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Unbeknownst to the press, President Obama met this evening with former president George H.W. Bush and his son, former Florida governor Jeb Bush in the Oval Office. White House officials did not list the meeting on the president's schedule but released a photo through Flickr and Twitter. According to the date and time stamp on the photo, it was taken shortly after 5 p.m. That's about the time Obama returned to the White House from a fundraiser at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. White House officials did not immediately respond to questions about the subject of the meeting and its exclusion...

Choosing his words carefully, the former president said he knew Gingrich relatively well. “I’m not his biggest advocate,” he said. “I had a conflict with him at one point,” Bush recalled, alluding to the crucial moment in 1990 when a recession drove him to renege on his “no new taxes” pledge. He needed a bipartisan group of party leaders, including then-House Whip Gingrich, to stand with him. “He was there, right outside the Oval Office. I met with all the Republican leaders, all the Democratic leaders,” Bush recalled. “The plan was, we were all going to walk out into the...

~ EXCERPT ~ Friends and former colleagues say Lawrence S. Eagleburger, the only career foreign service officer to rise to the position of secretary of state, has died. Word of Eagleburger's death Saturday came from representatives of former President George H.W. Bush and former Secretary of State James Baker. No other details were immediately available. Eagleburger, who was 80, was a straightforward diplomat whose exuberant style masked a hard-driving commitment to solving foreign policy problems.

NORFOLK EVEN FIGHTER PILOTS need some help carrying their luggage when they're embarking on a six-month cruise. Lt. William Fincher, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 15, had his mother help carry his gear to the aircraft carrier Bush on Tuesday afternoon. The Bush and its sister ships in Carrier Strike Group 2 leave today for an expected six-month deployment to the Mediterranean and Arabian seas.

YouTube video.A stagehand working on the stage set up for President Obama's appearance in Los Angeles was told to go home when he refused to remove his hat and shirt honoring the aircraft carrier named USS George H. W. Bush. His son is in the US Navy and serves on the ship.Link to the USS George H.W. Bush website

The late Alexander Haig blamed George H.W. Bush for the world's dim view of the United States' after the collapse of the Soviet Union, saying the former president misread events and in the world, refused to get rid of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and squandered America's dominance. The late Alexander Haig blamed George H.W. Bush for the world's dim view of the United States' after the collapse of the Soviet Union, saying the former president misread world events, refused to get rid of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and squandered America's dominance. In never-before-published excerpts from a July 2000 interview with Fox News'...

Former Secret Service agent opens window into private lives of presidents October 14th, 2009 Jamie Weinstein In his In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents they Protect, journalist Ronald Kessler gives us a peek inside the intimate lives of our presidents. Through interviews with over 100 secret service agents from the past and present—dating all the way back to John F. Kennedy—Kessler paints a picture of what our presidents are like when no one is looking. They're always watching. We learn from the agents Kessler interviews that John F....

To My Fellow Members of the Texas A&M Family: Howdy! As you have probably heard, I have invited the 44th President of the United States of America to come visit the Bush Library and Texas A&M, and President Obama has graciously accepted. Along with the administration, faculty, and so many of you, I am honored that The President, our President, is taking the time and making the effort to come to College Station on October 16th to talk about an issue that unites all Americans -- namely, community service and its vast importance to our continued well-being as a Nation....

Obama releases Reagan records By: Josh Gerstein April 10, 2009 04:40 PM EST President Barack Obama is ordering the release of nearly a quarter of a million pages of records from the Reagan White House that were kept from the public during a lengthy review by President George W. Bush. The Reagan documents – which include presidential briefing papers, speechwriting research materials and declassified foreign policy records — are expected to be released Monday. Officials said the Obama administration’s quick verdict on the documents was prompted by an executive order Obama signed in January that gives the incumbent president 30...

Tugboats will pull the George H.W. Bush, the 10th and final aircraft carrier in the Nimitz class, to its January commissioning, the Navy and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding said Thursday. The big carrier should have sailed under its own power from the Newport News shipyard to Norfolk Naval Station for the Jan. 10 ceremony. It is not ready for delivery, said Margaret Mitchell-Jones, a Northrop Grumman spokeswoman. In the past, the Navy has delayed the ceremony, which marks the ship's official entry into the Navy fleet. But not this time. Navy Secretary Donald Winter set the date earlier this year, and...

