We’ve been hearing a lot from former Pres. George W. Bush as his publicity tour for Decision Points continues.

But although the Financial Times didn’t get an interview with him, one of their reporters did recall a story that indicated Bush was ready to support Barack Obama over John McCain in 2008.

President Barack Obama was in Wisconsin today for a Labor Day speech that took some major shots at the Republicans – including a new twist to his oft-used car analogy.

It was a markedly different tone than his usual one, complete with sharp jokes, rolled up sleeves and no tie and at least one moment of going off script. The three cablers covered it live.

President Barack Obama had an off-the-record lunch yesterday with journalists – his 2nd of 2010.

Yesterday we knew FNC’s Major Garrett, CBS’ Katie Couric and NBC’s Brian Williams were there. Today Politico fills in the blanks with exactly who was in attendance.

You’ve seen the exclusive Fox News interview between Bret Baier and Pres. Barack Obama – and so did the media as a whole.

How did MSNBC, NBC, Time, Hot Air and more react to the much-hyped interview? Check it out:

The first part of the much-anticipated Fox News exclusive interview between Bret Baier and Pres. Barack Obama took place at the top of Special Report, and although it couldn’t be viewed as contentious, there was so much interrupting it caused Baier to acknowledge the tactic at the end of the interview.

Here’s a breakdown, and video:

CNN tried to bring some levity to the health care debate yesterday with their coverage of the Tea Party march on Washington attended by representatives Louie Gohmert and Michele Bachmann– and the now-traditional homemade signs that are staples of the movement. The network assigned its comic relief correspondent Jeanne Moos to preside over a montage of clips from the rally and, while the segment was obviously intended to be funny, the jokes flopped, and Moos’ hostile commentary belies CNN’s insistence on objective news coverage.

While Speaker Nancy Pelosi talks “Deem and Pass,” President Barack Obama is going a different route – he’s talking to Fox News.

In an “extended, exclusive” interview tomorrow he will sit down with Special Report anchor Bret Baier to make his health care reform pitch to the FNC audience. What a long, strange trip it’s been.

Dan Rather, longtime anchor at the CBS Evening News and now of HD Net, has been known for his analogies and anecdotes (Ratherisms).

But Newsbusters has caught one that seems to have gone way off the rails during an appearance on the Chris Matthews Show Sunday – involving Pres. Obama and “watermelons.”

First Lady Michelle Obama was a guest on Larry King Live last night to discuss her new anti-obesity, “Let’s Move” campaign.

Somewhat surprisingly, Obama was put on the spot by the CNN host with some tough-ish questions about Sarah Palin and tea parties, although the first lady has learned to give a good political answer.

Do you feel like you haven’t seen Pres. Obama doing enough media appearances and interviews? Probably not. But that’s because he’s gone through other means – a YouTube Q&A, a college basketball broadcast – in addition to one-off interviews on broadcast networks. And this strategy is not making the White House press corps who covers the President the most very happy.

It was (sort of) Presidential Question Time, Part Two today, as Pres. Barack Obama addressed the Democratic Senators at their retreat.

It turned out to be far less of a pull-back-the-curtain moment – but it was interesting to see MSNBC deal with what happened when the President started taking some shots at cable news.

Today was day two of Fox & Friends‘ investigation into what the hell our President is doing bowing to everybody, including the Mayor of Tampa, Florida recently.

They had Mayor Pam Iorio on this morning, who didn’t feel like playing along.

In addition to the cable news networks, all three broadcast networks were live for Pres. Barack Obama‘s speech today on national security and terror. And to highlight just how big the moment was, Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams anchored the special reports.

Here’s a brief look at the speech and reaction.

All but lost in the end of year media coverage was Pres. Obama’s appointment of Amanda Simpson as Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department, which was first announced on December 31.

Simpson in transgendered – and a former test pilot at Raytheon Missile Systems. Get ready to hear more as the media kicks back in gear in 2010.

Dispatches From Fox Nation:

It’s been a while since we reported from Fox Nation, Fox News’ opinion/community website, and there’s a reason for that. The tone seems to have changed – less screaming headlines, less purposely misleading prompts to feed the hungry conservative commenters. But we had to highlight the hypocrisy there today – relating to the use of the term “suspect.”