Down on the Ranch, President Wages War on the Underbrush

Our "War President", it seems, wages war even on vacation. If there is something to lash out at, kill, stomp on, destroy, slash, burn, chop, or massacre -- by George, he'll find it and do it. Whatta guy.

So what makes his 365 days of vacation(!!!) any different from his war-waging-working-White House days? Carnage is carnage, right?

"On most of the 365 days he has enjoyed at his secluded ranch here, President Bush's idea of paradise is to hop in his white Ford pickup truck in jeans and work boots, drive to a stand of cedars, and whack the trees to the ground."

Sounds like a job for a real intellectual--y'know, one of them there 'passionate 'servatives.

"Sometimes this activity is the only official news to come out of what aides call the Western White House...."

That and a lot of snoring...

"For Bush, who is known to spend early-morning hours hacking at unwanted mesquite, cocklebur weeds, hanging limbs and underbrush only to go back for more after lunch, it borders on obsession....

Well, I suppose it's an improvement over his past drug and booze obsessions and his current obsession with "God". On second thought, anybody know a good shrink?

"For George W. Bush, clearing brush projects the image of a cowboy president, a tough rancher fighting the elements to survive."

Clearly, he hasn't seen "Brokeback Mountain" yet. (Ooo-eeee, what I would give to be a fly on the back of a horse in that movie theatre.)

The tough rancher image "is, of course, the White House's projection; the president's critics take a dimmer view."

Check out "Preznit'l dick swingin'" on D A T E L I N E : B R I S T O L for some great yuks from those taking the more critical perspective.

See also: Down on the Ranch, President Wages War on the Underbrush - Washington Post

Photo Credit: By Eric Draper -- White House