George W. Bush

The headline in the March 5, 1929 edition of the Chicago Tribune read, "Plain Citizen Coolidge Shuts Desk and Quietly Goes Home." Calvin Coolidge would write a newspaper column from Northampton, Massachusetts, for which he presumably was paid a pittance, but other than that he refused to exploit his notoriety or accomplishments as president for money.

Someone needs to tell the folks at the Comedy Central cable television channel that in order to have the word “Comedy” in your name, you should actually be funny. A perfect example of this concept gone wrong aired on Thursday evening, April 27, when the low-rated channel debuted The President Show, which mostly consists of President Donald Trump impersonator Anthony Atamanuik sitting in the Oval…

MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews is notorious for saying stupid things, but salty language is not usually associated with him. While trashing President Trump and his criticism of President Obama, Matthews whined to his panelists that all Trump does is “bitch, bitch.”

Fusion’s Alex Pareene seems to think that America’s biggest problem isn’t any of the usual suspects (e.g., deindustrialization, terrorism, health-care costs) but rather the popularity of conservative media among conservative politicians. For a long time, contended Pareene in a Wednesday piece, “the conservative movement peddled one set of talking points to the rabble, while its elites consumed a…

Separatist and secessionist talk has burgeoned in 21st-century America. The day after the 2004 presidential election, sulky liberals began circulating a map that represented pro-Kerry regions of the country as part of the “United States of Canada” and pro-Bush regions as “Jesusland.” Grouchy conservatives weren’t sure they belonged in a nation that elected and re-elected Barack Obama. Now comes…

The final installment of ABC’s ratings disaster When We Rise quietly ended Friday night with a victory and a warning. In the episode titled “Night IV,” the stabilization of the AIDS outbreak led to the charge for gay marriage. The success of California’s Proposition 8 – the state constitutional amendment that banned same sex marriage – lit a fire under the gay activists in San Francisco and led…

How is Donald Trump “not a normal Republican”? Let New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait count the ways. Trump is “crudely ethno-nationalist,” wrote Chait in a Tuesday post, and he’s “personally ignorant and undisciplined in a manner that sets him apart not only from traditional Republicans but most human adults.” That’s pretty much it for Trump’s deviations from orthodoxy, according to Chait, who…

In an exclusive interview with George W. Bush on Monday’s NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer repeatedly urged the former president to criticize current President Trump’s first month in office. Lauer began the exchange by demanding: “You took office in 2001 after an extremely contentious election, controversial end to that, the Supreme Court decided it, the nation was incredibly divided. How would you…

MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews compared White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Thursday to Star Wars villain Darth Vader, even though “he’s a good speaker” albeit “a little strong but, you know, that’s part of the deal he’s got.”

Donald Trump, like virtually every president before him, is upset that there have been leaks to the news media (and heaven knows who else) from his administration. In his Thursday press conference, Trump emphasized that leaks of classified information or matters relating to national security are "criminal" acts — because they are — and promised to pursue the leakers. That, and Trump's Friday…

CNN took the time during Wednesday’s edition of The Lead to take jabs at President Donald Trump for not being able to get much done during his first three and a half weeks besides create controversy. When asked by host Jake Tapper to walk him through the events of Trump’s first month in office, reporter Tom Foreman joked that “it's more like staggering than walking cause it's quite an experience…

On Friday's Mornings with Maria, Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo interviewed Ezekiel Emanuel, considered one of Obamacare's architects. It was quite contentious, and ended with Bartiromo stopping inches short of laughing sarcastically at her guest's comments and conduct. Her reaction was completely defensible, given Emanuel's ridiculous economic claims, his sophomoric and fact-challenged…

UPDATE, Feb. 7: On Feb. 5, Jake Tapper tweeted that "if you're concerned about things being 'incomplete' maybe consider adding into your post Manchin on same show response to rule." I attempted to find that video, and could not. If it was so important, and in the interest of balance, one would hope it would be part of the CNN video at the web link cited below — and it's not. As Nicholas…