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I have to admit, it was one of the strangest speeches Obama has ever given. In Obama usual grand way, his rhetoric was high flying, and a mixture of pragmatism and nonsense. But it does provide a window into his mind, and it is a shocking view.Obama provided an empassioned defense of America’s wars as ‘just’ wars for humanitarian reasons…something George W. Bush campaigned on worldwide during his presidency. We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert –...

Former President George W. Bush, outlining plans for a new public policy institute, on Thursday said America must fight the temptation to allow the federal government to take control of the private sector, declaring that too much government intervention will squelch economic recovery and expansion. (snip) In his speech, which set out his goals for a new policy institute focused on economic growth, education, human freedom and global health, Mr. Bush said he entered politics because "because I saw society drifting away from the values at the heart of the American Dream."

We know absolutely no one in Bush family circles and have never met former President George W. Bush or his wife Laura. If you have been reading us for any length of time, you know that we used to make fun of “Dubya” nearly every day…parroting the same comedic bits we heard in our Democrat circles, where Bush is still, to this day, lampooned as a chimp, a bumbling idiot, and a poor, clumsy public speaker. Oh, how we RAILED against Bush in 2000…and how we RAILED against the surge in support Bush received post-9/11 when he went to Ground...

Former Secret Service agent opens window into private lives of presidents October 14th, 2009 Jamie Weinstein In his In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents they Protect, journalist Ronald Kessler gives us a peek inside the intimate lives of our presidents. Through interviews with over 100 secret service agents from the past and present—dating all the way back to John F. Kennedy—Kessler paints a picture of what our presidents are like when no one is looking. They're always watching. We learn from the agents Kessler interviews that John F....

There were things that President Bush did that I didn't agree with, but, he never gave up defending this country against terrorists. He wasn't a wuss like the current White House resident.

PGA Champ Yang Pledges Round of Golf With Bush AUGUST 28, 2009 03:40 Y.E. Yang, the first Asian-born golfer to win a major PGA title, said yesterday that he promised to play a round of golf with former U.S. President George W. Bush. Yang was speaking to a news conference at the Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey, just a day before the FedEx Cup playoff opener at The Barclays. He said that when he went to Carlsbad in Southern California to visit the headquarters of his sponsor TaylorMade last week, he met Bush and chatted with...

There is an extensive body of writing from both sides of the political aisle that has analyzed the extraordinary depths of hatred leveled at former President George W. Bush. His birth into a wealthy and politically connected family is where a lot of the animus starts. His rejection of his Connecticut roots and adoption of a rugged Texan persona naturally riled his birth-constituency. His disjointed speaking style also alienated many others - especially those who covered him in the Northeastern media. Naturally, some of his initiatives were controversial. His allies say he didn't do enough.

When President Bush spoke in the months and years after Sept. 11, 2001, we often -- chillingly -- felt as if we didn’t recognize the United States. His vision was of a country racked with fear and bent on vengeance, one that imposed invidious choices on the world and on itself. When we listened to President Obama speak in Cairo on Thursday, we recognized the United States. Mr. Obama spoke, unwaveringly, of the need to defend the country’s security and values. He left no doubt that he would do what must be done to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban,...

A "conversation" here Friday between Bill Clinton (R) and George W. Bush, the 42nd and 43rd US presidents, pictured here in January 2009, attracted some 6,000 beholders and a few hundred protestors in a carnival atmosphere.

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...

Forced to the ramparts to defend Rush Limbaugh against spurious, low-down attacks from the Obama White House and assorted Obamedia, conservatives, in their understandable zeal to defend a salient voice of conservatism, are letting the real enemy slip away unnamed. Who would that be? The answer is George W. Bush, whose stealthy political legacy stands as taking what is popularly known as "conservatism" on a disastrously leftward lurch. A shocking statement, maybe. But I came to believe long ago -- at some point after the insipid limpness of former President Bush's theories of world democracy, delivered in his second inaugural...

A big women's basketball game between No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 4 Baylor just gained added prestige. Former President George W. Bush and wife Laura attended Wednesday's game. The two entered several minutes before the opening tip, flanking Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey, and received a prolonged standing ovation from the fans at the Ferrell Center. The group was engulfed by photographers and camera crews at the Oklahoma bench. Another round of applause followed during the initial TV timeout at 15:57 of the first half, when the 43rd president was introduced again.

