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Cheney: I'm actually 'loveable' By: Andy Barr January 7, 2009 07:09 PM EST Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that his image has gotten a bad rap in the press and that he is in fact “a warm, loveable sort.” Cheney conceded in an interview with CBS radio that he sometimes expresses himself “rather forcefully toward some of my compatriots, like Pat Leahy from Vermont” but dismissed as a caricature the idea that he is a “Darth Vader-type personality.” “I think all of that’s been pretty dramatically overdone,” the vice president said. “I’m actually a warm, loveable sort.” Cheney also...

A feature story in the January issue of Archaeology Magazine reports that U.S. efforts in Iraq are doing more than just bringing freedom to the once totalitarian state. American scientists are also delivering a measure of justice to the families of tens of thousands of Kurds slaughtered by Saddam Hussein's forces, according to the magazine, which hit newsstands this week. At the prodding of the investigators at Human Rights Watch, who had heard horrific first-hand accounts of the mass executions from survivors, U.S. Army archaeologists and other experts in 2003 began excavating mass graves and gathering evidence for trials that...

Barack Hussein Obama Jr. (The Second), president-elect, met at the White House today with President Bush and with former Presidents G.W. Bush, William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, and Jimmy Carter. According to one report, the youthful, inexperienced Obama proclaimed the meeting was “extraordinary…the White House is so much bigger than it seems on TV!” The Dauphin of the Democratic Party, Obama, was given on-the-job-training by his predecessors, including a briefing on what the duties and responsibilities of the office of the President are, and a short talk on the fact that putting Hillary Clinton in a “cabinet” position does not mean...

If Europe wants to phone America on the Gaza crisis, who does it call? Not George Bush, who has two weeks left in the White House. And not Barack Obama, who has been mute on Israel’s military action, although the world looked to him immediately the conflict filled the screens. “Nobody at home in Washington”, ran one US headline on the turmoil. “President-elect Obama is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza, but there is one president at a time,” said Brooke Anderson, his chief national security spokeswoman. This is disingenuous. Even if silence is meant only as...

Here is video of the historic gathering of all living U.S. Presidents at The White House today to have lunch with President-elect Barack Obama. Bush 41, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Obama were hosted by President George W. Bush (Bush 43). A nice gesture by President Bush. Notice how Jimmy Carter stands somewhat off to himself as if he really does not belong with the group! . . . (watch video)

Video here. I wonder what's on the menu.

Well, the holidays are over and the new year has begun, so let’s get down to business. Here are some 2009 predictions: ...Jeb Bush will be the Bush most in the news in 2009 as he contemplates a U.S. Senate run in 2010. Jeb’s presence — yet another Bush! — will bedevil the GOP for years to come. If Jeb then tries to run for president in 2012 or 2016, it will divide the GOP; true conservatives will never again accept another Bush. The conservatives will fight it out to settle on one candidate to stop the Bushes from again...

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda have been rendered ineffective by international anti-terrorism efforts, a Bush administration official said Tuesday. The comments by Dell L. Dailey, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, were among the administration's most confident declarations of progress against the terrorist organization.

It will be years, maybe decades, before something resembling a consensus emerges on the Bush presidency. But if there is one area where Bush has already been given credit even by some of his harshest critics, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, it is for his leadership in combating the worldwide devastation inflicted by HIV/AIDS. As the President’s deputy domestic policy adviser when the global AIDS initiative was being developed, I believe the story of this program is eminently worth telling, not only for its intrinsic historical interest but for what it reveals about the character of George W. Bush,...

After five years of covering the Bush White House, I finally sat down Tuesday (January 6th) afternoon with George W. Bush for one of the last interviews he will give before he leaves office January 20th.

