In Tokyo, Bush delivered a paid speech on “family values” to an enthusiastic crowd of 20,000 women. Problem was, the Woman’s Federation for World Peace was set up by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and most of those who paid $120 to get in were members of Moon’s Unification Church, often called a cult. (A Bush spokesman said he had been unaware of the Moon connection.) Moon’s wife declared from the same podium: “It has to be Reverend Moon [who] saves the United States, which is in decline because of the destruction of the family and moral decay.” She didn’t even give Bush a share of the credit for helping end the cold war.
Off to China next, Bush didn’t fare much better. Speaking at a meeting of food-production executives in Beijing, Bush took a shot at former representative Bella Abzug, a liberal who was one of the prime movers of another women’s gathering: the U.N.sponsored conference outside the capital. “I feel somewhat sorry for the Chinese, having Bella Abzug running around in China,” Bush said. Never lacking for rhetorical firepower, the ex-congresswoman had the last word. “He was addressing a fertilizer group?” she said. “How appropriate.”
