Free Republic

Critics have blasted George W. Bush’s portraits as “amateur, very literal-minded” and “like a freshman art student attempting alla prima,” but it is not clear how much of this opinion free-for-all draws on in-person experience of the artworks at the Bush Presidential Library in Dallas and how much is based on mediocre photos and rampant ignorance. Certainly, some of the former president’s freshman efforts are not notable, but more are remarkable, and a few outstanding. Bush’s portrait of Vladimir Putin is stunning, fierce and deeply revealing. It exposes its subject’s realities, as successful portraits do. Other paintings show person...

The greatest work of art George W. Bush ever took part in was in 2008, when an Iraqi journalist threw two shoes at his head. “This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog,� screamed the journalist, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who had been arrested twice by U.S. forces during the occupation.Bush dodged the shoes with the same ease with which he’d had dodged consequences all his life; those for drunk driving, for ruined companies, stolen elections, war crimes, the destruction of Zaidi’s country.After he dodged the shoes, Bush joked about free countries. Meanwhile, guards beat Zaidi bloody. Police tortured him...

Sen. Rand Paul says potential White House rival Jeb Bush was inarticulate when he described immigrants who come to the United States illegally as committing an "act of love." In an interview that aired Sunday, Paul said that those immigrants "are not bad people" but added the United States "can't invite the whole world" inside its borders....

Two Lyndhurst brothers in the U.S. illegally will spend little more than a year in prison for repeatedly sexually assaulting a young girl from age 5 to 12. Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian sentenced Mauro Cedeno-Blondet, 53, and Gustavo Cedeno-Blondet, 55, to three years in state prison each. But because they’ve been behind bars for 691 days, they get nearly two years of jail credit. They will then be deported back to Ecuador. The Cedeno-Blondets will serve their time in general population because neither qualifies for sex offender treatment at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel, the...

AUSTIN, Tex. — Former President George W. Bush called the achievement gap between white and black children “a national scandal” on Thursday and urged both parties to come together to address it as the central civil rights issue of the modern era. Paying tribute to President Lyndon B. Johnson at a conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Mr. Bush said the real test of the nation’s commitment to equality would be to fix an educational system that has tolerated low standards for too long. “There’s a growing temptation among public officials in both political parties at...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Friday responded to contentious remarks made by Jeb Bush last weekend, in which the potential 2016 Republican presidential rival said that illegal immigrants who come to the United States seeking a better life for their families often do so as "an act of love." “I think it wasn’t the most artful way of saying something, but I think he was well-intentioned,” Paul said in an interview with RealClearPolitics. “If I were to make the same point, I would say that people who seek the American dream are not bad people, but that doesn’t mean you...

Jeb Bush defended his controversial comments about immigration reform, insisting they were nothing new for him and urging “sensitivity to the immigrant experience.” At a Connecticut Republican party dinner Thursday night, the former Republican governor of Florida did not repeat his remarks from last weekend at his father’s presidential library, when he said that people who come to the United States illegally in search of a better life for their children “broke the law, but it’s not a felony. It’s an act of love.”

The horses are lining up in the gates. Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee (seriously he’s going to run again I think) Rick Santorum (this guy has nothing else to do), Jeb Bush, Rick Perry may make another run, and who knows who else, are all chomping at the bit. The 2016 nomination isn’t that far away. They can all taste it. Within this battle for the GOP nomination is a battle for the Republican Party of course. Will the hostile takeover of the party continue or will the GOP revert to another establishment retread at the helm. Will the...

The GOP will never become unified until is decides what it believes. Bush should run if only to force that debate over what Republicans really stand for. Part of the reason Reagan won in 1980 was the field against him was divided. The establishment favored Ambassador Bush or John Connolly or Bob Dole or Howard Baker but Reagan forced the debate and moved the party to the right, where much of it is today. In 2016 the right of center vote will be divided among Paul, Ted Cruz, and others, just as the conservative vote was divided in 2012, allowing...

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush is reaching out to evangelical leaders as he considers a 2016 presidential run, and in early May, he will meet privately with Russell Moore, one of the country’s most prominent Southern Baptists. Moore, a frequent presence on television and at theological conferences, heads the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has more than 16 million members. Moore and an aide to Bush have confirmed the session, which will take place at Bush’s office in Miami. Bush, who has played down the idea that he is exploring...

