Former President George H.W. Bush is in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital battling a fever, the Houston Chronicle reports.

The 41st president has been in the hospital for more than a month now.

Fox News: Bush spends Christmas in the hospital.

George P. Bush — the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) — filed what is called an “appointment of a campaign treasurer” with the Texas Ethics Commission, a form that is required before running for any statewide office, the New Republic reports.

Over the summer, we noted Bush was “reviewing potential opportunities” and last month Fox News reported “observers” suggested he might seek to be Texas State Attorney General or Texas Land Commissioner.

Paul Begala reviews former President George W. Bush’s new book, The 4% Solution.

“You gotta hand it to Bush. Either he was born without the moral compass that engenders humility or he has one sick sense of humor. To start with, let the record show that George W. Bush was in fact president of the United States for eight years. And for those eight years economic growth averaged not four percent, but 2.04 percent. For Bush to attach his name to a book claiming to be a recipe for economic growth is what we Texans call chutzpah. What’s next? Charlie Sheen as spokesperson for Just Say No? Chris Christie’s fitness video? Kim Kardashian’s tips for a long and happy marriage? The mind boggles.”

He also notes that James Glassman, who heads the Bush Institute and wrote the introduction to the book, “is no stranger to failed economic prophecy. In 1999 he co-authored (with current Romney adviser Kevin Hassett) a book with the unintentionally hilarious title Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting From the Coming Rise in the Stock Market. They almost got it right. Instead of a rise in the stock market there was a crash. The Dow went to 6,500, and 13 years after their book was published it is around 13,000. So they were only off by 23,000 points.”

Former Vice President Dick Cheney told ABC News that he will not attend the Republican convention next month because he’d rather go fishing.

Former President George W. Bush will also not attend the convention.

“Of course when you watch from the sidelines, you think it must be horrible. But it’s not. And politics is a people business. And if you like people, you know, it’s a really fun thing to do.”

— Former First Lady Laura Bush, in an interview with ABC News, reflecting fondly on politics.

A new CBS News/New York Times poll finds that 34% of Americans say President Obama’s policies contributed significantly to the economic downturn, another 30% say they contributed to some degree while 35% say the president’s policies contributed little or not at all to the downturn.

However, more people blame former President George W. Bush.

Nearly half say Bush’s policies played a significant role in creating the nation’s current economic problems. Another 33% say they played some role. Only 18% say Bush’s policies had little to no impact.

“Eight years was awesome and I was famous and I was powerful. But I have no desire for fame and power anymore… I crawled out of the swamp and I’m not crawling back in.”

— George W. Bush, in an interview at the Bush Institute.

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Former President George W. Bush will unveil The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs next week, which the New York Times calls “neither campaign template nor partisan screed. It is a wonky paean to free enterprise.”

“For the first time since leaving office three and a half years ago, Mr. Bush is advancing a variety of ideas about how to jump-start economic growth by restructuring taxes, expanding trade, encouraging innovation, fixing immigration and overhauling Social Security. He wrote the foreword for the book, a collection of essays from an array of economists, including five Nobel Prize winners, and he proposes a national goal of expanding the economy by 4 percent a year on a sustained basis.”

At the unveiling of the official portraits of George W. Bush and Laura Bush, President Obama has some kind words for his predecessor.

Said Obama: “Finally, on a personal note, Michelle and I are grateful to the entire Bush family for their guidance and example during our own transition. George, I will always remember the gathering you hosted for all of the living former presidents before I took office. Your fine words of encouragement. Plus you also left me a really good TV sports package. I use it.”

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is recovering at Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, VA after undergoing heart transplant surgery today, NPR reports.

Associated Press: “Cheney suffered a heart attack in 2010, his fifth since the age of 37. He had bypass surgery in 1988, as well as two subsequent angioplasties to clear narrowed coronary arteries. In 2001, he had a special pacemaker implanted in his chest.”

Former Vice President Dick Cheney has cancelled an April appearance in Toronto citing concerns Canada is too dangerous, the National Post reports.

Said the even organizer: “He felt that in Canada the risk of violent protest was simply too high.”

“The sixth anniversary earlier this month of Dick Cheney shooting his buddy in the face during a quail hunt went largely unnoticed… except for the ceremonial consumption of a quail snack,” The Daily reports.

Said Harry Whittington: “It was a commemorative hors d’oeuvre.”

“Six years after the incident, Whittington, 84, is still riddled with the bird shot Cheney accidentally hit him with. Some 30 odd pellets are lodged in the lining of his heart, his gums, his hand, his forehead, and the bridge of his nose… But rather than complain, Whittington refers to the lead embedded in his
body as ‘memorabilia,’ and says that he and Cheney remain in touch and
still trade hunting tales.”

The New York Times reviews two Bush administration memoirs: Known and Unknown by Donald Rumsfeld and In My Time by Dick Cheney.

“Both books have received mostly negative reviews — largely deserved. Rumsfeld’s book is dense and bloated, although modestly candid. Cheney’s is clearly written (with help from his daughter Liz Cheney), but with the exception of its last chapters, dry, earnest and dull. None of this seems to have had much impact on their sales. Both spent time at the top of the best-seller lists.”

The Hill reviews disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s new book, Capitol Punishment, which says Ralph Reed made a “hard sell” to secure Abramoff’s support for George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential bid. According to the book, Reed said that “Bush personally told him that his presidency would make all of us very rich.”

Asked by The Hill about the anecdote, Reed said: “I don’t recall ever saying that to Jack.”