Bush Talks Cheney Relationship, Jon Stewart Blasts Congress, and More

Lonely Star State:

George W. Bush’s media blitz promoting the upcoming opening of his presidential library continued with an interview that is set to air on C-SPAN on Wednesday night. During the interview, C-SPAN’s Steve Scully asked Bush about how his relationship has been with Vice President Dick Cheney since they left the White House more than four years ago. His somewhat awkward reply: “You know it’s been cordial — but he lives in Washington and we live in Dallas. One of the saddest things about departing Washington is that you miss your pals and a lot of people were there for all eight years and I became good friends with them, like Vice President Cheney.” He continued: “You know, I just I don’t see him — much. And I don’t see many of the people I worked with much and it’s kind of sad. It’s great to be in Texas, however.” (Read more)

Letter of the Law: The charges have been dropped against Kevin Curtis, the Elvis impersonator who was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of sending letters filled with the deadly poison ricin to President Obama and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker. At a news conference after his release, Curtis said: “I respect President Obama and love my country. I would never do anything to pose a threat to him or any other U.S. official.” Authorities continued their probe Wednesday with a search of the home of J. Everett Dutschke, a Mississippi man whom Curtis’ attorney had suggested Monday that officials investigate. The two men are reportedly rivals. (Read more)

Naked Ambition: An intern who worked for the Republican presidential ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in 2012 was arrested by FBI agents on Tuesday on suspicion of cyber-stalking and blackmailing women online. Adam Savader, a 21-year-old student at SUNY Farmdale, is alleged to have obtained naked photos of more than a dozen women and threatened to release them publicly unless they sent him more nude pictures. Savader, who described himself on Twitter as an “American Patriot,” had also interned for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. More from Jezebel: “If convicted, he faces up to five years in jail. If acquitted, he’ll probably be running the country in the next twenty years alongside his mentors.” (Read more)

Board Silly: Mark Sanford, the Republican presidential nominee for the special congressional election in South Carolina, is miffed that his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, has agreed to only one debate (Sanford wanted four). So the disgraced former South Carolina governor has figured out a workaround. On Wednesday, he staged a mock debate with a cardboard cutout of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, claiming he did so because Colbert Busch is avoiding public appearances. “Since Elizabeth Colbert Busch refuses to articulate her views publicly, we are left to draw inferences for what she stands for on the basis of the groups that have made substantial monetary investments on her behalf,” Sanford explained in a press release. OK … but if he was so eager to debate Colbert Busch, why not just have a cardboard cutout of her made and attempt to debate that instead? Or better yet, maybe avoid the theatrics altogether. (Read more)

Videos of the Day: Remember how Congress passed the STOCK Act last year that would subject lawmakers to the same insider trading laws as the rest of us? Well, that’s pretty much over now that Congress has quietly worked to water it down. One person who did take notice of the gutted law was Jon Stewart. On “The Daily Show” on Tuesday night, Stewart ripped Congress for weakening the act, which, in the wake of recent developments, he’s renamed the “Fiscal Use of Congressional Knowledge Is Expressly Restricted—aka, the ‘Fucker’ Act.”