The Crawford White House

The Washington Post reports:

Vacationing Bush Poised to Set a Record

With Long Sojourn at Ranch, President on His Way to Surpassing Reagan's Total

WACO, Tex., Aug. 2 -- President Bush is getting the kind of break most Americans can only dream of -- nearly five weeks away from the office, loaded with vacation time.

What a stupid thing to say! The President never gets a break--EVER! His first REAL break will come at noon on January 20, 2009.

The president departed Tuesday for his longest stretch yet away from the White House, arriving at his Crawford ranch in the evening for a stretch of clearing brush, visiting with family and friends, and tending to some outside-the-Beltway politics. By historical standards, it is the longest presidential retreat in at least 36 years.

The August getaway is Bush's 49th trip to his cherished ranch since taking office and the 319th day that Bush has spent, entirely or partially, in Crawford -- nearly 20 percent of his presidency to date, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS Radio reporter known for keeping better records of the president's travel than the White House itself. Weekends and holidays at Camp David or at his parents' compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, bump up the proportion of Bush's time away from Washington even further.

Bush's long vacations are more than a curiosity: They play into diametrically opposite arguments about this leadership style. To critics and late-night comics, they symbolize a lackadaisical approach to the world's most important day job, an impression bolstered by Bush's two-hour midday exercise sessions and his disinclination to work nights or weekends. The more vociferous among Bush's foes have noted that he spent a month at the ranch shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when critics assert he should have been more attentive to warning signs.

I want to know when Michael Moore started writing for the Washington Post.

This is right out of one of his lame anti-Bush rants--President Bush is off at the ranch while the world is falling apart.

The Post's article exposes how completely ridiculous the liberal media are. To claim that Bush is detached from his job because he is spending time in Crawford is just silly.

The article sneeringly provides the other perspective, that though Bush is not in Washington, he is still very much in command. It cites White House officials who claim that Bush will "receive daily national security briefings, sign documents, hold teleconferences with aides and military commanders, and even meet with foreign leaders."

Apparently, the Post does not buy that.

It goes on to give a DNC spokesman a chance to take a swipe at Bush.

"The White House stonewalling operation is moving to Crawford for the dog days of summer, but they can't hide from the legitimate questions dogging the president and his refusal to keep his promise and fire Karl Rove," said Josh Earnest, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.

It is positively goofy for this Dem to whine about stonewalling. Where was Earnest when his party chose to obstruct and filibuster, repeatedly?

Moreover, the best attack the guy could come up with is that Bush should fire Rove. That shows exactly what the Dems' game plan is--Rove, Rove, Rove.

A special prosecutor is investigating the matter. Bush isn't hiding from anything. It's obvious that the Dems just have nothing of value to discuss, so they're hung up on Rove. Their desperation is really kind of pathetic. They're so lost that it's sad.

...Until now, probably no modern president was a more famous vacationer than Ronald Reagan, who loved spending time at his ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif. According to an Associated Press count, Reagan spent all or part of 335 days in Santa Barbara over his eight-year presidency -- a total that Bush will surpass this month in Crawford with 3 1/2 years left in his second term.

"The Oval Office is wherever the president of the United States is," said Kenneth M. Duberstein, who was Reagan's last White House chief of staff. "With the communications being what they are, the president can communicate instantly with whomever he wants anywhere in the world."

Presidential vacationing didn't harm the country when Reagan was in office. Considering he managed to get the country back on track after Carter left it in shambles and he set the course for a victorious end to the Cold War, I would say that Reagan accomplished quite a bit in spite of the time he spent away from the White House.

Duberstein states the obvious when he says that the "Oval Office is wherever the president of the United States is."

Bush-haters are so blinded by their rage that they can't see how small they appear when they spit out their baseless criticism.

So, what else is new?

Bush will not return to the White House until after Labor Day, but his staff has peppered his schedule with events to dispel any impression that he is not on duty. He will visit at least seven states, mostly with quick day trips, including New Mexico, where he plans to sign energy legislation into law. He gets off to a quick start this week, with a speech Wednesday in nearby Grapevine, Tex., then he plays host to President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia at the ranch Thursday. His schedule is clear Friday through Sunday.

This paragraph is really funny. It explains the scheme that's in place to "dispel any impression that [Bush] is not on duty."

The President's schedule is what it is.

It shows that he's not cutting himself off from his obligations as the POTUS. The point of the article is to reveal that Bush is a slacker; yet the article itself disputes that notion.

At some point, Bush told reporters Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will visit for consultations. "I have a busy couple of weeks down there," Bush said.

No kidding.

For the press to suggest that Bush won't be busy, that he will have the entire month of August away from his job, is just more of the typical distortions and slime that the Dems and the liberal media are so adept at churning out.

By the way, where are the members of the House and the Senate and the Supreme Court? Are they spending August in Washington?

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Read about "Ranch Diplomacy."