Bush says farewell

CNN Poll: 75% glad Bush is done

(CNN) -- A new national poll suggests that three out of four Americans feel President Bush's departure from office is coming not a moment too soon.

Twenty-eight percent of those polled say President Bush is the worst president in U.S. history.

Seventy-five percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday said they're glad Bush is going; 23 percent indicated they'll miss him.

"Earlier this year, Bush scored some of the lowest presidential approval ratings we've seen in half a century, so it's understandable that the public is eager for a new president to step in," said Keating Holland, CNN polling director.

CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider added, "As President Bush prepares to leave office, the American public has a parting thought: Good riddance. At least that's the way three-quarters feel." Watch how Bush's farewell polls compare »

The portion who say they won't miss Bush is 24 percentage points higher than the 51 percent who said they wouldn't miss President Bill Clinton when he left office in January 2001. Forty-five percent of those questioned at that time said they would miss Clinton.

The poll indicates that Bush compares poorly with his presidential predecessors, with 28 percent saying that he's the worst ever. Forty percent rate Bush's presidency as poor, and 31 percent say he's been a good president.

Only a third of those polled said they want Bush to remain active in public life after he leaves the White House. That 33 percent figure is 22 points lower than those in 2001 who wanted Bill Clinton to retain a public role.

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"It's been like a failed marriage," Schneider said.

"Things started out well. When President Bush first took office in 2001, more than 60 percent saw him as strong and decisive. That impression was confirmed after the September 11th attacks. The public still saw Bush as strong and decisive when he took office a second time in 2005.

"But no more. The public has completely lost confidence in this president," Schneider said.

Bush has dropped on a number of measures, but possibly the biggest is that only 20 percent say he inspires confidence, Holland said.

"That's an important figure when the country is facing its biggest economic crisis in a generation," he added.

When running for the White House in the 2000 presidential campaign, Bush promised to be a uniter and not a divider. But 82 percent of poll respondents felt that Bush did not unite the country, compared with 17 percent who said he did.

"The vast majority of Americans believe he betrayed his promise to unite the country," Schneider said. "He took a country that was divided under President Clinton and he divided it worse."

Only 27 percent of those questioned in the poll approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president; 72 percent disapprove.

"President Bush's job approval rating has been at or below freezing since the beginning of the year," Schneider said. "The current 27 percent approval rating is one of the lowest ratings for any president, ever."

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll was conducted December 19-21, with 1,013 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Bush Reported To Be Drinking Heavily

(WMR) -- With less than two months remaining in office, George W. Bush, witnessing a devastating defeat for the Republican Party, worse favorability ratings than those of Richard Nixon at the height of the Watergate scandal, and the most devastating economic situation since the Great Depression, is reported by a number of well-placed sources in Washington as drinking heavily.

After having tried to explain away the collapse of several Wall Street brokerage houses by saying, “Wall Street got drunk,” it appears that it is Bush who is suffering from bouts of drunkenness.

According to informed sources who spoke to WMR, Bush was visibly drunk at the recent G-20 economic summit in Washington and at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, Chinese President Hu Jintao, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper were among the world leaders who had the chance to witness an inebriated Bush both at the G-20 and APEC summits.

WMR has long reported on Bush’s heavy drinking. On July 31, 2007, WMR reported: “WMR has learned that the January 13, 2002, incident in which President Bush claimed to have choked on a pretzel and passed out briefly was a cover story designed to divert the media’s attention away from Bush’s heavy drinking. A well-placed White House source has confirmed a previous account of another well-connected White House source that Bush had been drinking while watching a Sunday NFL playoff game between Baltimore and Miami.

The White House nurse on duty examined Bush after he passed out from drinking at around 5:35 pm and took a blood sample ostensibly to check his blood sugar levels. The blood sample reportedly showed Bush’s blood alcohol content at a level considered to be legal intoxication.

Bush fell from his couch bruising his cheek and cutting his lip. His eyeglasses also cut the side of his face. Bush blamed the incident on his failure to heed his mother’s advice and chew all his food before he swallowed.”

On June 6, 2005, WMR reported: “A well-heeled Republican donor to the Republican Party was very frank about George W. Bush’s mental and physical condition. Attending a May 17 Republican National Committee $1500 a ticket fundraiser at Washington’s Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Bush supporter commented that he and others in attendance were talking the entire evening about Bush’s strange appearance. The donor and GOP supporter said that Bush ‘looked like he was on crystal meth,’ a reference to the illegal drug crystal methamphetamine, a hallucinogenic stimulant.”

On September 22, 2005, WMR reported: “The White House press corps has been whispering about Bush’s drinking over the past few years. None dare write or speak about it lest their credentials are lifted and further access cut off by the most vindictive White House in American history.”

On March 13, 2007, WMR reported: “Our White House Press Corps sources report further disturbing news about President George W. Bush. Our sources have witnessed a clearly inebriated Bush approaching members of the press corps and making rude comments, including one particularly crude remark about First Lady Laura Bush. In that case, Bush, nodding toward Laura, called her a ‘c**t.’ While Bush’s drinking is no secret to the White House press contingent, that particular comment was reportedly the worst they have heard uttered by Bush. Our sources also report that Laura Bush’s stays at the White House are less frequent and that her overnight trips to the Mayflower Hotel often coincide with the president’s drunken binges.”

Ex-Bush aide charged with theft from Cuba group

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN – 3 days ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former aide to President Bush has been charged with theft from a government-funded center that promotes democracy in Cuba.

The single count of theft of $5,000 or more from a federally aided program was filed in U.S. District Court here last Thursday against Felipe E. Sixto, who resigned on March 28 from his job as special assistant to President George W. Bush for intergovernmental affairs.

The charge was filed as a criminal information, which means Sixto waived his right to have a grand jury decide if the government has enough evidence to charge him and usually also means the defendant intends to plead guilty as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

No date has been set for Sixto to appear before U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton.

Sixto's attorney, Kathleen E. Voelker, did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the case.

When Sixto resigned from the White House staff last spring, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Sixto had stepped forward March 20 to reveal his alleged wrongdoing and resign. Stanzel said Sixto took that step after learning that his former employer, the Center for a Free Cuba, was prepared to begin legal action against him.

The nonprofit center has received grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Stanzel said, "Mr. Sixto allegedly had a conflict of interest with the use of USAID funds." Stanzel added that he did not know how much money was involved or the particulars of the allegations.

The government alleged Thursday that the theft occurred between March 31, 2005, and Jan. 14, 2008.

Sixto had been chief of staff at the center, where he worked for more than three years before moving to the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs in July 2007.

The Center for a Free Cuba describes itself as an independent, nonpartisan institution dedicated to promoting human rights and a transition to democracy and the rule of law in Cuba. Frank Calzon, the center's executive director, said it receives "a couple million dollars" a year from USAID for rent, travel and equipment such as shortwave radios and laptops.

Calzon said the center "received an allegation" in mid-January about the possible misuse of funds and within days formed a fact-finding team. He said USAID was alerted within a few days. "After several weeks of investigating, we discovered there was some substance to it," Calzon said. "A letter went from our lawyer to the inspector general of USAID."

At the White House intergovernmental office, Sixto, 29, was assigned to deal with state legislators, Native American groups and Hispanic officials on issues such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, health, labor, transportation, the environment and energy, Stanzel said. He was promoted to special assistant to Bush on March 1, just weeks before he resigned on March 28.

The theft charge was first reported by The Examiner newspaper in Washington.