WaPo: Bush Almost As Bad As Reagan
Vacationing Bush Poised to Set a Record
Deck: “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.
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.
Frankly, stories like this are a waste of ink, but it’s nice to see the Post’s dig at “famous vacationer” Ronald Reagan. Perhaps I’m reading too much into that, but the reality is that the presidency is a 24/7 job and thus there is no such thing as true vacation time.
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.
Of course, leaving Washington for the weekend! The cad! The chicken-hawk!
BTW, where is Congress these days? Oh, right. They’re on August recess – a whole month!
This isn’t reporting – it’s an in-kind DNC campaign contribution.
bryan:
Only the Republican congresscritters, who as Dean noted have never worked an honest day in their life, are on vacation.
By contrast, every Democrat, I’m sure, is hard at work in soup kitchens, farms, assembly lines. They’re certainly not taking any time off—they’re serving the people!