"I don't understand how human life doesn't matter to somebody. But clearly, it doesn't matter to them."
But not following the lead of Bush, Cindy McCain, in two television interviews aired yesterday, did not back down from her seeming criticism of Michelle Obama's remark that she was "really proud" of America for the first time in her adult life with the success of her husband's campaign for change.
While Bush has defended Obama - who said on "The View" on Wednesday she had written a thank-you note to Bush - McCain said on ABC's "Good Morning America," "All I know is that I have always been proud of my country."
And on CNN's "American Morning," she said her initial criticism of Obama, the wife of presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama, was not a planned political attack.
"I'm an emotional woman when it comes to service to our country," she said.
"I've watched many people leave children and go serve. This is something that is the fiber of the McCain family. It was nothing more than me saying, 'Look, I believe in this country so strongly.' I think she's a fine woman, a good mother, and we're both in an interesting line of work right now."
In Vietnam, she visited the coastal town of Nha Trang where about 100 children born with cleft palates and cleft lips were awaiting plastic surgery provided free by the US charity Operation Smile. The surgeries will be performed on one of the US Navy's floating hospitals.
"This is what I do, and this is what revitalizes me, personally," McCain told reporters. "The campaign is extremely important, of course, but this is also important to me, and so you try to balance everything."
