April 21, 2004

• I hope the Democrats use this in their election campaign.
• I'm glad Bush knows how to relax. Clinton didn't and it drove him to seek in-office solace...
• I think the president should get the same amount of vacation that most people get when they start a new job. Two weeks, plus major holidays.
• "I'm glad Bush knows how to relax..." I don't know if you mean it to be, but somehow this is the funniest sentence I've read in a week.
• There's a reason they call Crawford the "Western White House" though--it's equipped the same way as the oval office. Many of those "vacation" days are just days spent working outside of Washington.
• altho I bet he never clears brush in the rose garden ;)
• the_leviathan, i am not sure if that is a joke or not. I do like, however, when Bush talks about how he is not part of the Washington politics game, not a Beltway insider, that his time in Texas is an anathama to those entrenched in politics. He, rather, is a man of the people, a southern boy. Then he holes himself up, secluded, surrounded by his advisors and administration members. I don't get how photoshots of chopping wood make him unencumbered by the Washington "scene." Thomas Frank, of "The Baffler, et al., has a good article on the faux-populism of Republicans in the previous Harpers.
• ah. beat to the punch, and more succinct as well.
• I think the president should get the same amount of vacation that most people get when they start a new job. Two weeks, plus major holidays. Most people who start a new job aren't responsible the way a President is responsible. And are you implying that the President should also get paid what an average job pays for the average working stiff? $50,000-$80,000/year for leading the free world might be a tad insensitive.
• Who's telling us that this president is responsible?
• Good thing he doesn't lead the free world then.
• f8- Sorry, I meant that to be a little tongue in cheek. It's hypocritical of me anyway. As a teacher, I don't go to my place of work for 14 weeks out of the year... including today.
• i am not sure if that is a joke or not Why would that be interpreted as a joke? I don't buy the average-joe schtick either, but the links above largely insinuate that Bush spends all of his time in Crawford dicking around. He doesn't. He usually goes through the same routine there he does in D.C. And while he's no outsider, he still hates Washington and prefers to spend his time in Texas.
• f8x: I'm thinking if Bush were paid according to what he's been worth he'd have been getting about $5.60/hr. But I don't care if he keeps the paper hat when he leaves.
• And while he's no outsider, he still hates Washington and prefers to spend his time in Texas. :: tries valiantly to exercise self-restraint :: :: fails :: I'd prefer that he spent all his time in Texas, beginning January 20, 2005, or even earlier.
• All good, Cap'n. OrangeSwan: so much for the use of phrases of the collective conscious BlueHorse: I'm thinking if Bush were paid according to what he's been worth he'd have been getting about $5.60/hr. Even at 16 hour days and working all 365 days of the year, that's only $32,704 before taxes. You are one cruel free-thinking American. ambrosia: I'd prefer that he spent all his time in Texas, beginning January 20, 2005, or even earlier. See, you Lefties won't give the man a break! You want him working 24/7/365, but not in Texas. You don't want him in the White House, you want him in Texas. It's a good thing I don't vote on snarkiness, otherwise he'd get mine just on general principle...
• Portal of Evil News has a special feature about this - it's called "What, Me Worry?" Because of all these vacation days, the presidency doesn't seem to be taking much of a physical toll on Dubya. See if you can guess which of these pictures is from 2000, or from 2004.
• snarkiness? I thought I was being tempered in my comments. A sitting President cannot try to present himself as something other than a "Washington Insider" and not expect to get poked at for doing so. I'm not the first person to point out the occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is as far **inside** Washington D.C. as one can possibly be. In addition to which, the sheer disingenuousness of trying to portray oneself as something other than the consummate political insider when your father was also President, your brother is a governor, and your grandfather was a Senator I find utterly exasperating. [me folds up soapbox and goes back to work]
• I'm not a soldier, nor do I play one on television, but if I was deployed and my boss was taking 27% of his jobtime off on vacation - I'd be one pissed off soldier. And it just seems arrogant. At least don't go fishing(golfing, water skiing, etc) with the good ol' boys while troops are dying.
• ambrosia, don't take my comments to be entirely serious. Yeah, I thought you were a bit snarky, but I can understand how you feel. Has Bush himself said he is a Washington outsider? I'm not sure that he has. I also don't think it's wrong for him to encourage that view, however. It's good politics. Pictures of him working on his ranch certainly don't hurt his image, so whether an insider or outsider, he's presenting himself as a man willing to put in manual labour, which speaks to the working class. And for all of the complaints against him, I don't think he's being opportunistic about it either.
• shoot, y'all bein' hard on the guy. with only 27% vacation time this is probably harder than he has ever worked in his life. (cripes, that is circa or more than a week a month)
• ambrosia, don't take my comments to be entirely serious. Yeah, I thought you were a bit snarky, but I can understand how you feel. Has Bush himself said he is a Washington outsider? I'm not sure that he has. I also don't think it's wrong for him to encourage that view, however. It's good politics. Pictures of him working on his ranch certainly don't hurt his image, so whether an insider or outsider, he's presenting himself as a man willing to put in manual labour, which speaks to the working class. And for all of the complaints against him, I don't think he's being opportunistic about it either.
• shoot, y'all bein' hard on the guy. with only 27% vacation time this is probably harder than he has ever worked in his life. (cripes, that is circa or more than a week a month)
• I had a comment but it's gone forever. In five words: Bush good foster outsider image
• Five words: Bush dinks around everywhere, naps.
• Interminable whining won't stop reelection :p That was juvenile. Sorry. Look, I think most reasonable moderates and conservatives are willing to take criticisms of Bush seriously. But this "Bush screws around in Crawford" thing is BS. Let me fit it into a container that can mesh with a real argument. While in Crawford, he continues to work on the same bumbling, inept policies with the same cabal of theocrats that runs Washington. See? Not that hard. I want to take Bush's critics seriously because a great number of them have legitimate criticisms, and I'd like to think decent lefties think the same thing of we rightwingers.
• post times are all messed up !??!?
• Really, sutureself?
• post times messed up AND double comment posts somehow, this doesn't look good. I blame f8xmulder :)
• national emergency: war: recesion: trifecta! or: new sheriff dedicated fiscal disciple - Ari Fleisher's ode to W.
• *f8x holds up hands, smiles pacifying smile* Now, ya'll, don't do nuthin' you'll regret... genial: are you really seeing double comments?
• While in Crawford, he continues to work on the same bumbling, inept policies with the same cabal of theocrats that runs Washington. leviathan: That's one of the best comments on this thread. As far as I'm concerned, you are ONE BIG FISH.