George W. Bush

The former can't admit that some good has happened during the last two years; the latter can't admit that plenty of bad stuff has.

On September 20, 2001, speaking to a joint session of Congress, President George W. Bush famously articulated the key component of what would later be called the Bush Doctrine: “From this day forward,” the president said, “any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by…

It was one of the ironies of the George W. Bush presidency that a supposedly unlettered president should appoint to the federal government’s cultural endowments two chairmen who were the most accomplished men ever to hold their respective positions. To the National Endowment for the Arts, Bush…

It was a measure not only of his robust good health but the vitality of his public commitments that Bruce Cole’s sudden death last week came as such a shock to so many people—and that they were shocked to discover that he was 79. He seemed so much younger. Bruce had become one of the key figures in…

It should have been a simple vote to reauthorize an important law, but ideologues allied with exhibitionists to turn it into a circus. Throw in a badly informed Trump tweet, and we had a carnival of folly—which is to say, an ordinary day on Capitol Hill.

Was Samuel Alito worth the Iraq war?

On December 18, a Twitter user with a large following tweeted out a conspiracy theory: The charges against Senator Al Franken, that he had groped numerous women over several years, were “likely a Roger Stone / FOX set up job.” Three days later, the user added a sensational twist: “I didn’t accuse…

President Donald Trump will deliver remarks Monday afternoon on his new national security strategy, a comprehensive set of priorities, challenges, and proposed solutions required by law of every administration since that of Ronald Reagan. Appropriately, Trump will deliver his Monday speech at the…

To those feverishly speculating, whether in glee or in terror, that the election results in Virginia and New Jersey portend loss of GOP control of the House of Representatives in midterm elections a year from now, I ask this question: What difference does that prospect make not as of January 2019…

“The best defense is a good offense,” as the old saw goes. The nature of that “good offense” matters, though. Too often, American officials mistake “any offense” for a “good offense.” As tensions between North Korea and the United States continue to escalate, it is apparent that American…

George W. Bush has been painting for several years now, but has only recently become an artist. His first paintings, mostly of world leaders, were remarkably well received, even by an art establishment that had hardly been friendly to his administration. And yet, although those early paintings were…

George W. Bush has been painting for several years now, but has only recently become an artist. His first paintings, mostly of world leaders, were remarkably well received, even by an art establishment that had hardly been friendly to his administration. And yet, although those early paintings were…

Syria is a bloody mess. Its cities lie in ruins. Its antiquities have been destroyed. And the Syrian leader continues to kill his own people. The death toll may be as high as a half million people. Some 10 million Syrians have been displaced. Reporters working there have described it as "hell on…

There's an untold story from the 2016 election that should encourage Democrats and worry Republicans. It happened in Houston, the nation's fourth largest city in population and the hometown of former President George H. W. Bush. To be precise it's Harris County, Texas—which consists mostly of…

President Obama's farewell address to the nation was longer than the good-bye speeches of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush combined.

So long as everyone expected a Hillary Clinton victory in November's presidential election, high-minded rhetoric ruled the day at the White House. Michelle Obama's quote from the Clinton campaign trail—"When they go low, we go high"—became something of a mantra. Initially, Barack Obama even spoke…

The Justice Department occupies a very delicate place our constitutional system. On the one hand, the attorney general serves at the pleasure of the president, who can fire his AG any time, for any reason or for no reason at all, which (as Justice Scalia explained) ensures that the people remain a…

Former President George W. Bush says every American citizen should vote in the presidential election, though he hasn't revealed whom he plans to vote for. But it won't be Donald Trump. We can be sure of that.

"We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance." —John Kerry, New York Times Magazine, October 10, 2004 "What American would not trade the economy we had in the 1990s, the fact that we were not at war and young Americans were not…

How did it get to this point?

FBI Director James Comey's choice to recommend against the federal prosecution of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has spurred no shortage of commentary, to say the least—including THE WEEKLY STANDARD's editorial this week, "Hillary Skates."

