Bush Sets Vacation Record, Red State America Sees This As Proof He's A Regular Guy

I've been looking at the press coverage of Bush's upcoming vacation, which will be the longest Presidential vacation in 36 years. In addition, he's about to break Reagan's record for most total time away from the White House. The big city papers are more likely to call attention to the Bush's extensive vacations and contrast it to the paucity of vacation time most Americans have. The smaller, so-called heartland papers, by contrast, talk about all the down-home folksy barbecue diplomacy that's going to happen down on the good ol' ranch. Is there a more perfect example of how events get filtered and interpreted through your red or blue colored glasses?

If you really want your mind blown, read this from redstate.org, which views the vacation as a good thing because he's getting away from the liberal elite. Unbelievable. In the comments, someone even says they voted for Bush because he's stronger on terror. I guess the guy in his mind equates strong family/ranch/vacation with strong on terror, which is sick considering that if Bush wasn't on vacation pre-Sept 11 2001 he may have paid more attention to the terror alert.

http://adamsweb.redstate.org/story/2005/8/1/172439/4665
Washington is an impressive city in many ways: its monuments, the halls of Government and the trappings of power are quite seductive. This isn't what President Bush is all about. At his core, the President is a man of middle American Texas values. He's not impressed with Washington's self-important social class or the Washington culture of hypocrisy and back-stabbing.

The President needs to get away, so he goes home to his favorite place, his Crawford ranch. There he goes about every day tasks like clearing brush and driving a pick-up truck. Its in these activities that a powerful man keeps his focus. He keeps his eye and his heart on that home and never loses his soul to the political battles around him, like so many in Washington do.
Its where the President develops relationships with World leaders as he invites important people to meet him away from the hustle and bustle of Washington. Suits and ties aren't required as the President focuses on understanding and building relationships in a comfortable setting.