Hi Jim,

No the "on holiday" bit was entirely mine, nothing to do with Amos.

But in the piece that Amos posted, there are the following which I equated to being the same as someone being "on holiday"

"..up until Sept. 11, 2001, Bush had spent 54 days at the ranch, 38 days at Camp David, and four days at the Bush compound in Kennebunkport—a total of 96 days, or about 40 percent of his presidency, outside of Washington."

By inference:

"Bush has remained a remarkably out-of-touch—leader"

I have deliberately omitted the "or at least out-of-town—leader", because what the author was trying to project to his readers was that Bush was remarkably out of touch. His research has shown clearly that he was at least an out-of-town-leader. There has been no evidence to date to substantiate what Joe Conason is trying to infer.

The inference, leading to me coining the "on holiday" term comes from: "But the most critical problem may have been that the president was off duty."

Who has said he was OFF DUTY? What proof has been offered that he was OFF DUTY? Answer in both cases is none - but it has been inferred, no basis in fact, but that is not going to stop people all to ready to believe it coming out and repeating as fact:

- Look at the time he (GWB) was absent from Washington
- Look where he was spending 40% of his time
- He only spends 60% of his time at work.
- He's the most out of touch President in recent time

None of the above are based on fact, Joe Conason's research, and the way it has been presented, is deliberately meant to mislead, and misrepresent - And I believe that Mr. Conason knows that full well.