dubya addresses the nation again tonight 4/13/2004 8:30 EST

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

"The president wants to give the American people an update on Iraq and talk about the way forward."

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

oh dear, looks like he's copying Tony's "big conversation" idea.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Will it be as scripted as the last one.

'No randy, I dont think its your turn'

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I hope that doesn't mean that 24 will be pre-empted. It's not that great of a show, but I'm hooked nonetheless.

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20040412/mdf523820.jpg

"i swear they came out to like here"

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

He looks ooooold in that shot.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

The rigors of month-long vacations back in Texas and $1,000-a-plate fundraising dinners are taking their toll on the poor man.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

This is just going to be a campaign ad. He never says anything of substance.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

More like a desperate realization on his part that things are going to be worse over there before they're better, so better say something now...however vague.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

"I hope that doesn't mean that 24 will be pre-empted."
no kidding

― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 17:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey, let's sample his speech and chop it around just like Chris Morris!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

But apparently American Idol will be preempted.

― j.lu (j.lu), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

SFW?

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe he's going to counter Kerry's recent "i'm fascinated by rap" comments with "I'm fascinated by cookies. Who's got the youth vote now, K-Man?"

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"This is just going to be a campaign ad. He never says anything of substance."

Ice is frozen water.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

He never says anything of substance.

That's ridiculous.

― Stuart (Stuart), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 21:36 (twenty-one years ago)

"It was a special moment -- a robot got blown up instead of a person," said iRobot CEO Colin Angle.

― Lil' Fancy Kpants (The K is Silent) (ex machina), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Can someone make his tie stop shimmering? Thank you.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

That's ridiculous.

I don't exactly see you dripping with counterexamples.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:40 (twenty-one years ago)

What do you suppose is down that hallway?

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:41 (twenty-one years ago)

YOU CANNOT HEAR THE WORDS
ONLY THE TIE
YOU CAN ONLY SEE THE TIE
THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS
THE TIE
THE TIE (votebush04)

― ..., Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:42 (twenty-one years ago)

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040406/capt.pmm10704061713.topix_bush_pmm107.jpg

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Isn't this supposed to be a news conference? Why is he telling everyone about what terrorists have done? That's been reported at least once already.

Drink when he says "terra" and chug when he says "steadfast"

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Is it just me or does he sound completely insane?

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:48 (twenty-one years ago)

"Iraqi sovereignty will be placed in Iraqi hands."

um...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:48 (twenty-one years ago)

He is totally not answering this question.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:49 (twenty-one years ago)

HE IS TOTALLY PROVING THIS GUY'S POINT.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:49 (twenty-one years ago)

"Look, this is hard"

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:50 (twenty-one years ago)

no matter what they ask him he's just gonna go on and on about the beauty and power of Iraqi freedom.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:50 (twenty-one years ago)

This is the first time I've ever heard him speak where he sounded sincere.

He's still fucking horrifying, though.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Answering that first question, he sounded completely psychotic

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

WE'RE CHANGING THE WORLD

― de, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't believe his handlers are actually letting him answer questions in real time; it's like suicide! I guess he's not doing too bad yet though.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

'Is it just me or does he sound completely insane?'

He sounds just like Reagan to me

― de, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, he's slipped back into "I am a stuttering jackass" mode.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:53 (twenty-one years ago)

9/11 and the Iraqi people are his escape hatches. when in doubt, bring them up.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Seriously, the reasons he gave for justifying the war totally did not disprove the comparison to Vietnam

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

'he was a threat to the reigon
he was a threat to the united states'

program failure

― de, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

OH FUCK OFF YOU IDIOT, BY THOSE CRITERIA WE'RE A DANGER TOO

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:56 (twenty-one years ago)

WOW Did he really almost say "I saved us the oil fields!"

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:57 (twenty-one years ago)

He must be some kind of genius cuz every time he stops talking i forget what question he was asked in the first place. His hypnotic effect is too strong.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:57 (twenty-one years ago)

i haven't felt like this since David Brent was last on our screens to be quite honest

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

he wouldn't be happy if he was occupied

this is his skull talking

― de, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

oh my god. his meltdown during the Survey Group bit was just scary…

― carson dial (carson dial), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

(i mean in terms of discomfort and cringeyness, not laffs)

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

HAHAHA His hypnoitc effect is so strong that he forgot the question himself!

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:59 (twenty-one years ago)

he's a lunatic. what the fuck is he going on about?

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:00 (twenty-one years ago)

That "thump" you hear is a million fence-sitters falling left

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:00 (twenty-one years ago)

This country must go on the offense to go on the offense...

Did I hear that right?

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:01 (twenty-one years ago)

world embarrassment.

― (Jon L), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:01 (twenty-one years ago)

You know, I think I'm really going to enjoy the utterly convoluted justification Stuart will provide for all this. It could even be funnier than Gear's thread.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:01 (twenty-one years ago)

He reminds me of a GCSE student who's revised his subjects so thoroughly he can trot out the answers required whenever he's tested, but he has no ACTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUBJECT.

― de, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:02 (twenty-one years ago)

BBC One just faded him out and have switched to Bytesize GCSE Revision, oh well I might actually learn something useful now

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:02 (twenty-one years ago)

oh my god, it just got worse.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:02 (twenty-one years ago)

ha! great x-post

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:02 (twenty-one years ago)

HE'S NOT ANSWERING THE QUESTION ABOUT WHAT MISTAKES HE MAY HAVE MADE

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:03 (twenty-one years ago)

he's like a flailing fish!

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:03 (twenty-one years ago)

stevem switch on fivelive

― de, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Can you expect him to really answer that question though Curtis?

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:04 (twenty-one years ago)

He could have kept his off-topic answer shorter, at least.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:05 (twenty-one years ago)

It is a shame I can't watch his 'Georgie wanna poopie' expressions now though

― de, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the dude is no public speaker. This is news?

