The Stranger

This is charming.

The White House has decided to try and convince the world that Bush isn't a big effing moron. So what do they do? They announce that over his summer vacation, Bush read "The Stranger" by Camus.

Over the next few days, there was a lot of mockery from various quarters. No way did Bush read this book, people said. Why are they trying to make him look more intellectually curious. Everyone has missed the fundamental issue with this story.

Bush's big summer read was a book about - that's right - a sociopath who kills an Arab. That's what Bush read, after spending three years killing Arabs. This is a pretty tasteless statement from the White House. When The Cure wrote a song about the book, they ended up having to play a benefit concert for Arab children some years later.