The President and the First Lady spent the weekend at their Ranch in Crawford, Texas returning to the White House on Sunday. Today the President met with athletics that will be representing Team USA at the Beijing Olympics and the March of Dimes Ambassador. The President also had a meeting with the Kosovo Prime Minister and President. Pray for President Bush -- Day 2868 Secretarry of State Condeleza Rice is in Abu Dhabi Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former President George H.W. Bush hold a news conference at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine

ONE DOWN, TWO TO GOMay 7, 2008 Well, it looks like it's the end of the road for Hillary. Time for her to pack up her pantsuits and go back to ... wherever it is she's pretending to be living these days. Now we just have to get rid of the other two. Perhaps if I endorse Obama ... This week, Bill Clinton lost his second presidential election for a protege. Ronald Reagan was so popular, he not only won a 49-state landslide re-election for himself, but he also won a symbolic third term for his boob of a vice...

A Day in the Life of President Bush (with photos): 12-01-07 Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island PHOTO (s) OF THE DAY ~~Cardboard cutouts of President Bush are represented on both sides of the field at the annual Army/Navy Football Game today. Army cadet Andrew Batule from Honolulu, Hawaii, cheers while standing along side a cardboard cut out of President George W. Bush during the first half of Army's NCAA college football game against Navy in Baltimore, Maryland December 1, 2007. A group of Midshipmen from the United States Naval Academy hold a cardboard cut-out of U.S. President George...

In a recent poll, more than 250 college and university history professors placed former President Bill Clinton as the best president of the last quarter entury, Ronald Reagan as the second best, followed by Jimmy Carter and then the first President Bush. (The current president was excluded since his term of office had not yet ended.) The survey also asked the historians to rank the recent Secretaries of State and Supreme Court justices as well as the relative threat to constitutional liberties posed by presidential actions. Dr. Tim H. Blessing, Professor of History and Political Science at Alvernia College, Reading,...

Today the President signed the United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act The President also spoke at the swearing-in ceremony at the Pentagon for the new Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the Vice President did the ceremonial swearing in of Secretary Gates. The President and the first take part in a Menorah lighting during a Hanukkah celebration at the White House today The AP is reporting that the First Lady had an operation on her shin in November for skin cancer - looks like our speculation on the dose was correct a few weeks ago. Click here for more details...

The President departed the White House today for a 4 day visit to his parents home in Maine during which he will attend a family wedding. After arriving at Kennebunkport he went fishing with his father and daughter Jenna. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will receive some high-profile help raising cash Thursday as former President George H.W. Bush headlines fundraisers for him in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. The former president will be the "special guest" at both fetes, where a $100,000 platinum sponsorship entitles a donor to head-table seating for two, premiere seating for 10 and six photos with the governor and former president - "two people per photo." "The governor is very much looking forward to welcoming former President Bush back to California," said Schwarzenegger campaign spokeswoman Katie Levinson, "and he's grateful for his support." Democrat Phil Angelides,...

President Bush traveled today to Jefferson City, Missouri, where he participated in a conversation with seniors about the Medicare prescription drug benefit program at the Etta and Joseph Miller Performing Arts Center. He also visited the Lutheran Senior Services Community at Heisinger Bluffs Senior Center in Jefferson City, before traveling to Des Moines, Iowa to visit the Wesley Acres Senior Center in Des Moines, Iowa with Senator Chuck Grassle, and to attend a reception for gubernatorial candidate Rep. Jim Nussle . First Lady Laura was in Midland, Texas for the official dedication of the childhood home of the President, along...

The President and the first lady continue their far east tour, today they attended several events in India There was an article that referred to the First Lady as the "Queen of America" showing that she has the ability to win hearts all over the world. Ohio pinged me to the thread about this article earlier and also the dose ping, in case you missed the ping here is a link to that thread. 'The queen of America had come' and Laura Bush debuts on Indian telly: PICTURES The Vice President gave a speech at the National Summit on Retirement...

Today President Bush met with Tom Bock, the national commander of the American Legion in the Oval Office, as well as John Sommer, executive director of the American Legion's Washington office and Jim Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He also met in the Oval Office with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt to discuss key elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. First Lady, Laura and daughter Barbara were in Ghana today, where Mrs. Bush addressed an audience at the Accra Teacher Training College in Accra, Ghana, to launch the African Education Initiative Textbooks Program. They also visited with patients at...