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In a Gallup tracking poll released Tuesday, former-President George W. Bush currently stands with a favorability rating of 49%, compared to 46% who see the 43rd president unfavorably. Meanwhile, another Gallup poll shows President Obama with only a 47% approval rating, with 44% disapproving. …

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Wednesday he has introduced a bill to repeal mandatory minimum sentencing for drug use and told the story of two young men—Barack Obama and George W. Bush—who were said to use drugs but did not go to jail. “In this story, both young men were extraordinarily lucky. Both young men were not caught using illegal drugs, and they weren’t imprisoned. Instead, they went on to become presidents of the United States. Barack Obama and George Bush were lucky,” Paul said in a speech at Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, DC. “The law...

Conservative legend Phyllis Schlafly told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday that the Republican establishment had given America a series of losers as presidential candidates over the last two decades—and the last time they picked a winner, George W. Bush, he was a bigger spender than the Democrats. “Why is it that the establishment has given us this bunch of losers?” Schlafly said. “The establishment has given us a whole series of losers: Bob Dole and John McCain and Mitt Romney.” … Schlafly said the establishment wants candidates that “will only talk about economic issues” and not social or...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday that there is no Bush fatigue in America. Chris Wallace: Do you think there would be any Bush baggage? Do you think that would be a problem? Jeb Bush: No. I don’t think there is any Bush baggage at all. I love my brother. I’m proud of his accomplishments. I love my dad. I am proud to be a Bush. And, if I run for president, it’s not because there is something in my DNA that compels me to do it...

Last Thursday, in a sign that the GOP is recalibrating its image after 2012, 100 prominent Republicans (many of whom are no longer serving in office) signed a friend-of-the-court brief seeking to overturn California’s Proposition 8, which effectively banned same-sex marriage in the state shortly after it became legal. The brief states the opinion that marriage is a constitutional right for gay couples—a position that goes beyond even President Obama’s stance on marriage equality. One of the signers, former communications chief for George W. Bush and senior advisor for the McCain–Palin campaign Nicolle Wallace, joined Morning Joe Monday morning to...

A year behind bars: That's what David Kernell received for guessing his way into the private email account of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in 2008. So that would certainly be the starting point for penalties due the perpetrator of this latest invasion of privacy against the politically powerful. From a lengthy account by The Smoking Gun (that includes private Bush family photos and information, if you'd rather not be party to seeing that stuff): The apparent hack of several e-mail accounts has exposed personal photos and sensitive correspondence from members of the Bush family, including both former U.S. presidents,...

George W. Bush left office in January 2009 with one of the lowest job-approval ratings for a president (34 percent) since Gallup started compiling them — as compared to Harry Truman’s low of 32 percent, Richard Nixon’s of 24 percent, and Jimmy Carter’s of 34 percent — and to the general derision of the media. At times the venom accorded Bush in popular culture reached absurd — and even sick — levels. Alfred A. Knopf, for example, infamously published Nicholson Baker’s Checkpoint, a pathetic riff on shooting Bush. Gabriel Range’s unhinged 2006 “docudrama,” The Death of a President, focused on...

Former President George W. Bush will not attend the Republican convention next month in Tampa, POLITICO has learned. “President Bush was grateful for the invitation to the Republican National Convention,” Bush spokesman Freddy Ford wrote in an e-mail. “He supports Governor Romney and wants him to succeed. President Bush is confident that Mitt Romney will be a great President. But he’s still enjoying his time off the political stage and respectfully declined the invitation to go to Tampa.” Asked if the former president had been invited to only attend or whether he was also asked to speak, Ford said the...

I've always thought that history is going to be kind to President George W. Bush. While that whole "compassionate conservatism" thing and its derivative policies drive me nuts (what does that imply ... that I'm otherwise not compassionate? False, ugh!), I think his humility and good-faith efforts will eventually earn him much more widespread respect than he received when he was in office.Despite President Obama's best attempts at a no-holds-barred blame-Bush approach --- from continued economic doldrums to Fast and Furious gunwalking tactics, there seems to be no problem that President Obama didn't "inherit" --- it appears that Americans are...

At the unveiling ceremony of his official portrait at the White House today, former President George W. Bush got off some great one-liners!

