George W Bush

Politicians and presidents of both parties have occasionally suffered from open-mic syndrome, saying something when they thought the microphone was turned off they wished had not been made public. The latest to fall prey to that amplification of the mouth is President Barack Obama. The president told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during their Monday meeting in Seoul, South Korea, that once re-elected, he would have "more flexibility" to deal with missile defense. The president asked Mr. Medvedev to relay to incoming President Vladimir Putin his request for "patience" and "space.

It will be many years yet before historians can make their full assessment of the presidency of George W. Bush, but we have a sneaking suspicion their conclusions will not be nearly as generous as the puffery that has accompanied the opening of his presidential library this past week on the campus of Southern Methodist University. That's to be expected, of course. Presidential libraries have become less about housing presidential papers and more like modern (and enormous - at 226,000 square feet, the George W. Bush Presidential Library is bigger than the average Walmart)

I had to laugh at Mark Ryan's letter about George W. Bush claiming that "the man woke up every morning and tried to do what was best for all Americans" ("Bush will be lauded by history," April 30). Lying to get us into a war to try to finish what his daddy couldn't, which resulted in the deaths of so many U.S. soldiers, wasn't doing what is best for all Americans. It was what was best for himself. Also, Mr. Ryan's remark that "Mr. Bush will go down in history rated far better than the presidents before and after him" is wishful thinking.

Authorities detained a person near the home of former President George W. Bush on Wednesday night after an incident in his Dallas-area neighborhood, a U.S. Secret Service spokesman said. The person who was detained was coming to visit a neighbor of the former president, according to Ed Donovan of the Secret Service. The person was authorized to come onto the street, Donovan said. The incident is being investigated by the Secret Service and there was no perceived threat to the former president, according to Sgt. Warren Mitchell with the Dallas Police Department.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing the NAACP, scrutinizing the nation's oldest civil rights group after its chairman gave a stinging criticism of the Bush administration in a speech this summer. Julian Bond's July 11 comments at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's convention in Philadelphia chastised President Bush for being the first sitting president since Herbert Hoover not to address the group. Bush declined the group's invitation to speak, while Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry accepted.

AUSTIN, Texas -- For 110 years, the promenade leading from the southern entrance of the state Capitol here, 500 feet long and bordered by a rounded limestone curve and a row of oaks, has been known as the Great Walk. And for more than a century it has been the pedestrian thoroughfare for the rogues, scoundrels, schemers and dreamers who conspired, cajoled or campaigned their way into the governor's office.Next week, one of their heirs, George W. Bush, will take the Great Walk on route to the great run.There are cannons to the left and right of the checkerboard concrete diamonds that make up the path from the capitol, but they are ornamental.

CHICAGO - In this campaign, Republicans have portrayed George W. Bush as the political equivalent of a New York City firefighter: strong, manly, eager to rescue those in need and utterly fearless in confronting danger. It's a safe bet that the words toughness and resolve got used about as many times at the GOP convention as combat and veteran were heard at the Democratic gathering - which is to say, beyond counting. Sen. John McCain set the tone in praising the president: "He has not wavered.

My daughter learned a neat rhetorical trick to avoid eating things she doesn't like. "Daddy, I actually really like spinach, it's just that this spinach tastes different. " Democrats and the journalists who love them play a similar game with Republicans and conservatives. "Oh, I have lots of respect for conservatives," goes the typical line, "but the conservatives we're being served today are just so different. Why can't we have Republicans and conservatives like we used to?" Q: What kind of Republicans are extremists, racists, ideologues, pyschopaths, radicals, weirdos, hicks, idiots, elitists, prudes, potato chip double-dippers and meanies?

WASHINGTON -- At the halfway mark of the pre-election-year fund-raising competition for the next presidential nominations, it's customary for the poorer candidates to dismiss the success of those building the largest campaign treasuries as not assuring anything about the eventual outcome.This year is no exception, even in the face of an astonishing, record money-raising performance by Texas Gov. George W. Bush on the Republican side and a near-record for a Democrat by Vice President Al Gore.

CHICAGO - Whatever history says about George W. Bush, it won't say he was a weak president. His conduct of what he regards as the war on terror has been, for good or ill, a chronicle of audacity - toppling the Taliban, deposing Saddam Hussein, defying international law in the detention of al-Qaida captives at Guantanamo Bay, holding American "enemy combatants" without trial, and more. Yet in one major way, he has verged on timidity. In his entire first term, he hasn't used a power that most presidents have regarded as indispensable: the veto.