The vacation president
There’s just something amusing about the president’s penchant for vacations. As governor of Texas, Bush enjoyed an inordinate amount of “down time,” and he brought that style to the White House. When he’s at “work,” Bush leaves plenty of time for exercise and likes to knock off early. More importantly, he likes to get away from “work” more than anyone I’ve ever seen.
The amusing part of this, I suppose, is that one might assume that the president would have plenty to do. There is a war going on, and there are a variety of crises (economic, diplomatic, strategic) that demand real leadership. But Bush just loves to get away. (via TP)
President Bush tries to set an example for Americans whenever he can, in terms of physical fitness, faith, optimism and a certain overall moral rectitude. He also sets an excellent example on taking vacation.
On Thursday, Bush left for a weekend in Kennebunkport, Maine, and his family’s summer compound, Walker’s Point. On Monday, he heads to his Crawford retreat, where he has spent all or part of 418 days of his presidency, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS News White House correspondent and meticulous record-keeper.… Bush’s August sojourn will be his 65th trip to Crawford, according to Knoller.
The Houston Chronicle added, “The presidential vacation-time record holder is the late Ronald Reagan, who tallied 436 days in his two terms. At 418 days, and with 17 months to go in his presidency, Bush is going to beat that easily.”
It’s an interesting contrast with what the typical American worker faces.
he likes to get away from “work” more than anyone I’ve ever seen
Count your blessings. The less Bush does, the better off we all are.
BUSH HAS TO REST UP FOR HIS NEXT ROUND OF SCREWING US!
“The presidential vacation-time record holder is the late Ronald Reagan, who tallied 436 days in his two terms. At 418 days, and with 17 months to go in his presidency, Bush is going to beat that easily.”
Like I've been saying all along, Bush is the worst president ever, and Reagan is the second worst.
GW has little in common with mainstream Americans. His ascendency to the throne was orchestrated as he was depicted as a regular guy. Time has proven that false.
Thank God he's a part time president. Can you imagine how much damage Bush could do if he worked full time?
"moral rectitude" ?
I guess, if you can call making torture the law of the United States moral. I guess, if you can call disappearing and torturing 7 and 9 year old children moral.
In my world torture is ALWAYS wrong, no matter who is doing it to whom.
For Dan,
Heather
bush is such a fucking lame lazy ass.
he has taken on average 17.5% off for vacation each year as compared
to the average American who gets at best 2.8% off for vacation each year.
So, Cheney lets him have time off?
So when Clinton went on his vacation was that okay? Yet when Bush does it there's a problem? Please Clinton, Bush any President takes the White House with them. Don't forget when Clinton was on vacation he ordered strikes against Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 1998, which was the right thing to do. You really need to stop picking at everything Bush does as it becomes more of a non issue.
Bush is a textbook example of a spoiled child. Whiny, smarmy, and lazy.
The poster boy for everything wrong with this country.
The comments on that link defending him are truly mindblowing.
Gee whiz, don't you people get it? It's a hard job!
They limit how many days ya can be president, ya know. This way Stupor Mundi gets to stay in office long after January 2009!
Johnny @ 9:
Johnny, Clinton worked when he was at work and on vacation whereas Bush takes off when he's on vacation and at work.
Maybe on this vacation he'll finally finish reading "My Pet Goat".
I've been employed 75 of Bush's 79 months in office.
Over those 75 months I have taken a grand total of ... 15 days of vacation.
Just a matter of time until those missing billions can be enjoyed. Why work with that waiting?
ronald reagan and bush have the most vacation time? doesn't surprise me. both were incompetent and ...............oh why bother :(
Vacation? We don't need no steenking vacation. We need 4 jobs just to stay afloat. You want us to take time away from staying afloat? We would sink.
Now, Dubya, there, he needs off time. Readin' and meetin' the folks and stuff like that. Figurin' out all that facts. And blowin' up things.
Do you have any personal sexual statistics that would be more in keeping with your comparisons? PRESIDENT Bush may leave the White House a lot, but when he is there, he is not spending it with young interns or with other female companionship. I would suspect that in the final analysis, he worked a lot harder than Bill Clinton--whose biggest job was looking for his pants.
From the Chronicle comments - at least he's right that he's not spending it with female companionship.
Karatist -
Jeff Gannon.
abarts @ 20:
Yup. Gannon with the cannon.
The 1,600-acre ranch has proved a durable haven for Bush, who often disappears into its varied landscapes for days or weeks at a time without public appearances. He has an attractive stone house, shaded swimming pool, miles of rugged bike trails and law enforcement at every entry point keeping people out.
