Free Republic

For years, the Bush administration was criticized for not cleaning up enough of the nation's most contaminated waste sites. The Obama administration plans to do even less. Environmental groups and some Democratic lawmakers railed against President George W. Bush's cleanup record. But this time, they're shying away from speaking out against a popular president who's considered an ally in the fight to clean up the environment. Associated PressFewer EPA cleanups are planned under the administration of President Barack Obama, above. In Obama's first two years in office, the Environmental Protection Agency expects to begin the final phase of cleanup at...

A new CNN poll shows that more Americans consider the first six months of President Barack Obama’s administration worse than the same time period of his predecessor, former President George Bush. When asked whether they thought the first six months of Obama’s tenure in office has been a success or a failure, 37 percent responding to the poll released Friday said they believe it was a failure. After Bush’s first six months in office, a similar CNN poll from August of 2001 showed only 32 percent considered it to be a failure. Those who said the first half year of...

After 6 Months, More View Obama's Presidency as a 'Failure' Than Bush's Posted by Tom Bevan A rather surprising finding from the newly released CNN poll. Question three on the national survey of 1,136 adults (which includes an oversample of African-Americans) asks, "Do you consider the first six months of the Obama administration to be a success or a failure?" Thirty-seven percent (37%) said they believe the Obama administration is a "failure," while 51% consider it a "success" and 11% say it's still "too soon to tell." An identical question was asked of the Bush administration in an August 2001...

What if a president, on his own initiative, under no demands from staff or from supporters or opponents, set out to spend an unprecedented amount of money on AIDS in Africa, literally billions of dollars, at a time when the nation could not afford it, citing his faith as a primary motivation and, ultimately, saved more than a million lives? Wouldn’t the story be front-page news, especially in top, liberal newspapers? Wouldn’t it lead on CNN, MSNBC and the “CBS Evening News”? Might statues be erected to the man in the nation’s more “progressive” cities? What if the president was...

It is now going on eight month since President Bush has left office. I thank God for the time he was our President and kept us save after the horrible day on September 11, 2001For this month thread I will post the August photos from 2001 - 2004. The quote of the day will be President Bush’s announcement on the Patients’ Bill Of Rights, which I find very appropriate being what will face us if the democrat’s health care bill passes and becomes law Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island ..

WASHINGTON — Top Bush administration officials in 2002 debated testing the Constitution by sending American troops into the suburbs of Buffalo to arrest a group of men suspected of plotting with Al Qaeda, according to former administration officials. Some of the advisers to President George W. Bush, including Vice President Dick Cheney, argued that a president had the power to use the military on domestic soil to sweep up the terrorism suspects, who came to be known as the Lackawanna Six, and declare them enemy combatants. Mr. Bush ultimately decided against the proposal to use military force. A decision to...

Hours before they were to leave office after eight troubled years, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney had one final and painful piece of business to conclude. For over a month Cheney had been pleading, cajoling, even pestering Bush to pardon the Vice President's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby. Libby had been convicted nearly two years earlier of obstructing an investigation into the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity by senior White House officials. The Libby pardon, aides reported, had become something of a crusade for Cheney, who seemed prepared to push his nine-year-old relationship...

The saga of Scooter Libby continues with an in-depth report from Time on the final hours of the George Bush administration and Dick Cheney’s desperate attempt to get clemency for his former aide. Cheney “really got in the President’s face” like never before, according to one source close to Bush, but to no avail. By that time Bush had already been burned on one pardon — and for the president, the issue came down to one question: ----------------------------------------------------- On the Sunday before he left office, Bush invited Sharp to the executive mansion for a farewell cigar. While packing boxes in...

Six months into US President Barack Obama’s tenure, his administration has indicated an interest to enter into a “comprehensive partnership” with Indonesia, forge better relations with the Muslim world and reassert America’s commitment to Southeast Asia. The policies — all relevant to Indonesia — appear worthwhile enough, but the Obama administration’s self-adulation in pursuing them is not. No one is surprised that Obama, the son of a Muslim man from Kenya, wishes to make a concerted effort to reach out to the Muslim world. In Cairo on June 4, 2009, he condemned “some” in the United States who view Islam...

