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George W Bush on stage with his wife at the "First Ladies Summit" Carolyn Kaster/AP/Press Association Images

Laura Bush: George once drove into a wall after I told him his speech was no good

The former First Lady has been sharing her memories of the White House alongside Michelle Obama at a forum in Tanzania.

FORMER US PRESIDENT George W Bush sometimes didn’t respond so well to criticism, according to his wife.

Laura Bush discussed various aspects of life with the president as she appeared alongside current First Lady Michelle Obama yesterday at the “First Ladies Summit” in Dar es Salaam – an event hosted by the George W. Bush Institute.

On the subject of watching one’s words – Mrs Bush said she once told George that his speech “wasn’t really very good” and that he then “drove into the garage wall.”

She said that when it came to telling your husband the truth, the point was that you needed to be “really careful, actually”.

Michelle told the assembled crowd that it was important for the president to have somewhere he could “switch off” after a hectic day at the Oval Office.

“I have found that my husband needs time to be off and the only time is when they walk into the doors of the residence and we sit down and have a family dinner,” Obama said. She added:

And the thing about having girls, they could care less about him!

The current and former first families have been carrying out several joint events in the country, as President Obama ends his tour of the African continent.

Obama and Bush jointly laid a wreath at a memorial to those killed in a US embassy bombing in Tanzania in 1998, in an appearance the White House said was proof that both parties in US politics  cared about Africa.

Pics: ‘Humbled’ Barack Obama visits Nelson Mandela’s prison cell

Read: Obama to meet Mandela’s family – but won’t visit him in hospital

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    Mute sluazcanal
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:11 PM

    Thats alot of crashed cars so.

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:41 PM

    Damn airbags..

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    Mute Jonny Rigley
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 2:36 PM

    Pity done of d crashes were fatal. .

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    Mute Taxi Bill
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 4:26 PM

    Always amazed we all “hate” the Bushes,Raygun! Etc (fine) but think the sun shin out the likes of Billy Clinton who eould beed a txad oil well to cool down his zipper (did not ) have sex with any female who stood (or knelt) long enough, flattened a terrorist (baby milk factory) base, etc etc and Saint O Bama, vastly expanded Americas spying network ( at home and abroad,) didnt close Quantanamo Camp. Etc etc. But the they sure make great speeches (which they dont write) and look good on tv (particularly to the ladies!)

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    Mute Adam Power
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:51 PM

    Quality article, informative & straight to the point.
    Will print it off to show it to my grand children one day.

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    Mute Maurice Riordan
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:14 PM

    Wonder what she said to him to make him drive the American economy into a wall?

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    Mute shane maguire
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 2:11 PM

    Took the words out of my mouth

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    Mute John Tierney
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:40 PM

    And in 1963 Laura ran a stop sign and killed the driver of an on-coming car. Needless to say, no charges brought. Those crazy Bushes!! So much in common!!

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    Mute dna30
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:18 PM

    So he is really not competent enough to drive a car, but was entrusted to run a country.
    The mind boggles.

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    Mute Mike Johnston
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:17 PM

    Pity he didn’t drive in to a canal!

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    Mute Damocles
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:25 PM

    “they could care less”

    Devastatingly bad English.

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:57 PM

    Ahhh sure poor old George has been beaten up by the English language so many times , he’s verbally punch drunk. Best ever was when he told the French that they had no word for entrepreneur.

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    Mute B Lowe
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:37 PM

    Hopefully he’ll be arrested one if these days and tried for war crimes.
    A manical despot.

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    Mute Charles Alexander
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:29 PM

    Pity she didn’t tell him he was a useless president.
    Perhaps then, he would have have done the world a huge favour and driven the car off the cliff!

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    Mute Niall Griffin
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 1:44 PM

    I felt like driving my car into a wall,when I heard Enda Kenny’s ‘truly,madly,deeply ‘ speech.

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    Mute Bobby Murray
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:29 PM

    He was rehearsing for the twin towers!

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    Mute Fagan Fagan
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:26 PM

    He was probably drunk … But still he didn’t hit it hard enough

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    Mute JayK
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 2:08 PM

    Remember that time he killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians? Oh how we laughed…

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    Mute Mick Stafford
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:21 PM

    Bush Whacked…..!

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    Mute Lorcán Brady
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 2:01 PM

    “…they could care less about him!” -! – hate that. Get it right Americans

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    Mute Michele Savage
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 2:49 PM

    I suppose the newspaper caption was
    “Wall crashes into Bushes”…?

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    Mute Carcu Sidub
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 12:38 PM

    So does anybody tell any politician the truth?

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    Mute Owen O'Sullivan
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 2:17 PM

    Dont make me do “stuff”

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    Mute Nigel Carvill
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 4:14 PM

    And this man was so called leader of “the free world”. We’re all lucky to be alive.

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    Mute Uncle Mort
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 2:11 PM

    “several joint events in the country” That would explain a lot.

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    Mute Ian Booth P
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 4:54 PM

    This was in the Oliver Stone movie.

    Cool story?!

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    Mute Brian D. Brady
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    Jul 3rd 2013, 1:06 PM

    You know what they say about women drivers! add to that the help we all need and respect from backseat drivers and a well rounded view of Bush’s Presidential closest adviser ;)

    I am the secondary driver in my unit so do not hold the first statement to be all encompassing ;)

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