His mastery of eluding questions is astounding though, especially for such an obvious dum dum

But I've said it before and I'll say it again, I 100% BELIEVE that HE BELIEVES what he's saying, and for that, I can never hate him as I know I should

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"my government"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:06 (twenty-one years ago)

BTW the comparisons to Vietnam are way off the mark, as Nixon inherited that war from everyone's favorite womanizer, JFK (who, some believe, inherited it from LBJ, if you really wanna get technical)

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:07 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, that "MY government" line is chilling.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:07 (twenty-one years ago)

But I've said it before and I'll say it again, I 100% BELIEVE that HE BELIEVES what he's saying, and for that, I can never hate him as I know I should

Actually, that interpretation makes me hate him all the more.

BTW the comparisons to Vietnam are way off the mark, as Nixon inherited that war from everyone's favorite womanizer, JFK

*about to note something, shrugs and figures it was intentional*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:08 (twenty-one years ago)

ok so he's like a Nixon with no one but himself to blame.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:08 (twenty-one years ago)

not true

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:09 (twenty-one years ago)

ummm...EXACTLY!! hahahahahaaa

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:09 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry seems to be the hardest word.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:09 (twenty-one years ago)

he has 70 years or so of us foreign policy to "blame"

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:09 (twenty-one years ago)

what a great emo album title that would be, scott

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:10 (twenty-one years ago)

he has 70 years or so of us foreign policy to "blame"

Jess OTMFM there.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:11 (twenty-one years ago)

All I want to hear from this man is a direct answer to the fucking question. I don't care how goofy or stumbling it is.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:11 (twenty-one years ago)

these questions are unflinchingly angry

and none of them are being addressed, even remotely

― (Jon L), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:11 (twenty-one years ago)

The prime minister of where!?

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

He's never going to admit any accountability. They should stop asking and just start the impeachment process.

Chug, by the way.. He said steadfast.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

and stop winking at me.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

and take your tie off.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Roger, he's way beyond the label "bad public speaker", he's embarrassing. He can barely remember the script they fed him.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"blown the peace of world war II"? um, feeling stupid, but what was he talking about?

― carson dial (carson dial), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

bahahaha! "..if you're brown skinned you can't be free. I disagree with that.." !!!

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"I have a dream that one day American diplomats and Iraqi diplomats will feast together at the table of homeland security"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Is there really a country called Kuzuni?

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Bush isn't half as bad as Nixon. Nixon was that pure, distilled evil that comes from intelligence and having to claw your way up the ladder. Bush could never be that evil, he's never had to stab anyone in the back to get his way. He just sent Daddy or one of Daddy's friends to do it.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:15 (twenty-one years ago)

It's true, Nixon was a bad-ass. He would have eaten Dubya for breakfast.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:16 (twenty-one years ago)

the 'caucus' area ...!

'Won't you move a little faster
Said the whiting to the snail..'

― de, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Take Libya. Please.

― de, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm listening to the radio. Has he started looking at his watch yet?

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

The people that run Bush are worse than Nixon. He looked out only for #1, while Bush looks out for Them.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

"Oceans don't protect us from killers"

http://www.photohome.com/pictures/animal-pictures/water/shamu-1a.jpg

Bush is absolutely more evil than Nixon.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:19 (twenty-one years ago)

shadowy network of folx

oh god i'm sorry i'm cracking up here

― de, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:19 (twenty-one years ago)

he's got a cunning plan to win the war on terror

someone photoshop him on baldrick's body *please*

― de, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:21 (twenty-one years ago)

"Nobody likes to see dead people on their television screens".

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:21 (twenty-one years ago)

"my hardest part of my job is to console the family members who have lost their lives."

― Camtron (Cameron), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:21 (twenty-one years ago)

He sounds like a Mafia boss answering this question! "I trust the people will stand by me... and if not..."

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:21 (twenty-one years ago)

oh! He's stuck!

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

"Nobody likes to see dead people on their television screens".

V. astute of him.

― de, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

"I wish you'd given me these questions before hand"

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

uuuuhh... ummmm. mmm. hmm.!

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

He won't say that he has made ANY mistakes!! This is unreal.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Wish you had written that question down, wha?

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

he's like, "You know, I'd LIKE to think of a mistake I've made, but I just haven't made any that I can think of!"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:24 (twenty-one years ago)

what the fuck? turkey farms?

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:24 (twenty-one years ago)

There are no turkey farms in Iraq! What a liar!

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:24 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe a farm in Turkey?

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:25 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, Libya.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

It's true, Nixon was a bad-ass. He would have eaten Dubya for breakfast.

(yeah, but Nixon was a genius when it came to foreign policy, in comparison)

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Can we switch to questions about the economy or education? This horse died weeks ago. OR better yet, can we return to our regularly scheduled programming?

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

So what are the visuals like? He can babble as long and incredibly as he wants and still get points from the free airtime, unless he looks scared and worried like he did when he asked for the $87 billion.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

CLINTON'S ADMITTED MISTAKES
Before 1998 - The way that the Health Care Reforms was handled by his administration.
After 1998 - Um, probably that fat girl SUCKING MY DICK.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

It's incumbent on us to learn from mistakes...

AAAAAA!

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

'This is the war other presidents will be facing as we enter the 21st century'

― Maria D. (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

uh oh, the ALMIGHTY

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

What is the capital gains tax rate in Iraq, anyway?

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

He looks and sounds very nervous.

― kirsten (kirsten), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)

he sounds pretty confident to me. this shit will play well with most of america who also think it's our god given right to control the world.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)

And my message to the veterans is "don't expect benefits. the economy is in the shitter."

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

gotcha!

― Maria D. (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

HAHAHAHAH HOW MUCH MORE INEFFECTIVE CAN YOU GET, JACKASS???????

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

"have you failed in any way?"

Don't ask that question - he ain't gwon answer.

"Let the people decide in November."

Indeed.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm going to base my vote on who can best make things right in Iraq. Yeah, right.

― Maria D. (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

"Maybe I need to learn to communicate better"

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

he sounds pretty confident to me. this shit will play well with most of america who also think it's our god given right to control the world.
-- anthony kyle monday (akmonda...), April 14th, 2004 8:29 PM. (later)

he keeps pausing and stuttering, though!

― kirsten (kirsten), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

'I need to learn to communicate better'

Give him a merit badge

― de, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I look forward to the debate also. It will be more entertaining than our regularly scheduled program.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I am pissed off that American Idol isn't on.

