by Mark Silva
You know it's August when Camp David, Kennebunkport and Crawford, Texas, all show up on the president's schedules in the course of a week.
And, so it is August: President Bush is having lunch today with Defense Secretary Robert Gates today at Camp David, the wooded retreat nestled in Catoctin Mountain Park in northern Maryland where Bush played host to the president of Afghanistan the past two days.
It's 10 degrees cooler than Washington in the mountain retreat that Franklin Delano Roosevelt founded, naming it Shangri-La. The president will come down from the low mountains of Maryland long enough to spend a day in Washington on Wednesday in meetings on the economy -- and to deliver a statement on the economy from the U.S. Treasury Department -- before heading to Kennebunkport and to Walker's Point, his father's summer home on the rocky coast of Maine.
The president will stay at Kennebunkport for three days before returning to Washington for a day on Sunday and then heading out to his Prairie Chapel Ranch outside Crawford, Tex., on Monday for some extended time away. There will be rest, and there will be work, including an overnight trip to Canada the following week for an international summit with the Canadian prime minister and president of Mexico. But it's likely back to Crawford for Bush after that.
It's August. Congress is gone.
A helmet of haze has descended over Washington, with daytime temperatures in the 90s and particulate matter in the air on certain days not advisable for "sensitive people.'' Saturday night, the ozone and particulate matter measured at the McMillan Reservoir in Washington reached into the realm of "unhealthy for sensitive people.''
Or maybe they meant sensible people, the ones heading out of town in August. Even the National Parks webcam that provides the morning shot of the Washington Monument featured here most mornings is down for maintenance. The monument, however, is still there.
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Comments
I was wondering when we'd get the obligatory Bush is on vacation Swamp post. Now, watch all the weirdo, dingbat, Loony Lefters feast on this like mosquitos on an open arm.
Bzzzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzz.
Posted by: John D | August 7, 2007 8:55 AM
John D
Didn't you just blast Blago in another post for not being present. Not that I disagree (both Blago & Bush are useless in my book), but it's a bit of a double standard you've created.
A little continuity in your ass-hattery would be nice.
Posted by: Mordechai | August 7, 2007 9:54 AM
Bush and the Iraqi government go on vacation while this is going on (from Reuters):
Off the battlefield, Iraq's crumbling national unity government was in crisis after five secularist ministers said they would boycott cabinet meetings until Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki addressed demands they first gave him in February.
The move means that 17 ministers, nearly half the cabinet, have now quit or are boycotting government meetings. The main Sunni Arab bloc pulled out last week and ministers loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr withdrew in April.
Posted by: Cheryl | August 7, 2007 11:20 AM
"SAME TIME SAME PLACE"
LIKE SAND IN THE HOUR GLASS.
NOTHING CHANGES, ARCHIVES DON'T LIE.
BUSH RETREATS TO BUSH CAMP AND SURROUNDS HIMSELF WITH THE POLITICS OF HIS WAR AND HIS CONTINUED STRUGGLE OF THE 21ST CENTURY. THAT DAMN CONSTITUTION VERSUS SAND BOWLING.
STILL THE SAME WAR DRUMS STILL BEATING THE PAVEMENT SELLING MORE AND MORE FEAR. NO GREEN, YELLOW, OR RED THIS YEAR. JUST ANOTHER 911 SECRET THAT HAD TO CIRCUMVENT THE 4TH AMENDMENT.
HOW ABOUT THAT BUSH SIGNS INTO LAW AN ILLEGAL LAW BASED ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW! NOW THAT IS A NEW ONE FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO PONDER WHILE HE AND THE IRAQI PARLIAMENT ARE OUT GETTING THAT TAN.
ITS NOT KATRINA AND ITS NOT THAT 3,700 MEN AND WOMEN, SONS AND DAUGHTERS, FATHERS AND MOTHERS THAT HAVE DIED BECAUSE OF ALL THIS POLITICAL POSTURING FOR THAT "CONSOLIDATION OF AMERICA AND ITS FOUR EXECUTIVE BRANCHES"
SATIN 1639 CAMP DAVID STREET. "STRIKING" ATTORNEY GENERAL, INSERT "SECRETARY"
"STRIKING" SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, SECRETARY OF TREASURER, SECRETARY OF INTERIOR, SECRETARY OF STATE, INSERT "SECRETARY"
YES ALL FOR CHERTOF!
ITS TIME TO READ THE BILL AMERICA. IS THIS WHAT YOU REALLY WANT. CONSOLIDATION OF YOUR NATIONALITY AND YOUR CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AND AMERICA AS WE KNOW IT.
CIRCUMVENTING THE LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES...SAME TIME SAME PLACE LIKE SAND IN THE HOUR GLASS.
Posted by: Roger Morris | August 7, 2007 8:33 PM