As long as it's a slow news day, let's examine the joys of cutting brush.

[Cyrano]

Perhaps it's one of the few things in the world that George W. Bush can do without screwing it up. Then again, turning the idiot loose with a chain saw doesn't seem like a good idea.

There's always the possibility that they give him a chain saw with a rubber chain to ensure the safety of the photo-op photographer and nearby secret service agents.

In any case, does any DUer have the slightest idea why anyone but a certified moron would want to go outside and cut brush in Texas during August?

[maxsolomon]

1. it makes him feel like a human being

my ex-BIL used to heroically mow miles of intricate paths on his boutique farm on sweltering indiana afternoons - always insisting on wearing steel toed boots & jeans.

now he's diagnosed bi-polar & BPD.

[shadowknows69]

2. Please let him handle a chainsaw

and then may the clumsy spirit of Gerald Ford possess him at precisely the right time.

[Wildewolfe]

6. There is a chevy chase skit there I think...

... just add Deadeye dick hunting quail at the same time and you would have the comedic skit of the summer I think.

[monmouth]

3. Getting "Lyme" disease from being an outdoorsy man-type didn't

seem to put a damper on his chain saw activities. I think that was a parting KKKarl gift to the chimp to excuse some of the idiocy...

[Cyrano]

4. On second thought, do you think he really "cuts brush" when no camera is around?

[yardwork]

13. No.

[daninthemoon]

5. Look, I like clearing brush as much as the next guy, but prep school

skull& bones elitist bush only does it if there is a camera around. Common man my ass.

[lutefisk]

7. I see two reasons for the highly promoted Bush-brush battles

1. He has to do it as part of his image building duties. If he really wanted to do it, he would have done it at some point before the 2000 election. The ranch thing worked for Reagan, and Junior's image makers have done their homework (all the way back to 1930s Germany, in some cases). The ranch is a stage prop that has absolutely no connection to anything in the Bush family past other than it's in the same state as the cities the Bushes have lived in since moving to Texas from the East.

2. Junior never did any kind of outdoorsy - manual labor - sweat inducing kind of stuff before the handlers set up the stage prop ranch for him back in 2000, so it probably is kind of fun for him to see what it's like to wear leather work gloves, pick up a branch and toss it in a pile, drive someone's pick-up truck, and that sort of thing. It might keep him mildly amused during the few minutes he has to perform for the cameras.

[Cyrano]

8. You're probably right. It's not like there's anything more important for him to do.

Or for that matter, there's nothing else he seems capable of doing.

[lutefisk]

9. "nothing else he seems capable of doing" - no kidding

I really wonder how he spends his time when the cameras aren't on him. What could he possibly do? He really doesn't seem to take pleasure in anything (other than being an asshole to people), so how does he spend his time?

There is no way he is reading studying up at night. And even though he always seems drunk or drugged, I just can't believe he sits around and gets wasted every single day.

Same with Cheney - what do these kinds of people do when they are alone?

[Cyrano]

10. Bush probably spends his days having Laura try to teach him English.

As for Cheney, when he's not watching reruns of the Abu Ghraib films, he's probably biting the heads off live chickens.

[PatSeg]

12. Repetitive activity induces a natural high?

More likely it is a physical activity that allows him to purge himself of his many demons or enemies, and reinforces that fake image of a manly man. Whatever the reason, it is pretty pathetic.

[trashcanistanista]

11. Uh, I don't think so.

"Perhaps it's one of the few things in the world that George W. Bush can do without screwing it up."

You cut your brush in the spring, BEFORE fire season, not in August when it's 100+ degrees outside. A spark could set the whole state on fire. So * is still a dumbass.

[PatSeg]

14. Maybe it is self-inflicted torture

I've lived in Texas in August and that is the closest I ever want to get to HELL! Anyone with any sense knows to stay indoors as much as possible.

[Cyrano]

15. Interesting. Why do I get the feeling that he couldn't care less if he set the whole state on fire?