Karl Rove: Bush's Books
By John Amato Friday Dec 26, 2008 4:18pm
Karl Rove is sending me emails now. I'm so happy.....
But this article represents how far Rove and Bush have fallen. Rove is writing an article in the WSJ trying to tell America that Bush actually likes to read books. How humiliating this column must have been for him to write:
With only five days left, my lead is insurmountable. The competition can't catch up. And for the third year in a row, I'll triumph. In second place will be the president of the United States. Our contest is not about sports or politics. It's about books.
It all started on New Year's Eve in 2005. President Bush asked what my New Year's resolutions were. I told him that as a regular reader who'd gotten out of the habit, my goal was to read a book a week in 2006. Three days later, we were in the Oval Office when he fixed me in his sights and said, "I'm on my second. Where are you?" Mr. Bush had turned my resolution into a contest.
By coincidence, we were both reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals." The president jumped to a slim early lead and remained ahead until March, when I moved decisively in front. The competition soon spun out of control. We kept track not just of books read, but also the number of pages and later the combined size of each book's pages -- its "Total Lateral Area."
We recommended volumes to each other (for example, he encouraged me to read a Mao biography; I suggested a book on Reconstruction's unhappy end). We discussed the books and wrote thank-you notes to some authors.
At year's end, I defeated the president, 110 books to 95. My trophy looks suspiciously like those given out at junior bowling finals. The president lamely insisted he'd lost because he'd been busy as Leader of the Free World...read on.
Karl, no matter what silly-ass columns you write about Bush's Books, America still hates him and always will.
Seventy-five percent of those questioned in a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they're glad President Bush is going, with 23 percent indicating they'll miss him.
I sort of understand Rove's strategy of insisting that George W. Bush is an intellectual heavyweight, even though he's obviously just a dolt that loves fart jokes. Rove enjoys tweaking liberals by preying on their insecurities, which he used to do when he was powerful and the Bush administration was taken seriously by insisting that they were effete eggheads out of touch with the real America. Only, now, there's nothing whatsoever admirable about the Bush Presidency and no one really believes Rove is a political genius, and so Rove is reduced to pretending that Bush is some sort of bookworm.
Rove is a disciple of the Lee Atwater school of smear politics and because of this, our country is suffering dearly. And if we believe this book-reading contest, well then, how many days of Bush's presidency were filled with him reading book after book (95 books in '06, 51 books in '07 and 40 books in '08) while our country is torturing people, fighting two wars, illegally wiretapping, and watching an economic meltdown of historic proportions?
I love to read too, but I think my job requirements are a little less stressful than being the president. Do you think his persistent book reading was a way to remain in a state of deep denial about the state of our nation? Will Rove's next column be about Bush's iPod?
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... size of book, number of pages, becomes a phallic symbol? My book is bigger than your book?
Republicans. LMAO.
Who cares how many books Bush reads? And how is it possible to read 95 books while our country is failing?
This just proves that Bush is the Worst President EVER! Need more evidence: http://tv1.com/playlists/105
No.
It will be about those fifty pieces of torn paper collage that Stupor Mundi completed in '06.
Oh we know he reads. I understand one of his favorite books is "See Spot Run" or "Jane and Bubba went to the fair". Yep he loves to read. You can't even tear him away from reading a childrens book on 9/11. He just had to know the end of the story.
Karl Rove can read? I thought he failed the math.
;>)
Goodwin start publishing coloring books? Rove reminds me of the kids in grade school boasting of the superior number of colors in their Crayola set.
He reminds me of an asshole. Wait. Oh nevermind.
Too bad he didn't read the PDBs or just couldn't comprehend them.
Bush read 96 books in one year? They are talking about comic books, right?
That's easy if you don't sweat comprehension
Or had to work for a living.
Not his early stuff but the ghost written, publisher name added stuff.
The little deciderer that could!
Have any of y'all ever seen the movie Elvira Mistress of the Dark? While she's fighting her evil Uncle Vinnie in a grave yard she takes off one of her stilleto shoes and throws it at him, impaling it into his forehead. He yanks it out and bellows, "That hurt!"
Greatest 'Vacation President' most number of days not at the White House.
Most detested president of all time, with the lowest domestic approval rating.
Universally detested worldwide, unpopular to people who shouldn't really care all that much about another countries leader.
Earned the title of 'the Drunken groping President' ie; falling down drunk in public at the Olympics and groping girls there, something that is beyond the pale for a world leader, because it makes one a laughing stock.
Thought it was OK to hold a cake eating contest with McCain while New Orleans drowned.
'Worst' doesn't do GWB justice.
As if Dubya can comprehend anything more complicated than "My Pet Goat".......
I seriously doubt he could comprehend "Everybody Poops".
boosh went to the Springfield library, and got "Everybody Poops: The Movie."
Condi Rice did prepare a special Presidential Daily Brief entitled "Everybody Determined To Poop In U.S.", which he looked at while he was on vacation in Crawford.
But it didn't have anything to do with pooping.
Or everybody.
well, make that 2 Republican Presidents in the last 20 years that didn't read. Ronny Raygun preferred his aides to show him "movies" of complicated situations.
Bush:books::Palin:newspapers
and there was a pop quiz
Dont'cha mean a poop quiz?
You betcha.
Wasn't there a recent USA Today/Gallup Poll naming Obama the most admired in the US, with boosh a strong second?
i may poop myself
boosh like poop jokes
They're the sequel to fart jokes.
What BS. Unless it's the comic book version.
when dubya said he had an 'ecalectic' reading list?
dubya, dyslexic boob extraordinaire (with my sincere apologies to dyslexic people).
And boobs extraordinaire! Don't forget the boobs!
I don't believe he reads real books. A person who reads generally can also speak understandably and sensibly.
Rove's piece was not published in the regular Wall St. Journal, which is an excellent publication with very high journalistic standards.
It was published on the Wall St. Journal's editorial page, which is run by a whole different set of people and has, as far as can be determined, no standards of any kind whatsoever.
The Weekly World News has more credibility than the bozos at the WSJ editorial page. And BatBoy probably reads more books in an average year than Rove and Dubya combined.
Cred=Zero
He said he wouldn't change the WSJ much when he took it over and, to my knowledge he hasn't - yet. It was always an excellent paper with an editorial page that was run, completely independently from the rest of the paper, by a bunch of bark-at-the-moon, right wing, frothing-at-the-mouth, loonies. The fact that Murdoch buys something does not necessarily mean that it will become a hard right publication: he took over The Times of London back in the 80s and it is still a pretty centrist paper.
If you believe anything these psychopathetic liars say, you are crazier than I thought. But as far as books, I'd recommend they both read a few by David Ray Griffin. I doubt they'd want to read his book "The New Pearl Harbor" and more importantly they wouldn't want too many of us reading it either.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/122608.html
I wonder if the works of Howard Zinn are on his shelf?
'Invader Zim' but that would require some intelligence or an ironic humor, maybe just enjoys the cruelty of Zim.
Chimpy has a lot of the traits of the Zim character.
He has no idea who the hell Zinn is. Which is a damn shame.
Karl, you had me at "Bush reads". Seriously? The man can't find an unlocked door and we're suppose to believe he can read two books in a week. Only if it's Archie and he was lucky to get through those. Tell you what, give him some Faulkner and Steinbeck and ask for a written report. Sorry, that would require writing too.
They were probably "Books on Tape".
No - I can't even give him that much credit. The man is intellectually vapid - his mind is a wasteland of fart jokes.
*
that whenever a book comes into close proximity of Bush it just spontaneously combusts from the stupidity that permeates from him. It's like a book would rather be burned than be read by him.
So - how many books are in the the library of Little Golden Books?
*
He likes the little spider that's on all the pages. So did I.
The fact that swineboy is sending you e-mails means that he is in fear, and awe, of you and what you have accomplished at C&L.
To our fine host, a job well done!
As usual. Nothing extraordinary about that.
Completely.
*
I wonder how conservative Christians feel about being lied to, and fooled by Rove. Actually they probably don't believe that he is a atheist, or that he used them. Just as they cover their ears, and tell themselves that Bush is a Christian. The people who believed Bush's, and Rove's lies to some degree are guilty along side them. Because they didn't want to admit how unChristian Bush, Cheney, Rove, and Yoo are. This maybe a little off topic, although it does relate to the lies Bush and Rove told, and continue to tell.
I'm sure the only thing boosh has read lately is his You Know Your're Middle-Aged When toilet paper.
cause nobody told him he's supposed to read FIRST , then wipe............
I don't believe for a second Dumbya reads any books. I'm really tired of Bush's goons trying to whitewash his dirty record.
I doubt he even tried comprehending what he was reading. He flipped through each book and said "Mission Accomplished."
Maybe Boosh should have spent more time reading NIEs and itellugence briefs than books like "My Pet Goat". Of course, he probably would have needed help with the big words, such as "brief" and "imminent".
I don't believe it. I'm so tired of political and media liars. Do liars ever tire of lying?
And neither does the synopsis on the back flap. But if Rove wants to imply that Bush read books while Rome burned, then so be it. The fact remains that no matter how much glitter you sprinkle on a pile of shit, it’s still a pile of shit.
Rove's a pathological liar and I don't believe his crap for a nanosecond. But even if his assertions were true about his & W's reading contest, it's abundantly clear that neither of them learned anything from what they supposedly read. Except maybe how to screw the country . . . over and over and Rover again.
I don't believe a word of KKKarl's bullshit. If Bush actually did read that much material, don't ya think it would improve his use of language in his spoken ccommunications? I think he consistantly LIED about the number of books and their thickness or whatever. THAT's exactly how he handled all his OTHER responsibilities in office... SHORTCUTS, HALF-TRUTHS, OUT-RIGHT MIS-information, and extended vacation time. ALL crooks and liars... the lot of them.
that Bush hasn't read 95 books in his entire life, let alone 95 in a single year. For that matter, I'd be willing to bet that Rove hasn't either.
These guys have gone from telling lies to not even putting in the effort to come up with plausible lies. They're actually phoning in their falsehoods!
Did these supposed government employees find the time to read books IF they were working? I mean, supposedly, the Prez of the US is supposed to be on duty 24/7, and he and his fellow government employees have this kind of time on their hands? Ya right. I believe that one! Pop up books don't count.
I read the pop-up magazine Barely Legal.
The pictures don't pop up
Just me.
the CIA been sending you viagra again? You were supposed to change the address on the return envelope!
Did everyone forget that they tried this storyline once before in 2006? Remember Bush saying he had read "three Shakespears"? The White House floated this piece of fluff, even adding that Bush had read The Stranger by Camus while on vacation. Then when Bush was asked about the themes of the book in an interview, it was apparent he had no clue.
was "My Pet Goat" on 9/11 and I don't think he even got to finish that. Besides it was probably a little too hard for him anyway. As for those "three Shakespears" either he had to listen to them on tape or he had Laura read them to him as a bedtime story.
In the American Prospect, Aug 29, 2006. It's a great article, and definitely worth reading.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId...
dubya is now 'a man of letters'? Excuse me while I laugh out loud.
He and his handlers are simply delusional if they think we believe that crap.
Otto: Apes don't read philosophy. Wanda: Yes they do, Otto, they just don't understand it. ...
Let's pretend that this story is "correct." So, my question is what books did he read? He obviously hasn't read Vonnegut or Foucault or Nietzsche or Hemingway or Dickens. For if he had, his perspective on the world might have changed. I'm sure the man read any assortment of books by Hannity, Coulter, O'Reilly (especially Those Who Trespass), Friedman, Limbaugh and of course the fantastic Reagan. He might have even read some of his pappy's books.
But back to reality, he didn't read no 95 books, and if he did, he did what 70% of high school students do: have some other kid read the book and tell you all the important points in the novel. Plus, if he did read anything that I adore like Breakfast of Champions I would cry a little inside.
The other night I was watching The Muppets Christmas Carol, and they had a line in it somewhere about, "Sharing the wealth," and I almost spit out my beer, and I never spit out beer.
I don't recall it actually being put that way by Dickens, but then the only books of his I've read were Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and A Tale of Two Cities.
For those socialist muppets! They're evil. And such a shame to waste beer. I hope it wasn't some delicious Belgian ale goodness or a hefeweizen or a chocolate stout. Mmmmmmm...beer.
In regards to Dickens, I always was under the impression that the majority of his novels were social commentary on the ills of Victorian England. He might not have been a socialist but it appeared that he didn't care for children working in factories or living like street urchins, something that Bushco would like to see happen again.
