Bush reads!

[groover]

White House Details President's Vacation Reading

Two History Books Travel With Bush to His Texas Ranch

By JESSICA YELLIN





Dec. 28, 2005 — - President Bush is doing some reading on his Texas vacation, cracking open a volume about one president's life after the White House and another about the lives of U.S. troops -- written by someone who has criticized the Bush administration.

A spokesman said this week that the commander in chief is reading "When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House" by Patricia O'Toole.

The book details Roosevelt's attempt to win back the presidency in 1912 as well as his post-White House African safari. Roosevelt was 50 when he left office. Bush will be 62 when his term is up. He has said he'd be happy to retire to his Texas ranch.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy insisted we should read nothing into the president's interest in Roosevelt's later years. Describing Bush as a history buff, Duffy said, "the president knows full well that he's got a lot of time left in this second term and he's going to accomplish big things, as he has talked about repeatedly." The book was recommended to Bush by NBC's Brian Williams.

The president's other vacation read is "Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground." The book, almost a travelogue, gives glimpses of life for troops dispatched to fight the war on terror, from Iraq to the Philippines. Author Robert Kaplan celebrates the work of the everyday "grunt" but criticizes the politicians and bureaucrats who craft America's foreign policy, which he views as imperialist, even if necessarily so.

When asked why the president is reading a book by an author who has criticized the administration's post-war planning, Duffy said, "The president is an avid reader. He reads books of all kinds and stripe and persuasion."

Bush's own political hero -- Ronald Reagan -- didn't have such high-brow taste. Reagan liked to read westerns, especially Louis L'Amour's tales of frontier life. Reagan was also known to be a fan of Reader's Digest.

History and Current Events Are Favorites at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.



Bush's press office typically tells the media about the books on the president's list that relate to current events. This summer, when stories about the threat of a global bird flu outbreak were in the news, the press corps was told that Bush was reading "Flu: the Great Influenza Pandemic." That book is about the 1918 epidemic, which is believed to have killed 40 million people.

Also, over the summer it was announced that Bush read "Alexander II: the Last Great Tsar" to help satisfy his curiosity about Russia and his sometime friend Vladimir Putin. The book was recommended by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

It would seem the president has taken a natural interest in the experiences of past presidents. Among the biographies he has read this year: ''His Excellency: George Washington'' by Joseph J. Ellis and "Alexander Hamilton'' by Ron Chernow. The president is also said to be a big fan of Tom Wolfe's books and has recommended "I am Charlotte Simmons" to interested readers.

In a C-SPAN interview last January, Bush said, ''I'm reading, I think on a good night, maybe 20 to 30 pages." He said reading "has become somewhat of a sedative. I mean, maybe there are some other old guys like me who get into bed, open the book, 20 pages later you're out cold.''

Bush also said he sees books as an escape: ''In this job, there are some simple pleasures in life that really help you cope. One is Barney the dog, and the other is books. I mean, books are a great escape. Books are a way to get your mind on something else.''

Bush will be in Crawford, Texas, with his wife, Laura; his mother-in-law, Jenna Welch; and five White House aides through the New Year holiday. In addition to reading, he'll spend his time clearing brush and mountain biking, the White House said. We're also told the first lady gave her husband a book for Christmas. No word on whether that book is either of the president's two New Year's reads.


Copyright © 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures

[Dr Dave]

Originally Posted by groover

"I mean, books are a great escape. Books are a way to get your mind on something else.''

Yup, he's got a lot to not think about this holiday season.

[frank m]

20 pages a night is "avid" ? My Aunt Noonoo.

[patricia]

Why doesn't he just read the originals of the memos that his advisors read, instead of the Cliff's Notes?

Avid reader??? Yeah. Right.

[groover]

Well, at least he's gotten past "My Pet Goat".

[patricia]

Originally Posted by groover

Well, at least he's gotten past "My Pet Goat".

We only have a flack or two's word on that. Somehow this reminds me of people who lug around a copy of Proust, or bought "The Satanic Verses" and never read them, just to show that they are smarter and deeper than people think they are.
Even if he is indeed reading the books he says he is, he's movin' at a snail's pace.

[Brian Olewnick]

President Bush waxes poetical about the First iPod Shuffle. Excerpt from his interview with Brit Hume:

Bush : Beach Boys, Beatles, let's see, Alan Jackson, Alan Jackson, Alejandro, Alison Krauss, the Angels, the Archies, Aretha Franklin, the Beatles, Dan McLean. Remember him?

Hume: Don McLean.

Bush: I mean, Don McLean.

Hume: Does "American Pie," right?

Bush: Great song.

Hume: Yes, yes, great song.

Unidentified male: ...which ones do you play?

Bush: All of these. I put it on shuffle. Dwight Yoakam. I've got the Shuffle, the, what is it called? The little.

Hume: Shuffle.

Bush: It looks like.

Hume: The Shuffle. That is the name of one of the models.

Bush: Yes, the Shuffle.

Hume: Called the Shuffle.

Bush: Lightweight, and crank it on, and you shuffle the Shuffle.

Hume: So you -- it plays...

