BREAKING: Bush signs book deal

[Brittain33]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/us/politics/19bush.html

George W. Bush, advised after he left office to wait a little while before writing a book, secured a $7 million advance regardless to write his memoirs. Decision Points will eschew narrative in favor of explaining twelve of his most difficult decisions in his office, while dealing with such issues as his discovery of faith, his decision to stop drinking, and his relationships with his family.

Bonus for Democrats: the book will come out in fall 2010.

[Brittain33]

I'll gladly purchase and read that book. As much as I despise Bush's politics, I can't hate the guy personally, and I am interested in what he has to say.

I can bring myself to expect anything insightful, revelatory, or non-self-serving from him in this book.

[Brittain33]

I'll gladly purchase and read that book. As much as I despise Bush's politics, I can't hate the guy personally, and I am interested in what he has to say.

I can bring myself to expect anything insightful, revelatory, or non-self-serving from him in this book.

It isn't as though he'll be writing it himself anyway.

Yes but he's supplying the content that the ghost writer shapes into a story. Bush is going to talk about how brave he was, how he considered all the options, how his faith guided him, no one suffered more than him when American soldiers lost their lives, etc. and once he made his decision he stuck by it and did what he thought was best for America. His parents have been helpful role models, yadda yadda zzzzzzz....

[Brittain33]

Looking forward to it.

What did you think of A Charge to Keep? Recommended?

[Brittain33]

who they actually think he is an illiterate,

Foul ball! Pointing out that someone isn't able to write a book himself, which is true of most politicians, is far from saying he is "illiterate." John McCain uses ghost writers, as did Bill Clinton.

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It's funny that he thinks there's a market for his wisdom so soon after his judgment was widely repudiated by most of the country--everyone except a rump within his own party. It's not my judgment, it's that of book agents who told him to "wait awhile" until, like his role models Truman or Nixon, his reputation has unsoured enough to provide an opening for his wisdom.

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You're so ready to provide blurbs for Decision Points. I can't think of a better summary of the kind of bilge that Bush administration insiders like Rove and Cheney would churn out for Regnery books et al.

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Go for it. If you can demonstrate that George W. Bush is a gifted author and master of the English language who demonstrates honest self-reflection and incisive self-analysis in his thinking and writing, you can "cut through it" easily.

[Brittain33]

It's funny that he thinks there's a market for his wisdom so soon after his judgment was widely repudiated by most of the country--everyone except a rump within his own party. It's not my judgment, it's that of book agents who told him to "wait awhile" until, like his role models Truman or Nixon, his reputation has unsoured enough to provide an opening for his wisdom.

What does "his wisdom" have to do with anything?  He was probably the most important person in the world during the last eight years, and is one of the most controversial figures in recent history.  You don't this book is gonna sell like crazy?

Honestly, I don't, because there is no expectation he's going to say something interesting or new that we haven't heard before, most recently in his round of end-of-term interviews. The "wisdom" angle comes from the conceit of the book, which is that it is about his 12 toughest decisions and how he made them. He has never accepted or acknowledged criticism of what he has done, so he will be restating his own justifications for his decisions, selectively choosing and reporting evidence to paint himself in the best possible light as he did in all of those interviews. Of course I'm biased, but that approach to his memoirs strikes me as more self-serving and meanderingly masturbatory than a straight-forward narrative of what happened while he was President. He is putting his own thought processes at the center of the book, and are there people who are curious about how Bush believes he thinks?

I'm sure I sound like a raging hack, but I will say that I've never wanted to read Bill Clinton's memoirs, either, because he was equally bad at framing events and blocking out unpleasant facts to paint himself in the best light.

I'd be interested in a Cheney book that spoke openly about his influence in the administration, even if it was written to make himself look good. That would speak more to what really happened.