― kirsten (kirsten), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I would've loved to see him take that pot off the endtable at the end of the hallway and just CHUCK it up against somethin'.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

The people that run Bush are worse than Nixon. He looked out only for #1, while Bush looks out for Them.

I'm not sure anyone in this administration can compare to Nixon or Henry "What Secret Bombing?" Kissinger.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

'Wow that was tough.
Okay Dick, rub me down'

― de, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

That was incredible

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Turkey farm!

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Nixon was fucking crooked, BushCo are misguided. I don't think it's a fair comparison.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

That shot of Condie scowling was perfect

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

god that was depressing

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

The Enron/Haliburton debacles seem much more like "crooked" acts than "misguided" ones.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm seriously gonna go hang myself in the shower. later y'all.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

dude at least wait till election day

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

That shot of Condie scowling was perfect

I refused to watch this on the grounds that I don't need to be made any more suicidal. But does Dr. Rice have any expresssions other than a scowl?

― j.lu (j.lu), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

List the bullets his handlers told him to say:
we're making a historic change in the world
i've consoled the families who lost loved ones
we must protect freedom and the iraqi people...

― maria d. (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

don't do it, strongo

― maria d (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

condi is so cute

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I avoided watching this, just so I wouldn't have a Strongo reaction.

AKM - huh? Bushco is easily as corrupt as Nixon's Administration. At least Nixon never outed our fucking spies because a family member angered him!

Nixon just wins on the evil scale and bodycount.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

When will the administration admit that we're still at war? What about declaring the war over in his flight suit?

― maria d. (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

They call it 'war footing'

― maria d. (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

the most annoying thing about him speaking is that he acts like everyone else is a complete moron so lemme just explain this to you nice and slowly while I have this smirk on my face cause if you were as smart as me you too would laugh on the inside about how simple this whole evil vs good thing really is

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

that's the most intelligent thing about him

Nixon just wins on the evil scale and bodycount.

Bush has only had one term

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 01:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think Bush could get away with a multi-million civilian bodycount in this day and age. There's too much immediate news coverage. Even our media would show some outrage.

Bush without limits could easily be as evil as Nixon.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 01:03 (twenty-one years ago)

everytime a reporter poses a question it's like some kid has asked him "why can't we have ice cream for dinner, daddy?", and he chuckles, takes the kid by the shoulders, and says "oh Billy your innocence is just too cute. now lemme learn you something about nutrition..."

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 01:10 (twenty-one years ago)

holy moly this was hilarious! omg lol!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 01:15 (twenty-one years ago)

You'd have to be completely high to think Bush did a good job. Even then, it would be good in a mildly hilarious manner, kinda like watching someone fall down or playing Crazy Taxi would be.

That was the best hour of TV EVAH.

― Alan Conceicao, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 01:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think Bush could get away with a multi-million civilian bodycount in this day and age

He did get away with close to 4000 civilians on his watch.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 02:09 (twenty-one years ago)

all it takes is one nuke, though mini-nukes are more likely

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 02:19 (twenty-one years ago)

text: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/13/politics/13CND-BTEX.html

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 03:28 (twenty-one years ago)

wow, that's been cleaned up quite a bit, hasn't it

― (Jon L), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 03:49 (twenty-one years ago)

They usually edit out the uh's and um's.

He's not the greatest orator in the world and I didn't see the whole thing, but I was pleased with what I saw (shocker).

― Stuart (Stuart), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:02 (twenty-one years ago)

what do you like about him? what can he do for the country that Kerry couldn't?

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:07 (twenty-one years ago)

i like that general abizaid gets troops now if he needs them and totally has bush's gung-ho support, but general shinseki got a boot in the ass for suggesting that maybe we needed more troops before we went in!

― rgeary (rgeary), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Shh, Rob. Remember, everything ever thought of by Rumsfeld is flawless.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:19 (twenty-one years ago)

seriously. because afghanistan sure cleaned up real well, didn't it.

― rgeary (rgeary), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:19 (twenty-one years ago)

and i sort of like rumsfeld!

― rgeary (rgeary), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:20 (twenty-one years ago)

bush has fully implemented the "where you would like to say 'democracy,' say 'freedom'" programming, though, which is good because any iraqis who think they've been promised democracy are gonna be surprised at what they get.

― rgeary (rgeary), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Now that I'm seeing the visuals, I'm more convinced that he "did well," i.e. misled well enough that his supporters and waverers who watched were probably reassured. But there are more and more people who are giving up on him based on the facts and the fact that the media has decided they can no longer ignore them.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:43 (twenty-one years ago)

http://a1055.g.akamai.net/f/1055/1401/5h/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/7130000/7138961.gif

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:44 (twenty-one years ago)

My own concern is the nature of the increasing mythologizing. Lines like "We will finish the work of the fallen" sound like something I would expect to hear -- on either side -- of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Please remember, Elvis, John Dean had a book to sell and therefore can't be trusted.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I know that Dean has been spin-controlling himself for years since then, but the book is a great analysis from someone who made a career out of government abuse of power. Bottom line: BushCo is more cynical than you think.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:51 (twenty-one years ago)

BushCo is more cynical than you think

But they'll use the idealists on their side...and use them to their full extent.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 04:53 (twenty-one years ago)

His mastery of eluding questions is astounding though

QUESTION: Mr. President, why are you and the vice president insisting on appearing together before the 9-11 commission? And, Mr. President, who will we be handing the Iraqi government over to on June 30th?
BUSH: We'll find that out soon. That's what Mr. Brahimi is doing. He's figuring out the nature of the entity we'll be handing sovereignty over.
And, secondly, because the 9-11 commission wants to ask us questions, that's why we're meeting. And I look forward to meeting with them and answering their questions.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) I was asking why you're appearing together, rather than separately, which was their request.
BUSH: Because it's a good chance for both of us to answer questions that the 9-11 commission is looking forward to asking us. And I'm looking forward to answering them.

mastery yes. subtlety no.

