Bush Faithful Rewarded With Plum Jobs

W. says he won't campaign, fundraise, or criticize Obama

(NEWSER) - You won't see George W. Bush hitting the campaign trail in 2012; he's sworn off politics for good, he tells C-SPAN in an interview airing tomorrow night. “I don’t want to go out and campaign for candidates, I don’t want to be used as a perpetual money-raiser, I don’t want to be on these talk shows giving my opinion,” Bush said, in an excerpt spotted by Politics Daily . “Despite the fact that I’m now on TV, I don’t want to be on TV.” More»

The Safari Club is a big GOP donor

(NEWSER) - Attendees at the Safari Club International Annual Hunter’s Convention in Reno will surely have a “night to remember” when former President George W. Bush gives the keynote address on the last night of the gathering later this month. That’s what SCI promises, at least. The hunters' rights group—and big GOP donor—crows on its website that Bush’s “intellect and humor” ensure an experience the audience can “share for years and years.” More»

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama doesn’t want anyone to forget his predecessor. “You hand me a $1.3 trillion bill, and then you’re complaining six months later because we haven’t paid it all back,” he griped at a recent town hall. And you can expect him to keep bashing Bush for a while, Washingtonians tell Politico. “The battle for the history is always an essential part of winning the future,” says one GOP strategist. More»

(NEWSER) - Former President Bush is gradually reentering life as a private citizen in Texas, Newsweek reports, but he's doing it gingerly and on his own terms. While many Texans agree that Dubya's still the friendly, aw-shucks guy they sent to Washington eight years ago, he's definitely keeping clear of dissent. “He is in home territory for sure,” a Texas historian said. “He doesn't enjoy naysayers and critics and opposition. Never has. And right now, he needs that nurturing cocoon that he is in.” More»

He moves firmly among the 33% who supported him

(NEWSER) - President Bush began his new life in an "insulated bubble" the day he left Washington toting a plane of teary-eyed friends watching a rosy video tribute on the Bush era. Low approval ratings? Bah. "He lives squarely in the remaining 33%" who supported him, writes Washington Post's Eli Saslow in a lengthy look at Bush's post-presidential world. More»