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DALLAS - Former President Bush (news - web sites) said Tuesday that John Kerry (news - web sites)'s Democratic presidential campaign is using the same rhetoric about the state of the economy against his son that Bill Clinton (news - web sites) used against him in 1992.   But the elder Bush said President George W. Bush has a stronger case to take to the voters this time around because the economy has begun to show signs of recovery. "I was out telling people things were getting better, but the Clinton campaign ... portrayed me as being out of touch,"...

DOHA, Qatar (AP) - Chechnya's exiled former president, wanted by Russia for terrorism and ties to al-Qaida, was assassinated Friday when a bomb blew apart his car as he left a mosque with his teenage son. Russia's security services denied any involvement in the death of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, 51. But a Chechen rebel group called the slaying "the latest bloody Kremlin crime." Yandarbiyev's 13-year-old son was critically wounded in the 12:45 p.m. blast after prayers in the capital, Doha, according to an Interior Ministry statement and Hamad General Hospital. The white SUV was demolished by the blast. A body lay...

Clinton Urges Democrats to Toughen Up Ex-president Blasts Right Wing's Personal 'Destruction Machine' New York-- Former President Bill Clinton called upon his Democratic Party on Tuesday to stiffen its spine and take on the Republican Party and what he called its right-wing personal "destruction machine." In a speech before the Democratic Leadership Council, Clinton portrayed President Bush's economic polices as wrong-headed and out of step with the nation. But he said his party needed to sharpen its teeth, particularly when it comes to defending leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S. D. Republicans had accused Daschle of being...

WASHINGTON -- Former President Clinton made more than $9.2 million delivering speeches last year while his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., received $2.85 million as an advance on her book, according to congressional financial-disclosure reports released Friday. The first detailed look at the ex-president's job opportunities show that he delivered more than 60 speeches last year, traveling from Omaha, Neb., to Trinidad and beyond, and fetching as much as $350,000 for a speech. "This is almost certainly a record for a former president," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "Considering the length of...

As ex-presidents go, Jimmy Carter is a fine home builder. Which is why -- no offense meant to construction workers -- no one should be surprised Carter embarrassed himself and the United States during his Cuban trip. But then, there are many worse things one can say about Carter's presidency. At least now what he says doesn't matter except to those Americans -- a distinct minority -- who think an ex-president criticizing his country while on foreign soil is acceptable. It would be a cheap shot not to give Carter credit for his unwillingness to trade on the Oval Office...

All right, I've got Carter on my mind, so look out. Why Carter? Didn't he leave office in 1981 (the same day the mullahs decided to spring the hostages, lest RR send a few up their gazoo)? Yes, but he's back in the news, yapping absurdly about the Middle East and getting ready to visit Castro down in Cuba (May 12 to May 17). For several days, I rooted around in all things Carter, preparing for a piece that appears in the new NR ("There He Goes Again: Jimmy Carter, Our 'Model Ex-President'"). I'm not done with our 39th prez...