With the elevation of Barack Obama to the White House, we have successfully centrifuged enough beefcake uranium to reach critical mass and transform the press corps into Malibu/Waikiki paparazzi. Nobody could have avoided the front-page pictures of Obama’s naked torso, toothy grin, backwards ball cap, and hip-hop hand salutes. They trumped the latest Israeli retaliation in Gaza; they eclipsed the Democrat embarrassment in Chicago; they moved the Madoff mess to page E4; and they bumped Britney’s comeback tour. And these photos and stories — “The girls had fruity shaved ices; dad had a tuna melt …” — weren’t targeted at...

Former Florida Governor JEB Bush has decided not to persue the Senate Seat being vacated by retiring Republican Senator Mel Martinez. JEB was considered the top candidate for the office. Mr. Bush has stated that he is not yet prepared to return to public office.

CAIRO, Egypt – Islamic militants posted sarcastic comments on an extremist Web site Tuesday ridiculing a recent announcement by First Lady Laura Bush that the family's cat had died.

President Bush appears at 1:20 of video.

Donors to President George W. Bush's presidential library probably will remain a mystery, said the foundation overseeing fundraising. Mark Langdale, who heads the George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation, said that's the way some donors want it. "It's our decision not to disclose who the donors are," he said. The foundation will oversee construction of the library, museum and public policy institute at the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas. The group had raised less than $3 million when the latest tax reports were filed in August. That's far short of its $300 million goal, but foundation officials said fundraising...

HONG KONG - Bush-bashing - that thriving international industry which over the past eight years has crossed borders, cultures, races and the economic divide - will lose most of its sporting appeal when US President George W Bush hands over to his successor, Barack Obama, on January 20. There will no doubt follow another global wave of celebration and surge of hope as America's first African-American president, who has promised to restore the country's tattered image abroad at the same time that he fixes the economic mess he has inherited from the Bush team, takes the helm in a much-anticipated...

A White House letter tells the father his request on behalf of Sgt. Evan Vela will be 'seriously considered.' The father of an eastern Idaho soldier convicted of killing an unarmed Iraqi says the White House has confirmed that President Bush is considering a request for a pardon. Curtis Carnahan said he received a letter from the White House last week. "Please know that your views on this matter will be seriously considered," it said. Sgt. Evan Vela,a 24-year-old U.S. Army sniper,was convicted in February and sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing an unarmed Iraqi civilian who stumbled...

An 11th-hour rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is stirring national controversy by allowing people who provide reproductive health services to refuse information or procedures that violate their conscience. Under the so-called "conscience rule," scheduled to take effect Jan. 19, any health care provider can refuse to disclose information or provide services to clients without disclosing such actions to supervisors, even if the individual's actions counter the mission of the organization in charge. The rule is backed by some religious and anti-abortion organizations including the National Catholic Bioethics Center. "The proposed regulations will reinforce and reaffirm...

The latest NIC Global Trends 2025 Report is out… and it’s not good news for those determined to insure the Bush legacy is portrayed as one consisting of nothing but of utter failure. Download the 120 pg, 8.2MB report hereI had summarized for Larry Weisenthal here just a few days ago… as well as blogged about it on my old haunt Sea2Sea back in February 2008… PLUS Wordsmith’s post May 29th here on FA… about what? There’s been more than a few of us becoming aware that one of the side benefits of the Iraq war was the decline of...

Tonight, we will be breaking down the last 8 years of the Bush presidency, what he did right, what he did wrong, how history will remember him, and what to expect from the incoming President elect. Tune in tonight at 11:30pm EST.

The rise of the neoconservatives within the GOP has not only discredited the Grand Old Party but tarnished the image of conservatism. The Republican party suffered an overwhelming electoral defeat this past November. The establishment media were all too quick to proclaim that conservatism is dead and we're now at the dawn of a liberal age. Peter Beinart, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), wrote in Time magazine that we are facing the dawn of a "new liberal order." In making this proclamation, Beinart overlooks the fact that the public was not voting...

