Bush, Rove, and Books: Who Knew W. Had So Much Time to Read?

[babylonsister]

I seem to detect a bit of disbelief. :evilgrin:

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/john-farrell/2008/12/26/bush-rove-and-books-who-knew-w-had-so-much-time-to-read.html

Bush, Rove, and Books: Who Knew W. Had So Much Time to Read?
December 26, 2008 11:44 AM ET

By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog


Karl Rove gives us an interesting column in the Wall Street Journal today, in which he describes a book-reading competition he conducted with President Bush over the past three years.

Their rough goal was to read at better than a book-a-week pace. To make sure that neither cut corners with slim volumes, they would measure a book's physical, as well as intellectual, heft.

snip//

But what's lacking in the presidential reading list, it appears, are contributions from the historians who study us common folks—in all our complexity—and tell stories of our past as cultural history.

Rove names just a few of the books that Bush has read on contemporary events or foreign affairs, so it is not possible to tell much about the president's openness to criticism or his curiosity about new ideas.

snip//

As an historian, it is part of my daily duties to read a lot about the era I plan to chronicle. And I also read for enjoyment, and as a working journalist. But 95 books in a year? While being an engaged spouse and father and homeowner and wage-earner? Where does he get the time?

Granted, Bush has servants and job security, his kids have grown and left home, and he doesn't waste so much of his life in traffic. But he also has wars and recession and natural disasters to contend with—and I spent enough days on White House press pool duty to know that the president makes the necessary investment of time to maintain his proficiency as an off-road bike rider as well.

I guess he really did need Dick Cheney as co-president.

[Idealism]

1. The last book Bush read was on 9/11

Fuck Rove

[Patsy Stone]

2. Riiiight.

:eyes:

Another performance on the "I Wasn't Really Such a Bad Guy" Tour.

[babylonsister]

3. Exactly! They're out in force. nt

[Patsy Stone]

4. If he drank

We'd probably hear about how fine a nose he has for Port, too.

Where are the reports about how he kept in shape the entire time by fencing?

:hi:

[Ikonoklast]

5. If bullshit was dollar bills

these fools could pay off the national debt.

Bush needed every issue on which his staff briefed him, no matter how complex, boiled down to a ONE PAGE synopsis or else he'd get angry.

He didn't want to, in his own words, "have to read all that shit."

[Lil Missy]

6. Karl Rove lies for a living. n/t

[yurbud]

7. I heard this before. Does Rove really think anyone will buy that Bush knows how to read?

[acmavm]

8. bush** ain't the only one out to 'rehabilitate' his reputation. Time for

KKKarl to be shuffled off to prison.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

9. I would have felt a lot better if W. had read

The August 6th memo. Not some book reading competition with Rove.

[Doctor_J]

10. The whole thing is one big lie, so I wouldn't nit-pick any details

:eyes: