Comments on: A SHORT NOTE ON ADDUCING THE POLITICS OF ANYONE BY PERUSING THEIR BOOKSHELF

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:25:12 +0000

Rick,

Good points all. In my opinion one of the regrettable things about the internet and 24 hour news cycle is that it has made us a nation of shallow people making decisions on terribly thin information.
I am only 50 but grew up in a time when we would spend many of our summer vacation days going to the library, checking out a bunch of books and then hanging out reading them all.
In the past year I’ve made a conscious change in that I force myself to read a book a week as well as subscribe to Foreign Affairs just to get serious background on weighty topics.
As for which books the President has I agree that there is no need for hysterics. I can remember my brother and I in college when we discovered Ayn Rand. I spent a full week day and night tearing through that book. At the time we were sold on the ideas she had. 30 years later his experiences have led him to be fairly liberal as far as social ideas but he still is as conservative as it gets in his day to day lifestyle. Me, I went to a pretty conservative bent on all issues until after the 2000 election. At that point I began to reassess what my sources of information were and why I couldn’t question some aspects of conservatives. It caused me to get back into reading diverse works and I think I am better for it. Guess I’d call myself a full fledged moderate.

By: narciso

narciso — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:39:35 +0000

How about her dissertation, her remarks how she was only proud of America, because Obama might get elected, or his syllabi in his courses at the U. Chicago,I agree it’s a cheap shot to focus on her book case,

By: grognard

grognard — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:07:25 +0000

The antenna in my tinfoil hat allows me to contact Rush Limbaugh to get the CPAC approved reading list. Right now I am reading “Red meat and Kool aid, the John Birch Society cookbook”.

On a more serious note, I picked up Mao’s little red book to see what the fuss was all about in the Red Guard era. What a load of nonsense psychobabble. But it is still on my bookshelf, guess I’m still in the Red Guard.

By: Ron Beasley

Ron Beasley — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:25:52 +0000

I’m sorry the conservative movement has left you behind. I’m an atheist but I have a copy of the Bible on my bookshelf and have read more of it than most people who claim to be Christians. I also have a copy of Atlas Shrugged and I’ve read it although I find Rand’s philosophy repulsive.

By: Tc

Tc — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:33:26 +0000

Beautifully said, Rick. Right on.

By: sota

sota — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:49:56 +0000

Washington Post update…perhaps Michelle Obama had nothing to do with any of these books being placed where they are?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/shortstack/2010/02/socialist_books_in_the_white_h.html

Everyone is so quick to play “AHA!”…it’s sad and disappointing. I await the Photoshopped pictures of George W. Bush’s library choices and accompanying jokes. Maybe there will be a great new controversy erupting here where real pictures of the Obama’s reading lists are revealed. The left will call these people Bookers or something else suitably clever.

By: BellWeather Bill

BellWeather Bill — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:37:57 +0000

oy f’ing vey

By: Allen

Allen — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:46:29 +0000

That’s pathetic. He’s on a Whitehouse tour and that’s what he noticed. Forget the rampant stupidity about making hay from a few books in a library that probably consists of thousands. Forget the irony of missing the old adage of not judging a book by it’s cover.

But, he literally found nothing else of interest in the Whitehouse?

By: michael reynolds

michael reynolds — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:32:50 +0000

Still Liberal:

Shel Silverstein? Not The Giving Tree, I hope. I hate that book.

By: Brainster

Brainster — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:10:55 +0000

What’s most notable is that the books are ancient. I doubt any of them were originally published in Michelle Obama’s lifetime.