Bush's pitch: understated form, good velocity, perfect strike. ....in a BIG moment. Obama's pitch: Poseur/effeminate form, weak velocity, and errant (short).

So forget politics for a moment and just watch the video below. It’s a great behind-the-scenes look at the build-up to Bush’s first pitch at the 2001 World Series, and the strike he fired with the lights shining bright.

Future attorneys are taught in law school to never ask a witness a question they don't already know the answer to. On Saturday, CNN's Don Lemon learned this lesson the hard way. Well after President Obama finished his speech in Ghana, Lemon was speaking live to correspondent Nkepile Mabuse who was reporting on location. When Lemon asked whether the warm reception Obama received upon his arrival Friday was unprecedented, Mabuse caught him quite off guard with her response. Pay particular attention to Lemon's body language when Mabuse says, "It's not unprecedented. When President Bush was here, you will remember, in...

Random example:

Report: Bush-era surveillance went beyond wiretaps A government report raises new questions about how the Bush White House kept key Justice officials in the dark about the post-Sept. 11 program. By Josh Meyer July 11, 2009 Reporting from Washington -- The Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 surveillance efforts went beyond the widely publicized warrantless wiretapping program, a government report disclosed Friday, encompassing additional secretive activities that created "unprecedented" spying powers. The report also raised new questions about how the Bush White House kept key Justice Department officials in the dark as it launched the surveillance program. In a move that it...

Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project By SCOTT SHANE The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday. The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy. Mr. Panetta, who...

The Bush administration authorized secret surveillance activities that still have not been made public, according to a new government report that questions the legal basis for the unprecedented anti-terrorism program. It's unclear how much valuable intelligence was yielded by the surveillance program started after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to the unclassified summary of reports by five inspectors general. The reports mandated by Congress last year were delivered to lawmakers Friday. President George W. Bush authorized other secret intelligence activities — which have yet to become public — even as he was launching the massive warrentless wiretapping program,...

Defying their regime once more, Iranians have renewed their protests in the streets of Tehran. Last month, when the protests began, the New York Times ran a story hinting that Iran's demonstrators may have been inspired by an "Obama factor." The article suggested that President Barack Obama's diplomatic outreach, unlike his predecessor's approach, emboldened Iranians to rise up against their regime, demanding it repair relations with America and the world. The Times reporter drew a stark contrast between the presidency of George W. Bush and that of Mr. Obama. According to the article, "Iran's regime was able to coalesce support...

July 09, 2009Why I'm Thankful for George W. BushBy Ken Russell On October 23, 1983 the Marine Corps Battalion Landing Team (BLT) building located at the Beirut International Airport was blown up.  Two hundred twenty Marines, 18 Sailors and 3 Soldiers were killed in a split second by a suicide bomber.  I wasn't there at the time.  I was participating in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada.  I was a squadron CH-46E helicopter co-pilot in Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 261 (HMM-261) and also the squadron classified materials officer.  Being the one who set up the squadron classified messages, I read about...

As a military officer for 30 years, I came to recognize the necessity of good leadership. When I retired from the military in 1998, I became active politically in the Republican Party. Since that time, I've been elected to two National Republican Conventions, acted as a military spokesperson for the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004, and served as national veterans coordinator for Fred Thompson's presidential run. In 2007, I ran for Minnesota GOP party chair as a reform candidate, and lost. Over the years I have raised tens of thousands of dollars for GOP coffers, donated many thousands of dollars to...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised the hospitality and openness of U.S. former President George W. Bush in a telegramme sent hours before meeting his successor Barack Obama. "During the last years we have been working on strengthening Russia-U.S. cooperation. Although there were differences between our countries, I always valued your openness and sincerity," Putin said, congratulating Bush on his 63rd birthday on July 6. "With special warmth I recall your hospitality in the Crawford ranch and your family estate in Kennebunkport," Putin wrote, referring to their 2007 meeting at the Bush family vacation home when the...

