More W Legacy ...

No Worries · Aug 22, 2006

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/articles/060820/28whisplead.htm

Animal House in the West Wing

He loves to cuss, gets a jolly when a mountain biker wipes out trying to keep up with him, and now we're learning that the first frat boy loves flatulence jokes. A top insider let that slip when explaining why President Bush is paranoid around women, always worried about his behavior. But he's still a funny, earthy guy who, for example, can't get enough of fart jokes. He's also known to cut a few for laughs, especially when greeting new young aides, but forget about getting people to gas about that.

Fart jokes rock!

RocketMan Tex · Aug 22, 2006

The only news here is that W farts out of his left ear, since his ass is in-between his shoulders.

rimrocker · Aug 22, 2006

Bush is paranoid around women? Why?

rimrocker · Aug 22, 2006

I should add, I'd prefer Clinton getting BJ's next door than having W stink up the Oval Office. Good thing he's brought honor back to the WH.

No Worries · Aug 22, 2006

I think I will vote for Homer Simpson next time; he tells better jokes

rimrocker · Aug 22, 2006

Speaking of character, Bush wouldn't lie about his reading would he?

Maybe it was the influence of his wife, Laura, a former librarian, or his mother, Barbara, a longtime promoter of literacy. Or perhaps he was just eager to dispel his image as an intellectual lightweight. But President Bush now wants it known that he is a man of letters. In fact, Bush has entered a book-reading competition with Karl Rove, his political adviser. White House aides say the president has read 60 books so far this year (while the brainy Rove, to Bush's competitive delight, has racked up only 50). The commander in chief delved into three volumes in August alone-two on Abraham Lincoln and, more surprising for a man of unambiguous convictions, The Stranger, Albert Camus's existential tale of murder and alienation (story, Page 38).

Bush's critics aren't buying. A man who so regularly mangles the English language and seems to disdain complexity couldn't possibly be so cerebral, they argue. But portraying Bush as a voracious reader is part of an ongoing White House campaign to restore what a senior adviser calls "gravitas" to the Bush persona. He certainly needs something. Only about 34 percent of Americans approve of his job performance-and 58 percent say Bush "seems in over his head," according to Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg. If nothing changes, the president could be a major liability for Republicans in November's congressional elections.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060820/28presidency.htm
Click to expand...

Here's the list the WH gave C-Span... http://www.booktv.org/misc/081706_bush.asp

MacBeth? Hamlet? Gordon Wood?

BOOKS OF SAND. Chalk me up as one of those skeptics who don't buy, not even for a second, the spin that George W. Bush has read more than sixty books this year (via Steve Benen). C-SPAN claims to have a partial catalog of his reading list, but none of it makes any sense. While I'm pleased Bush is trying to accrue some intellectual credibility, the boast reminds me of nothing so much as Steve Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin recounting how "her" breasts felt like big bags full of sand! Right guys!?

In the flick, Carell's boast exposed his inexperience -- only a virgin would think that's how a breast felt. Bush's "sixty books" strikes me as similarly revealing. This is the claim of someone who wants to project dominance in a field he doesn't understand, and so wildly overreaches. Reading books, particularly nonfiction books, takes a really long time. It's hard, and it's boring, and I say this all as an effete liberal intellectual who likes reading long, boring books but can't, like everyone else I know, seem to finish them. I'm pleased to get through one or two a month, and you're telling me Bush, in his time off from running the country, doing a couple hours of exercise a day, and going to bed early, has read sixty? Already? Pshah. Over at Dan Froomkin's site, a reader crunched some of the numbers involved:

Of the twelve books listed, I come up with a total page count of 5,356 pages, including 1,585 pages not available until at least 4/2006 of this year. That is an average page count of 450 pages per book. Multiply by his 60 books so far this year for a total page count of 27,000. 27,000 pages means the President would have to average a little over 115 pages per day. Reading a quick pace of a little over a minute per page, that is two hours a day of reading, and let's be honest, longer if you want to retain information in these types of books. And this from a man who prides himself in not reading the paper. I don't buy it.

Me neither. However, I'm happy to see Bush lying about this. It's long past time ignorance stopped offering bragging rights. And we can only hope that, like Carell's ill-fated but ultimately transformative comment, the mockery over Bush's bookworm pretensions will help him pop his intellectual cherry before too long.

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/
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mc mark · Aug 22, 2006

He's just now getting around to MacBeth?

[edit] after looking at the list...

Hamlet?

You're kidding right? He's never read Hamlet?

That had to be a mindfuc

[edit, edit] I mean...if he comprehended it...

No Worries · Aug 22, 2006

W's favorite Shakespeare line ...

Hamlet: Hey, somebody pull my finger!

losttexan · Aug 23, 2006

I'm sure W. is reading books now, he likes it when the pictures pop up! He's startled every time.

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