June 16
Grecian Philosophy:
Frat boy transformedWhat crap!
Today in The Washington Post we have Dana Milbank weaving a tale that would make Hans Christian Anderson envious. Hear this:"The president who spoke here today was not the same president who spoke in New Haven a year ago. Bush aide John Bridgeland told reporters this morning that the president's speech, serious and grave, was inspired by the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville, Adam Smith, George Eliot, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, Pope John Paul II, Aristotle, Benjamin Rush, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Cicero -- although the president mentioned none of them by name. The former C student, Bridgeland said, 'actually discussed Nicomachean ethics' in the Oval Office, not to mention the Patrick Henry-James Madison debate."
Dana, you're laying it on a little thick. I know Hitler's belief that bigger lies sell better has proven successful for your Bushes, but there is a limit to human gullibility. You are now expecting us to believe that this "president," who is "not the same president" as a year ago, has taken time to go off by himself and become a great scholar. This guy who bragged that he was proof a C student could be president (if his dad was president), who was glorified by the media because he was comfortably dumb as opposed to that Gore who was so irritatingly smart. They called Gore a "know-it-all," remember? And said Bush would be more fun to party with.
But now this "president" has miraculously contracted gravitas. Though he rarely read a book in his life, now that he is president, he has found time to become a classically educated scholar. Suddenly he is well read in Aristotle (the "Grecian" philosopher), and Emily Dickinson. Yeah, I really believe that. I can really see Bush after a hard day, sitting on the couch in front of the football game on TV with his pretzels and his volume of ... Emily Dickinson.
That's very credible Dana, thanks for reporting that.
--David Cogswell