Bush: Put it in my pocket, got the ear things on.

Hume: So it plays them in a random order.

Bush: Yes.

Hume: So you don't know what you're going to going to get.

Bush: No.

Hume: But you know --

Bush: And if you don't like it, you have got your little advance button. It's pretty high-tech stuff.

Hume: ...be good to have one of those at home, wouldn't it?

Bush: Oh?

Hume: Yes, hit the button and whatever it is that's in your head -- gone.

Bush: ...it's a bad day, just say, get out of here.

Hume: Well, that probably is pretty...

Bush: That works, too. ( Laughter )

Hume: Yes, right.

[Gary Sisco]

Hey, he's way ahead of Reagan, who, his handlers say, wouldn't read anything longer than two pages.

One can imagine his global issues summaries: These guys good. Those guys bad. OK, next issue ...

[lynn]

Two History Books Travel With Bush to His Texas Ranch

They'll have a great time riding on the back of his brush hog.

[frank m]

I have no idea what a brush hog is. You must mean hog brush.

For that matter, what's a hog brush????

[patricia]

Originally Posted by lynn

Two History Books Travel With Bush to His Texas Ranch

They'll have a great time riding on the back of his brush hog.

One question nags at me. When the President goes to Crawford, they almost always say that one of his activities is "clearing brush". Just how much brush is on his property? Doesn't he have people who will do that for him?
What is this, the homesteading days? Whew!

[lynn]

A Brush hog, for those who have never lived in the country, is attached to a tractor, like a mower only major heavy duty, for clearing scrub brush. Scrub brush is of course the low growing dense grasses and small shrubs that grow everywhere in the open fields of the southwest and have to be mowed down regularly to keep pasture open for cattle.

you can take the girl out of the country....

[lynn]

Originally Posted by patricia

One question nags at me. When the President goes to Crawford, they almost always say that one of his activities is "clearing brush". Just how much brush is on his property? Doesn't he have people who will do that for him?
What is this, the homesteading days? Whew!

My dad used to ride around on his tractor for hours mowing down anything in his path. Could be a clue there.

[Scott Dolan]

Originally Posted by lynn

My dad used to ride around on his tractor for hours mowing down anything in his path. Could be a clue there.

Oh my!

Lynn leaves me a hanging curveball over the plate..............

Nah. Too easy. I'm tossing this little fishy back.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by lynn

My dad used to ride around on his tractor for hours mowing down anything in his path. Could be a clue there.

I am always amused when CNN is reporting from Crawford, in front of that same piece of farm machinery and that same big round bale of hay. There never seems to be any actual work being done. Nothing moves. There don't seem to be any animals, horses or otherwise. Do the Bushes actually live on a working ranch? I understand that the President doesn't even ride a horse. What's the deal?

[Scott Dolan]

The ranch behind us is 1000+ acres. You hardly ever see them doing work there either. But they keep chugging right along. Fact is, when you're dealing with 1000+ acres, you're probably not going to be seen in one particular spot very often.


For example. The large fields behind our place is used strictly for growing hay. They cut and bale twice a year. So unless you happen to be watching on those four days out of the year, you'd swear they never do a thing.

[patricia]

I'm a city gal, Scott, so I bow to your greater knowledge of those who are tillers of the land and wranglers of farm animals and horses.
It just seems odd to me that the same round bale of hay and permanent piece of farm machinery would be behind Dana Basch, every time she delivers a report from Crawford, for the last four years. It's as if it's a set and not a ranch at all.
My daughter and her husband live on a ranch and stuff is goin' on there, including actually using machinery and hay. But, what do I know?

[Scott Dolan]

City folk.

[clinthopson]

I sure believe this story.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by patricia

Somehow this reminds me of people who lug around a copy of Proust, or bought "The Satanic Verses" and never read them, just to show that they are smarter and deeper than people think they are.

Who are these people?

[patricia]

That's exactly what I thought.
I thought "Who ARE these people?"

[Gary Sisco]

I tried reading the Rushdie. Couldn't get with it. Tried twice, actually.

Brush hogging is necessary anywhere that keeping open land is important. We have about eight acres that we keep open, and it's nuff work to do it, even with four horses grazing the pastures. A lot of people would be amazed at how quickly forest reclaims any open land. Vermont, where I live, is much more wooded now -- easily 30% moreso -- than it was when I first encountered it in the 60s. Indeed, a lot of the woods tourists see today, thinking pristine, are actually old pastures that have reverted to forest as the family farms disappeared by the thousands over the same period. And even back then, it was more forested than it had been, because of the disappearance of what was known as the hillside farm -- small holdings that people had, which is the only thing that allowed Vermont to refuse all federal dollars during the Depression and still have people eating. Often, if you hike around the hills here, you'll come across old stone walls, the remnants of old wire fences, and house foundations and cellars -- all in forest that otherwise looks like it's always been there. Sometimes you can even come across entire villages that were abandoned along the way. The ski area here in this town sits on land that was one of those abandoned villages. When I was a kid, we used to "camp out" there in long abandoned houses.

