Free Republic

George W. Bush is as hard to find in his father's office, as he is in the 2012 presidential contest. The 43rd president appears in a gold-framed picture tucked into a far corner of the room, partially hidden by a Texas flag and a cabinet door. The placement — whether intentional or not — is a reminder of the Republican presidential campaign and the lengths to which Romney and his rivals have tried to marginalize the two-term president.

TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from landlocked Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast, is a “no-brainer” that would create jobs and bolster the economy, former President George W. Bush said on Tuesday. The $7.6 billion Keystone XL line would generate private-sector employment and government revenue, he said at an American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers conference in San Diego. The U.S. government’s budget deficit is unsustainable and must be reduced by supporting industry, Bush said. “The clear goal ought to be how to get the private sector to grow,” said Bush, who spoke during a luncheon at...

When Gov. Sarah Palin was deciding whether or not to get into the presidential race, Karl Rove was popping up on Fox News to talk about why her skin was too thin for the job. And when Gov. Rick Perry was thinking about his entrance into the race, Rove was Johnny-on-the-spot with reasons why a Perry candidacy would not be viable either. Now Rove’s moved on to Herman Cain, whose candidacy he’s doing all he can to sink, sidetrack, or On Fox News this past Monday, Rove did his best Mr. Rogers imitation by holding up a small dry-erase board...

Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has warned Washington to "think 10 times" before launching any unilateral offensive in the restive North Waziristan tribal region even as an angry and frustrated US is lining up its artillery on the Afghan border facing Pakistan. The Obama administration is also initiating fresh diplomatic efforts to persuade Pakistan to reel back its "self-destructive" policy of seeking strategic depth through terrorism before more aggressive military action. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is heading for Islamabad this weekend in a trip that is officially secret but is being discussed animatedly in diplomatic circles...

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...

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Friday, adding to the two-week slump as investors continued to sell, spooked by the prospect of another recession. At 0900 GMT, futures for the S&P 500 down 0.48 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.7 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.35 percent. Investors braced for the all-important U.S. monthly non-farm payrolls as well as the unemployment rate, due at 1230 GMT on Friday, seeking more insight on the extent of the damage in the labor market following a string of bleak macroeconomic data. Economists see payrolls up by...

Donald Trump fired back at Karl Rove on Tuesday for labeling his possible White House bid a “joke,” saying the one-time senior adviser to President George W. Bush “should be ashamed of himself” for the role he played in pushing an agenda that turned voters against Republicans and paved the way for the Obama presidency. Mr. Trump, the billionaire real estate developer and reality-TV-show star still weighing a 2012 race, said in an interview that the Republican brand was so tarnished after the Bush-Rove years that even “Abraham Lincoln couldn’t have beaten” President Obama in the 2008 presidential race. “Honestly,...

ABERDEEN, Scotland - The Donald to W: "You stink." Donald Trump trashed President Bush Tuesday as a "terrible" President who has destroyed the world economy - but insisted the global crunch wouldn't stall his planned $2 billion golf resort. "We have a President in the United States who's terrible. He stinks," Trump said. Trump said he can't wait to see Bush head back to Texas after the November election is done. "Hopefully, we'll have a good, new President, whoever he is," Trump said. He praised both major party candidates - Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee and John McCain, his...

Ten United Nations staff were murdered - two by beheading - after extremists stormed their compound in northern Afghanistan today. Protesters broke into UN offices in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif after a demonstration against Koran burnings in the America turned violent. A small breakaway group attacked the UN compound, throwing stones and climbing on blast barriers to try to gain entry. They seized weapons from guards and opened fire before storming the site. An Afghan police source, who asked not to be named, said the chief of the mission in the city was wounded but survived. Among those murdered...

Is the traditional 100-watt incandescent light bulb about to go the way of the Tyrannosaurus Rex? Some Republicans on Capitol Hill hope not. They want to overturn the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, signed by then-President George W. Bush. The law requires all 100-watt incandescent light bulbs to be almost 30-percent more energy efficient by Jan. 1, 2012. Since that means higher production costs, manufacturers in America have stopped making the traditional bulbs. Some consumers have already started stockpiling the old-model bulbs, complaining that the replacements cast a unattractive light compared to the warmth of incandescent bulbs. Kentucky...