Will George W. Bush end up being the last true US President? Increasingly, it seems that he just may. As lawsuits against President-elect Barack Hussein Obama—questioning his US citizenship—continue to grow, he ever more adamantly continues his refusal to produce his real, viable and original birth certificate. Note: Obama’s supposed Hawaiian birth certificate is issued to those born outside of the USA who move to Hawaii. In fact, Hawaii issues “Certifications of Live Birth” to those who are foreign born. This is the same document that Obama and his team claim is his birth certificate. Now, another ugly issue is...

As GWB prepares to leave office, I think history will treat him much as it does now Harry Truman: A plain spoken humble man who made the really tough decisions and left office with abysmally low poll ratings. There were four major policy decisions of GWB I personally never liked: 1) No Child Left Behind--Whatever happened to the concept that public education is supposed to be a state and local issue, not a federal issue, at least according to the U.S. Constitution? Besides it was way too costly. 2) Prescriptions Drugs Medicare Part D--How much is this greatest entitlement program...

Gov't reports largest imbalance ever in Nov., annual deficit could reach record $1 trillionWASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government ran a record budget deficit in November, putting Uncle Sam on track to post an all-time high annual shortfall of $1 trillion or more. In just the first two months of the budget year that started Oct. 1, the deficit totaled $401.6 billion, nearly matching the record gap of $455 billion posted for all of last year, according to Treasury Department data released Wednesday. If the deficit does top $1 trillion for the current budget year, it also would be a...

WASHINGTON - On Nov. 24, 2008, President George W. Bush granted pardons to 14 individuals and commutation of sentence to two individuals:

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/November/08-opa-1048.html President George W. Bush Grants Pardons and Commutations WASHINGTON - On Nov. 24, 2008, President George W. Bush granted pardons to 14 individuals and commutation of sentence to two individuals: PARDONS: · Leslie Owen Collier - Charleston, Mo. Offense: Unauthorized use of a registered pesticide, 7 U.S.C. §§ 136j(a)(2)(F) and 136l(b); violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, 16 U.S.C. § 668(a). Sentence: Feb. 2, 1996; Eastern District of Missouri; two years’ probation and $10,000 in restitution. · Milton Kirk Cordes - Rapid City, S.D. Offense: Conspiracy to violate the...

Just saw Kerri Walsh pause the interview after winning the gold to thank W for his inspiration, Class.

There was a familiar quip Hillary Clinton used on campaign stops this year. It usually involved some snide reference to how America's image supposedly has been damaged during the Bush years, punctuated by a line that always drew hoots of approval from audiences that shared her loathing of the president: "The whole world is going to breathe a sigh of relief," she would proclaim, "when that moving van pulls up to the White House on its way back to Texas."

...In an informal survey of 109 professional historians conducted over a three-week period through the History News Network, 98.2 percent assessed the presidency of Mr. Bush to be a failure while 1.8 percent classified it as a success. Asked to rank the presidency of George W. Bush in comparison to those of the other 41 American presidents, more than 61 percent of the historians concluded that the current presidency is the worst in the nation's history. Another 35 percent of the historians surveyed rated the Bush presidency in the 31st to 41st category, while only four of the 109 respondents...

I want to open today's speech with a story that begins on a sunny morning, when thousands of Americans were murdered in a surprise attack -- and our nation was propelled into a conflict that would take us to every corner of the globe. The enemy who attacked us despises freedom, and harbors resentment at the slights he believes America and Western nations have inflicted on his people. He fights to establish his rule over an entire region. And over time, he turns to a strategy of suicide attacks destined to create so much carnage that the American people will...

Following are highlights of President Bush's speech Wednesday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention in Kansas City, Mo.Thank you all for letting me come by. I want to open today's speech with a story that begins on a sunny morning, when thousands of Americans were murdered in a surprise attack — and our nation was propelled into a conflict that would take us to every corner of the globe. The enemy who attacked us despises freedom, and harbors resentment at the slights he believes America and Western nations have inflicted on his people. He fights to establish his...

