NO ONE HAS MORE FUN BEING AN EX-PRESIDENT...:

'I'd do it again' former President Bush tells Grand Rapids crowd about waterboarding terrorists (Ted Roelofs , 6/02/10, The Grand Rapids Press)

Former President George W. Bush was by turns affable, relaxed -- and deadly serious in his local appearance Wednesday.

"Yeah, we water-boarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," Bush said of the terrorist who master-minded the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. He said that event shaped his presidency and convinced him the nation was in a war against terror.

"I'd do it again to save lives."

In a speech and question-and-answer session before the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, Bush defended his decision to go to war in 2003 with Iraq.

"Getting rid of Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do and the world is a better place without him," Bush said. [...]

In sharp contrast to former Vice President Dick Cheney, he also has restrained from speaking out against Obama.

"I'm trying to regain a sense of anonymity," he said in February.

"I didn't like it when a certain former president made my life miserable," he said, a reference to former President Jimmy Carter and his frequent criticisms of Bush. [...]

Referring to his decision to wear an old tuxedo and Laura Bush's reaction to it, Bush said: "'Read my lips, no new tuxes.'"