Bush's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Karl Rove deployed his Wall Street Journal column yesterday to defend his old boss' intellectual bona fides. To hear Rove tell it, George W. Bush has devoted much of his free time to wading through weighty fiction (Camus) and nonfiction tomes. Just as Rove once tried to play up Bush's Texan roots, he now emphasizes his inner bookworm side, noting that Bush, at bottom, is an Ivy League man, sporting a history degree from Yale, no less.
Is Rove fibbing when he reports that Bush plowed through some 95 books last year? I think not. With Bush's poll ratings at a historical low, the president, as he heads toward his new home in an exclusive Dallas neighborhood, really has nothing left to gain by pretending any longer to be just plain folks. As pleasant as it sounds, however, book-reading should not be equated with wisdom or good judgment. Plenty of leaders in history have read lots of books with ill-effects for everyone else.
What's more, Bush may have ripped through a lot of volumes, but did he intellectually engage with them? Rove provides no evidence that he and Bush ever discussed the volumes they were reading. Instead, it sounds like an exercise in one-upmanship--to see who can polish off the most books in a year. It's hard to imagine that Bush, who once ordered Rove to fetch his jacket from a chair in the Oval Office, regarded him as worthy of debating. And as Richard Cohen points out in the Washington Post, none of the books on the Civil War or Abraham Lincoln that Bush seems to have devoured challenged any aspect of his thinking. They confirmed it. Cheerfully oblivious to the havoc he has wrought at home and abroad, Bush, you could, say is confirmation of the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.
As Rove seeks to bolster Bush's image, however, he will probably continue to insist on Bush's prodigious intellectual powers. Watch for further Rove columns reporting that Bush is headed to Greece to help assist an archeological dig in Athens, immersing himself in Latin texts, and attending a course at New York's New School on French New Wave films.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
We all know how resolved Bush is today as he was before. I am sure Rove and Bush are resolved to make him GREAT
But the TREE of Bush and ROVE can only be judged by the FRUIT it bared. If you own the media you can rewrite history, but it does not make it true
After reading this blog post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-heilbrunn/bushs-eternal-sunshine-of_b_154242.html
my eyes fixated on this quote:
"Just as Rove once tried to play up Bush's Texan roots, he now emphasizes his inner bookworm side, noting that Bush, at bottom, is an Ivy League man, sporting a history degree from Yale, no less"
Bush's lack of grammar, vocabulary, and general dialog skills are enough to question the fact that he graduated from high school much less a prestigious institution such as Yale. But, that isn't what triggered my fixation. It's his total lack of worldwide knowledge. He doesn't understand Mid East history. He doesn't understand the differences in culture. In fact, the only thing he appears to understand is how to act like a cowboy.
Ipso facto: Bush never actually studied at Yale and received a history degree. So, either Yale is dishing out fake degrees or Bush is outright lying. Either option is VERY intriguing. It essentially invalidates the last 8 years because Bush was not the man he claimed to be and potentially puts Yale out of business if their degrees become in question.
Why has no one investigated this?
''...the only thing he appears to understand is how to act like a cowboy.'' lol i think real cowboys would take exception to that! and as one who suffers from chainsaw madness i can tell you that he's given a dull chain to use when posing in those chainsaw brush-clearing photo ops.
My sincerest apologies to real Cowboys. What I meant when I said: "act like a Cowboy" I meant like a 9 year old dressing up in a Halloween costume and going "bam bam" with his cap gun.
While GW maybe attended Yale, an Ivy League school, he certainly didn't get an Ivy League education.
First, Bush is Not a Texan, he's a carpetbagger from Connecticut (no matter how young he was).
Yes he did receive a degree from Yale, if the Dean calls up a professor and tells him, daddy's check has cleared the bank, give Jr. the "C". He gives Jr. the "C".
Bush is not going anywhere after he leaves the Whitehouse that would be considered out of country. The reason being, he will be arrested for war crimes...some much for further knowledge and culture.
pixy242:
You are correct about the 's in Seuss's! Don't second guess yourself because signs,billboards and highly paid writers so horribly misuse 's these days. 's is possessive and used whether or not the word or name itself ends in an s There is NO apostrophe in any plural word, although I recently have been cringing at our local buses sporting signs for the. "mall's " Full disclosure: yes, I'm an English teacher.
Rove is a proven habitual liar. His words mean nothing.
good boy, georgie. you read another book.
I am sure his favorite books were about the Emperors Nero and Caligula, since he emulated their behavior so closely.
Rove wants us to believe Junior managed to read an entire book every 3 1/2 days or so?
BOLLOCKS!
LMAO!
Aw come on--he wasn't doing anything else! At least now he has his "legacy"--he reads!
First of all, consider the source of this bit of information; Karl Rove. Second, Dubya is not a voracious reader. Third, were would a (dis)functioning president find the time?
Unless those 95 books had pictures of Archie & Jughead on the cover, I would seriously doubt it.
That's almost 2 books per week. No, I don't believe it.
Rove must be on Daddy Bush's payroll. He is trying to rewrite history regarding Dubya, so he can work on Jeb's White House run in the near future. Shudder, shudder.
Why is Rove still relevant? How do we get rid of this guy?
give him enough rope
Let's see....the Dr. Seuss series has about 30 books in it....and those include clasics like Go! Dog, GO! and One Fish, Two Fish.
Hmmm. Then maybe Junie B Jones? Or Laura could have read the Ramona the Pest series to him I guess.
Dr Seuss' s (? not sure about the 's :)) books are classic kids books. No guilt by association please.
Do not believe a story told by a man - Karl Rove - who once had his own office bugged and then publicly blamed his enemies. He's an assh&t of the lowest caliber. Watch the movie, "Bush's Brain".
In these deep solitudes and awful cells,
Where heav'nly-pensive contemplation dwells,
And ever-musing melancholy reigns;
What means this tumult in a vestal's veins?
Why rove my thoughts beyond this last retreat?
Why feels my heart its long-forgotten heat?
- [from Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope]
The RESULTS of the George W Bush presidency speak volumes about his grade as president , F!
No about of book reading or "legacy" polishing will EVER change his grade of F!
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
