George W. Bush

W was the keynote speaker. Taylor got to sit on the second row and was pretty excited to get to see him up close. Taylor said he did a really nice job and had a great sense of humor, plugging his book, and did not criticize Obama. In fact Bush mentioned he has no interest in making news or criticizing his predecessor. Bush said he did not like it when Clinton criticized him so he promised himself he would not do that when he left office.

Taylor said he was pretty funny during his speech making fun of him self. He told me this story. Bush recalled "Laura purchased our house sight unseen in Texas, which I refer to as a faith based initiative. As soon as the media reported our purchase we were told that 650 people drove by the house the first day which did not make the neighbors very happy. My first day living in the house I decided to take Barney for a walk. Now you have to remember Barney only knows the White House south lawn, Camp David, and the ranch in Crawford. As for me this was my first time to walk a neighborhood in 10 years. Barney headed straight for Dr. Young's lawn and there I found myself the former President of the United States with a plastic bag on my hand picking up what I had been dodging for the past 8 years."

This was after his speech during the question an answer session. He was pretty funny plugging his book. He said "I am writing my book and I know that may surprise some of you who think I can't read much less write."