Bush begins 10 Day vacation in Texas

[saracat]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080300663.html?nav=hcmodule


Bush Starts 10-Day Texas Vacation
Shorter Summer Break Reflects Post-Katrina Criticism

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 4, 2006
WACO, Tex., Aug. 3 -- President Bush arrived here Thursday evening to begin a 10-day stretch at his Prairie Chapel ranch, his longest planned period away from Washington during this summer vacation season.

Bush's scheduled week and a half in Texas is a far cry from last year's working vacation, which was shaping up as the longest presidential retreat in more than three decades before it was rudely cut short by Hurricane Katrina after nearly a month.

The image of Bush on an extended stay away from the White House while Katrina flattened much of the Gulf Coast and left New Orleans engulfed by floodwater proved to be a defining moment of his presidency.

The image of a president who critics say is aloof from details and too eager to delegate was only driven home when he ordered Air Force One to fly low over the stricken region so he could get a bird's-eye view of the destruction as he returned to Washington.

[Mabus]

1. Wonder how he'll commemorate the 8/6/01 PDB's anniversary?

Go golfing? Or will be doing some "hard werk"?

[Supersedeas]

45. that PDB was forgotten by the afternoon of 8/6/01-photo ops ya know

[prolesunited]

2. Does he really think this is a good time for a vacation?

The freakin' world is blowing up. I know most executive jobs that your vacation gets cancelled if the company is in trouble.

And let's not even mention the millions of low-wage workers who NEVER get any vacation.

[celestia671]

33. No shit!

Vacation? What's that? Seriously, I've been working like crazy for years and have yet to take my kids on a nice trip somewhere. That idiot does nothing when he's at 'work' and goes on vacation, like five times a year?

[truthisfreedom]

35. the world's not in trouble according to bushco. every little thing is in

place for their mad plan for world destruction and power consolidation.

[antonialee839]

43. You think the world has problems? You should see the brush

piling up at the ranch.

[mallard]

47. Re: he's not just on vacation

It'll be a working holiday, away from all the hustle, buslte and high-profile apprearances. In retreat, the president will be fully briefed on the next phase of the project for the new American century and better ready to handle the next crisis on the agenda.

[Barkley]

48. Yes! Mission Accomplished - oil is over $70 per barrel -eom

[DesertRat]

3. Camp Casey was scheduled to begin on Aug. 16

I guess * planned to get in and out before they arrive.

edited, I noticed that they just moved the date back to 8/6
http://www.gsfp.org/article.php?list=type&type=21

BTW, who vacations in the middle of Texas when it's 100? It's in the 70's at the family compound in Kennebunkport where he vacationed his whole life before he became the cowboy president.

[LisaM]

11. Bingo. He doesn't want to be in the same town as Cindy.

He's quite afraid of her.

[rodeodance]

27. its the Reagan image he is chasing.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. Anyone have the total number so far of * vaction days?

...including this current one...

I know tha number is high, and probably higher than any other US president.


Thanks :hi:

[calimary]

29. Don't know for sure, but LAST YEAR I remember it being pegged

at more vacation time taken by him - than by ANY OTHER president, including ronald "ANOTHER California vacation" reagan. I think it was Will Pitt who described it as something like "more vacation time than a French aristocrat."

And this, for "werking" as "hard" as he has been.

For Pete's sake, at the rate I'm going his whole frickin' existence will be in quotation marks, for all the "legitimacy" it has.

[Avalux]

5. Only 10 days? Poor guy.

I heard the most rediculous comment on CNN this morning. When announcing that Bush is headed to Crawford, the teleprompter-reader said "It's still really hot in Washington, must be one of the reasons Bush is headed to Crawford". Now if she meant temperature, she's nuts. Hot as hell here in Texas. :crazy:

[yorkiemommie1]

6. drink up, georgie!

make the most of the time you have!

[IndianaGreen]

7. Nero played the fiddle as Rome burned

and Bush goes to Crawford as the Middle East burns.

David Gergen said about an hour ago that the US is no longer an honest broker in the Middle East!

[DesertRat]

10. And he played guitar last year while New Orleans drowned

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. "...a 10-day stretch at his Prairie Chapel ranch..."

How is it, after going on six years, this is the first time I've heard of the "Prairie Chapel ranch"? It's always been Crawford, that I've seen. Is Prairie Chapel a town near there? Is it the name of his ranch, and code for his fundie base?

