Former President George W. Bush joked that there would be “no new tuxes” for him — a reference to one of his father former President George H.W. Bush’s most remembered lines that there would be “no new taxes.”
George W. Bush said Thursday at the Atlantic Council Distinguished Leadership Awards dinner in D.C. that his former national security adviser Stephen Hadley recommended he not wear the same tux he wore to the White House Correspondents Association dinner.
“When Hadley invited me here, he didn’t tell me it was black tie,” Bush said. “He finally confessed and he said, ‘Look, this is an important crowd in Washington. I don’t want you wearing that old ratty tux you used to wear to the White House Correspondents Dinner.’”
“I looked at Hadley and said, ‘Hadley read my lips: No new tuxes,’” he added.
George H.W. Bush had said, “Read my lips: No new taxes” during the 1988 Republican National Convention. Ultimately, the line came back to bite him as several existing taxes were raised in 1990.
After being treated for an infection after the funeral for his late wife, Barbara Bush, George H.W. Bush was discharged from the hospital last Friday.
George W. Bush was awarded the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished International Leadership Award at the Thursday evening event.
