Former President George W. Bush returned to West Texas this past week to give a speech at a fundraiser for Lubbock Christian University.
Bush’s advance team put out the word: The appearance would be “off the record,” an announcement that rankled my colleagues at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal — and with good reason.
As I understand it, Bush’s team offered up some malarkey about the 43rd president of the United States being a “private citizen,” and that reporters would not be allowed to, um, report on the speech.
Private citizen? Let me ponder that for a moment. OK, no he’s not.
The immediate former president/commander in chief is no such thing. As A-J Editor Terry Greenberg noted, he cannot be off the record when speaking to a crowd of 1,500 listeners. The term usually refers to interviews with media outlets, not public appearances, Greenberg said.
Besides, when is a former president ever fully a private citizen, especially when he gets protection from the U.S. Secret Service? Last time I checked, the public was paying for that security detail.