It's always nice to see the leaders of the United States and Russia having a pleasant summit. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking the statements mean much. In July 2008, President Bush and Russian President Dimitri Medvedev had a meeting at the G8 summit: PRESIDENT MEDVEDEV: (As translated.) Well, indeed, we had this exchange today with George concerning various issues on the agenda of our relationship, including those of domestic importance, trade and investments, and internationally related matters, including those conflicts and crisis tendencies in the world. And true that on certain matters we do have differences originating from...

As Defense Secretary Gates tours our missile defense site at Fort Greely, Alaska, Gov. Sarah Palin calls for restoration of the missile defense cuts. Meanwhile, North Korea points another missile at the U.S. Robert Gates' visit to our missile defense facility at Fort Greely on Monday was a pointed reminder to the North Koreans that while we have been talking softly, we still have a few big sticks in the ground ready to turn the North Korean missile program into so much scrap metal.

What If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved? If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved? If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky? If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved? If George W. Bush had visited...

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved? If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved? If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky? If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved? If George W. Bush had visited Austria...

Return to the Article June 29, 2009Bush's Domino EffectBy George Joyce Today's liberal press has made digging for a hot story quite simple.  The secret is to take any domestic or international event or crisis, wait a few days, and then note the singular and glaring omission -- the unremarked elephant in the room in other words.  Since the mainstream press in America has bargained critical thinking for idol worship, the truth often sits quite open and exposed for the rest of us -- a case of easy pickings. Last week's dramatic demonstration for freedom in Iran provides the...

ran’s citizens, fed up with their oppressive theocratic government, are spilling into the streets and revolting at risk of death. Meanwhile the usual suspects – from the United Nations to leftists like President Barack Obama – are assuming the usual full-prone position of acute non-interventionism. Iranians have written to me this week to ask why the United Nations isn’t doing anything. I replied that it’s because George W. Bush isn’t around anymore to file the necessary paperwork. What Bush did, however, was set up the framework for a cultural revolution in the Middle East. And most people probably aren’t even...

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday called the U.S. president inexperienced, compared him unfavorably to President George W. Bush and suggested he apologize for "interfering in Iran's affairs." "Do you think that this kind of behavior is going to solve any of your problems? It will only make people think you are someone like Bush," the semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "You are at the beginning of your way and you are gaining experience, and we do not wish the scandals of the Bush era to be repeated during your term of office,"...

It's not just former Vice President Dick Cheney. As former President George W. Bush offered his first public - though veiled - criticisms of his successor's administration last week, a growing number of his senior aides and advisers are also speaking up to defend Mr. Bush's record and take on the Obama White House. A few of them are marrying their insider's policy knowledge with modern technology to critique, in detail, President Obama's economic program. The day Mr. Obama left for the Middle East earlier this month, former Bush official Tony Fratto launched a broadside against the White House claim...

Defense: As we prepare to celebrate our independence, North Korea wants to remind us of Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, we can make use of assets dreamed of by Reagan and deployed by Bush to defend our 50th state. Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea would launch a long-range Taepodong-2 missile at Hawaii on or about July 4. This would be the anniversary of the first Taepodong-2 test on July 4, 2006. It would also mark the 15th anniversary of North Korean President Kim Il Sung's death.Those who know have stopped laughing at North Korea's increasingly credible nuclear and global...

George W. Bush: After being pummeled by his successor, the 43rd president ends his silence on America's slide into socialism and timidity. He reminds us leadership is not something that comes off a teleprompter. Perhaps tired about being publicly blamed by the current administration for all our current ills, Bush spoke out in Erie, Pa., on Wednesday at the 104th annual gathering of the Manufacturers and Business Association. On the same day President Obama announced expanded policing authorities for the Fed to deal with a "culture of irresponsibility," another move many feel will stifle the risk takers and entrepreneurs needed...

ERIE, Pa. | Former President George W. Bush fired a salvo at President Obama on Wednesday, asserting his administration's interrogation policies were "within the law," declaring the private sector - not government - will fix the economy and rejecting the nationalization of health care. "I know it's going to be the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we're in," the former president said to applause from members of a local business group. "You can spend your money better than the government can spend your money."

Former President George W. Bush fired a salvo at President Obama on Wednesday, asserting his administration's interrogation policies were within the law, declaring the private sector not government will fix the economy and rejecting the nationalization of health care. I know it's going to be the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we're in, the former president said to applause from members of a local business group. You can spend your money better than the government can spend your money. Repeatedly in his hourlong speech and question-and-answer session, Mr. Bush said he would not...

Former President George H. W. Bush rides tandem with Sgt. Michael Elliott of the Army Golden Knights parachute team as he celebrates his 85th birthday with a parachute jump, Friday, June 12, 2009, over Kennebunkport, Maine. Former President George W. Bush, left, and his wife, Laura, wave to spectators before watching his father, former President George H. W. Bush make a parachute jump to celebrates his 85th birthday, Friday, June 12, 2009, in Kennebunkport, Maine.

President George W. Bush assistant Tim Goeglein interviewed by Dr. James Dobson, on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio broadcast. Three day broadcast. Goeglein present an articulate defense of President Bush as wartime president and pro-life president. Listen for the long list of pro-life accomplishments of Bush in the 2nd hour. I do not see a transcript yet. Radio Show site: http://listen.family.org/daily/A000002029.cfm Focus on the Family site: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/

Tim Goeglein, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush, offers an insider's perspective on the Bush administration. Goelein emphasizes President Bush's daily prayer and guidance from God while a war-time president. Three day interview. http://www.focusonthefamily.com/about_us/dr_dobson_shows.aspx

He won’t criticize Obama’s policies, his popularity polls are rising, and Democrats are hailing him as a “statesman.” Nicolle Wallace asks, is Bush becoming history’s classiest ex-president? George W. Bush is the classiest former president in history. Don’t take my word for it: ask the Democrats. In the last two weeks, half a dozen Democrats have commented to me about what a “statesman” George W. Bush has been in his post-presidency. One of those individuals is a senior Obama administration official and two others are former senior Clinton administration officials. It strikes me that Bush’s admirers in the Democratic Party...

FOR George W Bush, life after the White House has meant scooping up Barney the dog’s business on a neighbour’s lawn near his new home in Dallas. “There I was, the former president, with a plastic bag on my hand, picking up that which I had dodged for eight solid years,” he said last week on one of his first public outings since he left office. For Bill Clinton, the president he replaced, it meant being called “Hillary’s wife” and the absence of the anthem Hail to the Chief: “All of a sudden nobody plays a song when you walk...

What an incredible year in the life of President Bush. From the highs of inauguration and the passage of the tax cut, to the lows of the China plane incident and Septemeber 11th, these pictures tell all. So sit back and enjoy a year in the life of President Bush. Oh, and be patient! This will take a while!!!

George W. Bush hadn’t even begun the 2000 campaign, but, in his methodical way, he was already looking ahead to his presidency. At lunch in Austin in 1999, he mused aloud about lessons to be drawn from his dad’s one-term tenure. The Liberator of Kuwait had enjoyed sky-high approval ratings, but lost the election the next year because he was seen as indifferent to the plight of workers. “I learned that you can’t save political capital,” Bush said. “It doesn’t last. You have to spend it—or lose it.” Are we about to witness a father-son version of “Groundhog Day”? ...

Bush, Cheney split on Obama By: Mike Allen May 29, 2009 05:53 PM EST Former President George W. Bush is sticking by his promise to leave President Barack Obama alone — prompting some second-guessing by allies of Vice President Dick Cheney, who is determined to confront the new president. Bush has stuck to his memorable declaration that he owes Obama his silence, while Cheney continues to grant colorful interviews in which he warns that the Democrat’s policies are making the country less safe. One Cheney supporter referred to “confusion” and “bewilderment” among conservatives that Bush has not taken the same...

<p>Former President George W. Bush may finally upstage Dick Cheney this week. After months of silence while Cheney has been blasting away at President Obama, Bush is scheduled to make two semi-public appearances.</p> <p>Tonight he'll speak to to the Economic Club of Southwest Michigan at Lake Michigan College. It's being billed as his first major speech to an American audience. The news media will be allowed to attend the event, but not record it. Right.</p>

Obama says he's kept in touch with Bush Posted: 03:05 PM ET From CNN.com's Kristi Keck (CNN) – Despite their opposing political views, President Obama says he’s kept in touch with former President Bush since moving into the White House. Asked by CSPAN if he’s had any conversation with Bush since the inauguration, Obama replied, “I have.” “I think that although I've only been president four months, I think a general policy of keeping confidence with your predecessors is important,” Obama said in an interviewed aired Saturday. Just this week, Obama slammed the Bush administration to taking America “off course”...

Following are excerpts of for mer Vice President Dick Cheney's address at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington yesterday. NOW and for years to come, a lot rides on our president's understand ing of the security policies that preceded him. Whatever choices he makes concerning the defense of this country, those choices shouldn't be based on slogans and campaign rhetoric, but on a truthful telling of history. Our administration always faced its share of criticism, and from some quarters it was always intense. That was especially so in the later years of our term, when the dangers were as serious...

Cavuto reports that donations are pouring in for the presidential library of former President George W. Bush. In 100 days, he's raised $100 million - an amount that former President Bill Clinton planned to raise in one year.

"...The most perceptive comment on the picture’s politics came from Sonny Bunch in The Weekly Standard, who called Favreau’s feature “the film equivalent of a Rorschach test. If you go into Iron Man seeking right-wing imagery, you’ll find it: Tony Stark is a patriot, pro-military, and likes unilateral intervention. If you go into Iron Man looking for left-wing imagery, you’ll find that, too: The true villain here is Stane, representing an out-of-control military-industrial complex." (snip) "..As the Bush years give way to the Obama era, there will be no shortage of superheroes at the cineplex. Both Iron Man 2 and...

I'm shocked!...OK, maybe not..... http://www.weaselzippers.net/blog/2009/05/video-white-house-press-corps-stands-for-obamanot-for-bush.html

Nope. No Liberal media bias, right? I never realized the Press Corps had this level of disrespect for President Bush. Shameful, but not surprising. Here is the video from Bush's final press conference. The press corps makes a half-assed attempt at standing, but most remain seated. What jerks. Show some respect.

All of April and the start of May 2009 find us still being bombarded by the media hyping up the first 100 days of President Obama with no sign of it dying down. Following the introduction to the monthly thread I will post some photos to remind us of the first few days of the first May of the George W Bush Presidency - those were the days. The quote I have chosen for this month are remarks made during Commander-In-Chief Trophy Event at the South Portico on May 4, 2001. Tomorrow I will post some more photos from May...

Hey wingnut, Why is it my conservative friends won't admit the truth: that George W. Bush "broke" the United States of America? Sincerely, Mitchell Hello again. Judging by your response to my first three columns, this feature is proving quite popular. I appreciate all the letters that you have taken the time to send. I am sorry I am not able to answer each one of them personally. This week I've been asked to explain why conservatives won't admit that George W. Bush "broke" the United States of America. It's an interesting question, so open-ended it's difficult to choose the...

Tools developed in the last few years will help the Obama administration fight back. Swine flu has presented the Obama administration with its first major public-health crisis. Fortunately for the Obama team, the Bush administration developed new tools that will prove critical in meeting this challenge. Under President Bush, the federal government worked with manufacturers to accelerate vaccine development, stockpiled crucial antivirals like Tamiflu, war-gamed pandemic scenarios with senior officials, and increased the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) sample identification capabilities. These activities are bearing fruit today. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has already deployed...