What's Next for Bush?

(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 gets higher disapproval ratings than Truman, Nixon

(NEWSER) - George Bush is the most unpopular president in modern history with a 71% disapproval rating, a new CNN poll says. It's the first time any president has cracked the 70% mark in any CNN or Gallup poll—even Nixon remained in the mid-60s on the eve of his resignation in 1974. The previous record belonged to Harry Truman at 67%. More»

New book on Obama full of dubious claims: Jacob Weisberg

(NEWSER) - You can’t always believe what you read—especially if it’s written by Ron Suskind. The wide-ranging claims made in Confidence Men , his account of the Obama administration, are as dubious as ever, writes Jacob Weisberg in Slate . “Issues of accuracy, fairness, and integrity come up nearly every time Suskind publishes something.” Some specifics errors in this book: The Federal Reserve isn't a bureau but a board; Horatio Alger wasn't a character but an author; and the "centuries-old" gothic spires of Yale Law School were built in 1931. More»

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»

Obama's making Bush look good

(NEWSER) - George W. Bush left office with the lowest approval rating since Richard Nixon, while Obama took over with stratospheric numbers. But then a funny thing happened: “America woke up from its 2008 trance and is concluding that Bush was never as bad, and Obama never as good, as advertised,” writes Victor Davis Hanson of the National Review . Bush’s favorability ratings have soared—Ohio, for example, would now prefer him to Obama by a 50-42 margin. More»