“Riding with our vets is an uplifting experience,” Bush said. “It is an awesome feeling and an honor to be here with them.” Bush spent about a half-hour speaking with riders and taking photographs before traveling in his motorcade to the Courtyard by Marriott at the Historic Fisk Building in downtown Amarillo. The three-day event is a 100-kilometer mountain bike ride aimed at honoring veterans seriously wounded in the war on terrorism as well as support groups. The ex-president pedaled along 13.3 miles of rugged canyon trails with about 20 veterans, many them riding with prosthetic arms or legs, as...

President Bush's list of domestic accomplishments is already pretty thin. No Child Left Behind is now universally despised among conservative activists. Medicare Part D epitomized Bush's big spending ways and arguably paved the way for Obamacare. And even Bush's tax cuts are looking to be pretty temporary in nature. The one saving grace Bush still has on the domestic front is the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sam Alito have so far proved to be good reliable conservative votes. But all that may change after Obamacare hits the Supreme Court. Almost everybody assumes that Justices Clarence Thomas,...

Mitt Romney decided to give a great big hug to… George W. Bush and the bank bailouts: “I keep hearing the president say he’s responsible for keeping the country out of a Great Depression,” Romney said at a town hall in Arbutus, Maryland. “No, no, no, that was President George W. Bush and [then-Treasury Secretary] Hank Paulson.”

George W. Bush is hitting the road, traveling overseas to Africa in an effort to promote health initiatives com batting cancer and AIDS. But while he’s there, human rights group Amnesty International has a suggestion for several government representatives. “Say… this might be a good time to lock that guy up.�The Bush team isn’t pleased. Former members of the George W. Bush administration assailed Amnesty International Thursday for demanding the former president’s arrest while he and his family are in Africa, calling Amnesty’s campaign at best a form of “harassment� and at worst a threat. The world’s largest human rights...

President Barack Obama would top former President George Bush in a hypothetical head to head match-up, a new poll Monday shows. Overall, 40 percent of respondents said they would prefer Obama, compared to 31 percent for Bush - while 27 percent said that they would reject both, according to the CBS/Vanity Fair poll While partisan voters are deeply divided, independents prefer Obama by a significant margin. Thirty-three percent of indie would vote for Obama, 24 percent would back Bush, and 42 percent don’t want either. Along party lines, 72 percent of Republicans would support Bush, while 77 percent of Democrats...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich signed a letter in 2004 praising President Bush's plan for comprehensive immigration reform -- which gave illegal immigrants a path to citizenship -- according to Rep.Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., who released the Gingrich letter today. "President Bush has proposed a new legal path to work in the U.S. through a temporary worker program that will match willing workers with willing employers," Gingrich wrote, along with 14 other co-authors. They added that "the president has shown courage by calling on Congress to place reality over rhetoric and recognize that those already working here outside the law are...

Texas FReeper Dubya, USMC Vet, is in need of prayer, BIG TIME! He has inoperable cancer. I contacted his son today and learned that he is hospitalized and is not doing very well. His son said Dubya can use all the prayers we can offer. Please Say a Prayer for this Dear, Sweet and Kind Man.

DALLAS (AP) — George W. Bush says that after eight years in the White House, he's happy to be back home in Texas and out of the spotlight. But the former commander-in-chief tells The Associated Press there's one aspect of his presidency he still misses: interaction with U.S. troops. And Bush, who sent them to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, says that despite his desire to remain largely out of the public eye, he wants to make sure veterans and military members know they still have his support. "I was a little concerned that our veterans don't think that I...

They still called him Junior when we first met, in forlorn Midland, Texas, back in July 1986. He was known then for being the son of the vice president of the United States, the agonizingly named George Herbert Walker Bush. As a young staff writer at The Washington Post Magazine, I was trying to persuade Vice President Bush to let me spend several months with him for an in-depth profile I intended to write. But the veep was skeptical, and he left it up to Junior to pass judgment on me and my request. “Come on down and visit,” the...

I spoke to a group of politically active, so-called conservatives last week at a hotel here in my New Mexico hometown. One of the topics that kept coming up was whether I despised Texas Gov. Rick Perry as much as I despised most other candidates that the Republican/Democrat regime is trying to force me to pick from in the next election. Let’s think through some deep thoughts and do fact-checking on Perry and the entire Left/Right paradigm as most people seem to see it right now: You can spend about five minutes on the governor’s official website confirming that Rick...

