Tomgram: Nick Turse, Bush Officials Cash In as More Americans Lose Out

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As for the Bushes: Daughter Jenna proved so naturally skilled with the pen (and the deal) that, at age 25, based on a nine-month UNICEF internship in Central America, she had already published her first book, Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope, signed up for a piddling $300,000 or so with HarperCollins (now, in more straitened publishing times, redubbed just plain Harper).

Jenna's children's book, Read All About It, followed, selling 80,000 copies.

Mom hit her stride this January with a deal for a memoir estimated to be in the range of $3.5-5 million ("I look forward to working with Scribner and the Simon & Schuster team as I tell the stories of the extraordinary events and people I've met in my life, particularly during my years in the White House.")

Now, Dad's made his deal, too, $7 million worth of it for a Nixonian-style volume of critical life moments as "the decider."

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