Wisecracking and fist-bumping Bush boasts of 600,000 Facebook friends!

NEW YORK - After his grim stint in the White House for eight years, former US President George W. Bush in a clear departure from stereotypes, shamelessly peddled his book in a live chat and boasted of his 600,000 Facebook friends.

In a live chat, which was watched by 7,000 viewers, Bush cracked a few jokes and talked politics with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The interview, streamed live by Facebook, focused primarily on Bush’s new memoir ‘Decision Points,’ but also touched on education, the economy, China, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The former president happily plugged his book, while also buttering up Zuckerberg with wisecracks and praise, even giving him a fist-bump at one point.

“I’ve got over 600,000 friends on my Facebook page,” and added that he chose to do the interview because “You’ve got a lot of people paying attention to us, and I’m trying to sell books,” the New York Daily News quoted him as saying.

“The truth of the matter is, I’m shamelessly marketing.

“I hope people read my book. I’ve written this book because I recognize there’s no such thing as accurate short-term history. I want to give future historians a perspective - mine,” he said.

Talking about WikiLeaks, he said, “Leaks are very damaging and people who leak ought to be prosecuted. I think it’s going to be hard to keep the trust of foreign leaders.”

Bush also stayed away from taking any digs at the Obama administration, though he did winkingly acknowledge “there is a lot of criticism.”

“I don’t think it’s good for the country to have a former president criticize his successor, so I don’t want to, and I’m not going to,” he said.

And, when asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, “The guy who protected the country, I guess, and [the guy] who didn’t sell his soul for the sake of politics.”

“But I’m not worried about it. I’m a comfortable guy, I’m a happy guy,” he added. (ANI)