Watch George W. Bush offer advice to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford
The former president sits down with Jay Leno for a long talk about health, painting, and how Vladimir Putin dissed his dog


On Tuesday night, former President George W. Bush made a rare post-White House public appearance, sitting down with his wife Laura for an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Leno and Bush both got some good jokes in, but Leno got the former president to allude to his hard-living past, and asked if he had any advice for Toronto's crack-smoking mayor, Rob Ford. Bush's answer is in the very short clip above.
The lead-up to the question about Bush's heart operation is at the end of Part Two of the Leno interview. The highlights here are his answer to how he came to paint and the story about Vladimir Putin insulting his now-deceased presidential dog, Barney:
It's a pretty long, and not exactly hard-hitting, interview. Come on, it's Leno. But there's some nice banter in Part One, where Bush ribbed Leno about being "sent out to pasture," explained why he has stayed out of the spotlight, and talked about being a Bush in the context of brother Jeb Bush's potential presidential run:
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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