I Met Pres George W Bush today
 

Stood in line from 6.00 am until 10.00 when I finally met George W. Bush in the Sumter Sales Center receiving line. We exchanged "hello's" and I received my autographed copy of his new book. A truly Great Day In The Villages. whoohoooo My friend Bradley received a bear hug and "thank you" from the President, for his service to our country. Beautiful.

I envy you. Wish I was there and not up north.:BigApplause:

I went to the rally this AM and he is a true American. I saw things in him today I never saw when he was president. Truly a great person and a great Patriot. :BigApplause:

Isn't this thread Political?

You're kidding????
 

A former President (not a candidate for anything) visits The Villages, give a great talk - patriotic, funny and moving - and it should be in the political forum?????

It WAS a GREAT DAY in The Villages and IMHO it belongs here.
_

I met Hillary Clinton in person and she shook my hand and asked about my golf game, after the Democratic party head introduced me as the reigning city golf champion. It was really a thrill as I have so much respect for her. It is always thrilling to meet someone you admire as the Bush fans did today. I hope to meet President Obama some day.

[QUOTE=tpop1;307897]A former President (not a candidate for anything) visits The Villages, give a great talk - patriotic, funny and moving - and it should be in the political forum?????

Yes.

Politics aside --- it was a Great day!

Well I didn't make it to the square as early as 6:00am. Even so, I had a great spot for the rally, got to meet Dubya AND he even kissed me on the cheek! :0000000000luvmyhors

And to people concerned about this being a political thread: Rest assured this is NOT a political thread. I've never visited the political part of this discussion forum and do not ever plan on doing so.

P.S. I went to a Bill Clinton rally a number of years ago as well, which may entitle me to be somewhat of an authority on whether or not threads on this forum should be classified as belonging in the political section. More likely it really wouldn't make me any kind of authority at all, but I thought it sounded kinda good anyway. :p

As far as I know, Mr. Bush was here promoting his new book so I would guess he was appearing as an author, not a politician. I agree that this thread SHOULD NOT be posted in Political.

We drove up to the parking lot behind the sales center a couple of hours after all the hoopla. Lo and behold, five minutes later out comes Bush with his secret service folks all around, and a local sheriff with a canine corps dog. We clapped and he smiled and he waved at us. :wave: Not the same as meeting him, but it still gave us a thrill to see a former president.

I have to ask everyone, regardless of party, political beliefs or anything that even smacks of politicalization of this thread,

Why in h*** does anyone even care?

SWR
:beer3:

Former president spoke in The Villages to promote his new memoir, 'Decision Points'
http://media.trb.com/media/photo/2010-11/57616857.jpg
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,6436297.story

Now, I wonder how many purchasers of Bush's book will actually read it?? I have a book by Hillary Clinton called Living History and still have not read it. I did thumb through it looking for the more interesting parts for me but have never read it cover-to-cover.

Great photo! He looks so relaxed and ... so much younger than his last years in office. Sometimes you do have to wonder why anybody would do the job.

He does look good and so relaxed. I, too, wonder why anyone would want to be President.

Maybe they want to be pampered too.



.

lol.... ;)

How wonderful for you both. I'm sure it was exciting....a nice memory....enjoy!

I can't imagine being president. So glad others want the job.
No matter how you try...and even if you are getting most things right, there are bound to be mistakes and those mistakes are on the world stage.

Coming here for this book signing is probably a soul soothing event for him with people smiling and being pleased to see him.

Good.

I Miss Being Pampered
 

It even made the front page of Yahoo News!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101113/...bush_book_tour


.

I was never a W. supporter, but it still would have been a treat and honor to shake hands with an ex-President! Wish I'd been there for it.

GW was in Chicago last week on his book tour. He got a lot of local news coverage and does seem relaxed and comfortable. Nice to see that he seems to be enjoying life.

Great question, look at W and Obama after just a few years on the job.The stress of the job aged them both unbelievably.W now looks younger and energized, i wish him well in all his future endeavors.I wonder how long it took each of them to say,"what the #*^# have i gotten myself into:22yikes:."