Wazzup with it?

[LisaM]

9. That name started up a while ago

As far as I'm concerned, it's always going to be the Lazy W.

[rodeodance]

23. is this new--the name of his ranch?

[DesertRat]

12. Check out the description

"Prairie Chapel Ranch is a 1583 acre estate located seven miles (10 km) northwest of Crawford, Texas...Bush spends his time mountain biking, jogging, fishing, bird hunting, and clearing brush." (In 100 degree weather, lol)

He chided Sen. Kerry for being rich and elite, while pretending that he was a regular guy who lived in a modest "heartland" ranch house. Check out this description:

"The passive-solar house is positioned to absorb winter sunlight, warming the interior walkways and walls of the residence. Geothermal heat pumps circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet (100 m) deep in the ground. A 40,000 US gallon (151 m³) underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof urns; wastewater from sinks, toilets, and showers cascades into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is then used to irrigate the landscaping around the four-bedroom home. Photographs of the interior of the house indicate a sophisticated take on rough-hewn living, with generous English-style club chairs covered in what appears to be printed Fortuny linen."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_Chapel_Ranch

[yellowcanine]

20. "a sophisticated take on rough-hewn living" - Could we get any more

oxy MORAN ish?

[RaleighNCDUer]

24. Gee, look at that...

passive solar, geothermal, recycling wastewater --

Sounds very un-Republican to me.

[Lisa]

34. I suspect that's Laura's doing. Georgie wasn't that interested ...

... when it came to planning the details. The things he said he cared about were "a king-sized bed, a good shower, and some comfortable chairs on the porch".
http://www.cowboysindians.com/articles/archives/1202/bush.html

He didn't seem to understand the heat pump very well -- even seemed surprised when someone mentioned that Al Gore had installed a similar system at the VP's official residence years ago. And when he tried to explain how it worked ...

http://www.dubyaspeak.com/energy.phtml
"But even more efficient, however, is the transference of heat and cool as a result of circulating water below the -- it's called thermal heating and cooling -- okay."

[Dulcinea]

30. Mountain biking?

If memory serves, there are no mountains in central Texas. In fact, it's quite flat, isn't it?

[Faux pas]

13. It must be brush clearing time again....So much more important

than anything that's going on in the real world...Oh well, it's not like he's really in charge anyway.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Oh, yeah. He works so hard clearing brush.

He works so damned hard walking out to those photo ops.

[Sven77]

37. hes a cow boy

hates horses, cant do the raygun photo-op. just dont give him any complicated power tools. its a personal war on the enviroment.

[Faux pas]

53. LOL great pics. Makes me feel all safe and protected seeing this

a** working so hard at accomplishing nothing to help the world. Can we stick a fork in him? Is he done yet??????

[zbdent]

14. I still remember how alien it would be to Joe Sixpack to start working

at a job and suddenly take a 5-week PAID vacation less than six months after your started ...

[Supersedeas]

15. So many years on vacation and now he vacations from vacation

That God for delegation.

[MaineDem]

16. He's spending a weekend in Maine later this month

Lucky us!

:eyes:

[lse7581011]

49. Gee! I Can Hardly Wait!

suppose he's flying in to Pease AFB as well and tying up the northbound traffic to no end!

[MaineDem]

54. He usually flies into Sanford n/t

[DemoTex]

18. Tony Blair just canceled his Barbados "holiday" (MSNBC).

Blair succumbed to mounting criticism in the UK. Bu$h has a tin-ear for criticism of any shape, form, or fashion.

BTW: MSNBC says that Condi is joining the Bu$hboy at the pig farm. Where's Pickles?


Playcation at the pig farm

[MikeNearMcChord]

28. SWEEEEET!!!! That Picture is Priceless!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Supersedeas]

31. - playcation is hard werk....it's a werkin' playcation--Blitzer will say

[yellowcanine]

19. Any hunting outings with Dick Cheney lined up?

[hippiechick]

21. well, at least it's not the 5 WEEKS he's accustomed to ...

... the Popster must have had a chat with his little boy on the importance of as least looking like you give a shit ...


:spank:

[RaleighNCDUer]

25. Naw. I heard this morning that he's cutting it short to help with

republican campaigns and fundraising for this fall. For THAT he'll cut a vacation short, not for dealing with the nation's business.

