President Bush is an avid reader, according to Karl Rove, who says that Bush read 95 books in 2006, 51 books last year and, as of last week, had read 40 books in 2008. The quantity and quality of books are impressive and should help dispel the image of Bush as a dolt, but a number of commentators have noted that Bush seems mostly to read books that reinforce his beliefs. “They are not the reading of a widely read man, but instead the books of a man who seeks – and sees – vindication in every page,” columnist Richard Cohen wrote. “Bush has always been the captive of fixed ideas. His books just support that.”
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44 Comments
Maybe he should have branched out to more books like “My Pet Goat” rather than limiting himself to those books than only validated his ideology.
I wonder if he has read “Twilight”. I bet he would like it.
Big deal!!
I have read over two hundred comic books in one year!
Losing yourself in fantasy is easy to do but facing reality is the hard part.
Reading a hundred books a year is a value regardless of their topic. Even fiction. The process of reading itself causes introspection and a valuation of a persons beliefs. Good for Bush.
How about reading a hundred porno mags?
Bet he read My Pet Goat 91 times last yr. alone!
If you don’t read the PDB’s I imagine you have time for lighter reading.
He’s still a dolt, just a well read dolt, who no doubt reads dolt books.
Rove always won, but Bush had the ready excuse that he was, as he put it, busy being “Leader of the Free World.” This, though, is not an excuse. As Dwight Eisenhower once told me (I’m not making this up), he had more time as president to dabble in painting than he did in retirement. Such is the virtue of The Bubble.
–from the Cohen piece in the NYT
First off, there is no way Bush ever read “The Stranger.” The Cliff notes version? Nope, ain’t believin’ that, either. Total BS.
That said, I’ll admit he reads more pages that I thought him capable of.
I can’t say I’m surprised that he only reads words offering unconditional support for his ideas and actions, with ne’er a contrary word inserted to give him even the briefest pause or to cause even the most flickering self-doubt. Bush ain’t like normal people who have to get past self-doubt every morning just as a matter of course — and manage to do so. Bush just never goes there. He’s a brave man, not a courageous man after all.
Also, there’s still a heavy lingering sliminess whenever I read anything Rove writes about Bush. For some reason I always have to fight the urge to crack open a new package of Charmin.
I don’t care how much time Bush spent in the Bubble while never knowin’ it, he never read Camus.
I’ll take that to the bank.
He should read Goodnight Bush”.
In the situation room
There was a toy world
And a flight costume
And a picture of–
Copyright 2008 by Erich Origen and Gan Golan
Who cares?
The guy is GONE like a freight train,
gone like yesterday,
gone like a soldier in the civil war
bang! bang!
Is this a cry for “hits” by Bush wackers on your blogs?
Amway,
In the words of our good friend farmgrrl, do you want me to call the WAAAAAAH-mbulance?
… columnist Richard Cohen wrote. “Bush has always been the captive of fixed ideas. His books just support that.”
————–
Mr. Cohen, I believe they call those “principles”.
He can read?
MrC,
Call whomever you want. I’m happy to see him go myself.
And Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Doesn’t make him a cultural icon.
Shrub can read.
But his lips sure get tired.
“And Nero fiddled while Rome burned.”
Nero wasn’t even in town when Rome burned.
“How about reading a hundred porno mags?” — brian
Only if you hold them with one hand.
Fleetie,
So, fiddles are portable.
I do understand your admiration for the man though; he persecuted christians, published formerly secret tax records and limited the fees lawyers could charge- a real stand-up kinda guy!
Hey Bush did inspired me to read more books since 2003 then I had since graduating High School.
“The secret history of the Iraq war”
“Against all enemies”
“Scorpions gate”
“Where the Right went wrong”
the list goes on, but I never finished Franken’s “The Lying liars and the lies they told”
and “Bush world” both were entertaining but got lost when they tried to be creative.
The List goes on.
“So, fiddles are portable.”
Fiddles weren’t invented yet.
Ok, so Nero was a lyre-er, not a fiddler.
Suetonius wrote that Nero played the lyre while Rome burned:
For under cover of displeasure at the ugliness of the old buildings and the narrow, crooked streets, he set fire to the city119 so openly that several ex-consuls did not venture to lay hands on his chamberlains although they caught them on their estates with tow and fire-brands, while some granaries near the Golden House, whose room he particularly desired, were demolished by engines of war and then set on fire, because their walls were of stone. 2 For six days and seven nights destruction raged, while the people were driven for shelter to monuments and tombs. At that time, besides an immense number of dwellings,120 the houses of leaders of old were burned, still adorned with trophies of victory, and the temples of the gods vowed and dedicated by the kings and later in the Punic and Gallic wars, and p157whatever else interesting and noteworthy had survived from antiquity. Viewing the conflagration from the tower of Maecenas121 and exulting, as he said, in “the beauty of the flames,” he sang the whole of the “Sack of Ilium,”122 in his regular stage costume. 3 Furthermore, to gain from this calamity too all the spoil and booty possible, while promising the removal of the debris and dead bodies free of cost he allowed no one to approach the ruins of his own property; and from the contributions which he not only received, but even demanded, he nearly bankrupted the provinces and exhausted the resources of individuals.