― :|, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 10:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Is he demonstrating that he's a moron or is he admitting that he was misled by his own people?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

One bit I was very, er, "entertained by":

"Here's what I feel about that. The person responsible for the attacks was Osama bin Laden. That's who's responsible for killing Americans. And that's why we will stay on the offense until we...[pause]...bring people to justice."

Like he was about to say "bring HIM to justice" and then realized "oh yeah hey shouldn't bring up THAT old thing, d'oh".

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Bring what up again? That killing Osama doesn't make us safe or make terrorism go away? Think Osama would be satisfied if Bush loses in November? Is he pissed at the man or the culture?

― Stuart (Stuart), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Think Osama would be satisfied if Bush loses in November?

He'll be really pissed that he's lost his advertising director.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040414/capt.jwe12204140140.bush_jwe122.jpg

― Kingfish Balzac (Kingfish), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

She looks like a Ghoulie and he is a fattey.

― obvious man! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

(that photo is so uncalled-for)

extra dry

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 23:21 (twenty-one years ago)

That Brett Anderson hairstyle of hers is curious, as I've said before.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 23:33 (twenty-one years ago)

http://monkeydyne.com/rmcs/opencomic.phtml?rowid=55053

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 23:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I hope someone in the Kerry camp was writing down the word "accountability" and underlining it after last night.

― bnw (bnw), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 23:56 (twenty-one years ago)

You mean like thrice ducking a question asking him to explain why he has to have Cheney hold his hand when he goes before the 9/11 Commission?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 15 April 2004 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)

(No, gabbneb. This is so uncalled for:)
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040414/capt.jwe12204140140.bush_jwe122.jpg http://www.bartcop.com/iraq-coffins.jpg

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 15 April 2004 03:03 (twenty-one years ago)

EVIL

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 15 April 2004 03:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm waiting for the HBO dramatic series they make about the two folks next to the coffins who shlep them around all day, and their families and their interpersonal problems, all with a soundtrack by Jack Johnson and John Mayer.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 April 2004 03:12 (twenty-one years ago)

AKA "Six Feet Under"?

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 15 April 2004 03:14 (twenty-one years ago)

That's obvious the template, but this is the relevant wartime version which never actually criticizes the conflict. Oh it will be heartwarming I can tell you yes sir you betcha.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 April 2004 03:17 (twenty-one years ago)

OBVIOUSLY the template, etc.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 April 2004 03:17 (twenty-one years ago)

And since I'm so evil, may I make a more flippant observation?

Those have to be some of the most CLEAN LOOKING and BRIGHT and BLEACHED flags that I've seen draped over......a soldier.

Maybe it's the flourescent lights, but they could almost pass for beach towels.

I'm not trying to be cute with the "sick" humor, but if this keeps up, I'm going to be cackling like a mad man by inaugration day. I may even do a little dance as the bombs go off and more buildings fall.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 15 April 2004 03:37 (twenty-one years ago)

It's really starting to get hard to take.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 15 April 2004 03:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe I should get HBO.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 15 April 2004 03:39 (twenty-one years ago)

US planting WMDs in Iraq?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 15 April 2004 03:56 (twenty-one years ago)

A lot of that sounds like wishful thinking to me.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Given the recent scandals to the effect that the U.S. president was privy to the 9/11 plot

It's nice that they get that out of the way in the second sentence, helping rational people avoid wasting their time.

― Stuart (Stuart), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm glad to say I managed to avoid the press conference coverage by virtue of being out and about, but from the coverage here and elsewhere...Every time the guy gets let out in public (his extremely rare press conferences, his one-on-one with Russert, etc.), all I can think is Emperor's New Clothes. As soon as he's done speaking, all manner of people on his "side" who are demonstrably smarter, more capable and more articulate than him rush in to gush about how smart, capable and most of all confident and determined he was. It's by far the weirdest thing I've seen in my lifetime as far as politics goes. I mean, Reagan could look like an idiot -- and did, frequently -- but he did actually have some of the avuncularness and charisma that he was credited with. Bush has got nothing. Nada. He registers as a big, fat zero. If he was, like, a high school assistant principal (which would have been closer to his natural calling), all the kids would have made fun of him and clocked him as a cautionary example of the way doofuses can end up in positions of authority. But since he's president, there are all these people who have to pretend -- maybe even to themselves -- that he is not only remarkably incoherent and inarticulate for a world leader, he's remarkably incoherent and inarticulate for an adult human being. And no, it isn't just a matter of being a "public speaker," it's a matter of coming across like someone who has at least a little something to show -- wisdome, experience, self-knowledge -- for his 50-odd years on the planet.

I don't get it. I mean, even if someone's going to vote for him because they want to keep the Republicans in office for their own personal/political reasons, they don't have to pretend he's not an idiot. Why can't someone just say, "Yeah, he's an idiot, but I want my tax cut"? I'd have so much more respect.

― spittle (spittle), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(er, should say, "that he is not only NOT remarkably incoherent and inarticulate for a world leader, he's NOT remarkably incoherent and inarticulate for an adult human being.")

― spittle (spittle), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:59 (twenty-one years ago)

(and "wisdom" obviously. sheesh.)

― spittle (spittle), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:00 (twenty-one years ago)

We're not pretending he's not an idiot. He's not. He just sucks at news conferences.

― Stuart (Stuart), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:06 (twenty-one years ago)

No, he doesn't "suck at news conferences." I've been to a lot of news conferences, there's nothing special about them. It's not like you can be a genius backstage and suddenly come out and seem like a jabbering jackass. I've dealt with lots of politicians, some I liked, some I didn't, but the ones who sounded smart off the record also sounded smart on the record, and vice versa.

Inarticulation and inability to either understand questions or answer them with anything approaching contextual, analytical information is not just a nervous tic.

― spittle (spittle), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, I'll grant that he sucks at news conferences. I'm just wondering why it's acceptable.

― daria g (daria g), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll grant that he sucks at news conferences

Now I can't stop thinking of that Dave Chappelle bit: "Mr. President! Stop sucking the ambassador's cock, sir!"