[hippiechick]

26. Aaahh, there's money to be made.

:eyes: He couldn't be bothered with pre-Katrina planning, though. No cash being waved. :puke:

[DesertRat]

44. Cutting it short because Cindy Sheehan's coming....

[rodeodance]

22. i love it that the WP gave us these reminders:

..The image of Bush on an extended stay away from the White House while Katrina flattened much of the Gulf Coast and left New Orleans engulfed by floodwater proved to be a defining moment of his presidency.

The image of a president who critics say is aloof from details and too eager to delegate was only driven home when he ordered Air Force One to fly low over the stricken region so he could get a bird's-eye view of the destruction as he returned to Washington.

[ConcernedCanuk]

32. 10 extra days for Israel to continue it's Genocide - "Gee - I had no idea"

.
.
.

He don't watch da news

He don't read da newspaper

My Pet Goat and Mein Kampf are on the menu

[Imagevision]

36. Georgie ain't getting no vacation this year, not with what's going on!

[bling bling]

38. It's only 10 days because of Cindy.

I know it, he knows it, everybody knows it. Bush has NEVER let national or world events or tragedies of any kind get in the way of his brush clearing. Even though Cindy won't get the protest she was planning for, at least she found a way to keep him from slacking off for a month. Bush's eternal vacations always piss me off to no end.

[NJCher]

39. they've been floating scenarios

I even saw one where they said there would be no vacation this year.

Here's an editorial that appeared on July 11 regarding their trial balloons:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/hines/4040588.html

FWIW, last year's intention was to take 5 WEEKS of vacation! (Katrina prevented that) This year, in the midst of the Middle East blowing up and our own military acknowledging Iraq is in a CIVIL WAR, he is still going to take 10 days. Absolutely mind-boggling.





Cher

[w4rma]

40. Omg he's spent a whole year on vacation now: 370 days before he even

begins this 10 day vacation.

"the 370 days that Bush has spent in Texas since his election, according to U.S. News & World Report."

[SpiralHawk]

41. 370 freakin days of luxurious taxpayer-funded vacation for AWOL!

Once an AWOL screw off, always an AWOL screw off...

[Joe Bacon]

42. Is Pickles gonna borrow a cup of sugar from Cindy?

Why she needs SOMETHING to cut Chucklenuts cocaine!

[benny05]

46. The Reporter is A Freeper

"Bush's scheduled week and a half in Texas is a far cry from last year's working vacation, which was shaping up as the longest presidential retreat in more than three decades before it was rudely cut short by Hurricane Katrina after nearly a month."

WTF??

Shouldn't that read "Condi Rice's shoe shopping expedition was rudely cut by Katrina" after nearly a month.

Or Bush's campaigning and playing guitar was rudely interrupted by Brownie's incompetence to take care of NOLA.

[Ilsa]

60. Yeah, that guitar strumming looks like hard work. nt

[truthisfreedom]

50. when do we get to cut and run from the hell he's putting everyone through?

[benny05]

51. We Will Not Cut and Run From Anyone

We tell the Iraqi's to learn how to make their bed, but no longer do it for them. They have to learn on their own, (with us showing them) but without a time table (disclosed or not), that's not possible.

[truthisfreedom]

57. uhh, okay. i was making the point that he is cutting and running, but

you know, whatever.

[benny05]

61. I Was Thinking about Another Person

Sorry about my post. * is a whimp.

[Hope springs eternal]

52. Hmmm

Crap seems to happen when he's on vacation...MIHOP time??

[chat_noir]

55. What I did on my 2005 summer vacation

[Sugar Smack]

58. Is that you?

I LOVE your poster!! Were you at the DC protest last Sept 24th??

:D :yourock: If that's you, that's a great attitude on your face.

[saberjet22]

56. our leader

I've reached the point where I'm no longer rational about geo. bush. His name triggers a flood of hatred coursing through my veins that i've never experienced before. The reasons we are all aware of, and don't need to be repeated here because nothing ever comes of it. he just goes cruisin' along, wreaking damage wherever he goes. I can't find the words to express the intensity with which i hate this man, this stupid hypocrite, crook, liar, scumbag, and religious fraud.
bush is not the Decider, he's the Destroyer. He should be destroyed by the forces of good in this country but unfortunately the forces of good are outnumbered by the Stupid. It's very depressing.

[savemefromdumbya]

59. 10 days with CINDY!