One oft-made argument against illegal immigration is that it is morally wrong simply because it is illegal. Immigrants have an obligation to obey the law. If they violate it by entering the country illegally, that by itself is enough justification for deporting them, regardless of whether their illegal entry actually harms anyone or not. In an interesting recent Fox News interview, former Florida governor and possible Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush takes issue with some aspects of this argument: Jeb Bush said the debate over immigration reform needs to move past derisive rhetoric describing illegal immigrants. The former Florida governor...

in a speech in Brussels on March 26, President Barack Obama rejected Vladimir Putin's assertions regarding the wrongs of the United States invasion of Iraq. Rhetoric aside, the Russian president has no moral standing for the invasion and annexation of Crimea. Nevertheless it is important to look at Obama's own moral arguments in justifying an invasion that a majority of US citizens regard as a major US foreign policy disaster. Putin called into question the legitimacy of the coalition behind the Iraq invasion by pointing out that president George W Bush declared, "If you are not with us, you are...

Posted a blank of this photo over the weekend, here are 13 of the best/favorite captions people came up with.This was an interesting one...

When I look at the paintings of George W. Bush, it’s like seeing an incubus on America, as freakish and off-putting as his presidency was. Yet the art critic in me has to grant that if I stumbled on three or four of Bush's paintings in a flea market by an anonymous artist, I'd snap them right up. The first batch of his paintings we saw, in 2012, were of landscapes, churches, Bush himself in the bathtub, and other scenes, and I liked them for their sheer weird obliviousness, their zonked-out earnest attempts at figuration, the odd feel for form...

Jeb Bush's "act of love" comments about immigration over the weekend drew massive headlines with some conservatives criticizing him for his latest apostasy on the issue. But, it's the lead-up to Bush using the phrase "act of love" that's actually the really important part of what he said. Here it is with our bolding added: "There are means by which we can control our border better than we have. And there should be penalties for breaking the law. But the way I look at this -- and I'm going to say this, and it'll be on tape and so be...

The debate over illegal immigration is one of the most frustrating issues for those who approach public policy logically.  Seldom do we have so much history to draw upon when crafting new policies like we do with illegal immigration, yet nobody in Washington is willing to learn the lessons of the past.We have seen time and again how one amnesty begets another because liberalizing our immigration laws without a commensurate plan to prevent future flows of illegal immigration will only encourage more of the same.  The solution is not an enigma.  All we have to do is actually implement the border and...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says illegal immigrants endure “heartbreaking” conditions, but wouldn’t agree with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush that they aren’t committing a felony. “We’re a nation of immigrants, we need to celebrate that, but at the same time, rule of law matters,” Cruz said Monday on CNN’s “The Lead.”

Via BuzzFeed, a vignette from the big Bushworld confab over the weekend to honor Bush 41. Imagine if the “tea-party era” in Republican politics, which began after eight years of Dubya and the nomination of John McCain, produced Mitt Romney and then Jeb Bush as presidential nominees. I’m treating the prospect of another Bush nomination as a test of whether the Republican grassroots, realistically, has any influence at all over who their party chooses. Say what you will about O but his win over Hillary six years ago proved that it’s still possible for the establishment favorite to be beaten...

You’d think that someone who put his name on a book about immigration would at least know a little bit about it. I’m afraid that may not be the case, if Jeb Bush’s recent comments on illegal immigration are any indication. His “act of love” comment is what’s gotten everyone’s attention, and I agree with Ramesh’s take on the Corner to the extent that there’s some truth to what Jeb said:

Jeb Bush, if he decides to run for president in 2016, and by some horrific nightmare, wins the White House, will bring about the apocalypse that will officially make America a footnote in history books that chronicle once great civilizations. This may sound a bit dramatic, but the truth of the matter is that the United States will not survive another Bush presidency. Many conservatives will bristle, arch their backs, pop out the claws, and start hissing at the mention of such a statement, but the fact is the Bush family are not true liberty-minded folks, but rather big government...

