Tree, what kind of tree would you be . It was like a hardhitting interview question. President bush says well barbara, i am not a tree. I am a bush. [applause] and i said i am voting for him. So living life with that gentle, witty human it has been a plus to be around him and embrace my own humility and the importance of character. Elections are about character. The people you surround yourself with their character sticks out. I didnt realize i wrote a book about this until megyn kellys husband said this is a parent book about living with character and surrounding yourself with people of character. So i had worked on many other books. Before i was a White House Press secretary i was a deputy. I always say take a deputy job. You work holidays and weekends but you get to know the boss and learn the job so when there is an opportunity you can step up. I left the white house and i was called upon to work on doing publicity for karl roves book, laura bushs book and i got a call from 43 and he asked if i could help him with a public tour. And worked with charles krauthammer. I was an editorial director on that book and i liked being behind the scenes. I never thought of writing by own book although every press secretary thinks about all of the experiences they have and want to tell the stories. I remember on a train between washington, d. C. And new york where wrote downtown if i wrote a book what would it look like and at the top in block letters it said not political because i didnt want to write a book like that. The guy who edits president bush, keep him in mind. He knew me and asked if i had a book. And he said what about your stories and he said you tell Great Stories about president bush. And i remembered i took the from the amtrak train and it was in my wallet for three years. All of a sudden i pulled it out and said i have do this. This is my book proposal a. Ripped up piece of paper folded in my wallet for three years. Sean looked at it and said leave this with me and went to this bosses and said we should do a book and they said that book will never sell and if you want to do something political we will help you. I said i am not doing that. I was a little humilitated. And then sean went to another publisher, my publisher. He said what if you did your book here. His team gave him a lot of room to run and he helped me structure the book. I wanted to fill in the gaps of history about president bush and provide mentoring advice to young people who didnt go to Ivy League Colleges or young people who might have narrow horizons and let them know you too could end up advising the president in the oval office. And he said you cannot start a book at age 36 as the White House Press secretary. You have to explain before that. That is where the stories of character come in. My grandfather was the first generation of italian immigrants. They homesteaded and mined coal in the western regions. There is finally Good Development happening up in that area. The pictures take me home. It is a beautiful part of the world. It is my mount rush more. I started telling the story of my grandfather driving on the cattle ranch and my sister would be with me who is four years younger. I was about seven or eight. And my grandfather would tease my sister saying did you see the smurf . My sister loved it. I got the joke and went along with it. We are having this great time, and i remember driving along coming across a cattle guard and we see one of my grandpas horses fell through the guard and broke his leg. He was in pain. And my grandfather is a softy, u. S. Marine and world war ii veteran bought soft heart especially for animals. He pulled up and is reaching for the rifle that was hung securely in the window. He told me to get down on the floor and dont look up. I remember trying not to look up but when someone tells you to look up it is like dont look at that guy. In the frame of the window of the truck was my grandpa who was rugged face, tan skin and i saw a single tear come down this cheek as he had to shoot the horse. When he got back in the truck i didnt want him to know i looked but i think he knew i did because he reached over and grabbed my leg and squeezed it and i hoped some of that character was seeping into me as well. Reading. I got to go to the Barbara Bush Foundation celebration of reading. She is still very active in literacy issues. A lot of people who write books love to read books. Everybody in this room loves to read or wants to meet jasper. I talked to my mom this morning and she would take me to target. You would not do this with your grandchildren. Take them to target, park them at the book session, and then go shopping and come back and get them. Back then you could do that. I would read one book by the time they finished and i remember i read sheila the great by judy bloom and that was my first instance of telling my mom dont we have to pay for this . My mom said we are going to the library and checked into two different libraries because you could only get seven books so then i could get 14 because i would read them on the way home. My mom could not keep us in books. We were readers along the way but there was one instance that goes to this character point that helps me later on. My dad required be to read the Rocky Mountain post and the Washington Times every day and we would help me think through the arguments and Critical Thinking skills. When i was riding the book i thought back about to that because there was a moment one morning and i dont know the issue but it was controversial. It was the bush administration. You know, nothing but controversial issues. What it was that my opinion was unpopular among the senior staff. We were on marine one and the president looked at me and said what do you think i should do . And i thought back to the moment at the Kitchen Table and how important it is for fathers or a male dominant figure, grandfather, to spend time with young girls to give them the ability and confidence they will need later in life because i was able to look at president bush and say this is what i think, hold to it, it was unpopular and he looked out the window for a minute, i didnt say anything, this is a negotiation, he turns back around and looks at the deputy chief of staff and said she is exactly right. And i also thank my dad for giving