Can Dubyah even spell "existentialist"?

• Gov. Bush recently read Camus' The Stranger on his summer vacation.

First thought: Good. It's a better choice than My Pet Goat.

Second thought: Did he understand it?

Third thought: Oh, sure, he did. He's the ostensible leader of the free world.

Fourth thought: Then again, he did talk about conducting "crusades" right after 9/11, and he's reading a book about the senseless murder of an Arab while Lebanon is bombing the holy shit out of Israel.

Unhappy tales of East meets West are found in the papers every day, so presumably the president was looking for more, but his aides will not tell us what he made of the story of a remorseless killer of Arabs. White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush "found it an interesting book and a quick read" and talked about it with aides. "I don't want to go too deep into it, but we discussed the origins of existentialism," said Snow.

Fifth thought: Dubyah's literary aptitude is a big fat easy target (on par with jokes about airline food and Paris Hilton), but still... whatta bozo.

Slate says it best:

This may be the first time that national security demands an official version of literary criticism. We want a book report!

Don't worry. Salon has it:

Anyways, I'm glad I read it because next time Monsieur Prime Minister of Frogland Whoever says, What you reading? I can say, Hey, how about that "Stranger" book, huh? Isn't that a piece of work? We shouldn't fear a world that is more interacted, even if it's by books.

And maybe next time, Mrs. First Lady of Smartsville, you'll believe me when I say I think I'll read me a good book tonight. 'Cause "The Stranger" was cool, and even though it was in French, it read just like English. I mean, every word was in English, which makes me wonder why folks even bother learning other languages. Meantime, I can't wait to meet the author, so I can tell him how much his book rocked. Except maybe he'll want to kiss me on the cheek or something, which would make Joe Lieberman all jealous. Never mind, I'll send a note. "Heck of a job, Ca-Moose-and-Squirrel!" You'll check the spelling, won't you? If Condi's not around?