Surprise, Surprise: Bush Is a Voracious Reader

In a WSJ column, Karl Rove reports that President Bush has read an astounding 186 books in the last three years. That translates to well over one book per week. I don't read nearly as much, and just in case you didn't know, I am not President.

Rove's column concludes with the following:

In the 35 years I've known George W. Bush, he's always had a book nearby. He plays up being a good ol' boy from Midland, Texas, but he was a history major at Yale and graduated from Harvard Business School. You don't make it through either unless you are a reader.

There is a myth perpetuated by Bush critics that he would rather burn a book than read one. Like so many caricatures of the past eight years, this one is not only wrong, but also the opposite of the truth and evidence that bitterness can devour a small-minded critic. Mr. Bush loves books, learns from them, and is intellectually engaged by them.

That's pretty interesting. Of course, the Left will claim that Rove made it all up.