I don't understand how anyone either believes this crap OR thinks he's a decent resident

[XemaSab]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/books/05kaku.html

SO many lies... SO many things that just don't ring true.

"Although the President Bush described in this volume will be familiar to most readers, Mr. Draper colors in the outlines with lots of tiny details. Apparently Mr. Bush loves doing imitations of Dr. Evil from the “Austin Powers” movies. He keeps meticulous count of all the books he’s read. (At one point he tells Mr. Draper he’s up to 87 for the year.) And he’s wildly competitive about his bike riding, eager to show his younger Secret Service companions “who’s The Man” and insistent on burning at least 1,000 calories during each workout."

The 87 books. Now I, XemaSab, am a pretty fast reader. The last book I read was "Black Like Me." (Which was an EXCELLENT read, BTW.) It's 200 pages, and it took me about 3 hours. This is a little under a minute a page.

It's the 248th day of the year. That's today, September 5, not the day that the quote was given. 200 pages is a short book. Most books are more like 350, 400 pages. But these are our assumptions.

350 (number of pages) times 87 (number of books) gives us 30,450 pages. This is 122 pages a day, which even for a fast reader is two whole hours of reading a day!!!!

I call bullshit.

[CJCRANE]

1. "Bush loves doing imitations of Dr. Evil"

:wtf:

Isn't that kind of a giveaway?

:shrug:

[hobbit709]

12. Are we sure they're just "imitations"?

[Joe Fields]

15. did he get lessons from rich little?

[nebenaube]

2. 87 comic books.... n/t

[ComerPerro]

4. I'm thinking of the movie Major League

where they're on the bus and swapping around comic book versions of literary classics.

[ComerPerro]

3. Its bullshit that he would read 122 pages a day everyday, but not that he could

lord knows he has the free time, since he doesn't do jack shit....

[begin_within]

5. Well, considering...

[w8liftinglady]

9. LOL..we posted at the same time

[begin_within]

14. I had the Little Red Caboose! I just read it. I mean I read it a long time ago.

[Bob3]

6. cliff notes & books on tape

the best thing about the books on tape is that you can sleep while reading them.

you'd think with all that reading he'd drop a quote or two from one of them when he's talking but does anybody remember that happening?

I'm willing to believe that if any of these Secret Service guys write memoirs the chapter about * will be "Keeping the ape happy".

[w8liftinglady]

7. now,now...

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/616Y2VT51NL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg
24 pages
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MV04WPM6L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg
24 pages
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/61ThxpynldL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg
24 pages

He COULD conceivably read a book a day

[Missy M]

8. I will never believe Bush has read 87 books so far this year...

what a bunch of (for lack of a better word) crap!! He pretends to read, just flips the pages without reading a word. I would love to quiz him on the books he supposedly read. The article made me nauseous. Bush lies about everything and calls it being an optimist.

[Jim__]

10. Has he learned anything this year?

I don't care how many books he claims to have read. He's still an idiot.

[LiberalFighter]

11. It just shows how stupid he is when he doesn't consider that he made an unreasonable claim.

[niyad]

13. the book thing is new-does anybody but me remember times when he stated plainly that he does NOT

read?? it has only been in the last couple of years that his handlers have tried to pretend that he has an intellectual capacity at all.

by the way--the interview with draper was done last december--so he supposedly read 87 books last year)

[moggie]

16. Who counts the books they read?

I think I may have done that when I was a teenager and very pleased with myself, but an adult? Unless you have OCD, I suspect you'd understand that it's not quantity which matters. If you asked me about books, I couldn't tell you how many I've read so far this year, but I might enthuse about the ones I've enjoyed or learnt the most from.

[HughBeaumont]

17. This English major calls BULLSHIT. On ALL of it.

I can't EVEN see a 61-year-old in the pot-gut shape Bewsh is in burning 1000 calories per workout. I run for an hour each day and burn about 500 max. That's shifting between intervals of walking, 6.0 jogs and intense running at 8.0 (my legs are short, sue me). It's about 250 more if I bike 12 miles on weekends. I seriously doubt Old Man Failure, as dry-drunk weary as he's looking lately, is doing that. If he is, he's taking a few hours.

Nor is the 87 books so far this year even on the level. If he is, he ain't comprehending much. When in college full time, that's how much I read, on average, for half a year. It took at least half of the day worth of trained reading to keep up at the pace expected of us. Presidents do not have the time in their schedules for 122 pages of leisure reading a day. Is this on the multiple vacations he takes that he's getting this all in? I wonder if various reports and briefs count in that number, or is it strictly novels?

[lpbk2713]

18. That doesn't leave much time for drinking.

And if he had to choose between reading or drinking guess which one he'd choose?

[XemaSab]

19. Between drinking and being hungover....

:P

[driver8]

20. I think all that book readin' would interfere with brush clearin'...n/t

[coco77]

21. Isn't the book"Black like Me"

a story about someone who is black. If it is someone must have told him to read up on the thoughts of someone black, thinking that he will get some insight into how black people think. Maybe condi and his black CONS can't help him. Every book he reads makes him think he is an expert on a particular subject. Remember, he read three George Washington's...now he is the expert on Presidents'

[XemaSab]

22. No, that's the book *I* read

to illustrate the fact that I'm a fast reader, and to establish the benchmark for fast reading. :P

It's about a white guy who turns his skin black and takes a trip around the South in 1959 to see how Black people are treated.