MAUREEN DOWD: The Ballad of Bushie and Flashy

[Veronica.Franco]

MAUREEN DOWD: The Ballad of Bushie and Flashy

George Bush may have lost his swagger, but Harry Flashman hasn’t.

Maybe the president presiding over a quicksand empire got a vicarious thrill out of the fictional Victorian brigadier general who roamed from Chillianwalla to Isandlwana to Abyssinia at the height of the British Empire, always making conquests in love and war despite his cowardly, caddish behavior.

In our continuing odyssey of discovery through the president’s reading list, we learned that he perused two of George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman books, “Flashman at the Charge” and “Flash for Freedom.”

There are those who are skeptical of the president’s souped-up reading list, a result of a book-reading contest with Karl Rove.

“I don’t think he understands the world,” Jay Rockefeller, the new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Times’s Mark Mazzetti. “I don’t think he’s particularly curious about the world. I don’t think he reads like he says he does. Every time he’s read something he tells you about it.”

I just wish W. had read more about the perils of empire before he naïvely dived into one. Mr. Fraser agrees that W. should have read the original “Flashman” before invading Afghanistan. It could have given him invaluable, if politically incorrect, insights that might have helped in the effort to catch Osama at Tora Bora and in the new push to stop the Taliban slouching toward Kandahar.

nytimes.com Times Select

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Veronica.Franco]

2. blue link ..

I received a note from the moderator asking me NOT to use that link ... sorry all ... VF

[Veronica.Franco]

7. LINK ... The Ballad of Bushie and Flashy...

http://wealthyfrenchman.blogspot.com/2007/01/ballad-of-...

Found a good one ... !!

[madrchsod]

3. interesting site to say the least but good links

and it has md`s column for free...

[Veronica.Franco]

4. very ...

That site has so many articles that aren't accessible elsewhere ... unfortunately it's a bit blue ... I'm unimpressed with their idea of "art", but it doesn't stop me from enjoying the articles found there ... where MO goes ... go I ...

[peacetalksforall]

5. Funny, for someone who doesn't know much about history,

sociology, political science, ethics ... he knows plenty about dividing,lying, and creating massive debt.

He's not a businessman, leader, wise person, charitable person. He is a great back slapper, fund raiser, smirker, shrugger, soul see-er, and he is terrific at being nasty, mean, disrespectful and displaying horrible manners.

[Veronica.Franco]

6. MAUREEN DOWD: Aux Barricades!

MAUREEN DOWD: Aux Barricades!

Being president can be really, really hard.

“Sometimes you’re the commander in chief,” W. explained to Scott Pelley on “60 Minutes.” “Sometimes you’re the educator in chief, and a lot of times you’re both when it comes to war.”

President Bush has been dutifully making the rounds of TV news shows, trying to make the case that victory in Iraq is “doable.” He thinks the public will support the Surge if he can simply illuminate a few things that we may have been too thick to understand. For instance, he says he needs to “explain to people that what happens in the Middle East will affect the future of this country.”

He also told Jim Lehrer last night that in 20 years, radical Shiites could be warring with radical Sunnis and Middle Eastern oil could fall into the hands of radicals, who might also get control of weapons of mass destruction.

So after scaring Americans into backing the Sack of Iraq by warning that radicals could get W.M.D., now he’s trying to scare Americans into supporting the Surge in Iraq by warning that radicals could get W.M.D.

So many deaths, so little progress.

http://tinyurl.com/yulpdm

This link is to another forum site ... sometimes it's open sometimes NOT ... good luck with it ... VF

[Veronica.Franco]

8. another link ... MAUREEN DOWD: Aux Barricades!

http://wealthyfrenchman.blogspot.com/2007/01/aux-barric...