― spittle (spittle), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:26 (twenty-one years ago)

But he doesn't sound like a jabbering jackass all the time. Lots of times he's slick, confident, and comfortable. I admit, it makes no sense to me why he can sound so odd and unimpressive in a prime time interview and come across as the exact opposite in other circumstances - but he does. I don't know if it's a personality thing or a nervous thing - but certainly you'll admit that you can sound confident and knowledgable and on top of your game in many circumstances, and then walk into a job interview or something and get jittery and lose your focus. Not that it's cool for a POTUS to do so, but it happens.

― Stuart (Stuart), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Chappelle's version of Black George W. Bush tonight was classic. Maybe W will take some pointers.

― Stuart (Stuart), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't get Comedy Central unfortunately, but then, reading all the comments in the blogosphere about the press wearing kneepads in its dealings with the Bush administration.. and all the references to whoring.. yeah, why not take it to the next level.

― daria g (daria g), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:35 (twenty-one years ago)

osama offers europe a truce???

― zappi (joni), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Pfff. Who the fuck does he think he is? Offering Europe a truce my ass.

Letting that fucker declare "war" on us was one of the stupidest things the Bushies ever did. Played right into his wacko delusions. But the Bush guys were desperate for a war and Osama was the only one offering. (They wanted so bad for it to be Saddam.) So now we've got, what, like 5,000 guys with a bunch of rocket launchers and some ricin or whatever acting like they can offer a "truce" to a whole fucking continent of hundreds of millions of people.

The sick symbiosis of Bush/Bin Laden will be fertile ground for future historians. I wish I could be a future historian. It would be more fun than living through it.

― spittle (spittle), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:59 (twenty-one years ago)

spittle who are you? I like you.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 15 April 2004 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Is SO FUCKING OTM!

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 15 April 2004 07:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Letting Osama declare war on us? He did that in 1998.

― Stuart (Stuart), Thursday, 15 April 2004 12:37 (twenty-one years ago)

this address shocked me.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 15 April 2004 12:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Bring what up again?

The fact that he was about to say "we won't stop until we bring HIM to justice" and he paused as if he suddenly remembered that bringing bin Laden to justice is no longer one of his administrations top priorities, and decided to end the sentence like "we won't stop until we...um...bring people to justice". Like, "whoops, don't want to remind people that we still haven't captured or confirmed-dead bin Laden".

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 15 April 2004 12:46 (twenty-one years ago)

(RJG, are you a monkey?)

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 15 April 2004 12:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Ned in "hitting nail four-square on head" type scenario

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 15 April 2004 12:48 (twenty-one years ago)

(I'm not. why do you ask? are you?)

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 15 April 2004 12:49 (twenty-one years ago)

(I read your post and the first thing that popped into my head was Peter Gabriel singing "DON'T YOU KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO SHOCK THE MONKEY????????" and given the fact that GWB looks like a shaved chimp I ust have been giggling nonstop over here.)

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 15 April 2004 12:55 (twenty-one years ago)

(you don't have to be a monkey, to live there, but it helps. : ))

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 15 April 2004 12:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I hope someone in the Kerry camp was writing down the word "accountability" and underlining it after last night.

The notion that Bush is "accountab[le]" to the American people is frankly offensive. Bush has held 11 solo press ocnferences in three years and 86 days of his Presidency. After only two years and 45 days, or roughly 2/3 of the time Bush has spent in office, the following Presidents had held the following numbers of solo press conferences (with a scaled number, per their apparent rate of holding conferences, representing the number they might have held by this point):

Johnson - 52 (78)
Carter - 45 (67)
Ford - 37 (55)
Clinton - 30 (45)

So if you want to compare him to the most recent President, Clinton beats him more than 4 to 1. Even the press-shy Nixon (something to hide) and Reagan (dim bulb) had held twice the number of press conferences that Bush (both) has.

This is a President who absolutely refuses to face the American people. He will not appear at an event that is not staged and to which only his supporters are admitted, even when he goes to visit our troops in Iraq. John Kerry, by contrast, regularly holds town hall meetings where he stays until the last question is asked and the last RNC heckler or left-wing protester calling him an imperialist has had their say. Bush knows that people will start to question why he doesn't hold similar events. But he also knows that people pay attention to visuals more than words (or at least his core supporters do). So he has events that look like town hall meetings but aren't - these events where he goes and sits on a stage with a business owner and employees, and he listens with total disinterest (Letterman makes fun of it almost every night) while they drone on and on about their business, and then he speaks about what a great economy we have in America, and aren't you peasants all glad that you're sitting here at my throne. There are no questions asked, and it's not clear that he's speaking to anyone but the tv cameras (or even whether the employees are real or actors) - after one such event on Long Island, reporters seeking to interview the employees who listened to the event found that none spoke English.

Lots of times he's slick, confident, and comfortable.

mmm, don't stop

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 15 April 2004 13:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate his freedom... to be a mumbling stuttering fuck and still get to be president

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 15 April 2004 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sorry Stuart, but in what parallel universe do you live in where Bush's public appearances can be considered "slick"?

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 15 April 2004 13:09 (twenty-one years ago)

When he reads prepared speeches his speaking voice follows the same melodic arc...no matter what he's saying he does the start-on-a-low-note, rise-a-bit-mid-sentence, end-on-the-low-note pattern. He has the speaking skills of a scared 8th grader.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 15 April 2004 13:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I am used to him sounding like he doesn't know what he's reading/doesn't know what's coming next/hasn't read through what he is saying, beforehand, but this address...someone else said it...I can't believe they let him do this live, etc. the mistakes question and what he did, after it was asked, were crazy.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 15 April 2004 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Death is funny!

"One of his senior advisers broke out laughing Wednesday as he recalled the persistence of reporters pressing Mr. Bush on the subject of remorse, suggesting that contrition would have been a sign of weakness that was both alien to Mr. Bush and more typically found in the corridors of the Democratic Party."

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

The trouble with being somewhere in between is that whenever you get on board with bashing Bush, somebody posts a "funny" picture of American coffins and you remember why both sides disgust you.

― bnw (bnw), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think the poster considered the picture "funny"

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Wasn't trying to be funny, bnw.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

is there a transcript of last nights questions and answers online?

