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I'm off to do some important reading!

I couldn't wait until 1/27 for Amazon to deliver my "Rebel in Chief" book, so I purchased an early copy today.

If the first chapter is any indication, I'm in for a GREAT read!

Here's a sample for you:

"For now, the president has to attend an off-the-record lunch in the White House study adjacent to the State Dining Room. "Why do I have to go to this meeting?" Bush asks his communications director, Dan Bartlett. "It's traditional," Bartlett explains. [Attendees: Peter Jennings, George Stephanopoulos, Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams, Chris Wallance, Brit Hume, Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff, and Dan Rather.]

Bush's dread of the lunch is understandable. With few possible exceptions -- Hume is one -- the anchors are faithful purveyors of the conventioal wisdom, which is usually gloomy regarding outcomes that might cast Bush in a good light . . . The president agrees with practically none of it.

Sure enough, once the lunch meeting begins, the president takes issue with many of the anchors' claims. . . Woodruff says that critics worry the president is resolved to take on tyrannies everywhere. "I wasn't aware that was a criticism." Bush answers sarcastically. Jennings says an Aerican general in Iraq told him that the Syrians are helpful there. "I'd like to talk to that general," Bush says in disbelief. In fact, the Syrians are nothing but trouble, he adds, and have been all along. Bush chastises his media guests for negativism. "Nobody around this table thought the elections were going to go that well in Afghanistan, Palestine, Ukraine, and Iraq." And they darn well should understnad that he intends to dominate Washington and impose his priorities: "If the president doesn't set the agenda," Bush delcares firmly, "it'll be set for him."

Bush's conduct at the lunch -- edgy, blunt, self-confident, a bit smart-alecky, disdainful of what the media icons are peddling -- is typical. In private or public, he is defiant of the press, scornful of the conventional wisdom, and keen to reverse or at least substantially reform long-standing policies like support for undemocratic but friendly autocracies . . ."

You can purchase a copy of the book at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307336492/ref=pd_kar_gw_1/103-9218498-8122207?n=283155