With a tone of statesmanship just caustic enough to burn, Mitt Romney blasted Donald Trump in a speech Thursday. John McCain endorsed Romney's remarks later in the day. George W. Bush was quicker to criticize than both men, having stumped for his brother and saying on the campaign trail, "We do not…

The February 13 debate in South Carolina provided a clarifying moment for this year's GOP presidential race. Donald Trump claimed that the administration of George W. Bush had engaged in a massive conspiracy to mislead the world about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "They lied," Trump…

Beaufort, S.C.

Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president, claims in Saturday night's debate that the most recent Republican president, George W. Bush, knowingly and purposefully lied us into war in Iraq.

Donald Trump appeared to threaten former President George W. Bush that "It would be better for him if he stayed out" of the 2016 presidential race. He did not elaborate on what would happen if Bush entered the fray.

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with editor William Kristol on Donald Trump's debate performance in South Carolina, and how that might go over with voters.

It’s no secret that Donald Trump has contempt for Jeb Bush, some of it well-earned. And Trump’s recent remarks pointing out that “the World Trade Center came down” during George W. Bush’s “reign” have been rightly seen as a way to needle and flummox brother Jeb. In that, he’s been quite successful,…

White House spokesman Josh Earnest compared Vladimir Putin's bombing in Syria to George W. Bush's "military solution in Iraq in the last decade." Earnest made the comparison at the daily White House press briefing.

Two days after George W. Bush was inaugurated as president in 2001, his brother Jeb sent him a nine-page letter on the subject of yielding federal power in favor of state control.  Jeb Bush was still in his first term as governor of Florida at the time, but he knew the ties between Washington and…

Nearly 14 years ago, President George W. Bush took to the mound at Yankee Stadium to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in Game 3 of the World Series. This was weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Bush's down-the-middle-strike was a triumphant moment that helped unite the country.

A prevailing media narrative is that while Republicans have pitched a fit over Barack Obama’s negotiated deal with Iran over that country’s nuclear program, the seeds of such a deal were sown by the previous administration.

Norfolk, Va.

A veteran Obama Mideast adviser is claiming President Obama's position on a Palestinian state is no different from that of President George W. Bush--and he has effectively rewritten a key Bush letter on Israel in order to prove his point.

In his run for the GOP nomination in 2000, George W. Bush successfully united establishment Republicans and social conservatives. As a Chamber-friendly evangelical who could speak honestly about how Jesus Christ “changed my heart,” Bush created an unbeatable coalition that energized the socially…

William Butler Yeats sure had the Age of Obama right:

Former Virginia senator Jim Webb said American foreign policy over the last two decades has had a lack of clarity and purpose. But the potential Democratic candidate for president stopped short of directly criticizing former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker said America should focus on the current challenges and problems faced in Iraq. Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, Walker responded to a question from Bob Schieffer about potential 2016 rival Jeb Bush's difficult time answering questions about the 2003 invasion of…

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush has stumbled in his effort to answer questions about the wisdom of invading Iraq, given intelligence failures revealed since his brother George W. Bush launched the war in 2003. Members of the media have taken the opportunity to ask other would-be or…

Readers are no doubt aware that, on the Sunday after the 50th anniversary reenactment of the march on Selma, Alabama, the New York Times published a front-page photograph of the marchers. There’s President Obama, front and center in shirtsleeves, alongside his wife and two daughters; and there’s…

According to Miles's Law, "where you stand depends on where you sit." And so when Vice President Joe Biden hyperventilates over Republican senators' criticism of the Obama administration's negotiations with Iran, we must take him with a grain of salt. He used to have a seat in the Senate; now he…

President Obama and his family were there. President George W. Bush and his wife Laura attended. But missing from the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama? President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton, as well as Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who is considering seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2016, will deliver a foreign policy address in Chicago Wednesday morning. Bush is expected to speak about his vision for how the United States can "regain its leadership in the world" and to…

Jeb Bush is considering running for president in 2016, but he might have run in 2008 if not for the reasonable belief the country wouldn't elect brothers to the White House successively.