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Posting it next to the smiling Rice/Rove makes me suspect otherwise. You were right, it was tasteless. I also suspect no one gets outraged b/c it's done in this bashing Bush context. That's the type of thing where if I were at a protest rally and saw another marcher with that for a sign, I would leave.

― bnw (bnw), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I also suspect no one gets outraged b/c it's done in this bashing Bush context.

Outraged at what? When Drudge puts it up on his page is it a joke?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I get a little upset at senior WH officials cracking wise at a press conference where even though all of the questions are scripted, the President of the United States still can't be bothered to make one statement of contrition, can't bring himself to admit one goddam mistake of the last three-and-a-half years, and still takes a patronizing, smug and snarky, evangelical manifest destiny Cowboy Crusader attitude toward the American people and the world.

Meanwhile, cargo bays of very large airplanes are being filled with the remains of dead Americans on a regular basis. We're told that war isn't pretty, "no one likes to see dead people on television", and that we just need to buck up and put up with it.

I'm not the one who thinks it's funny.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sorry Stuart, but in what parallel universe do you live in where Bush's public appearances can be considered "slick"?

This is Stuart, Dan. He's a human like the rest of us, he's considering making a decision that isn't the easiest, as I muttered on another thread. I grant him quite some slack for that. But no matter how much he seems to grudgingly concede -- and personally, I think it's all grudging, and all after the fact, and only offered up when he feels like has to rather than talking about it upfront -- his shiny polished icon is BushCo. We all have our own -- it's just that his takes all the high-flying rhetoric Stuart believes in and uses it for no other purpose than power and the application of same. You're not going to convince him otherwise.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

transcript of the press conference

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

thanks, a lot; I had been looking for just that.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

this is the wackest. the bold bits are the bits they kept showing on TV, here, last night.

John?

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

In the last campaign, you were asked a question about the biggest mistake you'd made in your life, and you used to like to joke that it was trading Sammy Sosa.

You've looked back before 9-11 for what mistakes might have been made. After 9-11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say, and what lessons have learned from it?

President Bush: I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it.

John, I'm sure historians will look back and say, gosh, he could've done it better this way or that way. You know, I just — I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hadn't yet.

I would've gone into Afghanistan the way we went into Afghanistan. Even knowing what I know today about the stockpiles of weapons, I still would've called upon the world to deal with Saddam Hussein.

See, I'm of the belief that we'll find out the truth on the weapons. That's why we sent up the independent commission. I look forward to hearing the truth as to exactly where they are. They could still be there. They could be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas in a turkey farm.

One of the things that Charlie Duelfer talked about was that he was surprised of the level of intimidation he found amongst people who should know about weapons and their fear of talking about them because they don't want to be killed.

You know, there's this kind of — there's a terror still in the soul of some of the people in Iraq.

They're worried about getting killed, and therefore they're not going to talk. But it'll all settle out, John. We'll find out the truth about the weapons at some point in time.

However, the fact that he had the capacity to make them bothers me today just like it would have bothered me then. He's a dangerous man. He's a man who actually not only had weapons of mass destruction — the reason I can say that with certainty is because he used them.

And I have no doubt in my mind that he would like to have inflicted harm, or paid people to inflict harm, or trained people to inflict harm, on America, because he hated us.

I hope — I don't want to sound like I have made no mistakes. I'm confident I have. I just haven't — you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.

Yes, Ann?

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I get what you're saying, bnw. Obviously, we would never see a picture in real life where Rove & Rice are snickering inside an airplane full of coffins. But whenever a family is told that their loved one had to die because Saddam Hussein was a threat to the U.S., though most signs say "no", I'm offended.

All I was trying to do was illustrate how this administration was acting the other night with what's really happening. I took pains afterward to make it known that I wasn't trying to be cutesy. I do apologize if you were offended, but seriously, making a tacky joke at the expense of dead soldiers was not what I was trying to do.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 15 April 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

and that's without the excruciating pauses and facial expressions.

crosspost

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 15 April 2004 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

you don't understand. there are a lot of people who think that because Bush is sure of himself (and to these people, he looks it; they don't pay much attention to the words), he must be right.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 15 April 2004 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I really don't understand.

I would have hoped that that "answer" would have made some more people realise! but you say it probably won't.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 15 April 2004 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry, my flatmate was talking to me, as I was typing that, and I had to listen.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 15 April 2004 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

There was a woman on the local news after the press conference whose daughter was killed in Iraq; she was crying and saying how cocky and arrogant Bush was, and how she couldn't believe her daughter died for that.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Thursday, 15 April 2004 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Shh, Morris, you can't say that, remember. Clearly it is unpatriotic, the woman is not looking at the larger picture and therefore is not entitled to an opinion, and what's more, she probably has a book to sell.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 April 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I keep seeing this thread and thinking it's new: "What, he's addressing the nation again?

"I also have this belief, strong belief, that freedom is not this country's gift to the world. Freedom is the Almighty's gift to every man and woman in this world. And as the greatest power on the face of the earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom."

Is it just me, or has he just declared Jihad?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 15 April 2004 19:19 (twenty-one years ago)

He has declared a Crusade.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 15 April 2004 19:20 (twenty-one years ago)

This scared the bejeezus out of me (as did other, similar, bits of his speech), but it's also a sort of dark comfort, in a "showing his true colors" kind of way. I always like to have as many cards on the table as possible.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Thursday, 15 April 2004 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Keeping America Safe

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 15 April 2004 19:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Is it just me, or has he just declared Jihad?

Define "just", Andrew. Tis my impression that he declared his own version of Jihad ages ago, only he doesn't have Hussein to use as his focus any more.

I always like to have as many cards on the table as possible.

Now that we have, tis time to decide what to do with them/

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:05 (twenty-one years ago)

That's the thing, Morris, the awake at 4am thing - I see things like this and I think "haw haw, they shouldn't have said that" but when I get down, I fear that I'm not watching them lose the election, I'm watching them win it - that they're pursuing a clear and accurate strategy of betting that most people in America are just about done with the polite mask, that they are finished with the failed social experiment (=definitely the last 40 years, almost certainly the separation of church and state nonsense and quite possibly the last five centuries) of pretending to be uncertain in order to be polite to others, that they know what they want and they know George Bush will give it to them: GodGodGod God God, God God GodGod, God God. God24. EverywhereGod. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

"I also have this belief, strong belief, that freedom is not this country's gift to the world. Freedom is the Almighty's gift to every man and woman in this world."

contradicted by

"And as the greatest power on the face of the earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom."

