Posted on April 25, 2013

George W. Bush Reflects On Presidency With Bret Baier, Says GOP Is "Leaderless"

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

On the Republican party: "We're leaderless now. The Republican Party is leaderless. It's not the first time we've been leaderless, nor will it be the last time a political party is leaderless. In other words, we've been in the wilderness and, pretty soon, our party will start coalescing around somebody to become our leader. I wish his name was Jeb. I have no idea if Jeb is going to run."



On Jeb: "Absolutely, I want him to. He would be a great president. And, uh, but whether or not he chooses to run, it's not my choice. He'shad the benefit of seeing his father and brother run for office and he knows it's a very personal decision to make. But my point is parties go in cycles and, um, but soon, there will be a leader and the fundamental question -- of both parties. And the fundamental question is, will they be able to unite the different elements of their parties behind a common mission and a philosophy that says, give me a chance to govern and people's lives will get better."



On 9/11: "Well, the tendency is to, uh, want to be comfortable and not think about, uh, terror and not to walk around worried that, you know, tomorrow will be another attack. But defending the homeland is incredibly difficult to do. There are a lot of good people working on it, but it's hard to do. And, the terrorists are -- I mean I -- I used to say, we had to be right 100 percent of the time, they had to be right... And, it's -- and the other thing I -- that caused me to think back was just the unspeakable sadness I felt."



On immigration: "I think people have a different appreciation of the immigration issue. I mean more people now know the system fails. It's broken. And, so it will be interesting to watch the debate go on. It's a very difficult debate, because there's a lot of moving parts. I rarely speak publicly. It takes an unusual person to talk me to get in front of the camera. I guess that's you. But I do say here during an economic summit we had, one of those things we're doing here at the Center is defending free enterprise. And I've said that if you want to grow the private sector, are the -- that some have said if you want to grow the private sector, there has to be a rational immigration policy. We ought to be kind when we debate the issue, because, in debating immigration, you're really talking about the past of our country. And you're talking about people -- the newly arrived. And you don't want to say to the newly arrived, you're not worthy. And so the debate needs to be, it will be vigorous, but it's a -- it needs to be thoughtful."