Tell us what you really think, President Bush

A one-time speech writer for the former president pens a book revealing some of his boss' private thoughts

Published September 15, 2009 3:05PM (EDT)

Matt Latimer, who served as a speechwriter for former President George W. Bush, is coming out with a book. With these kinds of books, a relative unknown like Latimer really has to make a splash if he wants people to buy his work -- Vice President Cheney's memoir will sell regardless, but few people are going to pick Latimer's up on the strength of his name alone. So he's included some dirt.

The New York Daily News got its hands on some bits of Latimer's book, specifically the parts in which Bush has some relatively unguarded moments in discussing his fellow politicians.

Of President Obama, then just a senator, Latimer writes that Bush said, "This is a dangerous world and this cat isn't remotely qualified to handle it. This guy has no clue, I promise you." Bush didn't think kindly of the man who'd become Obama's vice president, either, saying of Joe Biden, "If bull was currency, Joe Biden would be a billionaire." Their fellow Democrat, Hillary Clinton, didn't get off easy, either, as Bush remarked, "Wait 'til her fat keister is sitting at this desk."

Maybe the most embarrassing comment that Latimer reports, though, is one Bush made about then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: "I'm trying to remember if I've met her before. What is she, the governor of Guam?"

(Hat-tip to Political Wire.)

 


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

MORE FROM Alex Koppelman


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