"?

Kerry wins her own thread.

Brian E|1.14.08 @ 4:25PM|#

If you ask a man for his daughter's hand in marriage, and he refuses, and she didn't tell you that her father was probably going to say that ahead of time, she's got family issues which are pretty severe. So either it really means nothing or it tells you something which you really ought to know ahead of time. What's to lose?

|1.14.08 @ 4:29PM|#

"It's a wonder he didn't marry her off to Putin."

Mutts for honorable mention.

Too bad Putin is married. After all, Bush did look into Putin's eyes and saw a good man. It would make sense with the Bush / Prescott link to British royalty.

|1.14.08 @ 4:46PM|#

C'mon, Kerry, it's a metaphor -- like "getting to second base," or "scoring."

At least Dubya didn't say, "I'm of the school, when you invade and conquer another country, unleashing anarchy, tribal hatred and civil war there, move on."

|1.14.08 @ 5:05PM|#

NR, I'm a widower now. But my second can only be descibed in the most glowing terms. Ms. sub (sup?) D was more than I deserved.

NP|1.14.08 @ 5:33PM|#

J sub D, sorry about your first wife. And best of luck on your second marriage (I'm guessing you do live in America, in which case you'll definitely need a fair amount of luck).

|1.14.08 @ 6:25PM|#

Unfortunately, my first wife's father said yes. That son of a bitch !!

|1.14.08 @ 6:32PM|#

Rimfax | January 14, 2008, 3:24pm | #
"the presidential cabin"? Is that adjacent to the presidential shithouse, with the presidential truck parked out front?

Only if it's President Fred Thompson. That'd be a Presidential Red Truck BTW.

Eric Dondero|1.14.08 @ 8:38PM|#

Aww, c'mon. That's a cute story. And what does Reason do? Turn it into an opportunity to bash George Bush.

My gosh! Is it humanly possible for Reason Magazine to ever lighten up?

Is everything this site runs gotta be laced with cynicism? Is that some sort of requirement around here?

thoreau|1.14.08 @ 9:15PM|#

My gosh! Is it humanly possible for Reason Magazine to ever lighten up?

Coming from the most tightly wound commenter in teh intertubez...

DONDEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

|1.14.08 @ 10:51PM|#

Abdul wrote: "I'm starting a limited liability company for buying Barbara? Who wants to invest?"

Is this kind of like buying a share in a cow to get servings of unpasteurized milk?

LarryA|1.14.08 @ 11:44PM|#

According to what Jenna told Jay Leno on the subject, she and Henry had just returned from sharing a tent, camping in a national park. I doubt the question was unexpected.

Anyway, it went smoother than my experience. My potential father in law had a wide streak of humor, as did I. When I told him I wanted to marry his daughter he offered me $300 and a ladder in lieu of a fancy wedding. (It was forty years ago.) I reminded him he had a one-story house, so I'd pass on the ladder for $350.

My intended and her mother were not impressed. OTOH, we are still married.

May Henry and Jenna have the same fortune.

Eric Dondero|1.15.08 @ 7:40AM|#

Hilarious Larry. Congratulations on your long marriage. Not many libertarians can claim that.

I'm on my second, and very happy, and intend to stay that way for the long haul.

Good luck to Genna Bush and her new fiance. Genna, not all libertarians are snidly, cynical bastards. Some of us do have a heart. We wish you all the best!

|1.15.08 @ 8:03AM|#

Hey Dondero,
I've got a great book idea for you. Why not compile a collection of "cute stories" about powerful leaders throughout the ages? "Chicken Soup for the Evil Statist's Soul" you could call it.

|1.15.08 @ 1:20PM|#

No one cares to wish them the best unless she calls out her family as the warmongering fuckwads they are. If she does it on national TV, I'll pitch in on the silver tea set.

|1.15.08 @ 2:15PM|#

the son of a Homeland security thug becomes at one with the worldwide fanatical global warming craze and vows to do environmental work in the war on carbon...he marries the lovely daughter of a fascist leader trying to lay the groundwork for marshal law....such a cute story.

Dondero you are such a real human, you have that clintonesque warmth about you unlike these inhumane heathens concerned about civil liberties.

Timothy|1.16.08 @ 4:04AM|#

DONDEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Marrying the donkey from your last Tijuana trip isn't legal, despite what the hooker told you.

DONDEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

sv|1.16.08 @ 2:30PM|#

damn, i thought this post was gonna be about jenna jameson..

ps nevertheless, and despite the fact that your father's an imperialist statist, i wish you the best in your marriage, jenna bush. (she reads hit & run, right?)