In a recent interview with the Tampa Bay Times at the U.S. Capitol, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that potential 2016 presidential candidate Jeb. Bush (R) is “the smartest guy I know on education.” McCain reportedly told the Times that he spoke with the former Florida governor a couple weeks ago about education policy. Despite labeling Jeb Bush the most astute person he knows when it comes to education, McCain deflected when asked if Bush’s support for the Common Core could be an issue. “What he did for education in Florida … that’s a clear record of success,” he stated....

The 2014 midterms are looming large, and behind them, the specter of 2016. In the past year, Chris Christie has gone from being the Republican Wunderkind to elephant in the room, and Hilary Clinton is, well, Hilary Clinton. What is the modern-day Republican Party – a Völkisch (ethnic nationalist) political party become religion – to do? Clearly, it’s time for the Republican establishment to start asking themselves, “Where are we going to find a sane candidate?” (or at least sane-seeming, as 2012′s misadventure with Mitt Romney demonstrates). The answer is already in the history books, not that Republicans like to...

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush said Sunday that many who illegally come to the United States do so out of an "act of love" for their families and should be treated differently than people who illegally cross U.S. borders or overstay visas. The comments came during an event marking the 25th anniversary of the presidency of George H. W. Bush at the library and museum that bears the name of the Bush patriarch. The event was closed to reporters, but moderated by Fox News anchor Shannone Bream and portions of the event were later broadcast on the Fox News Channel....

‘Cities Changing Diabetes’, a new partnership programme to fight the urban diabetes challenge has been launched with Mexico City the first major city to sign-up to the programme. “The global diabetes epidemic is an emergency in slow motion,” says Lars Rebien Sørensen, CEO, Novo Nordisk, the Danish based healthcare company that is leading the initiative.

Maybe it's just me, but Bush looks annoyed while Obama looks kind of sheepish...Leave a comment...What are these three saying? Or...what's going on in this picture???I'll post the best/favorites early next week.

“As you know, our dear dog Barney, who had a special place in my heart — Putin dissed him and said, ‘You really call that a dog?’’’ Bush said.

George W. Bush: Vladimir Putin ‘dissed’ Barney the dog By: Tal Kopan April 4, 2014 08:13 AM EDT Former President George W. Bush is unveiling a new painting exhibit Saturday that features some of his renderings of the world leaders he worked with during his time in office, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Vladimir Putin, yeah, I met with him a lot during the presidency,” Bush said as he described the painting during an interview with his daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, for NBC’s “Today” show. “I got to know him very well. I had a good relationship throughout, it became...

It’s a mystery how the chattering class arrives at any conclusion as to the “front-runner” in an election two years away with no declared candidates. First the “front-runner” was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; then, according to others, it was Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), despite his obvious unacceptability to a significant segment of Republicans). The polls, if anything, reflect name identification, and in that department former governors Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee generally lead — in a race neither may enter. That is what being a “front-runner” means on talking-head cable TV shows. More relevant at this stage is figuring...

by Gina Cassini | Top Right News Outrageous. Reckless. Senseless. That is what many military families are calling the continuing ban on concealed carry for servicemembers on U.S. military bases. Bases like Ft. Hood, where 3 brave members of our military were gunned down by an apparently mentally-compromised Spc. Ivan Lopez. And the outrage will only grow in light of a new shocking report that Lopez was able to remain free for 15 to 20 minutes -- more than enough time for him to kill 3 and wound 16 -- before finally being confronted by a military policewoman, whereupon he took...

Connoisseurs of hinge-moments – those instants at which a country’s future changes – have long-appreciated the 1994 Florida gubernatorial election. Jeb Bush lost. Meanwhile, across the country, his elder brother George was elected governor of Texas. George Junior complained – whined, perhaps – that Barbara and George Senior grieved Jeb’s loss more than they celebrated George’s victory. Until that moment, however, Jeb had been thought the Bush boy more likely to succeed on the national stage. Over the course of a single night in 1994, however, the wheel turned back to George. We know what happened next. Twenty years later...

