New Bio Shows President Bush in "Pop Culture Void"

NY Daily News/Drudge ^

[Recovering_Democrat]

The United States is being led by a lowbrow from the upper-crust ghetto, largely unaware of culture — high, pop and maybe even yogurt — a forthcoming biography of President Bush says.

New York Times reporter Frank Bruni, who was assigned to cover Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign and the first eight months of Bush's presidency, describes the 43rd President of the United States as affable and good-natured, but shallow and largely clueless about many aspects of the culture of the nation he heads.

Bruni's book, "Ambling into History," goes on sale March 5, and offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Bush's interaction with reporters on the campaign trail.

"At long last, the Republican Party had nominated its first baby boomer for the presidency, and the man they had chosen was no more culturally 'with it' than Bob Dole, the septuagenarian previous nominee, had been," Bruni writes.

Bush viewed the musical "Cats" as modern theater at its finest, Bruni writes, and openly admitted that martial artist Chuck Norris was his favorite film actor.

Leonardo Who?

The candidate had never heard of actor Leonardo DiCaprio or television newscaster Stone Phillips — despite the enormous nationwide exposure of both, Bruni writes.

Asked about HBO's smash hit "Sex and the City," Bush thought it was "an inquiry into his erotic and geographic whereabouts," Bruni writes.

Bush, who gets generally positive treatment from Bruni in the book, nonetheless comes off in parts as a stranger to America outside his own upper-class WASP background. When reporters on the campaign trail used words like "vegan" or "yenta," Bush had no idea what they were talking about, Bruni writes.

Bloat Cuisine

Bush bragged to sushi-eating reporters about how good his peanut butter sandwiches were. His snacks of choice on the campaign trail were Fritos and Cheez Doodles.

Though he wasn't familiar with DiCaprio's role in "Titanic," the highest-grossing film ever, Bush knew the "Austin Powers" movies inside out.

Bruni writes that Bush often lifted his pinkie to the corner of his mouth to mimic the Dr. Evil character in the Powers flicks.

Bush, a competitive and ordinarily focused politician, was nonetheless prone to distraction by trivial matters, Bruni writes.

On the night before the South Carolina primary, which Bush desperately needed to win to stop the momentum of Arizona Sen. John McCain, Bush spotted "an attractive brunette" slipping into the hotel room of campaign staffer Matthew Dowd.

Bush, "in a manner more voyeuristic and gossipy than judgmental," became obsessed with asking campaign officials whether Dowd's wife was with him on the trip. (She was.)

On one of the biggest nights in his political career, "Bush was focused on whether one of his deputies was having a little naughty extracurricular fun," Bruni writes.

[Ziva]

"Yenta" is a Yiddish word that means a persistant and possibly haranging gossipy woman. In "Fiddler on the Roof," there was a character Yenta the matchmaker. She talked a lot, focused on her agenda and ignored what others said.

"To yent" meants "to gossip."

[Savage Beast]

Very good. This guy Bruni is obviously a dim bulb. BTW, I've never seen Melrose Place, Seinfeld, Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris, or Friends; I think I've heard of MP, Chuck Norris, and Seinfeld. I don't know who James Dobson is, and I've never heard of Focus on the Family, Smash Hit, or The Final Hour. I've seen Sex and the City and kinda liked it, but I would not call it high drama; evidently Bruni would. I remember talking with an extremely well educated, highly intellectual, and very rich lady few years ago, who, among other things, is a serious musician, and, in our conversation, it came out that she had no idea who Johnny Carson was. Bruni would no doubt consider her his cultural inferior, whereas she no doubt towers over him and his ilk.

[piasa]

OK. I know what a vegan is- a bad hunter and worthless fisherman.

But what's a 'yenta?'

[piasa]

Oh.

I thought it was something for the Art Bell tinfoil crowd, like a Jewish yeti... or a Jewpracabra.

; )

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Seminars & Agenda for the President's National Cultural Awareness Task Force

*VP Dick Cheney will conduct a seminar on the application of Freudian and Lacanian categories to the films of Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni. Panel discussion will include members of the UCLA Film School and the Yale University English Department, moderated by Prof. Harold Bloom of Yale.

*Sec. Rumsfeld will chair a panel discussion on "Women, Alienation, and the Nature of the Feminine" in the postmodern novel featuring Susan Sontag, Camille Paglia, and Toni Morrison. The discussion will be moderated by novelist Tom Wolfe.

*Sec. of State Colin Powell will conduct a poetry reading seminar in which he will recite T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Dylan Thomas' The Boys of Summer. He will also discuss the hermeneutical relationship between Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now with students from Georgetown and George Washington University. Student and journalistic particpants are asked to bring a copy of the Cliff Notes to Heart of Darkness and a number 2 pencil.