Yes?

― de, Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/apr2004/bush-a15.shtml

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Hegemony in a nutshell, de.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Why have you linked that amateur!st?

― de, Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, see, I don't think that "most people in America" want that at all, Andrew. If that is what Bush is "betting," in other words, I think he's betting wrong. Not that I'm puffing up with confidence that "people are beginning to see through the facade," and so on (I couldn't begin to speculate on the thoughts/perceptions of "Bush supporters" and/or "undecided voters") - but if Bush does win again in November, I don't think it'll be because he's finally handing the majority of voters the holy warrior angle they've been looking for.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:35 (twenty-one years ago)

(because I don't think any great percentage of voters are looking for such a thing.)

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

"
I'm glad to say I managed to avoid the press conference coverage by virtue of being out and about, but from the coverage here and elsewhere...Every time the guy gets let out in public (his extremely rare press conferences, his one-on-one with Russert, etc.), all I can think is Emperor's New Clothes. As soon as he's done speaking, all manner of people on his "side" who are demonstrably smarter, more capable and more articulate than him rush in to gush about how smart, capable and most of all confident and determined he was. It's by far the weirdest thing I've seen in my lifetime as far as politics goes. I mean, Reagan could look like an idiot -- and did, frequently -- but he did actually have some of the avuncularness and charisma that he was credited with. Bush has got nothing. Nada. He registers as a big, fat zero. If he was, like, a high school assistant principal (which would have been closer to his natural calling), all the kids would have made fun of him and clocked him as a cautionary example of the way doofuses can end up in positions of authority. But since he's president, there are all these people who have to pretend -- maybe even to themselves -- that he is not only remarkably incoherent and inarticulate for a world leader, he's remarkably incoherent and inarticulate for an adult human being. And no, it isn't just a matter of being a "public speaker," it's a matter of coming across like someone who has at least a little something to show -- wisdome, experience, self-knowledge -- for his 50-odd years on the planet."

OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM OTM

(de: i linked it because i thought that, if you disregard the usual bluster and one or two dubious points, it's a remarkably clear and unusually strong survey of what happened last night)

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

And I know, it's America, a really nice place, with a lot of cool people, and actually a pretty free place (not enough for this home of freedom bullshit, but no-one get disappeared, which is worth infinity points), and in the upper 50% of the world on almost any divide you care to mention, but all this that I know is of absolutely fuck all use at four in the morning, you dig?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:42 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post
Oh. I didn't give it too much hope after the first paragraph (and a quick asessment of its provenance). I'll go back to it.

― de, Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I do like how the Socialist thing brings up the "he refused to disarm!" bit. Can't Bush even try to keep his own story straight?

(x-post)

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe I shouldn't say no-one gets disappeared. It's a pretty big country, maybe some people get disappeared. But not as a matter of course - you can say the stuff that amateur!st just quoted (er, which wasn't on the page he linked) and not have to go into hiding. Secret policemen aren't going to break your door down and beat you in the street. I'm amenable to the argument that this is a very 20th century measure, and that we should consider whether you can do something like that without danger to your credit rating, and we should definitely look at that, right after everywhere on the planet passes the first test :)

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyone who interprets my last sentence as supporting George Bush fixing everywhere on the planet will be poked in the eye.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Referring to Bush's 'Captain Queeg' moment in response to the 911 mistakes question (I prefer to think of Joe Pesci's 'You mumbling, stuttering fuck you!') they write

'In this babble of disorientation and reaction, one got a chilling glimpse of the toxic moral, political and intellectual state of the American ruling elite, and the profound crisis that drives its violent bid for world domination.'

otm there.

― de, Thursday, 15 April 2004 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Could we separate the members of the Bush administration from the career or preexisting members of the bureaucracy from the "American ruling elite" and provide evidence that one or more of these parties is engaged in a "violent bid for world domination"? The less you understand the players and their motivations, the less likely you'll be able to stop them.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 15 April 2004 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes. I would stop short at saying 'American government'. The other stuff is either stuff I don't understand or standard-issue 'socialist' rhetoric. Or both.

― de, Thursday, 15 April 2004 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

So, anyway, there was a picture of a coffin on the front page of the new york times today. don't recall if that was the first time. But the "death" part of the war has been noticeably absent elsewhere. As is the "Iraqi" part of the story. How they feel. What they are thinking. Do they condemn the violence? Are they grateful to be liberated? etc.

Hey, just curious, how did dubya's press conference play in the U.K. London papers? Irish papers? anyone? I know i could scour the net, but if anyone remembers a good newspaper story they could link or something they saw on the telly...

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 15 April 2004 21:36 (twenty-one years ago)

So, anyway, there was a picture of a coffin on the front page of the new york times today

Well, everybody knows that the NYT ain't nuthin' but a pack of jokers!

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 15 April 2004 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't read the papers today but I saw the conference.
As for general Iraq coverage, we get it all. Every bulletin is at least 25% Iraq stories. And the funny thing is Blair seems to be off the hook about this at the moment; everyone's eyes are trained overseas. And it wouldn't be any different if Parliament was actually in session because even Howard's Tories wouldn't be so shameless as to attack him on this, when clearly they'd be even more craven in their support, if in power.
The Lib Dems make a bit of useful noise though.
The feeling one gets from consuming the media over here is that the Iraquis fucking hate us and want us to leave now.

― de, Thursday, 15 April 2004 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, the Iraqis' hating us part we don't get. except for the people doing the fighting of course. we hear a lot about how evil they are. The 9/11 commission and Iraq is everything now. as the press conference made clear. not one question about economy, etc. I need to start reading about the rest of the world again or i might just lose my mind. You'd think the world had stopped except for this nightmare. here in the U.S. that is.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 15 April 2004 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

The feeling one gets from consuming the media over here is that the Iraquis fucking hate us and want us to leave now.