–The Lives of Twelve Caesars
Wait, this is all beginng to sound eerily familiar…
My oh my. Time is getting short and the idiots who pass for real journalists are getting desperate to find new ways to bash the President and feed the sickos with Bush Derangement Syndrome.
bush probably considers he has read a “book” when he looks at a menu .
Tickety tick tick Chrissy!
Your wet dream is almost over.
“he nearly bankrupted the provinces and exhausted the resources of individuals.”a
The Lib congress will do that. At least we agree on something.
“The secret history of the Iraq war”
“Against all enemies”
“Scorpions gate”
“Where the Right went wrong”
Excellent examples of books that “reinforce his [your] beliefs.
fleettwood
Posted December 30, 2008 at 9:03 pm | Permalink
“The secret history of the Iraq war”
“Against all enemies”
“Scorpions gate”
“Where the Right went wrong”
Excellent examples of books that “reinforce his [your] beliefs.
—
Except writerdog is not the POTUS. What, writerdog has to lead Bush in having an open mind?!?
Who’s the frickin leader of the free world, writerdog or Augustus Stupidus?
Forgive me if I protest that you guys want Bush to have all of the power and none of the responsibility of the office, and we ain’t even got to accountability yet.
“we ain’t even got to accountability yet.”
So, where have you people been? Cowering, waiting for the World Court?
Cowards! All talk.
#
BlueJay
Posted December 30, 2008 at 8:58 pm | Permalink
Tickety tick tick Chrissy!
Your wet dream is almost over.
—————–
That’s why I decided to be Democrat. I’ve been waiting like a kid for Christmas. When do we start getting our Obama goodies BlueJay?
I would sure like to see a list of the books Cohen is referrencing. He seems to know a lot about the presidents books but isn’t sharing much except his own opinion. Responsible journalism? Not much.
“I would sure like to see a list of the books Cohen is referrencing”
It’s in a link in the opening article.
I don’t see the problem. He doesn’t read the Lib crap. That’s the writers bitch. He expects Bush to read LibWorld. But, who does, except Libs?
I heard he likes those zany Peanuts characters. And also that he, like me, thinks Veronica Lodge of Riverdale is smokin’. And Jughead is said to tickle Bushco’s funny bone like no other.
Any bets on how many Bush threads between now and the 20th?
So easy to spark the koolaid drinkers. Creating a Bush Thread (or Palin) is like running your foot over an ant hill. Get’s em all worked up, stressed out, running around in circles – but to no good end.
Great fun.
He can read?? Does he really read or just skim? Does he comprehend what he reads? Does he remember what he reads?
“He can read?? Does he really read or just skim? Does he comprehend what he reads? Does he remember what he reads?”
Is this a slam on white people?
HDChaplainCorps
Posted December 30, 2008 at 10:04 pm | Permalink
Any bets on how many Bush threads between now and the 20th?
Toilet Paper! Hey WEBLOG Editors. How about a new Bush Thread discussing Bush’s toilet paper use?
Idiots.
fleettwood
Posted December 30, 2008 at 9:15 pm | Permalink
Cowards! All talk.
—
Not sure I’d jump to that conclusion just yet.
For a party that’s seen the POTUS dragged through an impeachment ten years ago, I think “you people” may have more desire for unity and less cowardice than you give ‘em credit for.
Also, there are a lot of ways to skin a cat. I’m thinkin’ that just because “you people” didn’t impeach Bush that don’t mean the cat owns its skin lock, stock, and barrel. Not just yet, anyway.
Good night! God’s blessings on all of you!
There is plenty to go around.
May you prosper and be of good health, and live life more than abundantly!
Chas God forgives you for your rantings.
Goodnite everyone, and have sweet dreams of Hope.
Each day going forward will be even more glorious then the last!
Obama will soon build his own kingdom, right here on Earth!
I am so inspired and filled with optimism at the hope the future now brings.
Everynight before I go to sleep, I read this. Obama inspires me oh so much!
“I should like to help everyone if possible; Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, black men, white, red, and yellow. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others’ happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls; has barricaded the world with hate; we live in misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Industry that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge as made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than wealth we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. Modern communications and technology have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all.
Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say “Do not despair.”
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it’s written “the kingdom of God is within man”, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create prosperity, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power.
Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men and women a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill their promise. They never will! Evil rulers free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
Citizens of the world, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
People can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kind new world, where men and women will rise above their hate, their greed, and brutality. Look up!
The soul of mankind has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow. Into the light of hope! Into the future! The glorious future! That belongs to you, to me, and to all of us. Look up, everyone! Look up!”
Fleetie,
“Fiddles weren’t invented yet.”
Fiddles, or their predecessors were invented in the first millenium BCE by the horse cultures of the steppes. The Greeks got them from the Sythians and the Romans got’em from the Greeks. Anyone who says Nero couldn’t have fiddled because fiddles hadn’t been invented yet is a lyre!
Plese excuse my spelling- it’s late.
“The Greeks got them from the Sythians”
Make that Scythians.
Bush doesn’t read. When did you ever hear him make a coherent literary anology in anything he said?