WASHINGTON: George Bush believed that Barack Obama was ''a cat'' who ''had no clue'', dismissed Sarah Palin as a nonentity and insulted Hillary Clinton for having a large backside, according to a new account of life in the White House under the former president.
In extracts published by GQ magazine, Mr Latimer claims Mr Bush once reacted furiously to criticisms by Mr Obama during the presidential campaign.
''He came in one day to rehearse a speech, fuming. 'This is a dangerous world,' he said for no apparent reason, 'and this cat [Obama] isn't remotely qualified to handle it. This guy has no clue, I promise you'.'' He says Mr Bush paused and said to no one in particular: ''You think I wasn't qualified? I was qualified.''
Of Mrs Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee vaulted from the obscurity of governing Alaska, Mr Bush joked: ''I'm trying to remember if I've met her before. What is she, the governor of Guam?''
Mr Bush believed Mrs Clinton would win the Democratic nomination but thought she may have underestimated the job at hand. ''Wait till her fat [backside] is sitting at this desk,'' he is alleged to have said.
Nor was the famously loquacious new Vice-President, Joe Biden, spared. ''If bullshit was currency, Joe Biden would be a billionaire,'' he told staff.
George W Bush comments
Hehe this sort of stuff always seems to come out.