me a little bit of that ability. But when you are sitting on the barn yard fence thinking you will never leave wyoming you dont think you will end up in the oval office. My first time in the oval office i got kicked out. I asked bush about it on the book tour and he didnt remember it. But i will tell you now. I mentioned part of the book is about ad vicadvice. I thought it was important to tell the stories because everybody knew about the policies and politics but very few knew him from the behind the screens perspective that i did. He and i were meeting in the oval office were the first time. January 2005 and i was brand new as the deputy press secretary. Dan bartlet, the communication director, asked me to go into the oval office to sit in on an interview. He said you dont have to brief him just sit there. I will come brief him but i to go to this interview so sit there and report back to me. I am excited to go the oval office and listening to dan learning the best and the president said i am not doing an interview with that guy. And he said boss, you said you would do an interview. And he said no, i said i would talk to him not an interview. The president was right actually. He should not have done an interview because it would look like he was negotiating with the iranians through this columnist who just got back. Finally the president said i am not doing an interview and therefore she doesnt need to be here. He looked at me and gave me one of these see yourself out. And i was so mortified. I am brand new and i get to the office i have to go and there is a door you can have slit shut. So i close the door, and i call peter and i was tearful on the phone and i said i just got kicked out of the oval office and i am crying. And peter said just thing, for the rest of your life you can say i have been kicked out of better places than this. [applause] and that is one of the reason why in the advice portion of my book i break it out into thick things you can do in the office, things you should do over your career, and things you should do over your life. The past piece of advice is that choosing to be loved is not a career limiting decision or doesnt have to be. Peter and i met on an airplane. It is a sweet story. He tells the story better than i do and has the british accent which is hard to compete with. When i was writing the book he was watching football and i am trying to write and i said what if you write this portion so i outsour outsourced a little bit of the work. It as a sweet story about how we meet an an airplane by chance on a flight he almost took a different flight and i almost missed the flight we happened to be assigned sheets from denver to chicago. Love at first sight and i moved to england 17 months later and that was 18 years ago. If you think about it, as i said, i didnt know george bush beforehand. My life changeded a so quickly peter allowed me to grow professionally and in many other ways. The reason i am going to read this is because it is hard for me to get through it. I came early today to make sure i was here to listen to travis mills. Travis mills and i met not long ago at an event in new york. He and i share, as i said we shared a commander in chief, and this affection for president bush, and this story i am about to read to you is about a scene nobody knew about until this book was written about a Wounded Warrior visit next to walter reed and this is one of the scenes from evans. It is called i think he wants the president news of americas military men and women were wounded and killed in iraq and afghanistan almost overwhelmed me on sunday. I may have sound n strong when talking to the press but sometimes i had to push my feelings way down in order to get any words out of my mouth to make statements and answer questions. The hardest days are when president bush went to visited the wounded families of the fallen. If it was tough for me you can only imagine what it is like for the families and a president who knew it was his decisions that led troops into the battle where they fought and were severely injured or lost their lives. On a morning in 2005 i was asked to go on behalf of scott mcclelin to walter reed with president bush. We started nlt intensive care unit and the chief naval office briefed the president about the first patient we would see. He was a young marine who was injured when his hum vee was injured by a bomb. At his bed side were parents, wife and fiveyearold son. What is the prognosis . We dont know. He hasnt opened his eyes since arriving. We had to wear a mask. I watched how the family might react to the president and was worried they would be mad and blame him. But i was wrong. The family gave the president hugs and thanked him over and over and wanted to get a photo. So they gathered him in front of the white house photographer and asked is everybody smiling which was funny since we were all wearing masks. The president talked quitely at the foot of the patients bed. I looked up to the ceiling so i could hold back tears. After he visited with them the president turned to the military aid and said okay do the presentation. The wounded soldier was being awarded the purple heart given to troops that suffer in combat. Everyone stood silenty the military aid in low and steady voice presented the award. At the end of it the son pulled on it and said what is a purple heart . And the president got down on one knee and pulled the little boy close to him and said it is an award for your dad because he is brave and courageous and loves his country so much. I hope you know how much he loves you and his mom. There was a commotion on the other side of the room and the marine just opened his eyes. I could see him from where i stood. The naval officer held the medical team back and said hold on, guy, i think he wants the president. The president jumped up and rushed over to the side of the bed and cupped the marines face in his hands and they locked eyes and after a few moments the president said to the military aid read it again. So we stood silently as the military aid presented the marine with the award for the second time. The president had tears dripping from his eyes on to the marines face. The president rested his headon the had marine for a minute and everyone was crying for the sacrifice, the pain and suffering, the