Bush Pledges to Veto Homosexual Hate-Crimes Legislation By Elizabeth O'Brien WASHINGTON, D.C., August 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As the contentious "hate crime" legislation that would add sexual orientation as a specially protected class is put before the Senate, after being passed in the House of Representatives, Bush has promised to veto the proposed bill should the Senate vote in its favor, the Washington Times reports Democratic Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Republican Oregan Senator Gordon Smith reintroduced the "hate crime" bill, also known as the "Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" into the Senate this July, buried as one of many amendments to the...

Anti-life "HillaryCare" Socialized Med Scheme Back as House Passes CHAMP Bill; Senate Follows Suit Today Cuts funding for abstinence, covers abortifacient drugs, leaves Seniors with less options By Peter J. Smith WASHINGTON, D.C., August 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The advent of socialized health care and massive taxpayer abortion subsidies may take the United States by stealth, unless the new health care bill proposed by Democrats Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. John Dingle (D-MI) is vetoed by President Bush. Today the US House of Representatives voted 225-204 for a massive expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a...

March 27, 2007 Op-Ed Contributor Prosecution Complex By NEAL KATYAL WashingtonIN 1999, when the Independent Counsel Act (the law that gave Kenneth Starr and Lawrence Walsh their mandates) was expiring, I was given the job of writing the new Justice Department rules for the appointment of a special prosecutor since the department would once again be responsible for overseeing such investigations. There was one hypothetical to worry about once the Independent Counsel Act lapsed: a case in which the attorney general herself and her deputy were suspected of possible misconduct. The rules were therefore written to vest the decision...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats who are moving ahead with anti-war legislation are using troops as leverage to win domestic political battles, President Bush said Saturday. Democrats pledged to keep pushing until there is a change of course in Iraq. Bush said some lawmakers see a chance "to micromanage our military commanders, force a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq and spend billions on domestic projects that have nothing to do with the war on terror." In his weekly radio address, the president said, "Many in Congress say they support the troops, and I believe them. Now they have a chance to show...

Jordan has charged three terrorists with plotting to carry out attacks, including an assassination of American President George W. Bush. Prosecutors said the terrorists also planned to strike American Danish embassies in Amman but apparently were not aware that Denmark has no offices in Jordan. The arrests were revealed Wednesday, three months after the terrorists were arrested the day before President Bush arrived in Amman for talks with King Abdullah.

I have this picture, on my wall, of a Bald Eagle whith an American flag, Not a Bush bot but he is the best thing this country has had in a while.

Tears rolled down US President George Bush's cheeks as he posthumously honoured a US marine hero, just 24 hours after ordering the controversial deployment of an extra 21,500 troops to Iraq. The unusual display of emotion by the commander-in-chief came during a ceremony for Corporal Jason Dunham at the White House. Corporal Dunham, 22, died from injuries after he jumped on a grenade and saved fellow members of his patrol in Iraq. Mr Bush presented his parents with the prestigious Medal of Honour, America's highest military award. Corporal Dunham saved at least two lives during a struggle with an insurgent...

Thank you GW for your courage and resolve. If not for you, Saddam would still be in power and alive. You are the one person that made this posible! Thank you!

WASHINGTON - Bearing down on a plan for peace, the bipartisan panel studying the war in Iraq faces rising expectations, with the public restless for change and political leaders eager for some help. The Iraq Study Group will meet with President Bush and other White House officials Monday, a pivotal day of talks as the panel nears the end of its review. The group plans to announce its recommendations to Bush and Congress by the end of the year. Even before it is finished, the report is seen by many in Washington as having huge stakes. It could give both...

Report is far from damning of President's insistence on maintaining the course in Iraq TRUTH, like beauty, is apparently to be in the eye of the beholder. That's the only conclusion you can draw from the reaction to the US National Intelligence Estimate entitled Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the US, with a declassified summary of its conclusions released by President George W. Bush after parts were leaked to The New York Times.