CNN’s lame duck, Candy Crowley, asked former President George W. Bush one of those questions.  How did he feel about something in the New York Times.  Namely, a review that:

Fred Barnes, writing in the Wall Street Journal:

Baseball heals. That’s the only way The Scrapbook can explain Keith Olbermann’s transformation. How else did Bush Derangement Syndrome’s patient zero wind up complimenting the 43rd president? After nearly a decade of insulting George W. Bush, Olbermann now says he’s a fan. Actually his praise was…

If Mitt Romney had said in 2012 that a second Obama term would bring not just continued economic uncertainty, but also the re-emergence of international terrorist forces, Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, an illegal immigration crisis, a knife-wielding madman in the White House, a beheading in…

It has been a constant refrain from the president’s supporters that Barack Obama has been subject to levels of criticism that no other president has had to confront. To that end, we refer you to Daily Beast columnist Michael Tomasky, a usually sensible, middle of the road liberal as it happens, who…

President Barack Obama said last night at a Democratic fundraiser in Rhode Island that the terrorism from ISIS "doesn’t immediately threaten the homeland." The reason? The security measures taken by President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according…

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece of August 6 about “the surge of poisonous anti-Semitism around the world, particularly in Europe,” Andrew Nagorski had the temerity to note that “the president [Obama] has not prominently addressed the subject of rising anti-Semitism in Europe, much less its…

As the jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) capture territory and establish a caliphate stretching across the now-eradicated Syria-Iraq border, hard-won gains secured with American blood and treasure are being lost. We are watching the rise of potentially the gravest threat to…

A favorite saying of liberals not long ago was: “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” Hillary Clinton, then a senator, said it. It was on bumper stickers. John Kerry, also a senator, said in 2006, as violence engulfed Iraq, that dissent in wartime and support for a war are “two sides of the…

When it became known last year that George W. Bush had taken up painting, The Scrapbook took note of the fact, commenting on a couple of random examples that they were “better than you would expect, show imagination, and are certainly evidence of Bush’s well-developed sense of humor. .  .  . The…

Criticism comes with the territory and President Obama certainly couldn't expect that he would be spared.  Still ... he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was considered by many to be the hope of the world.  There would be a fresh start in the affairs of the world.  Including a "reset" of…

Presidents Obama and Bush will meet Tuesday at a wreath laying ceremony in Tanzania. Via the pool report:

White House spokesman Jay Carney said, in response to a question about the I.R.S. targeting conservative groups, that the I.R.S. is run by a George W. Bush political appointee:

Former President Jimmy Carter praised former President George W. Bush today at the Bush Library opening in Dallas Texas:

George W. Bush broke down at the end of his speech today at the opening of his presidential library in Dallas, Texas: 

President Barack Obama used a part of his speech at the George W. Bush Libary opening today to push immigration reform:

President Barack Obama's remarks at the George W. Bush Presidential Library opening in Dallas, Texas:

Former President Bill Clinton's remarks at the George W. Bush Presidential Library opening in Dallas, Texas:

Dallas, Texas

To prepare for President Obama's trip to Israel this week, it's worth reading Elliott Abrams's book Tested by Zion: The Bush Administration and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

"Make sure,” Elliott Abrams told me, “that you have the better idea, and then push for it aggressively.” 

The illegal hacking of email addresses of George W. Bush's family members has revealed paintings that appear to be the work of the former president himself. The Washington Free Beacon says the "The paintings demonstrate a command of line and color that is rarely seen in the modern-day 'art' world."

Former President George W. Bush released this statement, mourning the passing of his dog, Barney Bush:

As Adam White discusses in detail, there’s nothing moderate or incremental about the increase in federal regulations — and hence in centralized executive power — under President Obama.  To the contrary (as White notes), according to figures published by the Obama White House (see table 2-1), the…

While the mainstream press routinely reports that President Obama is riding high and that Republicans are reeling, Gallup tells a rather different story about the popularity of our newly reelected president.  Across Gallup’s entire history of presidential job-approval polling — dating back to 1945…

Former secretary of state Colin Powell, who served through George W. Bush's first term, will appear on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, January 13, to reportedly make the case for Chuck Hagel to head the defense department. Powell has been critical of Republicans in recent years and made…

Glenn Hubbard, appearing live on CNBC Wednesday morning, was struck by a falling piece of the set. Hubbard, who was the chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers and an economic adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, was discussing the need for Congress…

