There was no Talking Points Memo on Thursday's show -- The Factor needed time to show his fascinating interview with former President George W. Bush, who is on tour to promote his new book "Decision Points." "I told the president that my questions would be a bit different, that I was representing you, trying to ask things that pertain directly to your life," The Factor explained. Pres. Bush has been refusing to comment on his successor, but The Factor tried to get him to comment on the Obama administration's bailouts. Bush refused to take the bait: "You need to ask him, not me. I'm the retired guy. I'm the guy who has done my job and I am now home in Texas... You are trying to drag me into the current affairs, and I don't want to be drug into the current affairs. And I don't think it's good. I don't think it's good for a former president to be criticizing his successor." The Factor argued that he should be commenting on current affairs: "Your policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the economy bleed over into 2010. What you started and what you were involved with didn't end when you left. It continues. So when the folks get an opportunity to hear from you, and read your book, they want to know what you think about the current state of affairs."

Part two of the interview focused on the War on Terror. The Factor wanted to know if Bush was optimistic about the war in Afghanistan. Bush said he was, but warned "it's going to take time. But, I think the mission is necessary. Remember, this is a place from which attacks were launched that killed 3,000 of our people." The Factor was surprised that other nations were not more willing to help fight terror: "I don't understand the mindset. You deal with these leaders one on one, and I don't get why they say 'We are not going to help out the United States and Britain in Afghanistan. We're not going to really put pressure on Iran.'" Bush pointed out that the U.S. did have a lot of allies who did send troops. "I want to defend the contribution that a country like Slovenia made. It wasn't a huge number of troops, but they made a sacrifice." The Factor thought this was funny: "Oh yeah, Poland was big too. Everybody was like, without Poland we wouldn't have even defeated these people." Bush laughed: "The thing I love about you is you are quite provocative. Little old gentle O'Reilly."

Part three of the interview started with Pres. Bush defending Dick Cheney, the most polarizing member of his administration: "Sometimes he agreed with my decisions and sometimes he didn't agree with my decisions -- but always he helped implement the decisions. And never did he go behind my back." Later, The Factor wanted to know if Bush thought that John McCain's decision to pick Sarah Palin as his VP candidate was a good idea. Bush thought so: "Yes. I think it energized the party. I mean, there was a moment where people were kind of in the doldrums, and Sarah Palin arrived and, boom." The Factor thought that Bush's book was going to be a big success: "You're going to be number 1. And the worst part about that is you're knocking me down on the best seller list." Bush explained what he wanted readers to take away from his book: "I hope people get the sense of how much I love our country and enjoyed being the president."

The Factor brought in Laura Ingraham to react to the Bush interview. Laura said that she'd already read the book, so she wasn't really surprised by anything he said, but she enjoyed watching nonetheless: "What I take away from that interview is kind of what I took away from the whole presidency. Number one, President Bush is enormously likeable. He's congenial. He's a patriot, and he loves this country. There's no doubt about it. He wanted us to take that away from his book, and I think most people will." Laura also had a bit of criticism for the former president: "He still doesn't understand how important it was for him to prop up his popularity in order to not only help his party but to help the nation." The Factor thought that Bush had already washed his hands of the GOP: "The thing that I took away was that President Bush basically doesn't feel it's his responsibility to do anything for the Republican Party going forward."

Washington Post writer Sally Quinn was the next guest. She was there to give reaction from the liberal perspective. She said she was interested in a specific section: "What fascinates me the most is his relationship with his father, the fact that he never, very rarely called his father for advice. And I know from some of his father's advisors that this was upsetting to his father. I think he could have learned a lot had he called." The Factor pointed out that Bush was pretty pleased with his tenure, even though he left office with low approval ratings: "He seems very relaxed with his performance at the White House. He doesn't seem to have too many regrets or second thoughts." Quinn said that she was impressed with his demeanor: "I think he's become a gent. I like the fact that he is not criticizing Obama, because he thinks it's unseemly to criticize your successor."

For a final reaction to the Bush interview, The Factor invited Charles Krauthammer to sound off. Krauthammer said he was impressed with the former president: "It's a guy who has such respect for the office that he wouldn't say a word against the guy who succeeds him. And not only that, this is a president succeeded him who has railed against him. And you remember the inaugural address? Six or seven references to how horrible the Bush administration was, with Bush a yard away from him." The Factor admitted that he did have one criticism: "President Bush had no idea about the big Wall Street con. He simply didn't know. And that frightens me a bit, as I told the president. Because we count on the executive branch to protect us not only from foreign terrorists but from Wall Street con men." Krauthammer thought this criticism was a bit unfair: "You're assuming omniscience by the president. Look, there are people on Wall Street, in the banks all over the world whose livelihood depended on it... and they had no idea. They were all taken by surprise. You can't assume a president is going to know what's going to happen in those circumstances."