[smith288]

"I glance at the headlines just to kind of [sic] a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read [sic] the news themselves."

I said in the live thread that that comment is going to bite him in the arse. Why wouldnt he keep abreast of current events? Im assuming he is trying the athlete cliche of "I dont pay attention to the papers". Well Bush is no Pro athlete.

I find it discouraging that he needs to get fed news from his staff than get it himself. Middle of the road people will feel the same.

[Ann Archy]

You can NOT be serious!! Bush gets FACTS from all kinds of sources...why would he waste time reading second hand stuff??? That's the sign of a good manager and smart person. It would be like a CEO reading The National Enquirer.....geesh.

[Judith Anne]

The President gets a news briefing every morning. I'm glad he's not wasting time reading the paper. All Presidents get their news that way. Been that way for a long time.

[cyncooper]

I find it discouraging that he needs to get fed news from his staff than get it himself.

He doesn't "need" to. He has bigger fish to fry and access to the real information that the papers turn around and misreport. His staff is there to tell him how the libs are spinning it and what the tone and such is. But when it comes to the news, he has the authentic sources and knows what's really going on.

[Mo1]

I find it discouraging that he needs to get fed news from his staff than get it himself. Middle of the road people will feel the same.

He gets a daily briefing of current events and threats to our country.

Why would he need to read articles like this?

I might add .. Clinton may have read all the gooing reports about him in the papers

But he never bothered to have time for the CIA Director to get daily briefings

[AmishDude]

Why should W read an AP story speculating on the latest developments on the CIA's search for bin Laden when he has the source material?

Besides, maybe he forgoes the newspapers for FR.

[Marylander]

The suggestion that the President ought to get his information from newspaper articles is ludicrous. The general public does not trust news reporters and the general public is correct.

Except for direct, attributed quotes, every news story should be regarded with suspicion, and usually cannot be said to be true or false until after it is borne out by events. Reporters are not always truthful about the information they convey and when they are truthful, their information is from a leak. Why would the president not know more than the leaker?

[concerned about politics]

I find it discouraging that he needs to get fed news from his staff than get it himself.

Most of the liberal news is overly emotional Bush bashing anyway. There's nothing important he doesn't already know. Reading the words of fools can distort a persons reality, especially if taken seriously.
I don't blame him for using his time more productively. Smart man!

[ravingnutter]

I find it discouraging that he needs to get fed news from his staff than get it himself.

Why read fiction when you can get the real facts first hand from people in-the-know.

[WOSG]

This is so out-of-context ... he gets daily CIA, national security and chief of staff briefings. He doesnt *need* the NYSlimes to figure out what's going on.

in short, this is patronizing BS to infer his not reading the daily rags amounts to being uninformed.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Fool.

The shame is that too many in his administration read the (liberal's) blather in those very "papers" you want him to read.

He (Bush) went on to add that he is BRIEFED daily by the people who the "papers" are misquoting and lying about .....

So why should he read the "papers" written by liars lying about what he has already been officially briefed about?