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Last week:
At year’s end, I defeated the president, 110 books to 95. My trophy looks suspiciously like those given out at junior bowling finals. The president lamely insisted he’d lost because he’d been busy as Leader of the Free World.
Mr. Bush’s 2006 reading list shows his literary tastes. The nonfiction ran from biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, Babe Ruth, King Leopold, William Jennings Bryan, Huey Long, LBJ and Genghis Khan to Andrew Roberts’s "A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900," James L. Swanson’s "Manhunt," and Nathaniel Philbrick’s "Mayflower." Besides eight Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald, Mr. Bush tackled Michael Crichton’s "Next," Vince Flynn’s "Executive Power," Stephen Hunter’s "Point of Impact," and Albert Camus’s "The Stranger," among others.
Fifty-eight of the books he read that year were nonfiction. Nearly half of his 2006 reading was history and biography, with another eight volumes on current events (mostly the Mideast) and six on sports.
"We had a couple of meetings with the president, and there were detailed discussions and briefings on cyber-security and often terrorism, and on a classified program. With the cyber-security meeting, he seemed — I was disturbed because he seemed to be trying to impress us, the people who were briefing him. It was as though he wanted these experts, these White House staff guys who had been around for a long time before he got there — didn’t want them buying the rumor that he wasn’t too bright. He was trying — sort of overly trying — to show that he could ask good questions, and kind of yukking it up with Cheney.
"The contrast with having briefed his father and Clinton and Gore was so marked. And to be told, frankly, early in the administration, by Condi Rice and [her deputy] Steve Hadley, you know, Don’t give the president a lot of long memos, he’s not a big reader — well, shit. I mean, the president of the United States is not a big reader?"
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There is one book Shrub has certainly read and committed to memory…
“War and Fleece”
Oh, you all laugh now, but wait, just wait till you see Mister Man’s big ol’ half-billion dollar liberry. Just as soon as he’s finished coloring that second book….
[repurposed from an old Gore Vidal joke about Reagan]
If someone held a gun to my head and said, “Tell me how many non-children’s, complete books George Bush has read since he took office and if you get it wrong, I’ll blow your head off” (granted, an unlikely premise) – I’d answer “Zero” and I would be confident that my life was no longer in danger. This guy has NOT read a book except perhaps parts of the Bible and a few spoon fed passages of whatever Karl Rove put in front of him.
The problem with lying is the temptation to embellish with unneccessary detail. Karl has really gone over board here. Camus’ The Stranger? Really??? Perhaps in the original French? Oh, and from the original article:
“Each year, the president also read the Bible from cover to cover, along with a daily devotional.”
The Bush Legacy Project continues to ramp up.
“[W]ell, shit…”
I think that sums up the last eight years perfectly.
This is the same George Bush who, in January of 2003, was not aware there were factions called Sunni and Shia in Iraq. Yes, he has quite the inquisitive mind.
I read a lot, I think, and fairly fast as well. I have hobbies (fly-fishing, hunting, music, drinking, cooking etc.) that take up a decent chunk of a free time outside of my fairly routine 8-5 job. I travel a bit for my job, which typically leaves me with 3-5 hour blocks of plane time for additional reading.
All said, I finished 30-40 books (including Infinite Jest finally, so cut me some slack) this year, plus a couple of dozen higher end magazines, professional papers, and bits here and there from essay collections. I am not the President of the United States of America and I barely had time to finish the books I did read, much less understand them.
But I guess if you’re going lie, make it a fucking whopper.
Rove went on to say “The president and I were going to settle by seeing who could recite the most of Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu from memory but he go busy with the transition.”
Are you sure you’re not reading this Onion bit http://www.theonion.com/content/node/31077
Otto and Wanda? Is that from “A Fish Called Wanda”? Love your nuance, TBogg. Are you sure you’re not Dick Cheney’s alter-ego.
I have a life as well, and I love to read, but there is no way I could read as many books as asshat Rove claims they have each read. I guess the audience Rove is vamping for has never read a book, so they are unclear on how long that would actually take and probably aren’t sure what books look like anyway.
