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Dear Congressman Hunter, Welcome back to the private sector. Having had the opportunity to talk to you a number of times, I know that you are looking forward to doing some "real" work for a few years before you retire. I wish you well in the construction business. But I want to thank you for your service to the country. Frankly, the vast majority of politicians in DC provide nothing but disservice to our nation, including most republicans. But you, on the other hand, have been a national treasure. A true Reaganite from the beginning, you never wavered from your...

President George W. Bush departs with low approval ratings. Appraisals of presidents sometimes change over time, and sometimes they don’t. *snip* No doubt the Internet dervishes will pepper this and other assessments of Bush with their standard displays of anonymous ferocity. There are a lot of 14-year-olds with Internet connections. But when the Jon Meacham of 150 years from now goes about his task with Bush, that historian will have as much material and more, as did the author of “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.” And the verdict will be nearly the same: Here was an extraordinary...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- President George W. Bush will be judged on what he did. He will also be remembered for what he's like: a fast-moving, phrase-mangling Texan who stays upbeat even though his country is not. For eight years, the nation has been led by a guy who relaxes by clearing brush in scorching heat and taking breakneck bike rides through the woods. He dishes out nicknames to world leaders, and even gave the German chancellor an impromptu, perhaps unwelcome, neck rub. He's annoyed when kept waiting and sticks relentlessly to routine. He stays optimistic in even the most dire...

admire President Bush. I think he is a good man and I have said so before. But as Bush leaves office he is looking more and more like a deer in headlights.... ...A sound education, a clear and steady mind, real world experience, a moral compass, the ability to listen to and understand conflicting points of view, superior communication skills, common sense and courage are the tools a statesman needs. With the possible exception of education, none of these skills can be taught. They must be lived, learned, and earned.

A fairly balanced analysis of how Bush will probably be remembered in the future. It is a Bloomberg article so it cannot be directly posted on FreeRepublic. The article is linked on DrudgeReport.

President George W. Bush is leaving with one of the lowest approval ratings in the history of numbers. During his final months on the job, the controversial commander-in-chief has given several interviews that have revealed how he views his legacy. Here are some highlights... Soul not for sale One of the president's most interesting sound bites came during his interview with FOX News. He said: "I didn't compromise my soul to be a popular guy." The quote is an acknowledgment that the president is well aware that he's about as popular as taxes and chicken pox. Bush went on to...

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush says history will judge him, but he is getting his own crack first. Bush is using his final 50 days in office to tout his legacy, hoping to leave a lasting impression of overshadowed progress. On Monday, World AIDS Day, Bush was heralded for his leadership in fighting the disease, a point that even his Democratic critics readily concede. The anti-AIDS program Bush championed in 2003 has delivered lifesaving medicine to more than 2 million people in five years, up from 50,000 people before it began. Many of those helped live in impoverished sub-Saharan...

Five years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger took over a state drowning in red ink, brimming with confidence that he and the Legislature would forge a bipartisan solution that would put California back on sound financial footing. “I know there are some who say that the Legislature and I will never agree on solutions to our problems,” the internationally famous bodybuilder and action-movie star said in his Nov. 17, 2003, inaugural address. “But I've found in my life that people often respond in remarkable ways to remarkable challenges.” Five years later, Schwarzenegger presides over a state drowning in red ink and last...

It is the easiest thing in the world to criticize President George W. Bush. So simple and widespread is condemnation of the man that, when one hears some concerned citizen spouting the usual lines about “lies,” “war for oil” and the like, one wonders what that person thinks he or she is adding to the public discourse. It has all been said before, and it was dopey the first time. What is far more difficult — harder, even, than finding someone to sing Bush’s praises – is to find intelligent analysis of Bush’s successes and failures as leader of the...

Whether his critics like it or not, President Bush will have a legacy. He will become part of history, his words and deeds shaken out and sorted through by friend and foe alike. They will argue and maybe gesticulate, the din of their arguments distilled down to one-liners in the media feedback chamber: Bush great. Bush courageous. Bush brilliant. Bush bad. Bush lied. Bush dumb. Noise or not, Mr. Bush will have his permanent place in history, and the dynamic is already in motion. Legacy wrangling has begun in print and broadcast; there's talk we'll one day have "Bush nostalgia"...