With Chris Christie in deep trouble, Republican poobahs are reportedly looking to Jeb Bush to save their party in 2016. The former two-term governor of Florida speaks fluent Spanish, is a convert to Catholicism, and has high name recognition. Jeb could raise millions of dollars over night by just saying “yes” to running. Despite all this, there are strong reasons Republicans should say no to him. 1. His last name is poison. Let’s face it, if Jeb Bush had the last name of Something Else he would have already run for president in 2008 or 2012. According to a recent...

Saturday’s Washington Post gave prominent placement to an article headlined “Influential Republicans working to draft Jeb Bush into 2016 presidential race” that detailed the establishment GOP’s desperate attempt to recruit the former Governor of Florida to run for president. The article by Philip Rucker and Robert Costa claims that “Concerned that the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal has damaged New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s political standing and alarmed by the steady rise of Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), prominent donors, conservative leaders and longtime operatives say they consider Bush the GOP’s brightest hope to win back the White House.” Rucker and...

The Washington Post released a lengthy article this weekend based on a survey of 819 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Buried deep in the article by Post reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran, who spent two years in Iraq as the Post’s bureau chief, is this bombshell: “When it comes to their most-senior commander, the vets decisively prefer George W. Bush to Obama. Only a third approve of the way Obama is handling his job, and 42 percent of them think he has been a good commander in chief despite his decisions to bring troops home from Iraq, wind down...

Bill Clinton found him to be cold and worrisome, but predicted he would be a tough and able leader. George W. Bush wanted to make him a friend and partner in the war on terror, but grew disillusioned over time. Barack Obama tried working around him by building up his protégé in the Kremlin, an approach that worked for a time but steadily deteriorated to the point that relations between Russia and the United States are now at their worst point since the end of the Cold War. For 15 years, Vladimir V. Putin has confounded American presidents as they...

<p>Once again, it seems that Russia and the United States are finding it difficult to agree on how to deal with their respective ambitions. This clash of interests is highlighted by the Ukrainian crisis. The provocation in this particular instance, as the leaked recording of a US diplomat, Victoria Nuland, saying "Fuck the EU" suggests, came from Washington.</p>

Jeb Bush is thinking about running for president in 2016. Like, really thinking about it. He's the headliner at an event hosted by mega donor Sheldon Adelson in Las Vegas on Thursday. He was actively involved in Rep. David Jolly's special election victory in Florida earlier this month. And he is breaking with his party's orthodoxy on Common Core. So, as Jeb mulls a bid whose advice does he seek? Who does he trust to give him an unvarnished view of what the race might look like? Well, everyone even close to Jeb insists that he largely keeps his own...

This is just a friendly reminder, in case you forgot...

Lawrence Walsh, the Iran-Contra special prosecutor, died two days ago at the age of 102. American liberals adored Walsh in life and now sing hosannas to him in death. “Lawrence E. Walsh, a former federal judge … who as an independent counsel exposed the lawbreaking in the Reagan administration that gave rise to the Iran-contra scandal, died on Wednesday at his home in Oklahoma City,” said the lead in the New York Times. Walsh’s admirers, reported the Times (no doubt one among them), “saw him as a model of rectitude, a public servant trying to uphold the rule of law...

In a speech Friday, Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush praised illegal immigrants as "risk takers" who embody the entrepreneurial spirit of America and doubled down on his defense of Common Core. According to the Miami-Herald, Bush made his remarks in front of business leaders in Florida. “People who come here legally and illegally are the risk takers,” Bush reportedly said. “If you’re living in a rural area of Guatemala and you come, you’re a bigger risk taker than those who stay,” he added. Of course, the first action of those who come to the country illegally is breaking the law....

Jeb Bush’s foundation is behind a new advertising campaign supporting the controversial Common Core math and language academic standards. “Learn More, Go Further,” produced by the former Florida governor’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, is a series of digital videos — which will run for the next 10 weeks — featuring four teachers (who volunteered) explaining Common Core and answering questions about the program. The campaign will also extend to social media, providing interactive maps to point out the areas where the standards have met challenges from legislators and the public.

Jeb Bush gets the question at just about every public appearance these days: Will you run for president? The former Florida governor gives a well-worn answer: "I can honestly tell you that I don't know what I'm going to do." It's an answer that won't satisfy the GOP faithful for much longer. With New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie facing multiple investigations in a political retribution probe, many Republicans see Bush as a potent alternative: a two-term GOP governor who thrived in the nation's largest swing-voting state and could make the party more inclusive. Friends and advisers say he is seriously...