President Bush met with the First Vice President of the Government of National Unity of Sudan and President of the Government of Southern Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit today in the Oval Office of the White House. TRANSCRIPT The White announced that Bush family pet cat India, aka Willie or Kitty, passed away on Sunday. India was a beloved member of the Bush family for almost two decades. ANNOUNCEMENT

In an ever-shrinking news cycle and political memory to match, I just thought I'd provide a little link to a very controversial book that was being released just before the election, four short years ago. Anyone remember 'The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty'? Well, not necessarily, that anyone remembers, since so few people bought the scandal monger's tripe.Ann will be fine, but NBC would do well to remember how much time it found for Kitty Kelly's controversy.

Size is reduced from what activists sought, but they plan to lobby Obama> The marine areas — totaling 195,280 square miles — are: * In the northern Pacific, waters at the northern end of the Northern Mariana Islands, including the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of Earth's oceans at 36,000 feet. * In American Samoa, the Rose Atoll — the world’s smallest coral atoll and one of the most remote. * In the central Pacific, coral reefs, pinnacles, sea mounts, islands and surrounding waters of Johnston Atoll, Howland, Baker and Jarvis Islands, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island. These...

"Earlier today, Americans for Limited Government announced that it had formally asked Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to launch an immediate investigation into a well-orchestrated plan by top union officials, environmentalists, and political interest groups to raid worker pension funds in order to push the green agenda."

<p>NEW YORK – First lady Laura Bush, among the most reserved and enigmatic public figures of recent times, will, at last, tell her story.</p> <p>How much she will disclose remains a mystery.</p> <p>Bush has agreed to write a memoir with one of the world's oldest publishing houses, Scribner, the house of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and the first lady's mother-in-law, Barbara Bush. Publication for the book, currently untitled, is scheduled for 2010.</p>

Here is video of former President George H.W. Bush on Fox News Sunday yesterday, January 4, 2009, where Chris Wallace asked him about his son, Jeb Bush's political future. Former President Bush said he wanted Jeb to do what he feels is best, but he would love to see Jeb become President or a senator some day. . . . (see video)

What's unfortunate about the world-wide condemnation of Israel for invading Gaza is that there was so little condemnation of Hamas during its years of firing rockets into Israel. Had international outrage been directed at Hamas provocations, it might have dissuaded Hamas from thinking it was invulnerable to Israel's displeasure. It was the thousands of rockets fired indiscriminately at civilian targets in Israel over the years -- intensified since mid-December when the Egyptian-brokered six month ceasefire was terminated by Hamas -- that led to the air attacks and now land invasion by Israel. Despite urgings by the Pope, the UN and...

“Thank you President Bush God Bless” is what 14-year-old Chrissy Doolittle’s sign read. The Leesburg resident stood holding her sign by the Washington Monument for nearly an hour and a half Saturday afternoon with her mother and grandmother to thank President George W. Bush for his eight years in office. Chrissy’s family was part of a group of around 150 people – the majority of them from Loudoun County – who wanted to make sure that their voices of gratitude were heard, even as Bush’s approval ratings hover around 30 percent and the area and nation turn their focus toward...

For nine days, as European and United Nations officials have called urgently for a cease-fire in Gaza, the Bush administration has squarely blamed the rocket attacks of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for Israel’s assault, maintaining to the end its eight-year record of stalwart support for Israel. Mr. Bush, in his weekly radio address on Saturday, said the United States did not want a “one-way cease-fire” that allowed Hamas to keep up its rocket fire, and Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday echoed the point, declaring that only a “sustainable, durable” peace would be acceptable. Many Middle East experts say...

President George W. Bush's "after-life," as Laura Bush calls the post-presidency, is shaping up to be pretty comfortable, with a Dallas office, staffers, Secret Service protection, a travel budget, medical coverage and a $196,700 annual pension, all at taxpayers' expense. However, Bush will be the first president not to benefit from one former lifetime benefit: Secret Service protection. "He'll be the first one to receive it for 10 years," said Malcolm Wiley, Secret Service spokesman. Congress changed the law in the 1990s so that any president elected after Jan. 1, 1997, and his or her spouse will receive the federal...

