Fluff

Today's New York Times offers a taste of Robert Draper's forthcoming authorized biography of Bush.

I'll give a quick rundown of the quotes (many months old, but which the Times agreed to embargo until their appearance would help publicize the book's release):

• What does Bush plan to do after January 2009? “I’ll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol’ coffers.” [Bush is currently worth $21 million.] Run something called a Freedom Institute. And goof around: “I can just envision getting in the car, getting bored, going down to the ranch.” I can envision that too. In fact, he's probably doing that right this minute.

• What's the purpose of the troop escalation? If you squint, you can see the word 'forever': “To get us in a position where the presidential candidates will be comfortable about sustaining a presence,” and, he said later, “stay longer.” Now that's interesting. In the president's view, the purpose of military action is in providing justification for yet more military action. An endless loop of circular rationales. A Moebius strip.
  

• What is Bush on guard about in himself? “Self-pity is the worst thing that can happen to a presidency,” Mr. Bush told Mr. Draper, by way of saying he sought to avoid it. “This is a job where you can have a lot of self-pity.” I love the author's inclusion of that explanatory note between quotes.
  

• Does Bush have a shoulder to cry on? “Of course I do, I’ve got God’s shoulder to cry on, and I cry a lot.” In what Mr. Draper interpreted as a reference to war casualties, Mr. Bush added, “I’ll bet I’ve shed more tears than you can count as president.” Bush's suck-on-this! braggadocio extends even to his assertion that he's a bigger cryer. Quien es mas macho!

The article does present a grim but fascinating picture of what it took Mr. Draper to obtain access to Bush:

Aides said Mr. Bush agreed to speak so freely with Mr. Draper only after years of lobbying, in which Mr. Draper said he finally convinced Mr. Bush and his aides that he was writing about him as “a consequential president” for history, not for the latest news cycle. And aides said they saw the book as the first effort to write about Mr. Bush in the context of nearly his entire presidency.

The lobbying culminated at a meeting at the White House last August in which Mr. Bush grilled Mr. Draper on why he should cooperate with him of all the authors likely to come knocking. Mr. Draper replied that his book could provide “the raw material” for others after him, a point Mr. Bush apparently came to embrace.

I can't imagine the degree of self-abasement required to secure this president's participation in Bush's 24/7 hagiography enterprise.

What is the title of the book, you ask?

Dead Certain.

Insert your own joke here.