A comment in the Wall Street Journal "Best of the Web" section today managed to blame Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on George Bush, without actually using his name. Here it in in full: "The character of political leaders isn't the only factor determining geopolitical events." Perhaps the wisest insight from the BOTW I've ever seen. We like to blame the politicians who happen to be nominally in charge for the changing tides of history. This is the Great Man theory of history, and it is arguably wrong, or at least not sufficiently explanatory. Hitler, for example, did not kill a...

The latest round of speculation about the 2016 presidential race stars former Florida Governor Jeb Bush whose Republican nomination could potentially lead to a matchup between two powerhouse political families. Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton holds a double-digit lead over Bush in a hypothetical matchup, but half of voters are less likely to vote for Bush because of his family’s history in the White House. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that if the 2016 presidential election were held today, 47% of Likely U.S. Voters would choose Clinton, while 33% would opt for Bush. Fourteen percent (14%) prefer some...

From George H.W. Bush to George W. Bush to now George P. Bush, the 37 year old attorney who is likely to be our next Land Commissioner: "George P. Bush took the first step toward continuing his family's political dynasty Tuesday, shaking off an under-funded primary challenger and securing the Republican nomination for the little-known but powerful post of Texas land commissioner.   The 37-year-old Fort Worth attorney is the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, nephew of former President and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and son of ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush who is frequently mentioned as a possible...

Former first lady Barbara Bush sat down with Fox News for an interview at her home in Houston, Texas that aired on Wednesday. After stating for over a year that she thinks the Bush family should stay out of presidential politics, she said "maybe it's ok" if another Bush runs in 2016.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — George P. Bush took the first step toward continuing his family's political dynasty Tuesday, shaking off an under-funded primary challenger and securing the Republican nomination for the little-known but powerful post of Texas land commissioner. The 37-year-old Fort Worth attorney is the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, nephew of former President and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and son of ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is frequently mentioned as a possible GOP White House hopeful in 2016. He's also a Spanish speaker whose mother Columba was born in Mexico and who Republican leaders...

e are already at the point in this prematurely unfolding 2016 presidential campaign when a glance down the list of prospective candidates can cause most observers to wince. As that seductive and sultry crooner Peggy Lee once sang, “Is that all there is?” At the U.Va. Crystal Ball, we currently have 11 Republicans and nine Democrats as probable or possible presidential contenders. The Democrats have fewer and more tentative contenders because of the paralyzing gravitational pull of “Planet Hillary,” as the New York Times Magazine described the Clinton operation. The former secretary of state is a kind of massive Jupiter...

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow charged Monday that the George W. Bush administration's Middle East policy has steered America's current security policy and response to global crises — including the one in Ukraine. Talking about her new documentary, "Why We Did It," involving circumstances leading to the Iraq War, Maddow told MSNBC colleague Andrea Mitchell that the Bush administration is largely responsible for the nation's current course overseas. “The decisions of our generation on national security are determined more than anything by what the George W. Bush administration did with that nine-year war in Iraq and, alongside it, a 13-year war...

There is much hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth today in Washington DC over Russia's invasion of the Ukraine but this confrontation was lost years ago. Vladimir Putin has outwitted Barack Obama all along the way. The truth is, Obama is easy prey for Putin. Narcissists are prone to succumbing to the proper signals. Hubris is the fuel that runs the Obama mind. It's always been that way and we have documented that here often. Putin recognized it, having learned something from Obama's predecessor. Putin and Obama met in July of 2009 and it was in that meeting that Obama was...

There’s no way around it. America’s political establishment wants Bush vs. Clinton II. Is resistance futile? Every single Romney donor we spoke with this week listed the former Florida governor as their top choice… Also, with solid name recognition and the Bush political machine behind him, Romney donors believe Jeb is the most electable of the potential Republican candidates. For Romney donors, electability is the single most important trait. “If Jeb Bush is in the race, he clears the field,” said one major Romney donor. “You would have someone who has the talent that is equal to Mitt. The natural...