Well yes. Oddly, some people seem to miss this fact.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 April 2004 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm too busy reading letters to Stars & Stripes:

AFN plays favorites with Fox

I’ve been stationed in South Korea for about 10 months now, and I’ve noticed something that’s greatly disturbing. When I watch the news on AFN, I see three major cable news networks: MSNBC, CNN and Fox News Channel. All of these networks cover a lot of aspects of the war in Iraq and the upcoming presidential election. But only one stands out above all the others as far as expressing its views on politics and the war. That network is Fox, and Fox seems to lean more to the right on all issues.

The problem is that, when it comes to discussion panels, AFN seems to concentrate solely on Fox’s discussion panels, which I feel is irresponsible and unfair on AFN’s part. Fox’s discussion panel shows have Bush-loving Republicans bashing the left and giving the message that not siding with the Bush administration is un-American. It’s not the fact that AFN airs Fox’s discussion panel shows, but that it airs Fox discussion shows more than any of the other networks’ shows.

AFN is trying to keep we viewers on the pro-Bush side by showing only Fox network discussion panel shows. Knowing that AFN is the only source of TV news for overseas troops makes me believe that AFN is abusing its power by showing what it thinks we should watch when it comes to political debates. Stars and Stripes readers should be aware of what’s going on with today’s news networks.

Airman Gregory L. Dietrich
Air Base, South Korea

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Thursday, 15 April 2004 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

But Ned, the majority of Iraqis want us there. they are the "good ones" that never get interviewed.

Stars & Stripes has been amazingly critical of the whole deal. well, amazing to me. i always think of it as an in-house organ.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 15 April 2004 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Sharp on the airman's part. It's critical not of the adminstration but of the presentation, and presents the implicit argument that a democracy relies on the ability to hear a wider range of views.

But Ned, the majority of Iraqis want us there. they are the "good ones" that never get interviewed.

There was a comment in an interview with a Brit businessman who said something that, if an accurate capturing of the mood, is perhaps obvious but telling -- most Iraqis just want to enjoy life, enthusiastically are relieved at Saddam's departure, and seriously hate the US occupation. Sorta wish the crusade wing kept that more in mind.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 April 2004 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

and actually i'm not being fair. Most Iraqis learned a long time ago how to keep their mouths shut. they have no idea who will end up in power.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 15 April 2004 22:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Stars & Stripes is famous for being an independent news organ within the military, and it routinely publishes very critical letters from servicepeople.

(And Doonesbury appears on the letters page, for what that's worth.)

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Thursday, 15 April 2004 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Listening to the radio today, Ned, reminded me of something you posted earlier about HBO. There was a report from Iraq that said that the army hadn't seen city fighting like this since WWII. Can't you see it: Band Of Brothers 2: The Boys From Baghdad!

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 15 April 2004 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorta wish the crusade wing kept that more in mind.

Course they wouldn't, Ned. Listening to the homegrown Iraqi masses would mean that they (the ever-mighty cruseders) would have to quit seeing them as pitiful victims the US solely exists to save. The gov't always had the toughest time knowing when tis time to leave a party.

Makes me wonder what the hell these jokers will do when Bush gets shoved face-first outta office. (If there ever was a God.) The lecture circuit calls...

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 15 April 2004 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Band Of Brothers 2: The Boys From Baghdad

The soundtrack will be shit.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 April 2004 22:56 (twenty-one years ago)

where Bush's public appearances can be considered "slick"?

That was my point - his big time public appearances generally aren't, but a lot of his press gaggles and low-key stuff is, at least relatively so. I'm not saying he's dean martin when you turn the cameras off, but there is a marked difference. I don't know what causes it, and I find it really annoying, but the press conference thing just isn't a determining factor to me. It's just something that gives Bush's critics the chance to say "ha ha, look at this retarded chimp we call the President." Clinton's press conf's were like Jedi mind tricks sometimes, but that wasn't enough to make me like the guy.

― Stuart (Stuart), Thursday, 15 April 2004 23:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, that does make more sense.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 16 April 2004 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I still don't get how some of the pundits can have had a good impression from this press conference. I'm not being snarky here, I just.. I get most of my news from radio and the web, and rarely watch TV, and so I hadn't seen Bush speak on television for quite some time. I know I'd never seen a press conference televised.

And.. this was just painful and embarrassing. It's not just the visible nervousness, it's the.. inarticulate and nonsensical answers, and what's worst, the 30-second-plus blank out.. The President of the United States doesn't say he can't handle the pressure of trying to come up with an answer! That's just inexcusable. You don't say that in an interview for an entry-level job, for chrissake.

― daria g (daria g), Friday, 16 April 2004 02:02 (twenty-one years ago)

i guess i won't be trying the "damn i wish you would have given me the questions in advance" line at my next job interview...

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 16 April 2004 10:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Job interview scenario:

Interviewer: In closing, what do you think have been your biggest mistakes?

Interviewee: I hope — I don't want to sound like I have made no mistakes. I'm confident I have. I just haven't — you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.

Interviewer: Well thank you for attending the interview and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Interviewee leaves

Interviewer: Uh, Miss Rice, be sure to change the locks to the office and send in our Chief Recruiter, I want to him to account for the low calibre of some of the applicants he's been sending us.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 April 2004 10:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree with you Daria but isn't it just so unprecedented and unusual as to appear contrary? People don't like those fancy folks and their wordplay do they?

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 16 April 2004 10:30 (twenty-one years ago)

... they seem to like Blair with his fancy ways and wordplay... dammit

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 April 2004 10:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Uh, well.. just because perhaps many Americans appreciate plain spoken people doesn't mean they like it when a president looks clueless and incompetent. Or, alternately, I could say that yes, we Muricans are massively suspicious of anyone who can put a coherent sentence together in a press conference and anyone who correctly pronounces a three-syllable word is talkin fancy and can't be trusted. I hate to agree with you, see, because I don't like the uncomfortable implication that although I am an American, I'm not a moron, and therefore I don't count as real people.

― daria g (daria g), Friday, 16 April 2004 17:48 (twenty-one years ago)

More Bush accountability

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 13:18 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.