I wouldn’t hire him for a speech if he was paying me that much to sit and listen to him:
President George W. Bush may have left office with a historically bad 22% approval rating, but he’s still eager to impart his wisdom – for $150,000 a speech.
The former president will charge that hefty fee per pep talk – plus first-class or private jet transport for four – when he hits the lecture circuit next month with stopovers in Canada, the U.S. and other spots around the globe, sources told The News.
“There will always be people who want the prestige of a former President,” said one public speaking expert.
There’s sucker born every minute, I know, but still. Didn’t these idiots listen to enough bullshit from this guy over the last eight years for free to last a lifetime three times over? Why pay for it now? Giving Bush money to make speeches at this point really is a prime example of wingnut welfare.
Why pay for it now?
That’s what I was wondering as well…
Need a Speaker?
Get your throwing shoes ready.
That’s probably the real story: Bush is going to hire himself out as a shoe target at state fairs and local carnivals. I know I’d pay.
Bush may skip out to Paraguay –
Yeah, too bad they now have an extradition treaty with the US, huh?
As I recall Reagan got a $million in 1989 bucks for his first pimp-job post “president”. So Bush is just figuring he’ll flow with the economy he created and work for a dime on the dollar.
I know this should go into an open thread but I think it’s important enough to say right here. Bowers is launching a campaign to get Dave Sirota a show on MSNBC. While the netroots don’t have a lot of power, they ARE somewhat influential in that the media read blogs regularly. So how about an anti-Sirota facebook campaign to keep him off the air?
I’d pay 150k to pie-job Bushy Boy, for sure…
In fact who wants in on a pool for which month this year the Biotic Baking Brigade get at him?
When they start talking about private jet transport, I couldn’t help but think of extraordinary rendition and the private jets that were used to transport people off to be tortured.
What — you’re thinking they might whisk him off to an undisclosed location and force him to take the GED without helpers?
That means only 3 Secret Service guys?
What would the Secret Service agents pay to get reassigned?
I kinda look at Bush’s “asking” price like I do Hummers. Is there anyone out there who would even consider paying full price with acres of failed models parked to choose from? You’d get laughed at driving it through town the first go round these days even at a heavily discounted price. Nah, Bush’s price is severely negotiable as all losers must be.
Only if the speech is in the Hague…
I second that.
No doubt he will avoid countries that might arrest him for war crimes.
We should clean up our own mess, anyhow, if we want any credibility in the world. That’s why congressional hearings with real consequences are a must.
It’s influence-peddling, pure and simple. You think they pay that kind of money to hear W’s dulcid voice and lofty sentiments? He’s still one of the main condits to the black heart of the military-industrial complex. I’m hopeful though. Taking the long view, I think that crowd is starting to lose its mojo for the first time since the late 19th century. They are slowly but surely becoming completely irrelevant to the problems facing humanity and the widely-recognized solutions. Or another way to put it is that humanity is beginning to understand clearly that these guys ARE the problem.
As is usual for sharks, they’ve got to keep moving — that is, become relevant in accordance with the New World Order — or fade out.
That said, of course the fees have nothing to do with Bush’s ‘wisdom’. Crickets do still chirp for free, after all.
Of course, speaking fees are just ways of paying off someone, like when Dubya’s dad got a cool million from the Unification Church for a speech down in Paraguay or some such South American location.
Another means of paying off someone would be to steer book deals with huge advances to him.
Or Presidential libraries.
Why do we have these presidential libraries, anyway? How did this convention get started? I don’t think it stretches back all that far.
The documents should be stored in a single “White House Records” archive. They are, as of my last hearing, public property. Let those ex-presidents who want a monument erected to them during their lifetimes have it done without the covering justification of its being a “research center.” In other words, if you want to be a pharaoh and have a pyramid built for you, go ahead and raise the funds — but without even pretending that your enterprise is serving any public interest, or any interest but your own.
And then you can and should be judged as Thoreau judged those in whose honor the pyramids were built, to wit:
N.B.: Old Henry David may have been insufficiently sympathetic with those “degraded” builders — insufficiently sensitive to their lack of choice in the matter. Regarding those who, while not spending their lives, do contribute colossal amounts of money toward constructing tombs, or monuments, for our ambitious boobies — his point is better taken.
My memory is not too short. Remember these kinds of headlines from last year:
Bush fundraising down by $40 million
Poor ticket sales, expected protests scuttle Bush-McCain fundraiser at Phoenix Convention Center
I realize there were extenuating circumstances in 2008 for lack of enthusiasm (called “Nominee John McCain”), but I wouldn’t be surprised if Bush’s speech tour is curtailed (or his fees deeply discounted) due to lack of interest.