Ronald Kessler
Matter of Character " explores the White House as an organization led by President George W, Bush, his leadership style, and some of his motivations for pursuing certain policies, In contrast to President Bill Clinton's White House, which the author Ronald Kessler scathingly painted as an undisciplined frat party, President Bush's White House was highly organized, disciplined and loyal to President Bush.
Admittedly, this book is highly complementary to President Bush, and generally critical of the Clinton White House, While it is easy to be skeptical of potential biases the author may harbor, it should be remembered that Ronald Kessler is likely highly connected via secret service and other governmental agencies to many witnesses of the 'behind the scenes' activities of both the Clinton and Bush White Houses.
It is important to note that this book was written in, only halfway through President Bush's overall presidential term, There are many significant events that took place during his presidency that had not yet taken place during the authorship of this book, However, I still believe this book is a source worthy of backchecking the caricatures of George W, Bush as portrayed in the press and by the Democratic national party, in order to better understand the real George W, Bush. I Own a copy, was a fan then and read it then with enthusiasm, But I feel different about Bush as he is the establishment.
This book was ok. Pretty predictable. It was worth the read, but there was nothing learned from the book, I went in with an open mind to try and see a balanced view of George Bush, Because the media has slammed him a lot, But that wasn't this book, While trying to refute various Media claims about Bush, it is like propaganda, NOTHING negative is said. Lets face it all people have negative sides, Kessler tries to portray Bush as a saint, And many of his refutations are one piece of a bigger criticism, Like her addresses only two elements of the Patriot Act criticims libraries and wiretapping, The Patriot Act has a lot more in it than that, that the media and others find faulty, In refuting Against All enemies by Richard C Clarke, counterterrorism chief foradministrations, he sticks to one main claim, And even if that claim were incorrect, the book itself shows strengths and weaknesses of all four administrations, Both sides. Something this book does not,
An unbiased biography would show strengths and weaknesses of the subject and admit that every person has both, This book does not do that, In addressing the way Bush makes decisions and sticks with them, he does not admit that this can be a weakness if the decision was wrong.
At times Kessler also takes a mocking tone re, liberals, the media, Valerie Plame, The Clintons etc, . . That kind of tone is also not unbiased, It is actually rather unprofessional,
I would like to know the truth about a lot of the claims re Bush, I just don't trust Kessler's claims because of the tone and the lack of ANY criticism, Maybe someone else will analyze the same issues more professionally so I can have more faith in his claims,
I expected more from someone of Kessler's position, A Matter of Character reveals the fine print behind some of the decisions and efforts of President Bush and his Administration, It reinforces for me what a good and Godly man he truly is, He did his best for our Nation, He gave all. He kept us safe, tracked down terrorists, and defended Democracy around the globe,
Welcome home to Texas President and Mrs, Bush!
sitelink guardian. co. uk/world/galle
Quite a different view of thed president from what the liberal media has led us to believe, However, the book is not well written, describing Bush's personality, attention to punctuality and detail and his high IQ ofapparently just behind JQ Adams and Nixon.
The bkk mainly compares Bush's "class act" to that of Pres, Clinton and his bombasticst Lady, Hillary and each president's way of treating their staff and dealing with problems/issues, It is author's theory that it defintely was Bush's personality and aggressiveness which led to running the taliban out of Afghanistan and bring down Hussein in Iraq both, where Clinton had failed.
Keep in mind that Kessler is a reporter for the liberal NY Times! That many of Bush's critics did not have their facts straight, and that at least on of his friends was willing to say that Bush was curious.
Let me start off by saying that I don't claim a political party, I vote for individual candidates on values and issues, by order of priority, It's always bothered me the lack of personal conviction and integrity that ever manages to be conveyed about any political candidates, The big hype is always how well they speak and how plastic hey present themselves in front of a camera, I couldn't be more disinterested in such superficial indicators, I'd rather a potential representative be plainly rough around the edges than have their edges concealed in a pretty frame, And as much as I've heard bits and pieces in media about George W, it has largely been very onedimensional and obviously acrid,
I've felt like this book has helped me round out the man in my own head, and painted him as very much human.
Not as a 'perfect' human, as I've noticed some mention about this book, No, this book offered a perspective of GW as more of a flamboyant, functional alcoholic trying to crawl out from under his father's shadow, who married a remarkable woman, and had a "come to Jesus" of sorts.