Former President George H.W. Bush said on Sunday he'd like to see his second son, Jeb, become president of the United States some day. Interviewed on "Fox News Sunday," Bush said his second son, a former governor of Florida, had all the qualifications to serve in the White House. Jeb Bush, 55, has said he was considering running for a U.S. Senate seat representing Florida in 2010. The current incumbent, Republican Mel Martinez, has announced he is stepping down. "I'd like to see him run. I'd like to see him be president one day, or senator, whatever, yes I would,"...

President George W Bush, in his last fortnight in office, is providing Israel with the diplomatic support the country needs to continue its offensive in the Gaza Strip. Late on Saturday, America prevented the United Nations Security Council from passing a statement urging an immediate ceasefire on both sides and expressing deep concern at the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas. Britain has moved away from America and joined the consensus of European governments, who favour a ceasefire. Deprived of Britain's support, America was isolated on the 15-member Council. Alejandro Wolff, the deputy US Ambassador at the UN, said...

White House: Reid 'Isn't Really Taken Seriously' @ 4:14 pm by Hill Staff White House Press Secretary Dana Perino issued a terse response to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) suggestion that President Bush is the "worst president we've ever had." "The Senate Majority Leader isn't really taken seriously," Perino said. Reid, on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, defended his past remarks that Bush was the worst president and the the Iraq war had been lost. "I think you just have to call things the way you see them," Reid said. "I really do believe President Bush is the worst...

A new tax law will allow retirees to skip required withdrawals from individual retirement accounts and related accounts this year [2009]. The change -- signed into law by President Bush last month -- is intended to give beaten-down nest eggs time to rebound from the brutal bear market. ~snip~ The new law suspends required distributions in 2009. This gives those who can afford to leave their nest eggs alone a better chance of recovering some of the investment losses they sustained last year. "They'll have more dollars working for them in the event of a stock-market rebound," says Elizabeth Drigotas,...

Cheney stressed the US support for the Gaza operation, saying the rocket fire on Israel must stop.

An Arizona State University economics professor says our current economic nightmare is ‘hopefully' a once in a lifetime event. Anthony Sanders with the WP Carey School of Business says the United States is happy to put the year 2008 in the rear view mirror because the past few months have seen the worst economic times since the Great Depression. He says the repeated bailouts of everybody from banks to car makers to insurance companies went massively awry. "We have - the retail industry wants a bailout, everybody wants a bailout - in other words, I would call this in terms...

AP) President George W. Bush will leave behind a legacy of Bushisms, the label stamped on the commander in chief's original speaking style. Some of the president's more notable malaprops and mangled statements: "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." - September 2000, explaining his energy policies at an event in Michigan. "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?" - January 2000, during a campaign event in South Carolina. "They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the commander in chief, too." - Sept. 26, 2001, in...

Five Democratic governors are determined to help President George W. Bush secure his legacy as the president who helped to destroy the U.S. economy in order to protect idiot real estate speculators. Placing their faith in the false gods of Keynesianism, they want the U.S. government to fork over $1 trillion --in addition to the $8.5 trillion the federal government and the Fed have already committed to various bailouts-- to help cash-strapped states, Reuters reports. In other Bush legacy news, the U.S. Treasury announced it plans to provide financial aid to companies that supply automobile manufacturers. President Bush better pick...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- President George W. Bush will be judged on what he did. He will also be remembered for what he's like: a fast-moving, phrase-mangling Texan who stays upbeat even though his country is not. For eight years, the nation has been led by a guy who relaxes by clearing brush in scorching heat and taking breakneck bike rides through the woods. He dishes out nicknames to world leaders, and even gave the German chancellor an impromptu, perhaps unwelcome, neck rub. He's annoyed when kept waiting and sticks relentlessly to routine. He stays optimistic in even the most dire...