In what critics call a classic case of the government working at cross purposes, Washington is forcing residents across the country to install mercury lighting inside their homes while phasing out mercury lighting outside homes to protect the environment. Yes, you read that right. In 2005, Congress passed a law banning mercury vapor streetlights – two years before it banned incandescent light bulbs in favor of mercury vapor compact florescent bulbs. Under the Energy Policy Act, signed by President Bush in August 2005, manufacturers cannot make or import ballasts for mercury vapor lights after Jan. 1, 2008. According to the...

Former president George W. Bush was among hundreds of Texas Rangers fans who helped set a new Guinness World Record on Tuesday night for most people wearing sunglasses in the dark. While most of the 33,533 people donned shades during the game with the Detroit Tigers at Rangers Ballpark, the mark to beat was 423 so Guinness officials only bothered to count two sections of the crowd, MLB.com reported. That group included Bush, who often goes to Rangers games, and club President Nolan Ryan, who were both seen on the big screen when the public announcer told the crowd the...

NEW ORLEANS — Republicans head into 2012 united in their disdain for an unpopular, Big Government-loving, internationalist president. The name of that president: George W. Bush. From Capitol Hill to the statehouses to the presidential primary, Republicans are turning their back on almost every important accomplishment of the Bush administration.

During the 2008 campaign Barack Obama ran more against lame-duck President Bush than against his Republican opponent, John McCain. The campaign is now long over, and yet President Obama still seems haunted by the ghost of his predecessor. Last week, for example, he was railing at the Bush phantom, whom he blamed for his received economic mess. In the world of Barack Obama everything he inherited was someone else’s fault — unless he believes past policies offer him some advantage and thus are to be claimed as entirely his own. The stock market is sliding. Gas and food prices are...

As lefties gloat over the political implications of Osama bin Laden’s demise, and the media ramp up an “Obama bounce� meme, conservatives should politely but persistently shift the conversation from politics to policy. In my latest column for Townhall, I draw on a number of fascinating news accounts elucidating how the our military and intelligence community finally nailed bin Laden. US officials describe a “mosaic� of intelligence that ultimately led a team of Navy SEALs to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan — suggesting that it took many years and myriad sources to pinpoint bin Laden’s precise location. As we now...

Okay, I have had it with this President's blatant dishonesty. His speech today was appallingly deceitful and misleading. This President, has spent more money and added more debt than any other President in history. This is not political rhetoric, this is simply fact! Barack Obama's budget deficit in March of 2011 was larger than the deficit for all of 2007! According to Obama's 2012 Budget Proposal, under Historical Tables, the budget deficit under George Bush first peaked in 2004 at $412 billion dollars. Between 2005 and 2007 the budget deficit declined by $252 billion to reach its low, under Bush,...

Welcome to the Third Term of President George W. Bush By Victor J. Massad It all seemed so clear to progressives in the summer of 2008. A dense president born into old establishment wealth had conned the American people and we were trapped into implacable problems, both foreign and domestic. These problems included a bad war that the president had lied us into, a good war that he had ignored, a deficit that was out of control, a prison that violated human rights, and a relationship between big business and big government that had become too cozy. But there was...

High pump prices rattle drivers and businessesBy JONATHAN FAHEY and SANDY SHORE The Associated Press Monday, February 28, 2011; 9:12 AM NEW YORK -- High fuel prices are putting the squeeze on drivers' wallets just as they are starting to feel better about the economy. They're also forcing tough choices on small-business owners who are loathe to charge more for fear of losing cost-conscious customers. Gasoline prices rose 4 percent last week to a national average of $3.29 per gallon. That's the highest level ever for this time of year, when prices are typically low. And with unrest in the...

AL-UQAYLA, Libya (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi struck at rebel control of a key Libyan coastal road for a second day Thursday but received a warning he would be held to account at The Hague for suspected crimes by his security forces. Venezuela said Gaddafi had agreed to its proposal for an international commission to negotiate an end to the turmoil in the world's 12th largest oil exporting nation. "Bring Bush! Make a no fly zone, bomb the planes," shouted soldier-turned-rebel Nasr Ali, referring to a no-fly zone imposed on Iraq in 1991 by then U.S. President George Bush.

