O ex-presidente George W. Bush kicked off his post-presidential speaking career in Canada yesterday — at a $400-a-plate lunch in Calgary.

Embora o Calgary Herald informou que seu discurso foi recebido calorosamente, grosseiramente 200 protesters gathered outside, charging Bush with war crimes. Many of the protesters sapatos atirados at a poster of the former president. Não exatamente the lovey-dovey welcome that greeted President Obama when he visited Ottawa last month…

According to the Calgary newspaper, “Bush, who left office with one of the lowest approval ratings of any president in history, escolheu o porto seguro de Calgary, perhaps second only to Houston or Dallas in terms of friendly territory, to test-drive his new speaking career.” Or as columnist Jeffrey Simpson put it in the Globe and Mail, “Lá estava ele, in perhaps the only city in Canada that would have him.”

As Americans who were living in Canada during the Bush era undoubtedly know, the former president was hugely unpopular across most of the country.

Foto por Hanumann (Flickr)