I used to be a liberal. I was in one of the first “open” classrooms growing up in very progressive Great Neck, New York, in the 1960s. In 1971, when I was 11, I wrote vitriolic letters to President Nixon demanding an end to the Vietnam War. My first vote, in 1980, was for Independent John Anderson, followed by Mondale, Dukakis, and Clinton-Gore. I read Thomas Friedman in the NY Times and tried to “understand” the “root causes” of the “despair” he said the Palestinians felt that drove them to blow up innocent Israelis.I wasn’t an overtly political person –...

For the White House, the Congressional picnic last week seemed like the perfect setting to mend strained relations with Republican allies on Capitol Hill: President Bush and his advisers eating taquitos and Mexican confetti rice on the lawn of the White House with Republican Congressional leaders. But moments before Mr. Bush was to welcome his guests, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert told the president that House Republicans were effectively sidelining — and in the view of some Congressional aides probably killing — what had become Mr. Bush's signature domestic initiative of the year: an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws. That...

Washington, DC: President Bush made clear today that he thinks guest workers should be able to become American citizens. He stated, "I believe that we ought to say to somebody doing a job an American won't do, 'here is a tamper-proof identity card that will enable you to be here for a period of time. And if that person wants to become a citizen of the United States, because we're a nation of laws, they get at the end of the line, not the beginning of the line." Senator Kennedy issued the following statement in response: "I commend President Bush...

LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland -- The United States must rebuild the power of the United Nations and help "end the empire of oil" if it wants to win the "war on terror," U.S. Sen. John Kerry said Sunday. The Massachusetts Democrat avoided explicit criticisms of the Bush administration during a wide-ranging speech on the global dynamics of terror. But he said Bush's policy of imposing democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan risked looking like a crusade. "If it is seen as the result of an army marching through Muslim lands, it will fail," Kerry told an audience at the University of Ulster...

CHRIS MATTHEWS: 'BUSH BELONGS ON MOUNT RUSHMORE'IF HE WINS 'GREATEST GAMBLE SINCE ROOSEVELT BACKED BRITAIN BEFORE WWII' (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) WHY DID BILL CLINTON IGNORE TERRORISM?Was it simply the constraints of his liberal mindset, or was it something even more threatening to our national security?by Mia T, 8.18.05 (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) thanx to jla and Wolverine for the audio "Mr. bin Laden used to live in Sudan. He was expelled from Saudi Arabia in '91 and he went to the Sudan. We'd been hearing that the Sudanese wanted America...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Monday he was appalled by the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, acknowledging his own responsibility. "I was appalled that a nation as wealthy as ours was not able to respond as effectively as we should have and took blame for it," Bush said. "I mean, to the extent that the federal government was ineffective, I'm responsible. And I understand that. And now the question is how do we learn lessons from the response." Speaking in an interview with NBC Nightly News, Bush urged patience amid criticism that the reconstruction has slowed....

White House stung by criticism of its stance on Kyoto agreement Montreal: The White House was forced into a U-turn on climate change on Saturday after appearing to misjudge critically the international and domestic mood on its efforts to tackle global warming. After American delegates walked out of the United Nations climate change conference in Montreal over the wording of a draft statement calling for international co-operation on the issue, they signed a revised version after making only "trivial" changes. One senior British official said the U.S. negotiators shifted their position on the joint statement because the Bush administration was...

A tipster informs me that this is indeed the same Ben Barnes who appeared on the infamous September 8, 2004 60 Minutes II broadcast that also introduced the since discredited Killian memos to the American public. From Sunday's Lynn Sweet column in the Chicago Sun-Times: On Dec. 12, Blagojevich discusses the program in an event at the National Press Club hosted by Families USA. Blagojevich timed it to coincide with Democrat Governor Association meetings taking place at the same time. Later in the day, key Blagojevich kitchen Cabinet member John Wyma, a state and federal lobbyist, and his business partner,...

First, it was seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. On Sunday, hopefuls for China's Olympic mountain biking team got a chance to go pedal to pedal against President Bush in his sport of choice. "Good day for a bike ride," Bush said as he walked toward the six Chinese bikers — three female and three male — at the Laoshan Olympic Mountain Bike Course. Beijing will host the 2008 Summer Olympics. "How do you say, `Take it easy on the old man?'" After posing for pictures, Bush was given a tan, zip-up sweater with a leather "Beijing 2008" logo....