love of country, the belief of a mission, and the witnesses of a relationship between the soldier and his commander and chief that no one else could grasp. I contacted several military aids to help me tig figure out who he was. I hoped so much he had survived but he did not. He died six days later in surgery after bushs visit. One mom and dad of a soldier from the caribbean were devastat devastated. The mother yelled at the president wanting to know why was it my son and not your daughters in the hospital bed. The president didnt leave. He sat there like he wanted to absorb some of her grief if he could. Later as we road back on marine one to the white house no one spoke. As the helicopter took off, the president looked at me and said that mama sure was mad at me. Then he turned to look out the window of the helicopter and he said and i dont blame her a bit. One tear slipped out of the sad of his eye and his face. He didnt wipe it away and he flew back to the white house. [applause] and there were other wonderful stories, i guess i can tell this in a church. On the last weekend before we turned the white house over to president and ms. Obama we wept to norfolk, virginia for the commissioning of the aircraft carrier. 41 is 90 years old and they follow that ship every day. They sent him all of the information and he knows exactly where it is. And i remember i dont want to take up too much time. I remember i was there and i was nervous because there was a high i cannot reveal anything but a high level of a threat of a terrorist attack because any time of transition from one period to the next is a time of instability. Everybody who was anybody was at his ship commissioning. I was standing in the back. One thing you learn as a press secretary is the reporters dont always watch the president for what is happening. They watch the press secretary. I was sitting there watching the beautiful cold day but sunny skies and got a tap on my shoulder from the secret Service Agent and he said the president needs you at the helicopter in five minutes. I thought what is happening. I thought we have to evacuate. I slipped back on to the ship we were staying on and ran to the helicopter. There is rice and the plane is on so we could not talk. He buckle up and i am nervous. And the president said lets go see the seals. He wanted to go see the navy seals one last time as commander and chief. We flew over there and dick cheney is going to speak. They go wild when president bush comes in. There is probably 400 young men, Young American men with really long beards, so you can imagine this isnt the typical american guy look. The president speaks to them from the heart and they will not stop applauding. He is asking them to sit down. And i thought that is one order they do not have to obey. He wanted to take pictures with everybody. He wasnt in a hurry to leave. The two seals came up to me and said excuse me are you the press secretary . I was honored they knew who i was. And they asked for a picture with me. And they are allinspiring. I said to the first one what makes you want to be a navy seal . Family tradition . Sense of adventure . Like to travel . And the first one said oh, no, maam e chicks dig it. And i said even with the beard . And he said oh, yeah, they get it. And when i asked the second one and i said were you are preparing to go whenever you are going do you have to take a lot of language courses . And he said oh, no, maam, we are really not there to talk. And got on the helicopter and told the president that story and he threw his head back and said god i love those guys. I talk about the transition to television. I have to credit fox news for seeing something in me i didnt see in myself. I didnt know i could shoot the breeze with four other people and have a great time on television and make a living doing it. I have had more fun, and learned so much, it is like all of these things i studied from my dad reading me the papers, to being the White House Press secretary, and being interested in journalism and being on the third most poplar show in cable tv news. My cohost have really helped me as well all of them [applause] i will ask gull field to come next year. Just make sure you have a lot of wine. I am going to get to your question but i want to tell you how i end the story. We are in a primary season. They are the worst especially for a party who doesnt have running for reelection. In 2012, president obama didnt have any opposition so they breezed through. In the mean time we were bashing ourselves over the headon our side. It is similar on both sides now. Hillary clinton is getting a battle from bernie sanders. And there is the republicans and later tonight there is a debate. I remember how unxhfrlable it was and i write in the book about a moment where a president and press secretary an are like this. And if they are not like this you cannot be a good press secretary. So there was an event and it was clear the president wasnt welcome. The president decided not to go and he gave a statement that was played live on the television at the convention. At the end of the, the president walked back to them and said do you think they know they are missing me . That is a hard question. You have to have total honesty when you are press secretary but you dont want to hurt someones feeling and i had to say yes, sir, i believe they do. It was such a freeing moment maybe for him but certainly for me because that is when i realized that more important than politics is always the character. On the last day when he was in office i got to go to the oval office and he wrapped his arm around me and he said the first day i walked in i looked at myself in the mirror and i said i want to be able to look at the same man on my last day of office and he said i think i can do that. He said he wanted to take one more walk around the grounds and as he left i thought there goes a great president. I miss him and i am grateful to be his friend. I call for civility and Public Discourse at the end. I dont mind if you start lining up because we want to get to as many questions. And if you dont line up, cspan cant get your question and it will be a mess. It is january, 2005, i was junior birdman and the president didnt know my name and i just got kicked out of the oval office. I got invited to the