It'll likely take us another seven years or so to get our pastures fully restored. We plant several forage crops twice a year and fertilize twice, but it takes a very long time for the grasses to really take over and become the dominant plant forms. They never do, really, but it's a matter of scale. You still have to whack the brush back. We have a 15 hp walk-behind that can whack everything up to surprisingly large saplings, like a lawn mower, only harder to use. It weighs 450 lbs and even though powered, it takes some muscling around to maneuver it. Shrugs did some with me here, once, a couple of summers back.

Bush is a hobbyist, though. He does it for relaxation. It's not so relaxing if you *have to* do it, want to or not.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Bush is a hobbyist, though. He does it for relaxation. It's not so relaxing if you *have to* do it, want to or not.

Why am I thinking of Marie Antoinette pretending to be a shepardess, for fun?? Of course, we all know what happened to her.

[Gary Sisco]

We should have such luck. That's my kind of work. Things were so much more direct in those days.

Let them eat lead.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

We should have such luck. That's my kind of work. Things were so much more direct in those days.

Let them eat lead.

Isn't that what happened to the Cheucheskus? Having raped the national treasury, as well as terrorizing their citizens for years, the two of them were simply taken out and shot, on television.

[Gary Sisco]

And not a moment too soon.

[Gary Sisco]

Well, long's Alfred E. Bush is on a reading kick, let him read this:

Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propaganda minister, described his work as "the
art of simplification, constant recapitulation, appealing to the
instinctive and the emotional and simply ignoring unpleasant facts."

That's short enough even for Reagan.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Well, long's Alfred E. Bush is on a reading kick, let him read this:

Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propaganda minister, described his work as "the
art of simplification, constant recapitulation, appealing to the
instinctive and the emotional and simply ignoring unpleasant facts."

That's short enough even for Reagan.

But, look at all the four and SIX syllable words!! Bush would not think it simple enough. He would stumble on "propaganda", totally mangle "recapitulation and who knows what he would do with "instinctive"?
And that doesn't even take into account that he probably doesn't know what they mean.

[Gary Sisco]

He know's how it's done, though, which is the most important thing.

[Gary Sisco]

I bet he won't read this, though I likely will:

US Army publishes British officer's essay criticising its handling of Iraq
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Published: 12 January 2006
The US Army has published a criticism of its performance in Iraq by a senior British officer. He accuses American forces of making a tricky situation worse with their cultural arrogance, over-reliance on technology, and inability to recognise the special challenges of counter-insurgency warfare.

The essay, published in the Military Review, was written by Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, who served in Iraq from December 2003 to November 2O04.

In his piece, Brigadier Aylwin-Foster writes of the "enigma" of the US Army, with its "unparalleled sense of patriotism, duty, passion and commitment... and in no way lacking in humanity and compassion." Yet it was weighed down by "bureaucracy, a stiflingly hierarchical outlook, a pre-disposition to offensive operations."

At times, he adds, the Army showed "a cultural sensitivity ... that arguably amounted to institutional racism." Above all, he argues, it had failed to adapt to the demands of counter-insurgency work, where military operations had a vital political dimension.

The article has provoked anger in some quarters of the US military. Col Kevin Benson, commander of the US Army's School of Advanced Military Studies, described Brigadier Aylwin-Foster as "an insufferable British snob" in The Washington Post yesterday.

Brigadier Aylwin-Foster traces some of the US military's difficulties in Iraq to the philosophy of the official Soldier's Creed, which undertakes to "engage and destroy" the enemy. "Not 'defeat', which could permit a number of other politically attuned options," he notes, "but 'destroy'."

This approach made it harder for American troops to understand that in many "unconventional situations" they "have to be soldiers, not warriors".

The US Army has published a criticism of its performance in Iraq by a senior British officer. He accuses American forces of making a tricky situation worse with their cultural arrogance, over-reliance on technology, and inability to recognise the special challenges of counter-insurgency warfare.

The essay, published in the Military Review, was written by Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, who served in Iraq from December 2003 to November 2O04.

In his piece, Brigadier Aylwin-Foster writes of the "enigma" of the US Army, with its "unparalleled sense of patriotism, duty, passion and commitment... and in no way lacking in humanity and compassion." Yet it was weighed down by "bureaucracy, a stiflingly hierarchical outlook, a pre-disposition to offensive operations."

At times, he adds, the Army showed "a cultural sensitivity ... that arguably amounted to institutional racism." Above all, he argues, it had failed to adapt to the demands of counter-insurgency work, where military operations had a vital political dimension.
The article has provoked anger in some quarters of the US military. Col Kevin Benson, commander of the US Army's School of Advanced Military Studies, described Brigadier Aylwin-Foster as "an insufferable British snob" in The Washington Post yesterday.

Brigadier Aylwin-Foster traces some of the US military's difficulties in Iraq to the philosophy of the official Soldier's Creed, which undertakes to "engage and destroy" the enemy. "Not 'defeat', which could permit a number of other politically attuned options," he notes, "but 'destroy'."

This approach made it harder for American troops to understand that in many "unconventional situations" they "have to be soldiers, not warriors".