Rover had better make sure he clues Chimpy in on the # of books he’s been passing around, just so there aren’t any tense moments about this sky-high-lie in some interview with a talking head. Though who am I kidding; like the press would actually bother to check on things like this before, during, or after an interview…
Well it just comes down to who is more believable, Karl Rove or Richard Clarke. That’s a tough one.
Props to the Turd. Not many could keep a straight face telling lies of that size and scope to the people.
Based on my life experience, chimpy is a critter that couldn’t get through a graphic novel much less a hefty slab of biography. My wager would be 10-12 first chapters…
yeah, but did you have 20 weeks of vacation? aWol’s got to be doin’ sumpin when he ain’t hacking defenseless brush.
wait, that’s his drinkin’ and screwin’ Condi time
I’ve read 29 books this year. The only reason I know this is I have a librarything account.
A lot of Harry Potter. Two books (Netherland, This Republic of Suffering that ended up on the NY Times top ten list). I reread Gatsby and Cat’s Cradle. I don’t usually reread books, but I felt inspired enough to do so (they were also very short.) I read a couple of those Charlaine Harris novels, because of that new series on HBO (I’ve only seen a couple of episodes, so I’m done with both formats, I guess.)
And I’m a librarian, so I’ve at least seen hundreds of books this year.
But I know when I’ve met my match.
President Bush, you own me.
We’re supposed to believe this man read a book about William Jennings Bryan? Why, certainly not to understand his populist politics; maybe to throw out a misplaced quote when the chance arose to shoot down evolution.
And Huey Long? Was this in the aftermath of the criminal non-response to Katrina that compared with the 1927 flood?
Personally I’ll never be convinced this guy read anything other than the side of cereal boxes.
No Tripp Palin, Three’s Company post? For shame.
I think that Turd Blossom is no more capable of telling the truth than a vampire is capable of eating tofu.
Just shows how restrained Karl & Co. have become. In their ideal world, they’d be bragging about the number of books they’d burned to really impress the kind of people whose opinion matters to them. Instead, they’ve forced to try to convince the rest of us that they’re intellectuals. Woe is me.
Otto and Wanda? Is that from “A Fish Called Wanda”?
Repo Man.
Or not. Mental note: Google the Intertubes first.
Rove’s lost his touch, no? That’s the most obvious bull I’ve ever read.
Maybe this whole Laura thing is just a beard and Rove is hoping to make his move when Bush is out of the public eye. I can’t think of any other reason he’d be saying this.
I’m unemployed and useless, with many time-consuming hobbies. I have, as it happens, read at least three books a week the past year. However, many of them I was rereading for at least the third time, and I would be willing to tell anyone the titles of maybe 1/10th of them.
As to what Bush has likely actually read this year, I’m gonna guess “Beetle Bailey” and, assuming it counts, Tom Clancy on tape. He’s still trying to talk Dick into reading Atlas Shrugged to him, I imagine.
The idea of Chimpy and Turdblossom in a reading contest is totally farcical. Dubya’s lips would get tired before he was done with the first page.
I want phrellin proof the putz can actually read.
I’d hafta think THAT’S still out to debate.
Hell of a thread, TBogg . . . . they started to revision reality before the ‘00 Coronation, didn’t they . . . *shakesheadrollseyesinfutility*
There’s an old joke about this:
http://www.tempsperdu.com/summ.html
OK maybe you had to be there.
Read This From Glenn Grenwald: Geroge Washingtom on American Foriegn Policy
And This from Mir Rosen
Gaza: the logic of colonial power
Bush couldn’t even get through My Pet Goat.
Genette also came up with this one:
http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/lection/080502.html
This is hilarious…
Good going, Norm…!
Do we pay him to read books, yet not PDBs?
Ummmmmm, “Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside US” using planes as missiles at giant buildings….
might have caught my eye.
But, that’s just me.
“Hang on a second, I just want to see what happens to the goat.”
He he. This isn’t a trick question is it?
Maybe they’re thinking that if Bush read a book with the word “the” in it then he’s read all books with “the” in it. Nobody could have predicted there would be so many books with “the” in them.
Who the fuck cares how many books Clusterfuck has read- or how many bike rides he’s taken- or anything else about his sorry ass.
