Liberals read more? Do coloring books count?

Pat Schroeder, former head of NOW, former liberal congresswoman, and current president of the Association of American Publishers has decreed that liberals read more books than conservatives. She made this allegation in responding to an AP poll about the subject:

Liberals read more books than conservatives. The head of the book publishing industry's trade group says she knows why—and there's little flattering about conservative readers in her explanation.

"The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: 'No, don't raise my taxes, no new taxes,'" Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, said in a recent interview. "It's pretty hard to write a book saying, 'No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes' on every page."

Schroeder, who as a Colorado Democrat was once one of Congress' most liberal House members, was responding to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that found people who consider themselves liberals are more prodigious book readers than conservatives.

She said liberals tend to be policy wonks who "can't say anything in less than paragraphs. We really want the whole picture, want to peel the onion."

We want slogans. We're idiots, and the liberal side of the aisle are geniuses. They can only say things in paragraphs, and we tie it up in a tidy little line. Need she be reminded that conservatives didn't come up with pithy little lines like "No blood for oil," "Bush lied, kids died," and "Impeach Chimpy McBushitler." Those would be SLOGANS of the fetid fever swamp on her side of the aisle.

As for conservatives, and what they read, I can only offer up the list of books that Marcie and I have read since 1 January of this year. Take what she says and compare it to this list:

America: The Last Best Hope, Volumes I and II
A Mormon in the White House
America Alone (Fourth time through for me, second time for Marcie)
The Looming Tower (finally completed by Marcie in March)
The Blogs of War
Never Again
Taking Heat
Reclaiming History
The Reagan Diaries
Legacy of Ashes
The History of the English Speaking People Since 1900
Words That Work
The Enemy at Home
The Powers of War and Peace
Supreme Conflict
The Shadow Party
If It's Not Close They Can't Cheat
The Rage and the Pride
The Force of Reason
Summa Theologiae: A Concise Translation
An Army of Davids (third time through for me)
The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (A MUST-HAVE for any Constitutional lay scholar such as ourselves.)

Now, that's twenty books we've read (she was almost finished with Legacy of Ashes, and is halfway through Reclaiming History, but given her schoolwork, neither is likely to be finished anytime soon by her), and they are hardly books based on slogans. They are thoughtful and thought provoking works by some of the best authors int he business.

Before Ms. Schroeder decides to swallow her foot again, she might want to rethink that, and remember that many conservatives, ourselves and our colleagues included, enjoy sitting down with a book that we are very interested in, and have been looking forward to reading.

Publius II

ADDENDUM: This is an afterthought, but one worth noting. Jonah Goldberg received an e-mail regarding Ms. Schroeder's appearance on "Jeopardy!" about ten years ago, or so. Go read what happened, and who handed her her @$$ on that episode. Maybe she just didn't read enough for her appearance.