NBC News is releasing more excerpts from Monday night’s Matt Lauer special with Pres. George W. Bush ahead of the release of Bush’s memoir, Decision Points. The former president tells Lauer the uncomfortable family dinner moment which led him to quit drinking.
GEORGE W. BUSH: So I’m drunk at the dinner table at Mother and Dad’s house in Maine. And my brothers and sister are there, Laura’s there. And I’m sitting next to a beautiful woman, friend of Mother and Dad’s. And I said to her out loud, “What is sex like after 50?”
AdvertisementMATT LAUER: Silence.
BUSH: And I mean total silence. And not only silence, but like serious daggers.
LAUER: From your mom.
BUSH: Yeah. And my wife. And then I end the anecdote by saying, “I call her to apologize, of course.” The after dinner remorses.
LAUER: But the point of the story is to say alcohol had a control of you, you didn’t have control over alcohol.
BUSH: That’s right. And I was a wiseass, and I would do stupid things, and alcohol had control over me. The interesting thing– I end the anecdote with her writing me a letter on my 50th birthday, when I was governor of Texas, “Dear Governor: Well, what’s the answer?”
LAUER: Yeah. You quit cold turkey.
BUSH: I did.
But “Today” isn’t Pres. Bush’s only stop next week.
Bush will talk with Oprah next Tuesday, the day his book comes out. Oprah asked Bush about the 2012 race:
OPRAH: So your brother Jeb was recently asked by CNN if he would support Sarah Palin for President. Did you hear that? In 2012.
BUSH: Yeah.
OPRAH: And he responded you betcha. Do you think that Sarah Palin is the one for the Republican party in 2012?
BUSH: You know, I am not a political pundit. I’m really not. And secondly, a lot is gonna happen between now and the nominating process. I — I have no clue.
OPRAH: I’m not asking you to pundit.
BUSH: Yeah, you are.
OPRAH: I’m just asking you your opinion.
BUSH: You’re asking me to wade back into the swamp.
OPRAH: Come on in. Come on in.