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.

Comments

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

Let's see: 95 texts divided by 52 weeks = 1.8 books per week or approximately one-fourth of a book every day. Even an avid reader with plenty of time on his hands would not be able to maintain that pace.

Once again, Rove shows himself to be a consummate liar. Our current President is an intellectually- challenged, incurious dolt who is ill-read. Recall that, when asked what material he read on vacation at the Crawford, Texas ranch, Bush revealed, among other readings, that he had consumed "a couple of Shakespeares."

[BobSF94117]

"Even an avid reader with plenty of time on his hands would not be able to maintain that pace."

Two books a week is hardly grueling. Not when you have a staff and job you don't take very seriously.

[gretchenart]

I agree. I finish one book on a cross country flight from TX to CA and two going to Europe from Texas, so 2 per week should be nothing for someone who truly reads a lot. When I had spare time, I used to read 8 books a week!

[zenx98]

,...and every other week is another vacation

[Rogan]

A fourth of a book a day is a grueling pace to read at? Oh... I guess... I'd better slow down, then...

[democracy7]

There is a differnce between reading and comprehension. This president has done his best to show how little he comprehends. It is spin and more spin from Rove. Wasnt tthere an article about Bush doing 4-6 hours of excercise a day? That does explain why he has had so little time to effectively run the country.

[ConfuciusSay-]

Dear Mr. Rove,

We already know that his speeches are written phonetically.

Sincerely,
CS-

[propitiousmoment]

then somebody mis-phonetically-spelled "nuclear"

[daddyG56]

No, you miss the point. It's an intentional mispronunciation. Lots of Republicans do it. It's a good way to show that you're just as stupid and ill-informed as your constituency.

I mean, does Joe Six-Pack, Joe the Plumber, or even Joe Blow from Kokomo, really want to vote for a smarty-pants? Oops, I guess they do, now.

I hope the recent election signals a shift away from the fad of American voters embracing mediocrity in our leaders. It just might save our country.

[reggieb]

good one

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

"An ivy league man sporting a degree in history from Yale,no less"
Just like that honorable discharge from the National Guard.I would love to see his former classmates opinions of him.I doubt he showed up for class very often judging from his lack of any knowledge pertinent to anything.But he can sure ride a mountain bike.

[BostonQueerInDallas]

Grandpa Prescott Bush bought Yale a new gym shortly before Dubbya "graduated". Thank God the old legacy system at Yale is pretty much gone now. Dubbya flunked out of Yale at least twice and the only way he got his sheepskin was because the family gave the school money.

[TXfemmom]

I did not know that reading a comic book counted as a novel.

[mheister]

Don't be so critical of graphic novels if you're not familiar with them....

[gretchenart]

a novel way of counting reading at least!

[twofish]

Don't you remember Classic Comics?

[catsmom]

Both Rove and Bush are morally bankrupt, serial liars. I simply do not believe a single word that comes out of their mouths.

[NotMcCain]

That plan makes the most sense.

[deeplyfrivolous]

Rove had assigned those 95 books so Bush could cram for the standardized test he advocated for the nation's children. It was part of the “no Bush left behind” campaign. Alas, all that reading “to the test' did nothing to enhance his critical thinking skills and Bush found himself indeed “left behind.”

[nolabels]

Nice

[laserbob]

If it hasn't been mentioned already, I think what Rove meant to say is that
Bush has read 95 books last year, but that it was just one book that it took
him 95 times to finish.

lb

[gretchenart]

good one! Mission Accomplished! My Pet Goat anyone?

[indy girl]

hee hee!

[laserbob]

I keep expecting either Rove, the RNC, or Bush himself to come out
and announce that he hopes to direct his first film! Or maybe take a
try at comedy or something in music. Seriously, can you just imagine
Bush maybe directing his own version of Apocalypse Now as a comedy?
With cameo's by Cheney, Scooter, and Doug Feith doing Brando's part..
There's nothing in the world that I couldn't see these jokers taking a
stab at, after all, the figured out to make their own reality..

$.00002
lb

[runfastandwin]

If this cretin read even 2 books I'll eat my shoe.

[gretchenart]

size 10? If so, why not throw it instead?

[SparkyDash]

No worries, I think your next meal will be without sole.

[Toonadude]

Isn't Rove's endless devotion to Bush a bit over the top?
And to think that some thought the Bill and Monica thing disgraced the office.

[fumes]

lol what books are written in his format, he's inarticulate?

[Antifascist-08]

Nancy Drew

Dr. Suess

[SeanONe]

My friend Flicka

[democracy7]

NAh, Nancy Drew had some words init that were more than 2 syllables. Perhaps it was "Spot and Jane books".

[gretchenart]

Insult to Drew and Suess.

[watchingthings]

You have to hold the books upside down like dubya does when he reads. Then it dosn't matter.

[cassandratroy]

Ah, yes, just like The Very Hungry Caterpillar was W's favorite childhood book... except that it was published after he "graduated" from college. So George spends all this time reading, does he? Please.

[ThermoChemist]

If Bush's "Reading Comprehension Skills" are anything like his "Verbal Skills"...

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.'' -- 2/2001
"I've got a record, a record that is conservative and a record that is compassionated." -- 3/2002
"So long as I'm the president, my measure of success is victory -- and success." -- 4/2008

...then I guess it's easy to see how he could have read 95 books in a year. [yeah, right..! /sarc]

IF this preposterous claim was true, that would mean Dubya read about 1 book every 2 - 4 days (?).

How could he do ALL that reading, PLUS find time:
- for all his many vacation days (reading while clearing brush?)
- for all his exercising
- for his many fund raisers
- for travel nationally/internationally
- to run the country into the ground...?

IF true, it's yet another joke by the Bush Admin on the 28%ers; like the one that he's a Fiscal Conservative or the one that he'll fulfill any/all promises to the Christian Right. Conservs/Repubs have lombasted people like Gore and Kerry for being "intellectual" (as if that's bad). Dubya, on the other hand, was supposed to be the good ol' boy; the "every man" you'd like to have a beer with. So, NOW (yes, NOW?), they're revealing that Dubya is a "closet intellectual" -- a voracious reader capable of
deep thought [jeez, give me a break...!]

[waiguoren]

Why sell him short.

Remember that after much research and reading on the subject he shared with all of us this startling conclusion:

"I believe man and fish can co-exist."

[DMSmith]

The true brilliance of this statement has yet to be fully comprehended. History will prove him right!!! (just a guess, of course)

[realpolitic]

Anyone who thinks that Bush read 95 books last year must have believed that Brownie was doing a heckuva job.

[research]

It's lies.

It's Rove.