During his presidency, George W. Bush was destroyed by the media and Saturday Night Live on a consistent basis; but while we can all agree that Dubya wasn’t the brightest light bulb to ever light-bulb, he took his ribbing gracefully.
During an exclusive sit-down with Today’s Matt Lauer, the former president noted that the media is “indispensable to democracy.”
“We needed the media to hold people like me to account,” Bush said, according to CNBC. “Power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive, and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power.”
Bush was asked about President Donald Trump’s claims that the media are the “enemies of America.” Bush said that during his presidency, he tried to convince Russian President Vladmir Putin to embrace free press.
“It’s kind of hard to tell others to have an independent free press when we’re not willing to have one ourselves,” he said.
Bush also noted that while he isn’t a lawyer, something needs to done about intel suggesting that Russian hackers interfered with the 2016 election, adding that he’d leave questions about whether a special prosecutor should investigate up to the Senate Intelligence Committee leaders.
“I think we all need answers,” he said. “I’m not sure the right avenue to take.”
Bush was asked his thoughts on the Muslim ban that the Trump administration insists isn’t a Muslim ban even though it totally is a ban directed at predominantly Muslim nations.
While Bush wouldn’t say yea or nay on the ban, he did note that “I am for an immigration policy that is welcoming and upholds the law.”
Read more at CNBC.