Nerd, I don't remember seeing you're post. I was responding to someone else I know.

"'In one of those images, Tony Blair appears! Obviously, Bush cannot have been on vacation if he was meeting with a head of state, blah, blah, bluster, bluster!' cries Hitchens."

I see your point, but it is true that since Eisenhower had Camp David built, it and the various other presidential second homes have been used for working vacations. It's not just Blair, it's Putin, Vicente Fox, members of the Cabinet, House and Senate including Ted Kennedy, a regular string of people. You often accomplish more when you're not tied to the White House. Can you at least see what Hitchens is trying to get at? With all those people coming and going and with the ranch having one of the world's most sophisticated communications and e-conferencing facilities, do you really thing a President could be off duty or out of touch (not cheap shots, now!)? Does one disputable point in his article make it completely invalid anymore than the criticism of Moore's film make it invalid?

For what it's worth, down here Dubya has a repuation for being incredibly charming and persuasive one on one. I know it's hard to believe. It's in the more public settings he's clumsy. When you're at the ranch, watch out. You're on his native turf. How do you think he got Kennedy to co-sponsor that education bill?