An Afghan woman holds a U.S. flag during a ceremony in Kabul marking the donation of more than 5000 wheelchairs to Afghanistan, September 22, 2003. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood Ted Turner and Jane Fonda must be political soul mates. From a transcript of Bill O'Reilly's interview with Ted Turner: O'REILLY: All right. Is America a good country? TURNER: Oh, it's a great country. O'REILLY: Are we exploitative overseas? Is the war on terrorism largely our fault? TURNER: No, I wouldn't say largely. But I think if we stopped bombing people and sent doctors and scientists and engineers around the world that...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryJanuary 2, 2009 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: Middle EastTHE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Over the past week, I have been monitoring the situation in the Middle East closely with the members of my national security team. Secretary Rice is actively engaged in diplomacy. And I've been in contact with leaders throughout the region -- including the King of Saudi Arabia, the King of Jordan, the President of Egypt, the President and Prime Minister of the Palestinian Territories, and the Prime Minister of Israel. This recent outburst of violence...

Top Israeli officials have given the military the green light for a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip after a week of deadly bombings. "The Israeli leadership has given the thumbs-up for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip," wrote FOX News, quoting unnamed sources. Earlier on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with other cabinet members to discuss a ground offensive into Gaza.

One of Israeli's leading newspapers says only one one leader has shown genuine understanding of Israel's dilemma. The Jerusalem Post says George W. Bush's understanding has been steadfast during Israel's confrontation with Hamas. The newspaper said Bush's approach contrasted with that of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who initially said he understood Israel's stance, but then allowed the Foreign Office to join with Europe in calling for an immediate ceasefire. "In contrast, from Texas, where the president has been marking the holidays, his spokesman Gordon Johndroe placed the onus for the hostilities where it belongs: "Hamas's continued rocket attacks into...

Bush blames Hamas for Gaza conflict WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President Bush laid the blame for recent fighting in Gaza squarely at the feet of Hamas, accusing militants of waging a campaign of violence against Israel with little regard for its people. "Since Hamas' violent takeover in the summer of 2007, living conditions have worsened for Palestinians in Gaza," Bush says in prepared remarks released Friday by the White House. "By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people." In a radio address to...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Treasury Department opened the door Friday to using a Citigroup-style rescue package to help other troubled financial institutions. The financial lifeline thrown to Citigroup Inc. (C) in late November involved backing billions in risky assets and providing the banking giant with a fresh capital infusion. Treasury said participation by other companies in such a program would be weighed on a case-by-case basis. Treasury said it would consider, among other things, whether the "destabilization" of a financial institution could threaten the viability of creditors and others. It also would weigh the extent to which the institution faced...

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush on Friday branded the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel an "act of terror" and outlined his own condition for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups. Bush chose his weekly taped radio address to speak for the first time about one of the bloodiest Mideast clashes in decades. It began a week ago. Israeli warplanes have rained bombs on Gaza, targeting the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has traumatized southern Israel with intensifying rocket attacks. "The United States...

There is no doubt that we have achieved VICTORY in Iraq. In 2008 we have the lowest number of US troops’ fatalities in Iraq. Every dead soldier or Marines is way too many but the low number of US troops killed in Iraq is shockingly low in 2008 and compared to any historic standard. According to a leftist website that keeps track of US casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan we have lost 314 of our heroes in Iraq in 2008 but only 225 of them were due to hostile enemy fire. Here is the link http://icasualties.org/oif/USByYear.aspx. (Click on fatality type...

As he madly dashes further into socialism, Comrade George W. Bush seems determined to lavish billions of taxpayer dollars on Detroit’s automakers — conservatism, Congress, and the Constitution be damned.

A regulatory expert says President Bush is flagrantly ignoring the law by using money from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for a second bailout of General Motors. The government's bailout of the auto industry has swelled to $23.4 billion after the White House committed to send GM and its financing arm an extra $6 billion. The Treasury Department plans to purchase a $5-billion equity stake in GMAC, the financing arm of GM, and give GM an additional billion dollars to in turn buy stock in GMAC. The $6 billion will come from the $700 billion Wall Street...