Matt Latimer’s GQ exposé is one of the best reads of the year. Just about every paragraph is quotable gold but I will leave you with my favorite.

The set up: Latimer is a Bush speech writer in the final days of the administration. Bush is about to deliver a speech on announcing what will be the $700 Billion bailout and wants to know why Latimer’s draft speech didn’t explain that the government was buying low and selling high.

He repeated his belief that the government was going to “buy low and sell high,” and he still didn’t understand why we hadn’t put that into the speech like he’d asked us to. When it was explained to him that his concept of the bailout proposal wasn’t correct, the president was momentarily speechless. He threw up his hands in frustration.

“Why did I sign on to this proposal if I don’t understand what it does?” he asked.

The president was clearly frustrated with what was going on, but there was little he could do at this late hour. He went up to take a nap, saying he was beat. He looked it. I’d never seen him more exhausted. His hair was out of place and shaggy. His face looked drained and pale. Even more distressing, he was wearing Crocs. As I looked at him I thought to myself, how many more crises can one guy take?

HT: Yglesias