He lives a life there of luxurious imprisonment.
On Monday, he heads to his Crawford retreat, where he has spent all or part of 418 days of his presidency...
Okay, I know what the writer is tryin' to say here, but if Stupor Mundi had, in the past, spent one night at, say, DisneyWorld, ya'd be correct in statin', "...he heads to DisneyWorld, where he has spent all or part of 418 days of his presidency.."
WAIT!
Ya'd be wrong there too, though, because his presidency has lasted a lot longer than 418 days!
Wow! The Houston Chronicle hires (poorly)trained chimps as both writers and editors!
Okay Al your in charge while we're gone keep up the good work.
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/pl/081201presidentbush/im:/070809...
Hey. Did you hear that. He put me in charge!
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/pl/081201presidentbush/im:/070809...
Who the hell is in Charge while they and the congress is gone??????????
And my tired ass just botched the last bit there. Doesn't read "...the 418 days...".
Time fer me too get ready fer my 2nd job. Last vacation was so long ago I don't recall.
I haven't been disconnected one day since C&L started. And when I don't post I'm still up to my ears in work...It's the biggest reason why my injury still dogs me...I hope in September when Nicole gets back from vacation, I'll actually take a real week off...
The only time Bush interrupted one of his vacations was to fly back to Washington concerning the Terri Schiavo case. That was so important but he couldn't interrupt his vacation in August 2001 even tho he knew he knew about a memo that something bad was going to happen in September 2001.
Andy K @ 27:
yeah basically he worked less than 7 out of eight years.
How about giving our troops a vacation? And while you're at it, dimwit Little Boots, please try to pay attention to PDB's that contain inflammatory titles like "BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO STRIKE IN U.S." instead of playing footsies with Condi.
John Amato @ 28:
Sheesh, good luck on that.
It's hard work being a retarded, drunken criminal.
Karatist Preacher @ 19:
Please. Bill didn't even remember Monica Lewinsky's name, she was just a girl who dropped for ten minutes at a time while he was busy.
That's nothing at all like Bush, who wanders off into the woods to play with his chainsaw when he's feelinf bored. It's no wonder the lazy fuck got infected with Lyme disease.
i wish he would take a dirt nap.
redcat @ 35:
I wish he would be Raptured.
I bet Bush contracted Ly-me disease last year during his month-long "brush-clearing" vacation in Crawford.
Moral of story: brush-clearing can be hazardous to your health...and your ability to tell the truth...and think rationally.
On the other hand, "Bush-clearing" could actually be healthy for our country.
Impeach Bush Now !!!! (along with Cheney) (and Gonzales) (and Rove) (and all the other neo-cons who've disgraced the office of the presidency with their foul presence)
cobalt @ 10:
Essentially you've compared Bush to Lindsay Lohan. Poor Lindsay.
Ruthless People @ 13:
They had to pry Shrub away from the shrubs in the aftermath of Katrina.....4 DAYS...no my friend this dipshit deserves every criticism that hits him in his hollow head....
Andrew @ 15:
Wow. To Quote the President: "that's uniquely American. You gettin' any sleep?"
Best bit from the article:
Because people paid to write newspaper reports every day might not know where that exotic phrase comes from.
Johnny @ 9:
Johnny.....BC didn't put the nation in such a predicament...you know....war..stock market,messing with the Constitution....you know ...all those hillarious things the Comic in Chief has dropped on us
"..So when Clinton went on his vacation was that okay? Yet when Bush does it there’s a problem?"
Clinton took a total of 152 days vacation while president. By the time Bush leaves office, he will have logged more than 3-times the vacation Clinton took. Yes, I have a problem with that, don't you?
John Amato @ 28:
John, I really don't know how you do it... But I know I sure am glad that you do...
LibertyLover @ 44:
Me too....I enjoy this forum..Thanks John.
Ed in Socal @ 43:
Thats a little more than a month per year...and he DID work while on Vacation...
Let's see, 418 days of vacation in 6.5 years is more than 1 day of vacation for every 5.5 days of work. That's almost like getting every Friday off for free.
What a great example he is setting for the rest of us. I'll try that on my boss, anyway.
I just got off of a relaxing vacation myself. I took the month of June off. June of 1979. That was the last vacation I have been able to take.
Jo @ 36:
he has been raptured, don't you remember, they found five of his friends while he was unconsious and had a tube up his bum.......oh, wrong r word. lol
Johnny @ 9:
You just don't get it, do you. It's not that he took vacation, it's how much vacation he took. Clinton took off 152 days over his two terms. At the Shrub's rate, the Shrub will have taken 509 days of vacation at the end of his two terms.