Tea Party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann is flirting with a run in 2012, but the GOP may not get a real shot at the White House until four years later. Mark McKinnon on why, dynasty issues aside, Bush will be a clear favorite. As the 112th Congress settles into its first week of work, political fireworks are already going off that could have a big impact on the presidential elections of 2012 and 2016. Michele Bachmann and Jeb Bush showed some leg this week and got many in the GOP steaming up. While the media fixates on a possible presidential...

President Barack Obama called former President George W. Bush Tuesday hours before he was set to deliver an Oval Office speech on the drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq, the White House said. Obama made the call aboard Air Force One on his way to Ft. Bliss, Tex., where he will visit U.S. troops. White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton said the “private” call lasted “a few minutes,” but declined to give further detail. Obama telephoned Bush in February 2009 before announcing his plans for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

WASHINGTON — The incumbent senator from Alaska is taken by surprise in a primary. A new conservative movement energizes Republicans in a furious response to a Democratic White House. Little-known insurgent candidates prepare to storm the Senate. It is starting to feel like 1980. While the 1994 Republican takeover of the House is regularly explored for insight into what might happen this polarized election year, parallels are emerging between the watershed Senate election of three decades ago and the campaign of 2010 as another conservative rebellion threatens to reshape the Senate. In 1980, shocked Senate Democrats lost 12 seats in...

Lauer to Laura Bush: Is It 'Painful' to Be in New Orleans, Since So Much Blame Is Laid At Your Husband's Feet? Today co-anchor Matt Lauer traveled to New Orleans, on Friday, to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and interviewed the likes of former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, former FEMA Director Mike Brown, current Democratic Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, but saved any sort of direct shots at George W. Bush for his interview with Laura Bush.

At a briefing today to discuss the administration’s efforts to rescue the auto industry, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs took on conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh—and every other critic “sitting in the cheap seats” –for criticizing the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler as a “government takeover” that smacks of socialism. Told by a reporter that “You had Rush Limbaugh today — today or yesterday — talking Obama Motors again,” Gibbs, who doesn’t often provide free advertising by taking on his critics by name from the podium, let fire. “Look, Rush Limbaugh and others wanted to walk away. Rush...

President Obama and his leftist pals ought to start taking responsibility for the shortcomings of their extreme ideology. The left’s knee-jerk reaction: Blame former President George W. Bush for anything that goes wrong, seems to have no bounds. Bush has been saddled with everything from a bad economy to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Continues... To stem the Gulf oil gusher and clean up the mess, Obama has been mustering all the incompetence his entire administration could manage under the circumstances. His biggest achievement thus far is watching this drag out for over a month before realizing...

Three generations of Bushes descended on a Brickell area church Saturday for a wedding and Memorial Day weekend family reunion of the Republican Party's most enduring dynasty. The two former presidents -- George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush -- were on hand, along with the former first ladies to watch as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's youngest son, John Ellis Bush Jr., 26, known as ``Jebby,'' married Coral Gables resident Sandra Algudady.

My brother and I have a running conversation about whether it is a good thing that John McCain didn't become president. We both voted for him, but I decided early on, as much as I oppose every Marx-tinged thing President Obama stands for, I was glad Obama had won and McCain had lost. At least, I was glad McCain had lost. That's because only out of ashes may the phoenix be reborn. The liberal-lite frustrations of a McCain administration would have smoldered on the Right but lit few fires, dampening the possibility of real post-Bush regeneration. From Bush's "compassionate conservatism"...

President Barack Obama on Saturday brought together his White House predecessors, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton, for a joint appeal for victims of Haiti's devastating earthquake. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100116/ts_alt_afp/haitiquakeaidusobamabushclinton_20100116173918

At least someone in America isn't feeling a credit squeeze: Uncle Sam. This week Congress will vote to raise the national debt ceiling by nearly $2 trillion, to a total of $14 trillion. In this economy, everyone de-leverages except government. It's a sign of how deep the fiscal pathologies run in this Congress that $2 trillion will buy the federal government only one year before it has to seek another debt hike—conveniently timed to come after the midterm elections. Since Democrats began running Congress again in 2007, the federal debt limit has climbed by 39%. The new hike will lift...