Elisabeth Bumiller, a Pentagon correspondent with The New York Times, visited campus on Wednesday, where she spoke to students at the Brimhall building and the Kennedy Center. She has been with The New York Times since 1995, and has recently reported on Egypt’s turmoil and the U.S. military’s intensifying relationship with China. Bumiller has also spent time oversees with George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The Daily Universe sat down with Bumiller to discuss her dealings with the Pentagon, the New York Times and various government leaders. SNIP DU: What are some of the biggest misconceptions about President...

George W. Bush to Pass on Switzerland Trip Share posted at 8:45 pm on February 5, 2011 by Jazz Shaw regular view Previous signs of “Miss me yet?� may have sprung up around various points in the United States, but in certain portions of Europe the 43rd president is still not getting a warm reception. After agreeing to assist in a charity event for a Jewish group in Switzerland, warning signs indicated that some left wing groups were preparing a decidedly hostile welcome for Bush and the trip had to be canceled. President George W. Bush has canceled an...

Bush cancels Switzerland visit under threat of protests, efforts to arrest him By Bridget Johnson - 02/05/11 09:59 AM ET President George W. Bush has canceled an event in the famously neutral country Switzerland because of expected protests to his presence there. Bush was supposed to give the keynote address at a Jewish group's charity gala on Feb. 12 in Geneva. Leftist groups had planned to protest the visit, according to news agencies. But several human rights groups had also filed criminal complaints against Bush, demanding that he be taken into custody if he stepped on Swiss soil and investigated...

George W. Bush will be at Fort Campbell on Wednesday to sign copies of his presidential memoir, “Decision Points,” for soldiers and their families at the Post Exchange. The book-signing will be limited to people with a military identification. They must purchase Bush’s book at Leisure Travel Service on post, according to an announcement by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. The book-signing will begin at 9:30 a.m. CST. The PX will open at 7 a.m. Soldiers and family members must buy the book between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday or Tuesday at the PX store. The books...

On Sunday, the southern Sudanese began voting on a referendum to secede from the Republic of Sudan and establish their own sovereign nation. By all accounts, they will soon secede from the Arab, Islamic country and form an independent African, Christian and animist state. The consequences of their actions will reverberate around the world. This week’s referendum takes place in accordance with the US-brokered Comprehensive Peace Treaty between the Khartoum government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement signed on January 9, 2005. The CPT officially ended the second Sudanese Civil War that began in 1983. The South Sudanese referendum will...

In the New York Times story today that details information on the Stuxnet computer worm that ended up destroying 984 Iranian unranium centrifuges, an interesting “item” pops out. Not immediately, not in the New York Times. But about half way through the story we find out that President Bush got the Stuxnet started in 2008 with Israel. He even managed to get the cooperation of Germany, Britain and the Saudis. Not bad for someone the world supposedly hated. Then, near the end of the piece, we find out that we got a lot of material from Libya after it gave...

Some very interesting things have emerged in Gallup’s 2010 “Most Admired” survey. That America’s most admired man is Barack Obama is not one of them. He is the president, you know. And even when his job-approval ratings took a dramatic downward turn, polls continued to show that Americans liked him as a person, policies aside. May he figure out how to turn this enduring admiration into collective and sustainable national purpose. Now for the fun part: Guess who has the No. 2 spot. None other than George W. Bush. Normally, there’d be nothing remarkable in the last president being the...

George W. Bush's book is atop the bestseller list, which could help explain the presence of hundreds of people who waited in line Monday at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C., to have a book signed by the former president and former first lady Laura Bush. The event sold out in a matter of hours Saturday. Library officials would not say how many people obtained the wristbands necessary for admission. According to USA Today, in the week ending Dec. 12, Bush's book, "Decision Points," which was released a week after the midterm election reached No. 1 on the nonfiction...

Former President George W. Bush was happily stunned when legendary former heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali stood facing him. Bush was at a Barnes & Noble Booksellers store in Phoenix today signing his book, Decision Points when the Greatest entered (with the Secret Service) to shake hands. With his famous comic humor, Ali sat next to Bush and held the book up as press and public snapped photos.

George W. Bush: Stop Calling Them "Bush Tax Cuts"Posted by Mary Dooe December 14, 2010 10:59 AM George W. Bush suggested in a radio interview on Monday that the debate over extending tax cuts in Washington might be made easier by using a phrase other than "Bush tax cuts." In the interview, conservative talk radio host Scott Hennen said that three of the most used words in politics in the last few months have been "Bush tax cuts." That's because of the debate raging over whether and how to extend the cuts, which were established in 2001 and 2003 and...

