Reading is Fundamental

Sometimes a story gets so beaten to death in Mexico that we don't bother even commenting on it, until the boys in Reader Demographics remind us that most of you live in the US and, as such, probably haven't seen this. It's Enrique Peña Nieto, whose name you'll become familiar with when he's elected president of Mexico next July (just a tip for our friends out there in the gambling community), being asked at the Guadalajara Book Festival last week what three books have had an impact on him. His answer makes Sarah Palin look like Aristophanes.



You don't need to understand Spanish - flop sweat transcends language. The Bible gets a shout-out, of course. And then some book me maybe read, maybe didn't, since he can't remember the author. And then after a few excruciating minutes in which he does everything but Phone a Friend, he gives up without naming a third. Hail to the chief!

To the nation's credit, everyone's kicking him pretty hard over this. That's despite the fact that most people wouldn't have fared much better themselves.