The Leisure (not "War") President - TPM

[BlueEyedSon]

From a Friday Washington Post story on the degenerating situation in Iraq ...

This is Bush's 33rd visit to his ranch since becoming president. He has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David and his five visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush has spent all or part of 500 days in office at one of his three retreats, or more than 40 percent of his presidency.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_04_04.php#002829

[priller]

1. Oh, come on now,

these are *working* vacations, just like they say they are. Bush is engaged on all issues. Really, he is! Trust them!

[quispquake]

2. Yeah, didn't he have a 20 minute conference call a coupla daze ago???

C'mon, he works HARD on these vacations <sarcasm>

[phantom power]

3. 500 days?

Think about that. Well over a year. It would be interesting to compare that to previous presidents. I bet Bush is in a class by himself, when it comes to total vacation time.

[ixion]

4. Bush broke the record for most days on vacation by a sitting prez

long ago. I don't know the exact numbers, right off hand, but I remember reading a comparison last year, and he was already over the record at that point.

[indepat]

6. And surely W has broken all records for time spent campaigning

[War Pigs]

8. Tried to buy a bong on the web. Condi didn't brief him on Tommy

Chong's arrest. She figured it was just "historical information", you know!:hippie:

[ILeft]

5. But seriously, what DOES he do with his time???

It's probably safe to say he's not reading anything or engaging in any sort of intellectual activity. And the whole rancher/ outdoorsman/ woodchopper image is just a scam. Junior Bush showed no interest in "ranching" or chopping wood before 2000. He's probably not drinking all day. We know he has a short attention span and keeps meetings and briefings short...so just what the hell does he do?

Does he sit in front of a television watching FOX "News" and movies?

Does he play video games?

What does he do???

[yardwork]

7. He MIGHT be drinking all day.

It's possible that these frequent vacations are dry-outs organized by his staff.

Honestly, I think it's just as well that Chimpy spends so little time working. Heaven only knows what he might do if he actually applied himself. What he's done is disastrous enough. Let's not encourage him to do more!

[AussieInCA]

9. country at war .... the boss is AWOL 500 days on holidays

Rome burns while chimpy the emperor fiddles

[FlyByNight]

10. Slacker

Dubya has never had to work (hard) for most, if not all, of his life. He's lazy, ignorant, spoiled, hypocritical and has actually managed to fail upward (!): three companies bankrupted and yet he's quite wealthy through family connections and patronage; the other guy actually got more votes, yet Bush* is the president; he was a drunk by age 40 yet manages to preach to us about temperance, etc.

He's the very definition of the idle rich.

:mad:

[procopia]

11. What is the cost

for those 33 Air Force One trips to Crawford?

[Miss Authoritiva]

12. Did you know that the name of Bush's ranch is

"The Prairie Chapel Ranch." Perfect, isn't it: combines outdoors rugged individualism with simple, pared down religion. I wonder how much they had to pay for a marketing firm to come up with that.

[peaches2003]

13. Wait and see

how little time he spends there when he is no longer President and doesn't have to keep up his pr image. You think either he or Pickles are going to spend the month of August in that hot humid hellhole cutting brush? They'll be right up there on the cool Maine coast eating lobster with the rest of the Bushies.

[Skittles]

14. yup

it's amazing he has half the country fooled into believing that he is from Texas - and that he is a cowboy. :puke:

[Cronus Protagonist]

15. That's SOOO "Wag t he Dog", Isn't It?

I'm amazed no one in the press has written about it.

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13