That's a hell of a lot of vacation. And a hell of a hell of a lot more than I get.
Otay @ 50:
And one more thing. Bush is even more incompetent in the decisions he makes while on vacation, hard as that is to believe.
The thing that bugs me about this, especially after watching that BBC special on the troops in Iraq. He refuses to give our guys a break. No down time to go home and see their families but he gives himself plenty of time to go and cut brush. This is America right now in a nutshell. It is all about what you say. If you say you support the troops and put on a bumper sticker nobody cares that when it comes down to doing things that actually help our troop (such as letting them go home/Vets benefits/Vets healthcare) these same people do nothing. You just need to yell loudly that you are a christian like bush does but pay no attention to his actions. The family members of our troops in the field should be sending Bush letters saying if the Troops have to stay in Iraq for months with no end in site than the least he could do would be to get his ass back to Washington.
I wish that his feet will get stuck permanently in his ranch he and cheney because they don't deserve to come back to Washington.
Now, if we can just turn off his phone line to D.C. maybe he won't find his way back. . .
Hard work raping and pillaging countries for their resources.
docholliday @ 54:
It's easier than that. Just erase the chalk marks he makes during his mountain biking to find his way back to the ranch. Then put up signs to nowhere stating: "This way to the rapture point"
Hmm, I got six weeks "vacation" when my daughter was born. I saved up all my sick time and all my vacation time (two weeks) for 2004, then did not take any vacation in 2005 so that i could get 4 of the 6 weeks paid for so we could make our rent payment. I get 5 days off of my choosing every year, then Christmas to New Years pto. I take the occasional day off to hang out at home rather than take one long vacation because a) I can't afford to go anywhere and b) sometimes I need to take a vacation day to make doctors appointments or move, how else am i supposed to get some of these things done?
from the article:
"I fell in love with it the minute I saw it," Bush said of his ranch in 2001.
haha--- that's what he said about cocaine too!!
the leisure class prez goes on vacation while the people who voted for him work 80 hour work weeks. All he has to do is use a culture war carrot to get them to forget their financial plight
He can go to Maine, down to Texas, turn out the lights but in the dark Pat Tillman's ghost will be right there with him along w/ thousands of others.Sleep tight george if you can.Bless the Tillman family and each and every family who has suffered loss by his hand.I'm out of here.
L.A. Confidential @ 26:
Hey, while both Congress and the Prez are gone on vacation, let's take the country back.
L.A. Confidential @ 26:
The same one who always has been in charge even with the Shrub present, Darth Deadeye himself.
Makes you wonder how much vacation time other 'war presidents' took.
Nixon and Johnson during Vietnam, Truman during Korea, FDR during WW2, Wilson during WW1 . . .
I don't know, but I'd be willing to bet Lincoln didn't do lot of brush-clearin' and fishin' back in the day. He did go to the theatre, though . . .
Chip @ 61:
Cool idea! The American people will give themselves a recess appointment!
Annoyed Canuck @ 63:
Lincoln. Poor fucking guy takes one night off to kick back with the missus, and look what happens.
"I fell in love with it the minute I saw it,"
Isn't that what Karl Rove said about Jeff Gannon?
Kennebunkport? Come on tsunami!
I don't know about you, but I wish he'd take 365 days off.
Of course, some people would argue that Cheney runs the show anyway.
nemo @ 58:
____________________________________________________________
Hold it! Right there we should have known that Bush was completely
out to lunch - who falls in love with the countryside near Waco Texas?
That's right, people like David Koresh. I have relatives who live in the Waco vicinity,
it is a dreary place.
Annoyed Canuck @ 63:
Can someone find those numbers?
418?just think it would have been more if it were not for that pesky hurricane katrina screwing him out of some "down time".....
Johnny @ 9:
From a CBS article about presidential vacations:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/08/21/politics/main34415.shtml
"A CBS News tally shows that Clinton has spent 152 days on holiday over his two terms." (Sounds like the last term wasn't over when this was written but no way he could catch up with the chimp.)
We pick at everything Bush does because he is a worthless piece of shit excuse for a president. He has fucked us over and he deserves to be picked at.
gene214 @ 64:
You guys are brilliant!!!
Hell, I just wish Cheney would take a nice (very) long vacation too. He needs it.
Trashing the Constitution must be very hard work.
Vacation? Another administration ploy. Before you take a vacation, you have to have worked to start with. Bush's brain is on vacation 24 hours a day, seven days a week and has been so for decades.
The guy doing the work is Cheney. Bush's idea of work is doing photo-ops and giving speeches other men write to make him look 10 times more intelligent or articulate than he is.