At times I felt like it didn't go into enough detail, but I was amazed at the clarity it gave me on pertinent issues of the early nineties that were near and dear to the Bushes, namely the plummeting test scores and soaring illiteracy rate in the public schools the cause of which I wasn't fully aware of until reading this book.
Prompting some further research on the "whole word" method, It was certainly worth my time, The kind of book you can comfortably read in bitesized pieces, taking a little something away each visit, Mr. Kessler has wrote better books, It's really short and I expected so much more from him, I thought that he would explore why he thought President Bush had character, Just found it to be rambling about certain things then about other things there was nothing, I wanted him to explain different relationships that we has had with people like Karl Rove and Karen Hughes, He mentions them but not in detail, I think the most disappointing thing is how he handles President Bush's relationship with Laura, This book could have been a great study of a president instead it was a rehash of things already mentioned in the press, More than seventyfive books attacking George W, Bush have been published so far, Now, finally, theres a book that sets the record straight against a backdrop of media bias, And its not by a conservative idealogue but by an awardwinning independent reporter who set out to find the real President Bush behind the twodimensional public image.
Kessler has made George W, Bush into a Stepford President, He and his staff do no wrong and the nasty, nasty media of which Kessler was once a member and the obstructive Democrats are out to get this President.
Because I had never read anything about George W, Bush before, I did get some information on his life and was reminded of some things I'd forgotten that he handled during his Presidency, Otherwise, I took the total adulation of George W, Bush and the writer's outrage at the media and the Democrats with a true grain of salt, Any other reader would be wise to do the same, .
Admittedly, this book is highly complementary to President Bush, and generally critical of the Clinton White House, While it is easy to be skeptical of potential biases the author may harbor, it should be remembered that Ronald Kessler is likely highly connected via secret service and other governmental agencies to many witnesses of the 'behind the scenes' activities of both the Clinton and Bush White Houses.
It is important to note that this book was written in, only halfway through President Bush's overall presidential term, There are many significant events that took place during his presidency that had not yet taken place during the authorship of this book, However, I still believe this book is a source worthy of backchecking the caricatures of George W, Bush as portrayed in the press and by the Democratic national party, in order to better understand the real George W, Bush. I Own a copy, was a fan then and read it then with enthusiasm, But I feel different about Bush as he is the establishment.
This book was ok. Pretty predictable. It was worth the read, but there was nothing learned from the book, I went in with an open mind to try and see a balanced view of George Bush, Because the media has slammed him a lot, But that wasn't this book, While trying to refute various Media claims about Bush, it is like propaganda, NOTHING negative is said. Lets face it all people have negative sides, Kessler tries to portray Bush as a saint, And many of his refutations are one piece of a bigger criticism, Like her addresses only two elements of the Patriot Act criticims libraries and wiretapping, The Patriot Act has a lot more in it than that, that the media and others find faulty, In refuting Against All enemies by Richard C Clarke, counterterrorism chief foradministrations, he sticks to one main claim, And even if that claim were incorrect, the book itself shows strengths and weaknesses of all four administrations, Both sides. Something this book does not,
An unbiased biography would show strengths and weaknesses of the subject and admit that every person has both, This book does not do that, In addressing the way Bush makes decisions and sticks with them, he does not admit that this can be a weakness if the decision was wrong.
At times Kessler also takes a mocking tone re, liberals, the media, Valerie Plame, The Clintons etc, . . That kind of tone is also not unbiased, It is actually rather unprofessional,
I would like to know the truth about a lot of the claims re Bush, I just don't trust Kessler's claims because of the tone and the lack of ANY criticism, Maybe someone else will analyze the same issues more professionally so I can have more faith in his claims,
I expected more from someone of Kessler's position, A Matter of Character reveals the fine print behind some of the decisions and efforts of President Bush and his Administration, It reinforces for me what a good and Godly man he truly is, He did his best for our Nation, He gave all. He kept us safe, tracked down terrorists, and defended Democracy around the globe,
Welcome home to Texas President and Mrs, Bush!
sitelink guardian. co. uk/world/galle
Quite a different view of thed president from what the liberal media has led us to believe, However, the book is not well written, describing Bush's personality, attention to punctuality and detail and his high IQ ofapparently just behind JQ Adams and Nixon.
