Here's George W. Bush's Portrait of Vladimir Putin
George W. Bush is exhibiting his paintings at the George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Here's a screenshot of Bush's portrait of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, via The Count:
Bush's daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, is an NBC special correspondent. He spoke with her on the Today show, where the paintings premiered on air this morning. Bush told an anecdote about Putin making fun of his dog, Barney. On a visit to Russia, Bush was introduced to Putin's dog, described as a hound. Putin called his dog "bigger, stronger, faster" than Barney. The painting, the former president said, reflected that "interesting character."
Watch the Today show segment below:
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God help me I miss him.
Why? I thought you Peanuts said we had Bush IV now.
Cuz Obama is actually worse then then Bushpig on a whole host of issues.
We have had this debate Shrike.
Every time you react to it shrieking Bushpig, you are training it to make more comments in that vein.
Remember, it … is… not … sentient!
It has no idea what it is saying, only what strings are more likely to garner a bigger response. By responding to its more outlandish statements, you are teaching it to make more of them.
They both suck huge balls. Obama may be worse, but not enough to make me miss W.
Hell both of them make Bill Clinton look like an actual statesman.
Obama is Bush’s crappy policies dialed up to eleven, with a sycophantic media covering up instead of exposing the foibles, an infuriatingly smug political support network and none of Bush’s goofy charm.
So yeah, 0 is way worse.
Why? I thought you Peanuts said we had Bush IV now.
Exactly, Corning misses Bush I.
Nah I mean “W”.
In FDRs 6th year I probably would have missed Hover as well.
Agreed – it took Bush (W) to miss Clinton – took Obama to miss Bush – if the next president makes us miss Obama… I shudder at that thought so won’t think it – but, as a completely non-religious agnostic, I say with all sincerely, g-d help us if we end up missing Obama because the next one is so much worse.
As much as I loathed him as president, I must say, W has been a pretty good former president. And his painting is pretty OK. It looks like what it is supposed to look like.
I must admit that Bush has nicely removed himself from the political spotlight.
I think he is sincere about it although the GOP did not want him at their conventions or reminding the country about the Bush years for a second.
Agreed. I read his book, which pretty much reinforced my opinion of him: likeable guy, glad he’s out of office. It was clear from the book that he doesn’t intend to hold public office again; no agenda, just justifications.
While I’m tired of Bush-bashing and I hate political cartoons, this one RE: his paintings is pretty good.
What have you done with the real Shreek?!
A moment of, dare I say, praise?, for the former president?
I know you still harbor deep-seated resentment for his policies while in office (as do I, save a scattered exception among those policies), but it is refreshing to see you accurately assessing the grace with which he’s handled his post-political life so far.
“And then ah told ol’ Pooty-pooh that ah had seen into his soul, and nobody with a soul like that was gonna one-up mah goddamn dog.”
At least Dubya managed to muster up enough class to retire from public life (looking at you, Jimmy Carter) after fucking up in the White House.
And looking at you, Bill Clinton.
I didn’t care for his policies, but I have to admit Lincoln kept quiet, vis a vis his post-presidential life.
Cater did retire though mostly – I don’t see anything wrong with him using his stature for charitable work. Lots of ex-presidents did.
What presidents shouldn’t do, is politics after office.
This was an unwritten rule of presidents – something along the lines of, as ex-presidents, they know more than anyone the level of information they once had versus the level of information they currently have, so deliberately stayed out of politics after office as they know better than anyone the nature of arm-chair quarterbacks with zero information.
Clinton however was the only one in recent history, and I think throughout most of history, who actively campaigns as an ex-President. He tries to stay away in that he’s not near as active as he used to be, but he is still actively involved on a consistent basis.
With his precedence, we likely have Obama front and center for years to come as well. Being more arrogant and dumber the Clinton is sure to guarantee that.
Washington, and most other presidents to follow, followed Cincinnatus’ lead.
Now of course we’re much too smart to follow Cincinnatus.
/start prog
I mean really the Constitution is like 200 and some odd years old and way out of date. Cincinnatus was like what? 400 years ago?
That’s really, really old!
/end prog
I absolutely didn’t like his years in the White House but I can respect him for completely removing himself completely from politics.
Also oddly, he has a high popularity rating in Africa. I am not a fan of using tax dollars to fund foreign aid but he got a lot of credit for working with many organizations to try and rid the African continent of HIV/AIDS and the awareness of such. When you tell the Progressives this, they start foaming at the mouth.
Yep. I moved back to the States from South Africa in 2000, and he was wildly popular as I was leaving. This was before any of the AIDS commitments, after which it only grew.
Bush got a lot of flak from our media for his cowboyish sound and demeanor, but in Africa they LOVE it. A big part of Marlboro’s success in the Middle East came from their Marlboro Man advertising campaigns. Camel Joe, not so much.
$15 billion for AIDS (PEPFAR).
Obama cut it. Racist!
Well, of course, it is entirely possible that Bush might be a nice guy, but a lousy president.
I think time has done more to put bush into perspective than anything else.
A mediocre president, and genuinely good and decent human being, dealing with extraordinary times with an opposition that frankly went, and stayed to this day, batshit insane.
I think his biggest sin was muddying the water between the war powers and the police powers.
And eventhough no one is visiting this thread anymore, fuck it, I’ll say it:
You know which other famous political figure enjoyed painting?
Churchill.
Most Entertaining Ex-President Ever.
Really not bad…probably a more accurate portrait of Putin than anything else out there.
I dunno, that directTV commercial a few years back was pretty spot on.
Bush is as good a painter as he was a president. Didn’t he do that restoration in a church in Spain?
http://www.dailyedge.ie/pensio…..4-Aug2012/
There is a cat that has no diea man, none at all.
http://www.GotzAnon.tk
The idea of GWB as a painter reminds me of a character from a Terry Zwigoff film from several years ago called Art School Confidential. (sort of based on the Daniel Clowes comic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqbFAKood2w
“It’s like he figured out how to unlearn all of the typical art school bullshit”