Video- GWB wipes his hand on Bill Clinton’s shirt after shaking hands with Haitians

Wow, just freaking wow. Via Think Progress.

Video- Chris Matthews: "Will there be George W. Bush nostalgia this November when his book comes out?"

Wow. Via Heather.

Executive orders fewer under Obama

Yep Haters, just like Bush.

Despite signing an early flurry of major executive orders, President Obama has been restrained in wielding his White House power having produced fewer executive orders than all but one of his five recent predecessors.

Mr. Obama created a fiscal panel Thursday to tackle the nation's staggering deficit problem when issuing his 43rd executive order - that's 17 fewer than President George W. Bush signed in the same time frame and 29 fewer than President Carter.

But Mr. Obama's use of executive power is likely to change now that Senate Democrats have lost their filibuster-proof majority and Republicans are expected to pick up seats in this fall's midterm elections.

"It is easier to get what you want unilaterally than it is to work with Congress," said Christopher S. Kelley, a professor at the Miami University of Ohio, who noted that President Clinton's executive orders spiked after Republicans took control of Capitol Hill in 1994. "They tried to cut him off, but in the end the president has the prerogative to use them."

Audio- Limbaugh thanks Bush for any economic growth that "has or may occur" during Obama's presidency

Video- Clinton Bush Haiti Fund PSA

What is the deal with GWB always looking like he's smirking? I mean, even he wouldn't be all hapslappy over this situation. Is it the shape of his mouth or what?

Bill Clinton, Bush to Lead Disaster Recovery Efforts

Very magnanimous of President Obama on the GWB part. It gives George a chance to make up (a bit) for Katrina. Via Taegan-

First Read: "According to multiple sources, Obama last night called George W. Bush and formally asked him to participate, along with Bill Clinton, in humanitarian relief efforts for Haiti -- in the same vein that Bush's father and Clinton did following the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia. Bush 43 said he was ready to do whatever was necessary. A formal rollout of the Clinton/Bush 43-led relief effort will take place as early as tomorrow afternoon, but possibly not until the weekend, as the administration doesn't want to take any attention away in the next 24 hours from search and rescue efforts.

For Bush 43, this is his first real public effort since he left office; it's an opportunity to begin establishing his post-presidential legacy, especially on an issue like disaster relief, which remains a scar on his presidency."

Video- Style Over Substance: Matthews Gushes Over Obama's "Impeccable" Salute

Vid via Heather, where she notes Tweety finding a way to praise GW even after all these years.

Video- Jon Stewart: The re-emergence of George W. Bush, motivational speaker

Did you know GW Bush brought honor & dignity to the office?

By GottaLaff

Newsflash! According to Boy Georgie, he brought honor and dignity to the office! Both of those things. Every single day. Really?

I thought he left them back at the faux ranch with his not-horses, because if there were two things that weren't found anywhere in the Bush White House, they were honor and dignity:

"Every single day I was honored to be your president by bringing honor and dignity to the office," Bush said Monday afternoon, during his first foray into motivational speaking, at the day-long "Get Motivated" seminar.

Can you feel the motivation? No? Close your eyes, just for a minute, and imagine he's President Obama. Now can you feel it?

"It's so simple in life to chase popularity, but popularity is fleeting," Bush said. "It's not real."

It's simple to chase something? What the heck does that even mean?

As for popularity not being real, he might want to take a gander at this:

And this:

Now here's a quip that will prove anyone wrong who failed to recognize that Bush had a well-developed, sophisticated sense of humor:

Bush assured the families of war veterans that he wouldn't sell out "their loved ones for the sake of pure politics."

"And let me tell you," he continued. "I never did.”

Isn't he hilarious? I never truly appreciated his ability to draw tears of laughter until now. Tears, yes. Tears of laughter, not so much.

Video- A year ago, Beck called for a bailout bigger than $700 billion; now claims he "[h]ated" Bush for starting bailouts

Tsk tsk. Seems like this would be what Mr Beck likes to call "Hypocrisy" in that long drawn out affected clown voice of his.

Anyone else think

GW finally found that stash of Cutty Sark he hid back in '99? Pic via.

UK's Iraq probe will include death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly

Now here's some conspiracy theorizing for ya! Bet our media will ignore the whole damn thing, no "looking backwards" for us!

