“The artwork of George W. Bush — the painter known as ’43’ — is finally for sale,” the Dallas Morning News reports.

“While the former president’s paintings won’t be found at the National Gallery of Art — or even the Dallas Museum of Art — the George W. Bush Presidential Center is selling a limited-edition Christmas ornament that highlights one of Bush’s pieces.”

“I did the best I could do. I’m also
very comfortable with the fact that it’s going take a while for history
to judge whether the decisions I made are consequential or not. And
therefore, I’m not too worried about it.”

— George W. Bush, quoted by The Wrap, reflecting on his presidency on “The Tonight Show.“

Peter Baker has a must-read look at former President George W. Bush’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“But the story of Bush’s eight-year pas de deux with the master of the Kremlin, reconstructed through interviews with key players and secret notes and memos, offers lessons for President Obama as he struggles to define his own approach to Putin and shape the future of the two nuclear powers. The last few months have become another dramatic juncture in the volatile Russian-American relationship, with Moscow defying Washington by offering shelter to national security leaker Edward Snowden, Obama becoming the first president to cancel a Russian-American meeting in more than 50 years and then, suddenly, improbably, the Kremlin throwing the American leader a lifeline when his confrontation with Syria took a wrong turn.”

“Looked at in the context of time, Obama’s own dashed aspirations to build a new partnership with Moscow seem to echo his predecessor’s experience.”

A Washington Post review of Days of Fire by Peter Baker says the book “should become a standard reference for historians.”

“The book has few groundbreaking revelations or startling judgments. Its virtue lies in the mass of information Baker has collected and the way he has pulled it together, so that the jumble of material on the Bush years is consolidated in one smooth narrative. He has read the memoirs so you don’t have to.”

“The heart of Days of Fire lies in the changing relationship between Bush and Cheney — how Bush in the early years of his administration relied heavily on his vastly more experienced vice president, but during his second term he increasingly operated on his own, relegating Cheney to the margins. Baker draws out each development in this tangled relationship in much the same way that Robert Caro wrote about the relationship between John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.”

Jonathan Karl reviews Peter Baker’s Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House.

“Mr. Baker, a White House reporter for the New York Times, has pulled off something of a journalistic miracle: He has written a thorough, engaging and fair history on the Bush-Cheney White House, the most polarizing presidency since Johnson’s (Andrew, not Lyndon), with the possible exception of the current one. Mr. Baker chronicles the astonishing influence of Mr. Cheney, but unlike so many other writers, he doesn’t fall for the popular caricature of the vice president as a sinister force controlling a hapless president.”

Jeb Bush:
“Some guy told me that on the plane in — stuck on O’Hare Airport. He
said he was supporting Obama. This was early in the primary and I go,
‘Why?’ And he goes, ‘Well, we had a Bush, then we had a Clinton. Then we
had a Bush. And now we’re going to have a Clinton.’ And then he looked
at me and said, ‘And then we’re going to have a Bush.’ So he had an
interesting perspective. I think some people believe that.  That won’t
be a motivating factor in my decision, though.”

Dick Cheney told 60 Minutes that just 67 days after taking the oath as vice president, he took a historic and unprecedented action of submitting a standing letter of resignation to President Bush due to his poor health.

Said Cheney: “Basically, what I did was I resigned the vice presidency effective March 28, 2001.”

“Cheney discovered there was no provision in the constitution to replace a vice president who is alive, but incapacitated. So he drew up a letter of resignation to give to the president.”

Former Vice President Dick Cheney told 60 Minutes that in 2007 his cardiologist disabled his defibrillator’s wireless function over concern that terrorists could use it to send a fatal shock.

Said Cheney: “I was aware of the danger…that existed…I found it credible. I know from the experience we had and the necessity for adjusting my own device, that it was an accurate portrayal of what was possible.”

National Journal:
“George W. Bush’s recent heart problems were far more dangerous than
generally believed — potentially life-threatening, in fact. Sources
familiar with the former president’s medical situation [said] that a
major blockage in a coronary artery discovered during Bush’s annual
physical exam in August had almost completely shut off blood flow to one
of his heart chambers.”

Conservatives gathered in New York to roast former Vice President Dick Cheney “at an event where many of the biggest laugh lines touched on the most controversial policies of a key architect of his administration’s War on Terror,” BuzzFeed reports.

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) “said something to the effect that it’s nice that we’re all here at the Plaza instead of in cages after some war crimes trial,” recalled one person who was there.

The person added: “There were some waterboarding jokes that were really tasteless. I can see the case for enhanced interrogation techniques after Sept. 11 but I can’t really endorse sitting there drinking wine and fancy dinner at the Plaza laughing uproariously about it.”

Former President George W. Bush told the Golf Channel that President Obama should not be criticized for playing golf.

Said Bush: “I think he ought to play golf… Because I know what it’s like to be in the bubble. And I know the pressures of the job. And to be able to get outside and play golf with some of your pals is important for the president. It does give you an outlet.”

This looks really good: Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House by Peter Baker.

“The real story of Bush and Cheney is a far more fascinating tale than the familiar suspicion that Cheney was the power behind the throne… Baker paints a riveting portrait of a partnership that evolved dramatically over time, from the early days when Bush leaned on Cheney, making him the most influential vice president in history, to their final hours, when the two had grown so far apart they were clashing in the West Wing.”

Gallup: “During his fourth year in office, an average of 86%
of Democrats and 10% of Republicans approved of the job Barack Obama did
as president. That 76-percentage-point gap ties George W. Bush’s fourth
year as the most polarized years in Gallup records.”

“The list of most polarized years makes it clear that Obama’s highly
polarized ratings may be as much a reflection of the era in which he is
governing as on Obama himself. The last nine presidential years — the
final five for Bush and Obama’s first four — all rank in the top 10.
Thus, it appears that highly polarized ratings are becoming the norm, as
Americans aligned with both parties are apparently not looking much
beyond the president’s party affiliation to evaluate the job he is
doing.”

Former President George W. Bush told Fox News that he is “not a fan” of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, but he refused to be “roped in” to the debate over whether the U.S. should launch a military strike on Syria.

Said Bush: “The president’s got a tough choice to make, and if he decides to use our military, he’ll have the greatest military ever backing him up.”

Gawker: “Two new paintings by former president George W. Bush, published for the first time here on Gawker, give us a new window into the ongoing development of the tortured artist/torture advocate–and opens the possibility for a new phase in his oeuvre: cats.”

“If life ends when heart stops, then please explain Dick Cheney.”

— Texas state Rep. Gene Wu (D), in a tweet he later deleted as a “mistake.”

A new Gallup survey finds Americans’ views of former president George W. Bush have improved, with 49% now viewing him favorably and 46% unfavorably. That is the first time since 2005 that opinions of him have been more positive than negative.

With James Comey likely to be tapped to be the next FBI Director, The Fix rightly calls his May 2007 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee perhaps the most riveting ever.

It’s definitely worth watching.

[Read more…]