George W Bush

Former President George W. Bush was greeted by thunderous applause on the Fourth of July as he told thousands of spectators in a rural Oklahoma rodeo arena that the U.S. was "the greatest nation on the face of the earth." Bush was given six standing ovations as he spoke in GOP-friendly Woodward, a town of about 12,000 residents in northwestern Oklahoma. About 9,200 tickets were sold for the event -- the biggest crowd for Bush since he left office in January.

President Bush will end his presidency the way he started it, at a rally in his boyhood hometown of Midland after Barack Obama is sworn into office. Then, Press Secretary Dana Perino said, Bush will go to his Crawford ranch to spend the night. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush attended a rally in Midland in January 2001, just before heading for the White House. Both grew up in Midland and married there in 1977.

President Bush signed legislation Monday intended to restrict U.S. investment in Sudan, despite his administration's concern that it improperly gives state and local governments a hand in foreign policy. The House and Senate, ignoring the administration's objections, approved the bill unanimously, and Bush signed it at his home near here.

After nearly seven years in the White House, President Bush has named 294 judges to the federal courts, giving Republican appointees a solid majority of the seats, including a 60%-to-40% edge over Democrats on the influential U.S. appeals courts. The rightward shift on the federal bench is likely to prove a lasting legacy of the Bush presidency, since many of these judges -- including his two Supreme Court appointees -- may serve for two more decades.

The Iowa caucuses apparently did not outrank shut-eye for President Bush. Asked if the president planned to stay up to find out who won the opening contests of the 2008 election season, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Thursday: "What time do all the results start coming in? Because he goes to bed early." Later, Perino said Bush planned to watch a bit of the returns but would not stay tuned for the accompanying political punditry.

Eight years ago, George W. Bush's stay-at-home proclivities, seen by some as evidence of a lack of interest in the world beyond U.S. borders, became a troublesome issue as he ran for the White House. As the president approaches his final year in office, his agenda is so heavily booked that he is already scheduled to touch down on every continent except Australia and Antarctica.

An American Al Qaeda militant urged fighters to meet President Bush with bombs when he visits the Middle East, according to a video posted Sunday on the Internet. Adam Gadahn, who was raised in Orange County, also tore up his U.S. passport in the nearly hourlong tape. The video came three days before Bush is scheduled to arrive for a weeklong trip in the region to push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. "Now we direct an urgent call to our militant brothers . . .

For seven years, President Bush has been a distant defender of Israel, working from Washington to tilt America's policies in the Middle East more firmly behind its longtime ally. When he arrives here Wednesday on his first presidential visit, however, Bush will find an ambivalent Israeli public. It is appreciative of his efforts, yet critical of U.S. setbacks that have made the region feel more threatening. No recent president has been less involved in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations than Bush.

As signals of a weakening economy grow louder, the Bush administration and congressional Democrats are considering new measures, including a fresh round of tax cuts, designed to stave off recession. But while both sides of Washington's policy debate appear to favor some kind of tax-cut package to spur economic growth, there is little sign that they are near agreement on what kind of cuts should go to whom.

President Bush and Saudi leaders tangled Tuesday over the price of oil, with the president reminding this wealthy desert kingdom that U.S. purchases could fall if the American economy slips and with a Saudi official refusing to commit his country to greater production to reduce costs at the pump. Bush said the price of oil, driven up by growing demand in the United States but an even greater increase in China and India, had become "painful for our consumers."