The death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly is expected to feature in the new official inquiry into the Iraq War, on the advice of the Government’s most senior legal adviser.

Attorney General Baroness Scotland has recommended that questions raised by Dr Kelly’s death should be considered by Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry.

The intervention of Baroness Scotland comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed that Mai Pederson, a close confidante of the Government scientist, has written to the law chief.

Ms Pederson, 49, a US Air Force linguist who worked in Iraq with Dr Kelly’s weapons-inspection team, called on the Minister to include the ‘suspicious circumstances’ of his death in the long-awaited inquiry, which will have Tony Blair as a star witness.

Bush appointees buck Obama's executive authority

By GottaLaff

Where were they when Boy Georgie was swaggering around with his red holster and spinning his little pretend pearl-handled six-guns?

President Barack Obama’s claims of broad executive authority to carry out the war on terror are drawing fire from an unexpected source: federal judges nominated by President George W. Bush, who asserted the sweeping powers in the first place.

In recent weeks, three different Bush appointees considering cases relating to war-on-terror detainees have rejected arguments from Obama’s Justice Department, which adopted virtually unchanged the positions the Bush administration had staked out.

In each case, the Bush-appointed judge said the executive branch was overstepping its authority and claiming more powers than the law allowed.

“It took a while for the courts to turn on George Bush. Obama’s not getting that same period,” said Jonathan Turley, a liberal legal analyst at The George Washington University. “The fact that these are Republican appointees tends to add an exclamation point to their decisions.”

“Even Republican judges are seeing through the arguments and the idea that the war on terror justified depriving prisoners of constitutional protections,” said Jonathan Hafetz of the American Civl Liberties Union.[...]

For seven years, the Bush administration, in tandem with Congress, were able to stop any judge from actually looking at the evidence” in detainee cases, Hafetz said. “They’re finding that the emperor has no clothes and the detentions lack evidentiary support.”[...]

Even after the stinging defeats, the Obama Justice Department is continuing to fight at least two of the rulings. Government lawyers requested and received a stay of Bates’s decision on habeas rights at Bagram.

H/t: Cody

Poll: Bush Still Owns The Economy

Greg parses Rasmussen(!) so we don't have to.

There was a fair amount of talk last week about new polls showing an erosion of support for some of President Obama’s economic policies, with many opining that Obama now “owns” the economy.

But new numbers from Rasmussen suggest that a majority still blames the bad economy squarely on George W. Bush:

Some people say the nation’s current economic problems are due to the recession which began under the Bush Administration. Others say the problems are being caused more by the policies President Obama has put in place since taking office. Which point of view comes closest to your own?

54% Economic problems are due to the recession which began under the Bush administration

39% Economic problems are caused more by the policies of President Obama

7% Not sure

That's a pretty big gap.

Morning Distraction

Ed Gillespie: There wasn’t a single woman of comparable ‘temperament and intellect’ to Alito.

It's one thing to say that Alito was right for the situation or the time or the whatever. But not one woman in the United States was even "comparable"?

6 Years Ago Today

Greg has a killer rundown of the various media reaction, well worth remembering how stupid they were. Here's a taste-

NEW YORK On May 1, 2003, Richard Perle advised, in a USA Today Op-Ed, "Relax, Celebrate Victory." The same day, exactly six years ago, President Bush, dressed in a flight suit, landed on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major military operations in Iraq -- with the now-infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner arrayed behind him in the war's greatest photo op.

Chris Matthews on MSNBC called Bush a "hero" and boomed, "He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics." He added: "Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It's simple."

Bush: War Crimes Will Be Prosecuted...It Will Be No Defense To Say, I Was Just Following Orders

Sigh. Via Think Progress.

You too can have GWB at your next Toastmasters meeting!!

Funny, the page doesn't mention the cost...

Former President George W. Bush is now represented by the Washington Speakers Bureau:

"President during a momentous period in American history, George W. Bush offers his thoughts on eight years in the Oval Office, the challenges facing our nation in the 21st century, the power of freedom, the role of faith, and other pressing issues."

Bush Retrospective: The Year 2059

Via those nice boys at The Full Ginsburg.