I would have loved to meet Mr. Bush or Mr. Clinton or any president. Great day in the Villages!

The picture sure shows a different face than the one that left office with a 22% approval rating. Good for him, and good for the people who went to see him. Many of us had stressful jobs (not compared to the Presidency, of course) and know the feeling of relief of retiring and moving to The Villages. President Bush got enjoy that feeling during his visit yesterday.

Fox News and Dubya
 

At the end of the news wrap up, we folk from Buttonwood Bradley, me, and Mike can be seen in the background we are holding our signed books.


http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news...n_The_Villages

He's here for the business!
 

Folks,
Realize that George "Weasel" Bush only came to The Villages to sell books. The "ghost-written" books were most likely signed with an "autopen". "Weasel" is sneering all the way to the bank while you have a new doorstop or prop-up for a table with uneven legs.

I was in Vail with my brother many years ago....we lined the streets and waited for then President Ford, he had just lost the election and my brother wanted to shake his hand. I really didn't like Ford mainly because he pardoned Nixon...that really pi**ed me off. Somehow we got separated ending up on opposite sides of the street...can you see what is coming.

You guessed it the President and his wife changed sides and I ended up shaking President Ford's hand as well as Betty's. Even though I was in my more radical youth one should always respect the President....you might not like him but you should show respect for the office.

It was a pretty good story around the family for years.

Spiro Agnew
 

When I was in college in Iowa - back in the early '70's - I actually skipped an American History class to go to Cedar Rapids airport and see Spiro Agnew. Little did I realize - until the next morning - that a newspaper photographer snapped a picture of me shaking hands with Agnew and it appeared on the front page of the Des Moines Register.

I walked into my American History class and the professor (staunch Democrat), sniffed the air noisely, and looked at me and asked me in a loud voice if I had washed my hands good after shaking hands with Agnew.

I would not have walked across the street to shake George Bush's hand. That man lied to the country and cost the lives of over 4,400 soldiers for no reason at all.

I'm doing a mental countdown to the time when these last couple of posts are moved to their rightful location.

I respect the office and would treat any current or former President with dignity and respect. In connection with my employment, I had opportunities to meet Bill and Hillary Clinton and Jimmy and Rossalyn Carter.

A quick story about the Carters. The occasion was a weekend event sponsored by the Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources for utility executives and their families. A colleague brought his daughter and her friend. The friend, around 13 or 14 years old, was awestruck and nearly in tears at seeing the former President. From across the room, Rossalyn caught glimpse of the girl's awestruck face, walked over and introduce herself. She spoke with the girl for a couple of minutes and once she had put the nervous child at ease, Rossalyn took the child in hand and walked her over to meet the President. President Carter asked about her and her family and gave her his undivided attention.

Unpopular former Presidents are people too.

The book is selling well,775,000 copies in the first week.I would buy a copy, but all my extra cash is going toward my next door neighbors favorite charity....................Doctors Without Yachts.

Agreed. This thread has turned too political and if not moved it will get out of hand.

Newbies here at TOTV don't know about the 'old' days when political battles caused numerous casualties among the members. A lot more civil after moving political on its own.

It's not worth alienating friends/neighbors
 

For those who have not actually lived here yet, one of the things we like most is that the majority of residents we've met have the sense to not discuss religion or politics in the driveway, at the pool or on the street.

It's not worth alienating the uniquely diverse friends/acquaintances with political nagging, accusations, labeling and stereotyping . . which win nobody over to your side anyway.

There are clubs you can join if you want to b*tch about the other party being "all" liars, crooks, etc., and in which you could pass a formal resolution declaring everything wrong to be the other party's fault.

There are hundreds of other interesting and important things to talk about. We don't want the aggravation here.

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Try to add a little humor, especially when i notice a thread going in the wrong direction(politics).Nobody is getting out of here alive, sooooooooooooo lets "love,laugh, and live" :D