George W. Bush Gets a Facebook Page
Updated 5:55 p.m. Eastern Time
Is former President George W. Bush your "friend"?
The former president's Facebook page made its debut today, making him the latest politician to get his own page on the social networking site.
Though there is no obvious place to "friend" Mr. Bush on the site, you can "like" him - something more than 1,000 people have done since he joined around 10:00 am this morning.
A spokesman for Mr. Bush, David Sherzer, confirmed that the page is legitimate.
The page appears to be mostly promotional so far, with plugs for former first lady Laura Bush's book "Spoken from the Heart" and notes like this:
Since leaving office, President Bush has remained active. He has visited 20 states and 8 countries; given over 65 speeches; launched the George W. Bush Presidential Center; participated in 4 policy conferences through The Bush Institute; finished the first draft of his memoir, "Decision Points"; and partnered with President Clinton to establish the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. More on his activities in future posts...
The page lists Mr. Bush's education (Harvard Business School '75, Yale '68) and lists his five "favorite pages": The Barbara Bush Foundation, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, Laura W. Bush, the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation, and Global Health Corps.
Mr. Bush's wall is already filled with supportive messages ("We miss you," "You are an honorable man who loves our country and its people," "I wish you still sat in the Oval Office," "Your love of this country is contagious," "Come back to us!"), though there have also been some criticisms.
"You were an incredibly incompetent President," writes one Facebooker. Added another: "I look forward to the day when I can hop online and see that you're on trial in The Hague for war crimes."
One poster complained that it did not appear that Mr. Bush was actually manning the page.
"We want Pres GWB in person!! not second hand from an assistant," he writes.
Mr. Bush will be speaking to a western Michigan business group in Grand Rapids tonight. He continues to work on his memoir, "Decision Points" and his Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
NOTE: Despite reports that Mr. Bush had also joined Twitter -- a Twitter feed purportedly from the former president showed up online today -- that feed is a fake. There is a not-very-exciting official Twitter feed from the George W. Bush Presidential Center to be found here.
"The center's twitter feed is legitimate," Sherzer told CBS News. "The feed purporting to be from President Bush is not run or endorsed by our office."