Bush To Lauer On 'Today': 'I Really Don't Care About Perceptions At This Point' (VIDEO)

Former President George W. Bush spoke with TODAY's Matt Lauer, offering insight into his new memoir, "Decision Points," which will be released next week.

In his memoir, Bush wrote, "I believe it's impossible to reach definitive conclusions about my presidency or any recent presidency for that matter for several decades." On TODAY, Lauer asked, "Isn't that the purpose of a book like this to either cement perception or change perception?"

"Kind of," Bush said. "But the main purpose of the book is to have a starting point, not a starting point, a data point for future historians. This may seem strange to you, I really don't care about perceptions at this point in time. I served, I gave it my all and I'm a content man. And the book has been part of the transition process to private life and it's a way for me to put the reader in the environment in which i had to make decisions."

WATCH:

Comments

[billygore2000]

07:36 AM on 11/09/2010

Bush takes comfort in the thought of being dead and never facing how bad his decisions were and what a terrible president he was. Can't blame him. . .

[bearchao]

04:11 PM on 11/08/2010

George W. Bush wrote a book. It will most likely be a best-seller. Does anyone need any more proof that "IDIOCRACY" is far off?

[schudge1]

01:56 PM on 11/08/2010

Bush wasn't really the president. Dick Cheney was.

[Angel R1240]

11:10 PM on 11/07/2010

Bush thinks that the worst moment of his time in office was hen Kanye West called him a racist. I knew that Bush was dumb but wow I did not know that Bush was this dumb. He could have said 9/11 we lost almost 3,000 americans or he could have said the day he went into Iraq or many other moments. This guy is unbelievable.

[ALiberalKidd]

02:43 PM on 11/07/2010

It is somewhat surprising to me and redeeming for Bush that he would admit being offended and hurt by Kanye West's words. Maybe Rumsfeld, Cheney, and others were the real villains and Bush was just a victim like Powell.

I think Bill Clinton have more racial tendencies than Bush. Bush would not sign welfare reform targeting poor Americans…Clinton did.

Bush gave African Americans, Rice and Powell, higher positions than Obama or any other president has ever done.

I still think Bush should be tried and sent to prison of the gas chamber for his atrocity in Iraq, but I do not think he is a racist.

[AnotherTry]

09:19 AM on 11/08/2010

The Iraq war is racism.

[billygore2000]

12:58 PM on 11/07/2010

"Offering insight" is something "Dubya" could only strike out on but a very funny joke.

[Hydrofracked]

11:59 PM on 11/06/2010

"We're not as bad as you think"-Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar "Bush"

(He's right, they are worse)

http://video.pbs.org/video/1114436938/

Frontline

[Hydrofracked]

07:34 PM on 11/06/2010

Radioactive waste surfaces at Texas gas sites

"Blasted free by millions of gallons of fresh water and chemical soup sent miles below ground, some of earth's baddest geological actors – radioactive elements capable of scarring soil and scourging human health – are slowly rising to the surface along with the Barnett Shale's natural gas."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-norms_11wes.ART.East.Edition1.420fc23.html

[Hydrofracked]

07:33 PM on 11/06/2010

2005 is no coincidence that is when section 322 of the 2005 energy act excluded hydrofracking fluid from federal regulation under the clean water act.

[DanSc]

07:06 PM on 11/07/2010

Bill Clinton was the first president to sign an executive order to exclude the Groom Lake section of the Nevada Test Site, commonly known as Area 51. The Air Force was burning extremely toxic chemicals in open pits upwind from the main base, causing immense harm to the employees.

http://newsmine.org/content.php?ol=deceptions/area51.txt

But it's not just his fault. Every year, Clinton and Bush renewed the executive order, and Obama has continued renewing it.

[Hydrofracked]

07:30 PM on 11/06/2010

Radioactive waste surfaces at Texas gas sites

"Statewide, 140 such sites were decontaminated from January 2005 to the present, according to documents obtained from the Department of State Health Services, which oversees disposal of the state's hottest radioactive waste."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-norms_11wes.ART.East.Edition1.420fc23.html

[Hydrofracked]

07:28 PM on 11/06/2010

George Bush is not just a war criminal he is also a traitor for allowing the poisoning of a nation. Section 322 of the 2005 Energy act excluded hydrofracking from federal regulation under the clean water act allowing THIS to happen.

"Statewide, 140 such sites were decontaminated from January 2005 to the present, according to documents obtained from the Department of State Health Services, which oversees disposal of the state's hottest radioactive waste."

Source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-norms_11wes.ART.East.Edition1.420fc23.html

[Hydrofracked]

07:24 PM on 11/06/2010

George Bush never cared, and when a president does not care we all pay for it.

[Hydrofracked]

07:23 PM on 11/06/2010

"D/FW injection well is 'plausible' quake source"

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Injection-well-plausible-earthquake-source-87278212.html

[Hydrofracked]

07:22 PM on 11/06/2010

Radioactive waste surfaces at Texas gas sites

"Moreover, 25 of those decontamination sites were in Denton, Tarrant and Wise counties, the core counties of the Barnett Shale. The cleanups signal that fracing – short for fracturing, the water-guzzling process that busts the gas out of the shale – could be pulling up much more than energy companies bargained for, experts say."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-norms_11wes.ART.East.Edition1.420fc23.html

[JHKH]

05:45 PM on 11/06/2010

Oh, you will care, W, if you get your arse arrested traveling to any country that recognizes the World Court. I'd love to see you tried for your admitted crimes against humanity. Tip: Stick to N Korea, China, Israel, to name a few. Refer to the movie Ghostwriter for a more comprehensive list.