Bush personifies all that pseudo intellectuals detest President George W. Bush is reviled by the Lib-Left media and its adherents and the pseudo-intellectual set in much the same way as President Ronald Reagan was reviled by the Lib-Left media and the pseudo-intellectual set. As we now know, Reagan was actually smarter than all of his detractors, and it may well be Bush will turn out that way, too. The likes of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul ignored the hyenas and the catcalls of the Liberal-Left and backed Reagan to the hilt and thereby brought down one...

IT HAS NOW BEEN TWO WEEKS since George W. Bush touched off a conservative civil war by nominating his White House counsel, Harriet Miers, to the Supreme Court. Miers, who has worked with Bush for over a decade, received the appointment based, we're assured, on the confidence the president has in his attorney. Part of the reaction to Miers's nomination comes from bewilderment as to why Bush selected Miers ahead of a talented field of well-known and well-respected conservative jurists, legal scholars, and practitioners. While backers of the Miers nomination point to her work as managing partner of a prominent...

Miers to withdraw -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: October 13, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Harriet Miers is never going to be grilled by the Senate Judiciary Committee. She is going to withdraw her name from consideration before such hearings ever begin. You can take that to the bank. Why? Because, even though Democrats in the Senate seem more pleased with the choice of Miers than do Republicans, the questions that must be asked of the nominee for Sandra Day O'Connor's Supreme Court seat would be among the most embarrassing ever raised about her boss, President Bush. Most of the attention...

Washington is suddenly hung up on cronyism. According to a quick Lexis-Nexis search, roughly 1,000 stories have mentioned "cronyism" and "Bush" in the last two months alone. It was Michael Brown's putatively dismal performance at FEMA that got the anti-crony buzz going and Bush's selection of Harriet Miers that sent it into the stratosphere. But President Bush has been setting the tinder for quite some time by so successfully keeping a tight inner circle of loyalists in the White House. When he was reelected, Bush made the strategically wise decision of dispatching these loyalists to run important Cabinet agencies, in...

Friends, Americans, bloggers, lend me your earsI come to bury Miers, not to confirm her.The evil that Justices do lives after them;The good is oft preserved by rejecting their nominations;So let it be with Miers. The noble Bush hath told you Harriet is conservative;If it be so, 'tis a glorious qualification,And gloriously may Miers answer it in her hearings.Here, under leave of Bush and the rest,--For Bush is an honorable man;So are they all, all honorable men,--Come I to speak before Miers' hearings. She was an unknown, undistinguished and of no importance to me:But Bush says she is conservative;And Bush...

Bill Clinton is building on Jimmy Carter's example and creating a new paradigm for ex-presidents. They're ba-aack. Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush, America's political odd couple, are teaming up for another big roadshow, this time to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Last week, they stood shoulder to shoulder with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office, the 59-year-old Clinton now completely gray and looking a bit fragile, and the 81-year-old Bush looking stooped and a bit weary. Later the pair appeared together in Houston, chatting with evacuees at the Astrodome and the Reliant Center Arena....

WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Monday named David Paulison, a top official in the Homeland Security Department, to replace Michael Brown on an acting basis as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Bush moved quickly to put Paulison in charge of FEMA after Brown resigned the position under fire for the slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina that killed hundreds and displace 1 million people.

President Bush denied Monday there was any racial component to people being left behind after Hurricane Katrina, despite suggestions from some critics that the response would have been quicker if so many of the victims hadn't been poor and black. "The storm didn't discriminate and neither will the recovery effort," Bush said. "The rescue efforts were comprehensive. The recovery will be comprehensive." Bush made the remarks to reporters at the end of a tour that took him through several flooded New Orleans neighborhoods. Occasionally, Bush had to duck to avoid low-hanging electrical wires and branches. It was Bush's first exposure...

From the moment President Bush set his war policy after the 9-11 attacks, our country has been divided into two factions. The first faction supports the President because it believes he’s doing the right thing, while the second faction opposes the President because it believes he’s doing the wrong thing. Now a third faction has emerged, comprised of those who believe the President is doing the right thing – but that he isn’t doing it very well. Generally, those who belong to this third faction argue that the war is going badly because we aren’t fighting hard enough, or smart...