*The President himself will appear on a Special edition of ABC's 20/20 in which he will provide the names of the entire cast of Friends in an interview with Barbwa Walters, explain what "pulling a train" means in the film Metropolitan, and demonstrate the technique of "gatoring" featured in the Toga Party scene in National Lampoon's Animal House.Concluding the session, Dr. Ingrid van der Heydt of the C.G. Jung Institute will present archetypal dream analysis sketches of select White House interns. Some of the president's recent dreams will also be analyzed by members of the Washington Institute of Psychoanalysis.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Dick Cheney's Film Seminars: President's Task Force on Cultural Awareness

[grania]

Actually I thought this was a great piece. It details an overhwhelming number of reasons to like and respect President Bush. Each instance of Bush's "ignorance" (i.e. DiCaprio, Sex and the City), as well as the things he does like (Chuck Norris, Austin Powers, making sure a staffer isn't having an affair), are examples of amazingly positive traits, taste, and concerns.

I agree with you. We have a president who can think for himself, knows when a movie is funny and a TV actor personifies heroic values, isn't afraid to admit that cheese doodles taste better than sushi. Actually, this article makes GWB sound really interesting!

[Utopia]

Sex in the City is boring.
It is only looks good to people who aren't having sex.

[bimbo]

"Lowbrow?" ... The problem with Bruni and other Arrogant Elite Leftists is that THEY DON'T KNOW they are Arrogant Elite Leftists - they think they represent "the common man."

[GenXFreedomFighter]

Oh yeah, that "Sex and the City" is real highbrow stuff...NOT!! I don't even think Sarah Jessica Parker is all that pretty, but yet all of Hollywood and the "cultural elites" smooch her posterior.

The President likes Austin Powers? YEAH BABY!!

[machman]

Chuck Norris? Bah, Jet Li is where the action is!!!

Just Kidding, I like Norris too, he's just getting a little old. But so is Jackie Chan, I don't know how these guys do this stuff after all those years. But Jet Li is the real deal. ;)

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

What I don't understand is why someone would think that close familiarity with Jewish genital humor is some sort of advanced cultural asset or sophistication. Hasn't that already been overblown in "Seinfeld"? Are they THAT out of touch with the rest of the country?

[mountaineer]

The Governor's perfect day would include running, fishing and watching sports on TV, followed by dinner with friends with Van Morrison playing in the background. Then, bed by 10.

Replace "fishing" with "nine holes of golf," and you'd have my perfect day, too. Thank goodness for a president who's unpretentious and authentic.

[mel]

I don't know, since i am in the pop culture void also, i don't know about such stuff..ha, ha ha. NO just kidding, i do remember that now. How juvenile.

I will never forget in the last video Ben Laden saying that he knew we would tuck our tails and run just like we did in Somalia. Old 42s legacy is on a downward spiral each day IMHO. Even if he saves face with liberals, anyone whose elevator goes to the top would have to agree that Clinton set a course for major problems for this country.

I know that God and that is the real and living God had a guiding hand in the last presidential election to save this country from the evils that had plagued us the previous eight years.

[erk]

On one of the biggest nights in his political career, "Bush was focused on whether one of his deputies was having a little naughty extracurricular fun," Bruni writes.

That's because to this President, character counts, Mr. Bruni.

[dead]

Bruni writes that Bush often lifted his pinkie to the corner of his mouth to mimic the Dr. Evil character in the Powers flicks.

LOL!

Though that gag is a bit old-hat for most of us, it must be so much more fun to do when you happen to be the guy with the world’s largest nuclear arsenal at your fingertips.

[Moonman62]

My point is, even in the most seemingly, stable, wish-I-could-have-a-marriage-like-that marriage you, the outsider, never know what's really happening.

My point is the reporter doesn't know what goes on behind closed doors either. He's characterizing all adultery as harmless fun.

[Howlin]

Freepers are SO ahead of the curve, aren't we?

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

ROPFL! Well done!

Every day the idiot press bots give me another reason to LOVE DUBYA!!!!

I have never watched "Sex in the City" either, don't know the names of most of the people in movies or television today - and I too thought the Austin Powers movies were funny (to a point) - but I do like opera and the symphony.

I detest most current "music" (I call it anti-music and consider it forced torture to have to listen to it. But that's ok - my hubby feels the same way about having to listen to opera).

I agree with liking the "early" Beatles better than their later psychedelic stuff.

Sports of all kinds (basketball is my favorite - baseball is boring except during the World Series - and the Super Bowl game this year was THE BEST in many years) are usually the best, most honest things to view on television or in person....for "entertainment" - IMHO.

I like reading nonfiction, historical, and current events types of books - as well as Christian apologetics and other Christian worldview books.

And being with friends and family is so much nicer than being with bought and paid for "friends" ala Bubba's and HItlery's "star" "friends"....

This President GETS IT - and the Hollywierd crowd cannot stand it!

[mombonn]

#46 - Rush just read Maureen Dowd's column on air to opine that Bruni's book is "old news."

Wow, I didn't notice the date when I read it yesterday! 1999! Thanks for posting it.