DECISION POINTS BY GEORGE WALKER BUSH

[Disco Pickle]

is it written in crayon?

god damnit that was awesome.

If I had been attempting to drink a beverage when I read this it would have looked like that one picture of someone spitting out whatever it was they were drinking.

WAS IT

          dick-tated?

honerable mention..  no current emote for that im afraid.

[Iason Ouabache]

Vice President Dan Quayle, whom  I  liked and  respected...

Does he mention keeping the smooth-running machine that is the US economy in perfect condition only to watch in horror as Obama destroyed it in a single blow?

[Cain]

Actually, he is very respectful of Obama.  To the point that he has said if he was allowed to endorse Obama over McCain, he would have.

Hmm, funny that.  Bush I and Clinton both buddies.  Bush II and Obama on friendly and respectful terms with each other.  It's almost like all the partisan posturing the parties engage in is designed for the camera and to play to particular audiences...

[AFK]

Put the politics and policies aside.  Which may not be super realistic.  But I actually think that GWB is probably a fairly decent guy.  I'm just talking purely on the level of the old cliche "someone you could have a beer with". 

I think he had the same problem Obama is having now.  Letting their uncertainty become a liability as they cede decision making to others.  I think, maybe, if GWB would've had more stones, maybe he would've stood down all of the hawks surrounding him.  Same with Obama, maybe if he wasn't surrounded by a bunch of wishy-washy capitulators, we would've had the public option for health care reform. 

Or maybe I'm giving both way more benefit of the doubt than they deserve.  Entirely possible. 

[Cain]

I think it is perfect evidence that the worst excesses of human nature can easily be replicated in someone who is probably a nice guy you wouldn't mind having a few drinks with.

And that would be a worrying conclusion, if I hadn't already come to it several years ago.

[AFK]

Yep, especially considering those Presidents who are generally looked upon as Great Presidents were definitely not choir-boys.  Or in the case of someone like Lincoln, just plain strange. 

[LMNO]

I've always found the 'W is someone I can have a beer with' to be amusing, since he's an admitted alcoholic...

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I think that a lot of humans are cool in the "have a beer with" way... its just once they get with a bunch of other people that share some kind of dogma that everything goes to shit.

[Prince Glittersnatch III]

http://twitter.com/jasonpinter/statuses/2775272881393664

Hefty first day book sales: Diary of a Wimpy Kid #5: 375,000 copies. George W. Bush's Decision Points: 220,000 (including ebooks).

[Cain]

Bush's book is oddly slim, as well.  You have to think, this is not just about his Presidency, but his entire life.  And it only runs to 350 pages on my laptop.  And because of the way it is formatted, it is closer to 300 pages.

By contrast, the biography of the Soviet Ambassodor to the United States, which I also own in ebook format, is nearly 900 pages long.

[AFK]

http://twitter.com/jasonpinter/statuses/2775272881393664

Hefty first day book sales: Diary of a Wimpy Kid #5: 375,000 copies. George W. Bush's Decision Points: 220,000 (including ebooks).

Wait.  Those aren't the same book?



C'mon people, that joke practically writes itself. 

[The Johnny]

Bush's book is oddly slim, as well.  You have to think, this is not just about his Presidency, but his entire life.  And it only runs to 350 pages on my laptop.  And because of the way it is formatted, it is closer to 300 pages.

By contrast, the biography of the Soviet Ambassodor to the United States, which I also own in ebook format, is nearly 900 pages long.

How long did he serve? And how many useless and uninteresting stories/facts included?

[Cain]

Admittedly, he served for most of the Cold War.  But he mostly discusses actual Soviet policy and what the Soviets thought and what he thought and what the Americans thought and how he tried to balance all that without inadvertantly blowing the world up.

So probably a bad example.

However, Tony Blair's bio runs to 480 pages, and while Blair served two more years than Bush as a head of state, his life before politics is mostly very boring and of no interest to anyone, including Blair himself.  Of course, credit to Bush, he did not include cringingly bad sex scenes with his wife in Decision Points, unlike Blair did with his biography.

Bush just seems to lack any real attention to detail.  He covers vastly important topics, like the breach in opinion between the State Department, the Office of Vice-President and the Pentagon over Iraq, in two or three sentences.  It's like he is writing an essay for University, a general overview of What I Did During My Presidency.  There is very little introspection or curiousity displayed.  Other insider accounts are far superior to this.

[Cain]

There wasn't much to spoil.  Scott McClellan's book is much superior in telling embarassing facts, and Douglas Feith's book is much more insane.

[The Johnny]

Im not sure how to phrase it or convey it but...

Based on his writing style, can you "feel" his stupidity? The glossing over major issues is along the lines of willfull obfuscation, or is it merely his lack of capacity to express discourse over a concrete thinking level?

For further reference, this is what i mean: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_cognitive_development#Concrete_operational_stage