George W. Bush impersonators: who was the best?

December 29, 2:52 PMConservative Politics ExaminerKathy Shaidle

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President George W. Bush and impersonator Steve Bridges

As George W. Bush winds up his presidency, I thought it would be fun to find out who you thought was the best Bush impersonator of the many who've cropped up over the last eight years.

I admit that one reason I'll be glad to see President Bush wave goodbye in January is that we'll finally see the end of the cruel, vicious, mean spirited and inaccurate jokes made at Bush's expense. I won't miss that toxic atmosphere. Frankly, how Bush has maintained his grace and composure throughout this abuse has been one of the most impressive things about him.

Bush's professional detractors are mostly his intellectual and moral inferiors: high school dropouts turned drug addled "actors" and "writers", who've memorized the latest (inaccurate) liberal talking points and enjoy pretending they're brave resistance fighters against the evil Chimpy McHitler "regime."

(Of course, in real life, if George Bush was Hitler, these people would be lampshades by now, instead of getting rich making unfunny jokes and writing dreadful songs about him.)

You're invited to add your favorites to this list of Best George W. Bush impersonators in the comments.

Here are my top picks.

First, Steve Bridges at the Jeff Foxworthy roast. He famously appeared alongside the real President at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner, to great acclaim (unlike Stephen Colbert's appearance at the same event, which left even some of his fans unimpressed). At the height of his fame, Bridges could afford expensive prosthetics and traveled with an expert makeup artist. (After all, he was earning more than the real Bush.) Luckily, Bridges' repertoire includes hundreds of other celebrities -- but I doubt he's added Obama to his act:

Lots of folks love Frank Caliendo (and he's extraordinarily good here, in the early days) but I find him more fun to listen to than to watch.

John Morganactually owns the domain name GeorgeBushImpersonator.com, and he really has his moments, although I find him a tiny bit Nixonian. Morgan even wrote a book about his adventures playing the President. And he does have a natural resemblance to the President, which people kept pointing out to him until he gave in and started imitating him for a living.

A friend recommended the UK's John Culshaw of Dead Ringers, and he is pretty good, especially for an Englishman:

Footage of SNL's Will Forte is hard to come by online, due to copyright restrictions, but clips of the other Will -- Farrell, that is -- are easier to track down.

Believe it or not, there's already an entire page on Wikipedia devoted to "Fictionalized Portrayals of George W. Bush".

So what do you think? Who was the most impressive George W. Bush impersonator you've ever seen? Let me know in the comments. (Because you can't leave hyperlinks in the comments here, be really specific so other readers can google your pick easily.)