Okay, hear me out. With a little over two months left in his term, the President can go down in history with one simple stroke of the pen. Issue an executive order immediately declassifying ALL files and documents pertaining to UFO's and UFO investigations. We all know the government isn't telling us everything. Open the vaults, it's long overdue.

It has been 2,844 days since President George W. Bush took office, to the scorn and ridicule of all too many Americans. He only has about 72 days left to serve America, much to the happiness of the socialist left of America, who has spewed their hatred of the man for these last 2,844 days. Even during those tragic days immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, their hate continued as they began seeking ways to blame such a horrendous act upon him instead of the bloodthirsty extremists that caused it. Calls for his impeachment began almost before...

Has there ever been a lamer duck than George W. Bush? How he went from winning a clear majority of the 2004 popular vote to his current dismal showing is a topic that will fascinate historians in the future. The answers will assuredly revolve around Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, and the financial meltdown that has panicked Wall Street and made a Democratic victory this November all but certain. Yet, even as Bush gets swept into the proverbial dustbin of history, it would be a mistake to succumb to the temptation of viewing everything he did as wrong. But...

With the characteristic keenness of speech insight and bluntness that has earned him nearly unanimous respect in both parties and the press, Virginia Republican congressman Tom Davis assessed President George W. Bush's impact on the GOP: “The Republican brand is in the trash can … if we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf.” We all know that probably sooner rather than later — and thanks, at least in part, to the Democrats' politically screwing up — the Republicans will recover and once again win a national election. But the Bush political legacy — which will...

“Not only have individual financial institutions become less vulnerable to shocks from underlying risk factors, but also the financial system as a whole has become more resilient.” — Alan Greenspan in 2004 George Soros, the prominent financier, avoids using the financial contracts known as derivatives “because we don’t really understand how they work.” Felix G. Rohatyn, the investment banker who saved New York from financial catastrophe in the 1970s, described derivatives as potential “hydrogen bombs.” And Warren E. Buffett presciently observed five years ago that derivatives were “financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially...

Steve Fossett's unfinished legacy: Deepest ocean exploration And were it not for what seems certain to be his untimely and tragic death in a small airplane crash high in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Fossett was poised to set a new record, one that could have far surpassed his many others in scope and shock value. The record? To become the first human being to dive solo to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 36,000 feet below the ocean surface near Guam.

Full Article at Political Capital Before you read this article, take a couple steps back from your political opinions - because I can already hear the partisan bickering. I want you to approach this and analyze it in an antiseptic, neutral way - regardless of whether you are a Bush lover or Bush hater. I think both camps will find things to love, and hate in this article. But, reserve judgment please - because this is an article about how history will remember George W. Bush, it is not a political judgment on his presidency. Indeed, you will find several...

The White House has rejected calls from House Republicans that it convene a special session of Congress on energy, saying it wouldn’t make a difference. “We don't have plans to call Congress into session -- it won't make a difference if Democratic leaders are unwilling to bring up a bill for an up-down vote,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) asked President Bush to convene the special session in an Aug. 1 letter. The same day, House Republicans launched an unusual protest on the House floor urging...

Alice Walker, best known as the author of the novel The Color Purple, is one of the most renowned feminist authors and activists of her generation. She is also a mother, and that fact brought her public and private lives into direct conflict. --snip-- That is because Alice Walker’s brand of feminism was the kind that taught that “motherhood was about the worst thing that could happen to a woman.” So says her daughter, Rebecca, who suffered the consequences of that thinking. In a recent London Daily Mail article, Rebecca Walker reflected on the neglect she experienced with her divorced...

New York’s High Court Sides With GrassoWednesday June 25, 10:35 pm ET By JENNY ANDERSON On Wall Street, there are stars that fade and stars that fight. Richard A. Grasso is one of the latter. On Wednesday, Mr. Grasso, the former chairman and chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange, won another round in his almost five-year battle to keep the $187.5 million of pay he amassed during his eight years at the helm of the Big Board. The New York State Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling dismissing four of six counts originally brought by Eliot...