George W. Bush racks up $15 million in speaking fees (who is he speaking to?)

George W. Bush racks up $15 million in speaking fees

Almost immediately after leaving office, Bush withdrew from the broader bully pulpit that other former presidents, such as Jimmy Carter, have used to weigh in on matters of public import. But he also joined the storied ranks of former politicians who are now making money on the speaking circuit-- and it's paying off. Bush spokesman David Sherzer tells iWatch News that Bush has earned at least $15 million for nearly 140 paid speeches since he left office in Jan. 2009. That's an average of about $110,000 per speech. (iWatch News reports that his average fee is pegged between $100,000 and $150,000.) That's undeniably a lot of dough--but consider how it stacks up against the fees collected by Bush's predecessor, former President Bill Clinton. By the end of 2009--nine years after Clinton's final term--the former president had already earned $65 million in speaking fees, which included $7.5 million for 36 paid speeches in 2009 alone, according to CNN's analysis of wife Hillary Clinton's 2010 financial disclosure report. That's $208,000 per speech on average for 2009.

IWatch News reports that after declining to visit Ground Zero May 5 with Barack Obama following the death of Osama bin Laden, Bush gave three paid speeches that week--one to "hedge fund executives, a Swiss bank sanctioned for keeping secret bank accounts, and a pro golf event underwritten by the accounting firm involved in the Tyco International financial scandal."

news.yahoo.com...

Ok, I don't care about the speaking fees....but what I have in bold really caught my eye...

IT SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.

For example, Clinton earned $750,000 from three speeches over three days in February in Australia and New Zealand and $1.74 million from six speeches over four days in September in England, Ireland, South Africa, Germany and Denmark. The latter total included $450,000 for a single speech in London on Sept. 26 at a gala dinner of the Fortune Forum, a nonprofit group that aids international charities.

www.washingtonpost.com...

Yeah, it's pretty sad. I'd go talk to people for 1/10th of that, haha. Hell I'd talk to them naked if they wanted me too.

It has to be a bunch of idiots as who else would listen to this fool...and pay him ???

reply to post by MJZoo


True...like I stated I don't have a problem with ex President making speeches and making money....that's expected. But the fact he's speaking to individuals who helped tank our entire economy....with whom HE HELPED....as I stated...really speaks for itself.

....................seriously?

Are we still on george bush? With all the crap that the current president is on, people are still trying to pull the ol Bush card?

Just sayin I dont understand why this has any relevance?

And what you have in bold, he already had booked and they probably already had paid for, he was obligated......besides I notice you didnt post WHY Bush said he didnt show up......

Keep pandering to Obama and bashin Bush..........Obama is leaving his own legacy of idiocy that threatens to rival any president weve ever had

reply to post by David9176


Yeah I kinda posted before I read your entire post. But on topic, at least he knows they have the money to pay him! I'd like to know how those speeches went......actually, I probably don't or I'd just get furious.

reply to post by Caji316


eh - The formerly powerful or famous from either the right or the left of the political spectrum (and sometimes from sports or entertainment) can sometimes rack up obscene amounts of loot for flapping their gums.

Who's Getting the Big Speaker's Fees?

One from the right - the link above notes Sean Hannity gets $100,00 a speech.

But so does Jon Stewart and a whole list of others

Evidently there are plenty of people who will gladly pay boat loads of cash to listen to someone famous say things they like to hear.

It sounds like nice work if you can get it.

Originally posted by MJZoo
Yeah, it's pretty sad. I'd go talk to people for 1/10th of that, haha. Hell I'd talk to them naked if they wanted me too.

Alas, they don't want to hear you, don't want to see you naked, and don't want to pay you. I know it sucks, but outside the I-hate-Bush world people do want to hear him, and they're willing to pay for it. It's just supply and demand in action.

reply to post by schuyler


There goes my self esteem. And RIGHT before the Rapture.

haliburton, shell, exxon, boeing, northorp grumman, blackwater, lockheed martin, take your pick.

george bush is now getting rewarding on the corporate speaking tour. it wouldn't be proper for a sitting president to receive his commission while in office.

Originally posted by Caji316
It has to be a bunch of idiots as who else would listen to this fool...and pay him ???

Actually, I think the media has played the world for fools with their portrayal of a George W Bush who is stupid and can't string a sentence together.

If you see video of him speaking before and after being President, he appears to be putting together, lucid, well thought out talks.

I don't think for a minute that this guy was the moron that the media cultivated for the sheeple. Regardless of who you are, you don't get to be President by being a moron. Even if the choice for replacement was between a half term Senator with an old white guy as his running mate or an old white guy with a half term Governor as a running mate.

I think the moron image was part of the media's campaign to paint a President so bad, that no matter who TPTB bought along to replace him would look like a genius by comparison.

I believe it's all part of the long term plan.

Bush is stoopid. And stoopid people pay to listen to stoopid Bush. BTW, the economy, all Bush's fault. Cause he's stoopid.

Can we leave the guy alone? So what? He's getting bucks. So is Carter. Now there's a dreamboat! Clinton, Ford, Bush Sr., who isn't cashing in?
Like him/hate him/loathe him/love him
He's gone. He's done. He talks now. He don't make no policy no more.

Originally posted by MJZoo
reply to post by schuyler

 

There goes my self esteem. And RIGHT before the Rapture.

Sorry, bud. Only a few more hours and it will all be over.

I met Pres Bush and Laura when he was Gov. of the Great State of TExas. He was a good ole boy but was hammered on coke and booze. That was then. Now is now. He has the right to profit from his fame just like Palin, Clinton, or Hanna Montana. Politics is nothing more than another arm of the entertainment industry.
It's obscene but we live in obscene times.

Who is the audience that Pres Bush is speaking to? Fat, old, white, Christian, right wing, republicans.

It's a brave new world....welcome to the monkey house and stfu!!

Well I know he has been to Arkansas a couple of times. He spoke either last year or the year before at one of the college's near me. He is supposed to be going back to Arkansas. He is probably riding high on the hog, going to difffernt states to the different colleges that majority republican and speaking and of course they are probably paying him. So I guess that partially answers the OP's question.

reply to post by David9176


Let us all hop in to the Way Back Machine and visit that long forgotten year of 2008. It was the magical year that Hillary Clinton ran for president. She lost and was chosen for Secretary of State. According to a Huffington Post article there was concern that Bill Clinton's speaking engagements migh cause a conflict of interest. Well gee whiz who was he talking too?

It would be interesting to know how the average New York voter would respond when told that during the past three years their Senator and her spouse personally received $2.1 million from such major banks as Goldman Sachs ($800,000), Lehman Bros. ($300, 000), Citigroup ($425,000) and Deutsche Bank ($300,000).

The money -- honoraria payments to former President Clinton -- demonstrate that the conflicts between Bill Clinton's multi-million dollar financial entanglements and his wife's possible selection as Secretary of State are just as relevant in the case of the elected office Hillary Clinton currently holds, raising to front and center the same glaring conflicts of interest that have gone largely overlooked during Hillary's eight years in the Senate. . .

The potential for conflict of interest in this situation is most easily visible in the case of major legislation presently under consideration in Washington. If Hillary stays in the Senate, the most pressing issue will be the financial crisis. She has already voted for the $700 billion bailout bill, which is likely to be only the first step in federal attempts to pull the economy out of its nosedive.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Senator Clinton has not only received campaign contributions from the investment and securities industries -- industries with huge stakes in the outcome of measures almost certain to be taken up in 2009-10 -- but Bill and Hillary together have also taken as personal income, for their own use, millions of dollars paid to Bill in the form of honoraria, running from $125,000 to $325,000 for a single speech to interest groups directly affected by his wife's legislative position.

Bill's Lucrative Speaking Engagements

It isn't a G.W thing. It isn't a left or right thing. They all do it. At least G.W wasn't still in office while he was profiting from it. I guess delayed bribery is better.

reply to post by David9176


Take off the partisan blinders for 2 seconds- every ex-president does this-do you know how much Clinton pulls down a year from this exact same thing?

This is just amazing! The Constitutionally illegal person elected by the people in this thread to President is destroying the U.S., and yet what are they concerned about? ATS is turning into just another DailyKosmonaut!

This is what all those's secret societies are all about. Their making deals and making court that we have no control over..
Here's where your secret societies come into play.

Education is where they have there secret coffers

reply to post by ManBehindTheMask


Well, no. But think about it, it's just kind of... dumb.

$15 million... for speaking. C'mon, even the die-hard supporters of Dubya can admit that "speaking" was probably not his strong point.

Honestly, I detest the dumbass; but I can say kudos to him for finding people even dumber than he is, to rake in a lumpy $15 million just by mangling the language in their presence.