This is a perfect note for the Bush crew to exit on. A lie that was obvious the first time they told it, being repeated in a sadly insistent way... false propaganda before obvious reality once again.
It's a perfect example of the the casual, unthinking way the Bush crew casts aside reality in favor of their preferred narrative.
The only book Bush and Crime Family Ever read was on how Steal and get away with. I ask again how is it that ROVE(TURD BLOSSOM) still breathing Fresh Air without being in a ORANGE JUMP suit with LEGG IRONS. THE CORPORATE CONRTOLED MEDIA HAS HIS BACK, and The DEMOCRATIC PARTY has TWO of the WEAKEST leaders that there is PELOSI and REID and others it is time for a CLEANING of the party.
Next week in KKKarl's Magical bullshit tour: "George W. Bush - the great uniter!"
Bush would have finished more books than you...the three reasons he lost were that you wouldn't let him count "My Pet Goat" in his total, his crayolas kept snapping in half, and with all the distractions of the war, he was having challenges keeping his coloring inside the lines.
He should have read his Intel Briefings before 9/11. Or a history of Iraq and its peoples.
why is he EVEN bothering?
I remember the summer Bush said he had read "three Shakespeares."
I'd bet a years' pay he couldn't even NAME "three Shakespeares."
But the real deal is he never went to school. He never showed up in Business School and got a "gentleman's (sic) diegree" from Yale--because of all the money his famiily has given to Yale. Came in handy for 'em. Wonder when Rove thinks the Chimp learned to read? While he was fucked up during his Air National Guard drills after getting his degree? Or while he was partying in Texas? Or while he was running oil companies into the ground?
When, exactly, was it that this little Cretin was supposed to have been cultivating his magnificent mind?
there are two things about books; reading and comprehension.
i don't care how much the shrub reads in rove's alternate reality, if the lights aren't on no one's home.
I'm reminded of the classic exchange between Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline in "A Fish Called Wanda":
Otto: Don't call me stupid.
Wanda: Oh, right! To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people! I've known sheep that could outwit you. I've worn dresses with higher IQs. But you think you're an intellectual, don't you, ape?
Otto: Apes don't read philosophy.
Wanda: Yes they do, Otto. They just don't understand it. Now let me correct you on a couple of things, OK? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not "Every man for himself." And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up.
You know what they do dont'cha?
They wait until one of them gets absorbed in a Dr. Seuss book
And the other
Whacks it against their face.
Is this one of the three Shakespeare's boosh read?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzlkvI9EZeA
I'm sorry, but there is absolutely NO WAY I will ever believe President Bush read 95 books in one year. NO WAY IN HELL. I might believe one or maybe two. Maybe two. This is simply another sleazy part of the whole George W. Bush legacy building campaign.
Good luck with that, Karl and company.
"The manly competition soon spun out of control. Sweating and hungry, we kept track not just of books read and masturbation times, but also the number of pages read and the number of pubic hairs we each pinched off trying to best the other and later the combined size of each book's pages and the combined size of our dicks -- their Total Lateral Area. By the time Georgie and I had finished with one another it was Barbara's turn.
After Georgie is praised for his work in Iraq and years from now when we are sitting on his porch and drinking Mint Julip and counting our money we'll recommended volumes to each other and pop viagra and service one another. Life is certainly full of mystery and books and penises and idiots."
what this reminds me of is an attempt to substitute quantity for quality. a measure of intelligence is not so much the number of books read but the quality or content. we might also speak of action and doing if we are actually discussing intelligence...nothing about bush or rove suggests through the years they grew or learned. the only change has been post rove-white house revisionism. how many books will it take to completely sell the false version of events and history now being pushed by rove, fox tv and many neocon thinktankers?
I don't believe for a second anything anyone even remotely connected to this administration says, much less ROVE!
Reading alone doesn't qualify you for anything anyway. Retention and comprehension enter into the mix, and I doubt seriously Bush understands anything he reads if it disagrees with his perception of the world as it should be rather than how it actually is.
For your next great Bush we have JEB BUSH the next SENATOR from the Great STATE Of Florida. AND the CORPORATE CONTROLED MEDIA just loves him. Wolf-E boy will just LOVE GOOD OLD JEB he will just be beside himself like he did With THIS BUSH and his war. And all of the RADIO talking heads along with the PRINT MEDIA. The next PRESIDENT BUSH.
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