The bkk mainly compares Bush's "class act" to that of Pres, Clinton and his bombasticst Lady, Hillary and each president's way of treating their staff and dealing with problems/issues, It is author's theory that it defintely was Bush's personality and aggressiveness which led to running the taliban out of Afghanistan and bring down Hussein in Iraq both, where Clinton had failed.
Keep in mind that Kessler is a reporter for the liberal NY Times! That many of Bush's critics did not have their facts straight, and that at least on of his friends was willing to say that Bush was curious.
Let me start off by saying that I don't claim a political party, I vote for individual candidates on values and issues, by order of priority, It's always bothered me the lack of personal conviction and integrity that ever manages to be conveyed about any political candidates, The big hype is always how well they speak and how plastic hey present themselves in front of a camera, I couldn't be more disinterested in such superficial indicators, I'd rather a potential representative be plainly rough around the edges than have their edges concealed in a pretty frame, And as much as I've heard bits and pieces in media about George W, it has largely been very onedimensional and obviously acrid,
I've felt like this book has helped me round out the man in my own head, and painted him as very much human.
Not as a 'perfect' human, as I've noticed some mention about this book, No, this book offered a perspective of GW as more of a flamboyant, functional alcoholic trying to crawl out from under his father's shadow, who married a remarkable woman, and had a "come to Jesus" of sorts.
At times I felt like it didn't go into enough detail, but I was amazed at the clarity it gave me on pertinent issues of the early nineties that were near and dear to the Bushes, namely the plummeting test scores and soaring illiteracy rate in the public schools the cause of which I wasn't fully aware of until reading this book.
Prompting some further research on the "whole word" method, It was certainly worth my time, The kind of book you can comfortably read in bitesized pieces, taking a little something away each visit, Mr. Kessler has wrote better books, It's really short and I expected so much more from him, I thought that he would explore why he thought President Bush had character, Just found it to be rambling about certain things then about other things there was nothing, I wanted him to explain different relationships that we has had with people like Karl Rove and Karen Hughes, He mentions them but not in detail, I think the most disappointing thing is how he handles President Bush's relationship with Laura, This book could have been a great study of a president instead it was a rehash of things already mentioned in the press, More than seventyfive books attacking George W, Bush have been published so far, Now, finally, theres a book that sets the record straight against a backdrop of media bias, And its not by a conservative idealogue but by an awardwinning independent reporter who set out to find the real President Bush behind the twodimensional public image.
Ronald Kessler was granted unique access to the West Wing and interviewed the
key players of the Bush administrationfrom Condoleezza Rice to Karl Rove to the president himself.
Kessler also interviewed Bushs close friends, college roommates, and former aides,
His surprising conclusion: George W, Bush isnt the most articulate or scholarly president in history, but he scores very high on the factors that count most: character and leadership, President Bush has a more clearly defined moral instinct, management style, and selfawareness than any other recent president,
And without question, President Bush is the driving force behind his administration, not the pawn of anyone else, In an age when politicians notoriously hem and haw while trying to please everyone, he makes deft decisions very quickly, He is bolstered by his strong Christian faith and the resolve he gained after giving up alcohol,
For many swing voters, this election will boil down to a matter of character, Kesslers unconventional bookfilled with news hooks about life in the West Wingwill help them understand the real George W, Bush. And for readers who already support the president, A Matter of Character is the book theyve been waiting for,
A fair read on the personalities of both George and Laura Bush, An obnoxiously disgusting haggiography of one of the worse presidents ever, This book purports to be a biography of George W, Bush's White House years, and it certainly covers that time and covers the events that affected his presidency, The overwhelming problem is that this biography is so complementary that it's like an authorized biography done in the way that the Royal Biographers do biographies of the British kings and queens.Kessler has made George W, Bush into a Stepford President, He and his staff do no wrong and the nasty, nasty media of which Kessler was once a member and the obstructive Democrats are out to get this President.
Because I had never read anything about George W, Bush before, I did get some information on his life and was reminded of some things I'd forgotten that he handled during his Presidency, Otherwise, I took the total adulation of George W, Bush and the writer's outrage at the media and the Democrats with a true grain of salt, Any other reader would be wise to do the same, .