Text 390, 194 rader
Skriven 2005-02-01 23:41:22 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (050201c) for Tue, 2005 Feb 1
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Interview of the First Lady by NBC News
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For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
February 1, 2005

Interview of the First Lady by NBC News
The Diplomatic Reception Room



7:31 A.M. EST

Q First Lady Laura Bush is the nation's top ambassador for the Heart Truth,
a national campaign to raise awareness about women and heart disease. Mrs.
Bush, good morning, good to see you.

MRS. BUSH: Hey, Matt.

Q You've been talking about this for a couple of years now, been involved
in heart disease as a cause.

MRS. BUSH: That's right.

Q When you travel around the country now, Mrs. Bush, are women getting the
message?

MRS. BUSH: I think women are getting the message. And a lot of women are
trying to make sure other women get the message. In fact, this Friday is
"Wear Red to Work Day," and so I hope a lot of people will wear their red
tie or their red dress to remind people to take action about heart disease,
that heart disease is the number one killer among women in the United
States, but the good news is we can really change our lifestyle and prevent
heart disease.

Q Sometimes, Mrs. Bush, statistics make people glaze over. They're just
numbers. But I do want to read a couple, because they made an -- had an
impact on me last night. You just mentioned the number one killer of women
in the United States. Almost half a million women in the U.S. will die from
cardiovascular disease. That's 65,000 more women than men who died of the
disease last year.

MRS. BUSH: That's right.

Q One in every three women will die from heart disease. Talk to me a little
bit about risk factors.

MRS. BUSH: Well, one of the major risks is that women don't know heart
disease is a number one killer of women, and so if they start to suffer any
symptoms of a heart attack, they don't think they're having a heart attack.

Q And they don't like to go to the doctor, anyway.

MRS. BUSH: They don't go to the doctor. They would rush their husband or
their boyfriend to the emergency room but they don't go that quickly
themselves, which means a lot of times they suffer more damage.

Q Yes. And let's talk about some other risk factors. High cholesterol --

MRS. BUSH: High cholesterol --

Q Smoking --

MRS. BUSH: -- high blood pressure --

Q That's right.

MRS. BUSH: -- smoking, diabetes, and then, of course, overweight,
inactivity. Those are the people that don't get any exercise. And those are
all things women can change. Women can make sure they eat a healthy diet,
and when they do that, they can really change the lifestyle of everyone in
their family, by making sure they all do.

Q Do you have personal experience? Has this impacted your family?

MRS. BUSH: No, I haven't.

Q Thank goodness.

MRS. BUSH: I don't have a family member who died of heart disease, but I
hear about people all around the country. And one of the, really, most
gratifying parts about working on the Heart Truth campaign is that I get
letters from people who saw me on television in Kansas City, or in Miami,
or wherever I went on television and they say that very night they realized
that the symptoms they'd been having were heart disease and so they went to
the hospital. And now they're the ones who are going to their churches and
in their communities to talk to other women about heart disease.

Q Well, so clearly it's making a difference, and we congratulate you on
that.

Hey, can I talk about a couple of subjects in the news?

MRS. BUSH: Sure.

Q The Iraq elections this week, they're called a resounding success by your
husband. About 60 percent of the Iraqi people went to the polls. Privately,
if you will, how nervous was he about the turnout for those elections?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I think both of us were very concerned, of course. I mean,
we were really worried, like everybody in Iraq was, and that's why it's
such a huge success for the people of Iraq, that they braved -- went out,
even though they'd been, of course, told that there were going to be
terrorist acts. But they all went to the polls, so many of them did. And it
was so moving for me and for the President, as we watched on television on
Sunday and saw people come out with their purple fingers from the ink that
they dipped their fingers in. It was a very, very moving day.

Q Your husband is going to deliver his State of the Union speech tomorrow
night. Has he read it to you?

MRS. BUSH: He hasn't read it to me. He's been practicing. I know some parts
of it. I know he's going to talk about how we need to confront problems,
like Social Security, before they become acute. But I also know that he's
going to talk about something that I'm particularly interested in for the
second term, and that is what we can do for teenagers and middle
school-aged children to help them be really successful in life.

Q What about what we can do for the families of American servicemen killed
in the line of duty? Will that be part of the speech, an increase in the
death benefit?

MRS. BUSH: I don't -- I'm not sure that's part of the speech, but I know
that that's an issue that he has been working on and that's the benefits
that American service families can receive if they've lost someone in
Afghanistan or Iraq or anywhere around the world.

Q There are reports that will go from $12,000 to up to $250,000 when you
factor in a life insurance policy. Is that pretty accurate?

MRS. BUSH: I'm not really sure. I don't know the details of that, Matt.

Q On the subject of Social Security, why do you think so many people
disagree that, A, either there is a crisis right now, or B, that this
particular solution is the right one right now?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I think people are always worried about any sort of
change, and certainly people who are dependent on Social Security right now
are worried that they won't get their checks, which, of course, is just not
the case. They will continue to get their checks. It's when we have a huge
number of baby boomers on Social Security and fewer workers, fewer younger
people working, putting money into Social Security that the country will
face a problem.

And so it's really important, I think, for all of us to face what that
problem is now, to try to figure out ways that we won't have it, that
problem, when we get to that point in our history.

Q A couple of real quick things. Your husband says he wants to be a uniter,
not a divider. Are you at all worried that this particular issue, Social
Security, will further divide Washington?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I hope it won't. I hope that people will all -- from all
viewpoints will come to the table to try to do what's the very best for the
American worker and for the American retiree who is dependent on Social
Security, now and in the future.

I think that, you know, it's really very important for people to work
together on issues, to not try to use issues in a political way to bash the
other party. And I think we've seen a lot of that, and, frankly, I don't
think the American people like that.

Q And during the State of the Union address, I always like to look up to
see who is sitting with the First Lady. So give me a hint. Who is going to
be sitting next to you tomorrow night?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I'm going to have -- I think I'm going to have somebody
from Afghanistan and I think I'm going to have somebody from Iraq, both
voters, people who have voted in those two elections.

When you look at the three elections that we've had in the last few months,
in Afghanistan, in the Palestinian Territory, and then this weekend in
Iraq, it's very, very encouraging. And it's also a sign that people the
world over want to live in freedom and want to have a democracy in their
country.

Q First Lady Laura Bush. Mrs. Bush, always nice talking to you.

MRS. BUSH: Thanks, Matt.

Q All right, thank you.

END 7:39 A.M. EST

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