Heather Lind #MeToo’s George H.W. Bush for Sexual Assault

Much like the Ice Bucket Challenge, after a week, you were expected to invent your own hook if you expected anybody to watch. The #MeToo sex harassment and assault celebrity led Twitter campaign enters its second full week. You’re going to look uber-bandwagon if you don’t add a unique element. Actress Heather Lind did that and then some by declaring she’d been sexually assaulted by former President George H.W. Bush. Not W, the ne’er-do-well son President, the dad, wheelchair bound and stricken with vascular Parkinson’s.

Lind claims that she posed with the elder Bush’s for a photo op in 2014 to promote the show, TURN: Washington’s Spies, which AMC had to invent so they had something to run in between 22 hours of The Walking Dead. That’s when the devilish non-ambulatory fiend goosed her in some way. You can see from the photo the old man’s hand is behind Lind, perhaps giving an unwanted touch. Taylor Swift won $1 for this same behavior. It’s not un-serious.

Lind’s accusation is not without merit. In fact, it seems the likely demented old man is squeezing ladies backsides when they get within wheelchair reach. Since he’s never been accused of such behavior during his sixty years in public life, prior to ninety, assume there’s some senility involved. It’s not uncommon for wildly old men to lose inhibition control. Hence, Bush’s handlers seem to be warning women not to stand to close to the grabby geezer.

If an insanely old and addled Margaret Thatcher squeezed your bum, you’d probably laugh it off and hope your buddies believed your story. Heather Lind went the opposite way and accused President Bush of “sexual assault”.

“I was disturbed today by a photo I saw of President Barack Obama shaking hands with George H. W. Bush in a gathering of ex-presidents organising aid to states and territories damaged by recent hurricanes. I found it disturbing because I recognize the respect ex-presidents are given for having served. And I feel pride and reverence toward many of the men in the photo. But when I got the chance to meet George H. W. Bush four years ago to promote a historical television show I was working on, he sexually assaulted me while I was posing for a similar photo. He didn’t shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again. Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say ‘not again’.”

Imagine the PTSD trauma from seeing such a photo. Especially if H.W. is in the picture goosing Jimmy Carter. And talk about an enabler. Barbara Bush. Kinky mistress of the dark.

Lind went on to talk a whole bunch about the responsibilities of Presidents and thanked her cast-mates for helping her deal with the trauma of the incident after the fact. She also thanked President Obama for shaking elder Bush’s hand at the event, even though the man clearly deserved no respect since he’s pretty much a nonagenarian rapist. That was a weird call out. But provides some insight into Lind’s political heroes.

President Bush’s team was forced to issue an apology. They didn’t exactly disclaim the accusation, though subtly hinted at the fact that Bush means no intentional harm and probably can’t help himself. The other option is to put him in a Hannibal Lecter type restraint and cart him around on an upright dolly.

Somewhere between excusing a not-right-minded old man for grabbing ass and shouting “penis!” and labeling him a sexual assaulter is probably the right place to be. If any Social Justice Warrior were ever able to assume a middle ground position. It’s not great for Likes. Or press coverage.

Photo credit: Getty Images