Is Camus like Shamu?? Or maybe he's confusing all this with "Free Willy"

[Harry Monroe]

Bush's lame and dubious attempt at potraying himself as an intellectual.


http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11931

Is Our President Learning?

Rarely was that question asked -- until now. But the new push to present Bush as a bookworm is as desperate as it is dubious.

By Steve Benen
Web Exclusive: 08.29.06

In January 2005, George W. Bush sat down with C-SPAN's Brian Lamb, longtime host of Booknotes. When Lamb asked the president how much reading he does on a given day, Bush replied, “I read, oh, gosh, I’d say, 10, maybe, different memoranda prepared by staff.” When Lamb clarified that he was asking specifically about books, the president explained, “I'm reading, I think on a good night, maybe 20 to 30 pages,” before segueing into an explanation about his rigorous exercise schedule.

Given the history, it came as something of a surprise this month when the White House began a not-so-subtle public-relations campaign suggesting that the president not only has a great fondness for books, but has actually become a voracious reader who finishes challenging texts at a stunning clip.

It began when the White House noted that Bush’s summer reading list included Albert Camus’ existentialist novel The Stranger. Press Secretary Tony Snow was cagey about details, but told reporters that the president “found it an interesting book” that ultimately led to discussions with aides about “the origins of existentialism.” Bush once famously said, “I don't do nuance,” but apparently he does do absurdist philosophical parables.

The Bush-the-bookworm narrative became more aggressive when Bush aides leaked word to U.S. News & World Report’s Ken Walsh that the president “wants it known that he is a man of letters.” Walsh reported that Bush has allegedly entered a “book-reading competition” with Karl Rove, with the president currently in the lead, having read 60 books so far this year, 10 more than his controversial aide.

Around the same time, C-SPAN published a list of more than two-dozen titles provided by the White House Press Office, purporting to show the president’s “summer reading list.” It had its share of breezy baseball titles, but the list also included plenty of serious, thought-provoking books, including John Barry’s The Great Influenza, Geraldine Brooks’ Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women, Gordon Wood’s Revolutionary Characters, and two Shakespearean classics, “Macbeth” and “Hamlet.”

[Fenris]

1. I don't see how his handlers think this will work.

The man has the intellectual curiosity of a tree stump. That formula has worked well for him so far - why mess with success?

[The Deacon]

2. Jeez

It was bad enough when I heard that Junior was just getting around to "The Stranger" (a book most of us read either as high school seniors or college freshmen) - but "Macbeth" and "Hamlet"!?! WTF did the dimwit do at Yale, anyway?

[11 Bravo]

3. He pranced along the sideline and led cheers (when he was sober).

[mrreowwr_kittty]

4. I'm all for reading books but...

What the FUCK is the President of the United States doing in a GODDAMNED book-reading contest with his advisor right now? The Middle East is a disaster, Katrina victims are still homeless, gas prices are through the roof, 40 million Americans don't have health insurance etc...etc....

The only book he needs to be reading right now is Presidentin' For Dummies. And maybe something on pronunciation and elocution.

Fuck!! :nuke: