I'm sure many would consider this information on Bush's lack of knowledge on modern culture as a severe handicap. I think it's good news, myself.

...Bush viewed the musical "Cats" as modern theater at its finest, Bruni writes, and openly admitted that martial artist Chuck Norris was his favorite film actor.



The candidate had never heard of actor Leonardo DiCaprio or television newscaster Stone Phillips — despite the enormous nationwide exposure of both, Bruni writes.



Can such ignorance be? I didn't know who the hell Stone Phillips was either, although the name is recognizable. For the record, I also liked "Cats" and Chuck Norris.

Asked about HBO's smash hit "Sex and the City," Bush thought it was "an inquiry into his erotic and geographic whereabouts," Bruni writes.

Bush is probably pulling Bruni's chain, but Bruni doesn't get it.

Bush, who gets generally positive treatment from Bruni in the book, nonetheless comes off in parts as a stranger to America outside his own upper-class WASP background. When reporters on the campaign trail used words like "vegan" or "yenta," Bush had no idea what they were talking about, Bruni writes.

I'm sorry. This amazing verbal whiplash caught me by surprise. Is it just me, or are DiCaprio, Stone Phillips, "Sex and the City," and words like "vegan" not precisely the sorts of things that are all about upper-class WASPs? White upperclass liberals, to be precise? Does the average Texas farmer watch "Sex and the City" a lot? Is he a vegan?

Bush bragged to sushi-eating reporters about how good his peanut butter sandwiches were. His snacks of choice on the campaign trail were Fritos and Cheez Doodles.



Though he wasn't familiar with DiCaprio's role in "Titanic," the highest-grossing film ever, Bush knew the "Austin Powers" movies inside out. Bruni writes that Bush often lifted his pinkie to the corner of his mouth to mimic the Dr. Evil character in the Powers flicks.

Bush, a competitive and ordinarily focused politician, was nonetheless prone to distraction by trivial matters, Bruni writes.

On the night before the South Carolina primary, which Bush desperately needed to win to stop the momentum of Arizona Sen. John McCain, Bush spotted "an attractive brunette" slipping into the hotel room of campaign staffer Matthew Dowd.

Bush, "in a manner more voyeuristic and gossipy than judgmental," became obsessed with asking campaign officials whether Dowd's wife was with him on the trip. (She was.)

On one of the biggest nights in his political career, "Bush was focused on whether one of his deputies was having a little naughty extracurricular fun," Bruni writes.



We can just imagine what Clinton would have been wondering.

I am not even sure what the actual point of this article is. If it's to try the old "grocery scanner" scam on George W. Bush, it ain't gonna work very well. I'm sorry, but a reading of the facts in this article would lead any reasonable person to conclude that Bush is exactly the OPPOSITE of an "upper-class WASP." Can you believe this crap?