He has fucked up everything he’s touched.
I’d prefer that he just played golf every day and didn’t invade anyone or give billions to his buds or anything else.
Until the Supreme Court decides the Constitution actually is the Law and that you do have Habeas rights he sort of actually does own you. Remember, Gitmo is still open and has a few empty ‘rooms’ with extreme air conditioning and a nice loud sound system for your entertainment.
Shrub count down clock. 21 days 6 hours 6 minutes 31 seconds
http://politicalhumor.about.co…..hclock.htm
This bullshit attempt to take a victory lap is one of the dumber things that GW Clusterfuck and Rove have done as a loser team.
Do they think that they will change anyone’s mind about this pathetic pile of human excrement? If so- they are more delusional than we ever thought.
Ah thought that this presydent was a piece a shit- til ah heard Karl an Condi and Laura say what a swell fella he is- well shit- ah musta been all wrong about him.
Whyever would we believe these new lies of Karl Rove, now lying about the Preznit’s reading? I mean, when has Karl Fucking Rove ever told the truth about anything? Ever?
It was funny to see that Richard Fucking Cohen based a whole column around Karl’s fucking lies, tho.
Happy New Years Eve Eve, all!
Karl fuckin Rove- loved readin so much that he dropped out of college–whadda fuck up.
Oregon Fighting Ducks kick the holy shit out of the fuckin Oklahoma State Cowboys- to the chagrin to entire ESPN broadcast team who were all born in the same small barn is a Texas small town…
Fuckheads!
Holy Shit, Batman…
Glass-Steagal enacted by FDR…? Hello…?
sorry to be EPU…but how effin stoopid is it to brag about the number of books you’ve read, vs. demonstrate what you’ve learned from reading them? duh.
reminds of woody allen’s joke about the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Program. He read War & Peace in a day. Someone asks him what it’s about: “Russia”
What a brilliant mother fucker to have anticipated this so well. Wonder why he didn’t say anything about it until we were already under water?
Fuckhead!
Sorry ass bastards backin out the door to make sure that no one’s comin ta get em for their fuckheadedness.
After 7 1/2 years of playing the “good ole boy, don’t read, don’t think” Bush, now they’re trying to portray him as a heady intellectual?
If Bush has read anything by Camus, I pee standing up.
I tried to read Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight to see what the fuss was about, and got majorly bored after two chapters. So I picked up a Kafka book a friend lent me, and am reading In the Penal Colony. Great stuff.
I don’t read as much as I would like. I watch a lot of movies and listen to tons of music.
Reading is third in Janeane’s hierarchy, just for the record.
One of my favorite Python sketches.
And yes, I will read it someday, all six volumes.
You remember who won the Summarize Proust competition, don’t you?
That made as much sense as the Bush v. Rove Literary Kumite.
there’s an easy way to tell if george has read Camus
since george has FUCKED UP EVERYTHING HE EVER TOUCHED, we just gotta find out if Camus have turned to shit lately
if Camus ain’t fucked up, george never touched it
if Camus is bleeding in a ditch, kkkarl might be tellin the truth
george read 95 books and …
he understood 4 of them
george read 95 books and …
he colored 23 of them
george read 95 books and …
I didn’t know Dr Suess had so many titles in print …
george read 95 books and …
almost 7 of them were about people other than archie and jughead …
george read 95 books and …
he thinks Mac Bolen is a fine author …
after a while, it’s like shootin fish in a barrel
so bring a lot of ammo
EVERYBODY, ONE, TWO, THREE.
george read 95 books and …
(your turn)
Karl Rove is not an avid reader: this is obvious from the piss poor way he writes!
I don’t know what’s more passive aggressive: Karl saying he won a contest that didn’t happen or listing the books that Bush is supposed to have read and may in future be asked about …
That list is straight off of several ”must-read” classics (that are not so readable?) and current bestseller lists. It’s obviously cooked to ”impress” in the way a college dropout would to inflate his own sense of superiority.
What a bunch of liars. They think they can’t be caught. Or that people don’t care once the lie is a bit old. But they are about to be ”out of power.” At least.
Yeah, the girl with the biggest tits….