Les Payne writes a mean-spirited column in Newsday charging that George Bush has become a national joke. As much as I've been bashing Bush all weekend, I think that's a stretch, but there is a snippet worth reprinting, about how he was regarded by his buddies at Yale--even though the source is Kitty Kelly's book:

It was, however, Bush's towering lack of intellect that defined him. "That (Bush) coasted on his family name was understandable," said Yale frat brother Tom Wilner. "Lots of guys do that. But Georgie, as we called him then, has absolutely no intellectual curiosity about anything. He wasn't interested in ideas or books or causes. He didn't travel; he didn't read the newspapers; he didn't watch the news ... How he got out of Yale without developing some interest in the world besides booze and sports stuns me."

Chasing down bogus war records and irrelevant cocaine tips, the media have missed the boat on the background of the gloating "war president." It was Wilner who loosed the most salient line in Kelley's book: "Hell, it's not George's substance abuse that bothers me as much as his lack of substance."

Only a true Bush-hater will love this column. I'm not at that point yet...I just don't want him as my President.