When Republican strategists like Karl Rove cite 1980 as a model for this year’s election, they usually have in mind two main elements: Ronald Reagan’s question in the late October presidential debate about whether voters felt better off than four years earlier, when they elected Jimmy Carter, and…

Despite—or because of?—continuing bad economic news, President Obama has doubled down on the argument that Mitt Romney and the Republicans will take the country back to “the failed policies that got us into this mess.” His argument is simple: While his policies haven’t (yet) worked, Romney’s (like…

Gary Gross believes Mitt Romney can learn a lesson from George W. Bush:

The media tut-tuts about the ebbs and flows of the polls in the presidential race because – well, because that’s what the media does. But, in fact, if you look at every presidential race going back over the years when the incumbent party was defeated or almost defeated – 1948, 1968, 1976, 1980,…

Two lasting memories. The first, from the White House on the evening of September 11, 2001:

During his acceptance speech last night, President Obama claimed, “I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and we have.”

The Romney campaign passes along George W. Bush's reaction to the announcement that Paul Ryan will be Mitt Romney's running mate: 

Peter Robinson interviews former President George W. Bush for this week's edition of Uncommon Knowledge:

At the unveiling of former President George W. Bush's official portrait at the White House this afternoon, President Barack Obama joined his predecessor and their wives in delivering brief (and at times nice, cordial, and funny) remarks. But there was a seemingly out of place moment during the…

President George W. Bush was back in Washington today, to mark the opening at his Bush Institute in Dallas of the “Freedom Collection.”

This morning, Mitt Romney used his foreign policy address at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina to criticize what he called the Obama administration's "feckless policies of the last three years."

At last week’s Republican debate at the Reagan Library, a long-simmering Texas political feud made its grand entrance onto the national stage. Politico’s John Harris asked GOP presidential frontrunner and Texas governor Rick Perry about his former political adviser Karl Rove’s recent statement that…

Declare the pennies on your eyes: Jan Schakowsky doesn't think you deserve to keep all the money you earn.

Byron York: "Black caucus: Tired of making excuses for Obama"

Keith Hennessey: "Why I support the Boehner bill"

Michael D. Brown says he got a bad rap. With the statement, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job,” on September 2, 2005, George W. Bush made Brown, then director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the name and face of governmental incompetence after Hurricane Katrina tore through…

I was a bit surprised this morning to see an AP poll showing the President at a 60 percent approval rating, and the number of Americans saying he should be reelected above 50 percent. Numerous other polls have shown a small post-Osama bounce, but they've also shown his approval on the economy being…

"Obama is rude and unresponsive to sister of 9/11 victim"

President George W. Bush:

Yesterday, President Barack Obama announced his plans to run for reelection in 2012, 582 days before Election Day and before most major Republican opponents officially announced that they'd be entering the race. This is the earliest any incumbent president has officially signed up to run again.

Reports from Egypt say that protests across the country’s major cities are getting violent. And now the ruling National Democratic Party’s headquarters are on fire in Cairo (follow the live stream here). But even before the demonstrations that were held after Friday prayers today turned volatile,…

In his State of the Union address tonight, President Obama will reportedly issue a call for "responsible" efforts to reduce deficits (while simultaneously calling for new federal spending). In light of the President's expected rhetorical nod to fiscal responsibility, it's worth keeping in mind his…

Our friend Wesley J. Smith writes:

Decision Points

George W. Bush made some news during a session with a small group of reporters and editors this morning at the Mandarin Hotel in Washington, D.C. Bush, who is touring the country to promote his new book, Decision Points, spoke candidly about a number of issues – past and current.

Berlin 

Last night former president George W. Bush said in a speech: "I believe this country is engaged in an ideological struggle of a kind we have never seen before."

Peter Baker reports in the New York Times--"As Mission Shifts in Iraq, Risks Linger for Obama"--that President Obama has so far marked the official end of America's combat mission in Iraq only with a written statement, and one sentence at a pair of fund-raisers: "We are keeping the promise I made…

“Breaking a Promise on Surveillance,” is the headline of a New York Times editorial this morning. At issue is an Obama administration proposal to allow the FBI to obtain lists of anyone’s email correspondents and web browsing history by issuing a National Security Letter without going to…