Perceptions, mistakes, and horse-stealing
Jan 24th, 2008 by Brad
George W. Bush loves a painting by W.H.D. Koerner called “A Charge to Keep.” But the subject & history painting does not match up with his perceptions. GWB was so taken by this painting that he used the painting’s name as the title of his official autobiography, where he says:
“look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us. What adds complete life to the painting for me is the message of Charles Wesley that we serve One greater than ourselves.”
…take a read of the Harpers article were we find out that the real history of this painting. The details are in Jacob Weisberg’s book on Bush called the “The Bush Tragedy“:
The artist, W.H.D. Koerner, executed it to illustrate a Western short story entitled “The Slipper Tongue,†published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1916. The story is about a smooth-talking horse thief who is caught, and then escapes a lynch mob in the Sand Hills of Nebraska.
…hmmmmm