In a jovial banter, former President George W. Bush and pastor Rick Warren talked about leadership principles and how those led to some of the pivotal decisions Bush made during his presidency. The conversation with the nation's 43rd president took place in front of thousands in the capacity-filled sanctuary at Saddleback Church as part of the church's 7th Civil Forum. Bush and Warren used the forum to expound on some of the details Bush's recently released book, "Decision Points."

George W. Bush says Harry Reid badly irritated him due to his anti-war statement about Iraq. Appearing on Fox and Friends yesterday as part of his publicity stop for "Decision Points," Bush was asked about a notorious quote of anti-war defeatism that Reid had blurted out just when the former president was about to authorize the Surge strategy in Iraq. Looking at Brian Kilmeade intensely, Bush revealed that the comments by Reid—where he infamously stated that the Iraq war was lost and the Surge wouldn’t accomplish anything—irritated him a tremendous amount. He also chastised Reid for not voicing a mere...

Hannity Interviews George W. Bush part 1 of 2 video here

In a new interview to be aired tonight with NBC’s Matt Lauer to promote his new book, Decision Points, pro-life former President George W. Bush explains a startling conversation that resulted in forming and solidifying his pro-life views.After his mother Barbara Bush suffered an emotional miscarriage, “she said to her teenage kid, ‘Here’s the fetus,’” Bush told Lauer. During the interview, President Bush gestures as if he is holding a jar saying the former First Lady showed him the jar containing the baby and that made a tremendous impact on him. “I never expected to see the remains of the...

What a moment! George Bush 41 and George Bush 43 entered the stadium together tonight to throw out the first ball at the World Series. THE CROWD ROARED. Then GW threw a strike to home plate catcher Nolan Ryan to start off game 4. Barbara Bush was taking photos in the stands. What a wonderful moment.

W is throwing the first pitch shortly, what will the crowd reaction be? I'm thinking a long standing ovation. What do you think?

In a rare public appearance, former President George W. Bush talked about life out of the limelight and took a jab at what the "elites" might be thinking of his upcoming book. "I have written a book. This will come as a shock to some of the elites. They didn't think I could read a book, much less write one," Bush quipped. Speaking at the University of Mobile in Alabama Thursday night, Bush talked about his memoir "Decision Points," [...] The 64-year-old said the tome gives some understanding to the decisions he made on tough issues like the handling of...

The last Sunday in September is Gold Star Mother's Day, a day meant for people to honor mothers who have lost a son or daughter while serving in the United States Armed Forces. On Saturday night, former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush hosted a reception in their Dallas home for local Gold Star Mothers and Blue Star Mothers. Blue Star Mothers are mothers that have a soldier serving their country right now. NBCDFW assignment editor Cynthia Garcia was invited to the reception as a Gold Star Mother. On May 27, 2006, her son Corporal J....

When George W. Bush departed the White House on January 20, 2009, he left as one of the most unpopular presidents in history. At the time a Gallup poll found President Bush tallied a mere 34 percent approval. That put him only slightly above the two most unpopular presidents in the era of modern polling -- Harry Truman (32 percent when he left office), and Richard Nixon (22 percent when he resigned in disgrace in August 1974.) Close to two years into President Obama's term, Bush's mojo with the American public appears on the rise. The turnaround couldn't come at...

Picking up on a nugget (my tweet) surprisingly included in a Wednesday Boston Globe article, on Thursday night FNC’s Bret Baier reported in his “Grapevine” segment: “President Bush is apparently more popular than President Obama on Martha's Vineyard – at least when it comes to clothing.” Baier relayed the day the First Family arrived on the Massachusetts island: When the First Family vacationed there last year, Obama-themed trinkets were flying off the shelves. Now, the owner of a store called the Locker Room says this summer's best-selling shirt features Mr. Bush. And even Democrats are buying it. It reads: “Miss...

President Obama ranks 15th out of 44 in a poll of the best and worst presidents while former President George W. Bush earns a place in the bottom five, according to the Siena College Research Institute's recent survey of 238 presidential scholars released Thursday. Obama secured a top ten place in two skill set categories, communication ability (7th) and ability to compromise (10th), and in two personality trait categories, imagination (6th) and intelligence (8th). Background, described as family, education, and experience, proved his lowest score at 32nd. This is the 5th time the institute has conducted the survey of U.S....