Vacation? Don't make me laugh.
Chacounne @ 6:
"Immoral Rectum Dude" would be more accurate.
If he decided the take the rest of his presidency off, I for one would not complain.
I'm not shocked. It's not like this incompetent psychopath does anything except wave a pen around anyway. Darth Cheney and the others are really running the show. The true injustice is that Bandar Bush gets paid at all.
Its TICK time !!!!!! For GW.
The war is going so well it's on auto-pilot. No need to run the store. The Prez is on vacation. So is Congress and the Iraqi govt. Good job everyone! You deserve it.
I can't take credit for the "auto pilot" remark. That came from a great Op Ed in WaPo by Eugene Robinson.
The poor guy works his ass off even when he's on vacation (uniquely American) and still you criticize him. Don't you idiot lefties realize it's harvest time at his Texas brush farm? Gotta get those crops in. The tumbleweeds are waiting. He also needs to get some new manly, "using a chainsaw photos." It's hard work, and I hear the ticks are bad this year. Ya gotta appreciate a man that has his priorities in order. Yeehaawwww..Texas, where the men are men and the pet goats are leery.
Johnny @ 9:
Well on Clinton's term I remember that; AMERICA WAS NOT IN ANY ATTACK OR DANGER STUPID MORON. This fucktard presnut of yours promised to "Win" this war how can he win if he kept on sleeping and vacationing. obviously he's not the SHARPEST TOOL IN THE SHED AMONG ALL AMERICAN PRESIDENT. And the idea of "winning"
the war in Iraq that he started will not come out of his Texas Crawford's outhouse.
something will come out of him but not wise idea to get us OUT of this stupid mess that he made which is more stinkier than what he's going to eject from his outhouse.
Supposedly Al Qaeda is poised to strike again and a financial crisis is underway, and Bush takes off for vacation.
me @ 3:
No argument here!
On vacation or out to lunch?
So nice to know he's on vacation again! It helps lift my spirits as our family goes two years and counting without being able to afford to even LEAVE TOWN.
The Decider = The Vacationer
[...] Vacation I wrote a little while ago about the lack of paid vacation in the United States. According to the American Prospect, 25 percent of American workers had no paid vacation in 2006, and 43 percent took less than a week off. This is not the case for our beloved president, though. He gets lots of paid vacation. [...]
From the desk of Preznit
Vacashun skedule
Day one: Wake up
Read Mad Magazine on toilet for 45 minutes
(well, look at the pictures and that kool fold in too!)
Jack off
Eat bowl of Lucky Charms
Jack off
Clear brush
Take nap
Jack off
have a balony samich
Crash bicycle
Clear brush
Jack off
Eat Swansons 'Hungry Man' dinner
Secretly down a fifth of vodka
Pray to Satan
Jack off
Kiss Gannon/Guckert goodnight
Go to beddy bye
Repeat above kedule 500 times
When you're actually a puppet, a figurehead, while the real powers that be pull your strings and do the actual dictating, er, governing, there really is alot of free time on your hands. No surprise the King takes so many vacations and short work days.
It's just as well. Bush doesn't know what he's doing anyway, and "Shooter" Cheney is the one actually in charge.
Hard, Hard, Work, Is he breaking out in a sweat or is
he in Iraq when the temp is 120
Dumbya has always been mentally on a long, long vacation.
Think of the additional damage he could have done were he not to have taken so many vacations!
Maybe he'll drink too much again and do more than fall of a bike or choke on a pretzel - we can only hope.
I remember when booshco swiped the office, they claimed the adults were coming in. Clinton and his people were known for wearing jeans and sandals, with pizza boxes strewn about, as they pulled one nighters trying to get the work done.
I don't know if there were any panty raids.
Jo @ 36:
I'd even go for Ruptured.
I like ticks better than I used to.
Karatist Preacher @ 19:
In the final analysis it's pretty obvious that Bush is a minor-league fuckoff compared to Clinton, whose workday started at 0 Dark Thirty by all reports and who kept his staff hopping at all hours, and who more importantly actually accomplished quite a bit during his years in office.
As opposed to Bush, whose real work record shows that he has managed to successfully finish zero tasks he set out to accomplish during his time in office.
Any suggestion otherwise is utter bullshit.
Johnny @ 9:
Memorably, Bush took a month off on vacation after receiving this memo, informing him that a terror attack would be attempted on U.S. soil sometime soon.
There are thousands of people who should feel FULLY ENTITLED to pick at his utter dereliction of duty and negligence. Unfortunately, they're all dead now.
So you can take your phony comparisons and turn 'em sideways and jam them.
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