Not that there’s a lack of anti-Bush press, but I would wager a nickel that not one of them will be asking a tough question tonight. At least Nixon had the guts to call on Dan Rather.
And the point of ‘asking a tough question’ would be…? Does anyone actually expect the Potus to tell a reporter, "Well, by golly, you got me. We were doing it to satisfy a Skull and Bones initiation rite. Not gonna happen. Never has, and I don’t see why people suddenly expect the practice to start.
Offhand, I’d say the point of asking a tough question is for the people to find out what the president is doing and why he is doing it. We see the British prime minister do it every week as he gets questioned by his fellow MPs. We also want to see out leaders think on their feet and show us the depth of their knowledge and leadership. Belting softball questions out of the park doesn’t shed information, it’s just an exercise in self promotion.
Well, Brutus, it may not happen, but this still isn’t a campaign commercial. The President has a little duty called “leadership” and the demonstration thereof, and the press has a duty called “informing the public”. Some of us still think those matter, and won’t apologize to the apologists for that. Do *you * expect Bush to show tonight he actually faced the terrorism threat seriously pre-9/11, or understands the situation in Iraq, or has the proactive, responsible mindset to learn from his mistakes?
Compare and contrast to both Clinton and Gore meeting real people in public whenever possible, answering questions until there were no more. And, since you mention it, until very recently there certainly *has * been a shortage of “anti-Bush reporting” in the mass media, although it would be called by some “responsible questioning” or simply “thought”.
The point is to get a ‘non-pat’ answer.
Sam Donaldson in 1987 following up a Reagan answer to an Iran-Contra question with the shouted ‘Mr President, the American people just don’t BELIEVE you’ is the approach to take.
If it gets you banned it gets you banned. Those weasels should have some balls.
Looking at how Bush conducts his press conferences, I think he would have done well as a leader in Soviet Russia.
In Soviet Russia, questions ask you!
“Comrade Stretchkiya, you have a question, da?”
“Yes, Comrade Leader, I should like to ask…”
“The answers are yes, 17%, and the dictatorship of the proletariat!”
“Thank you, Comrade Leader…”
So why don’t the networks call Bush to the carpet for his scripted press conferences?
Seems like that should be the first comment when they cut from the conference back to the studio. The anchor should point out for those who don’t know otherwise that Bush knows the questions in advance.
Why is the press so compliant?
Possibly because they are afraid of losing what access they have? I was hoping there wouldn’t be that many lackeys, but that’s a false hope. No doubt there will be a challenging question from the Podunk Gazette.
Bush never ceases to surprise me. That is not a compliment. Do you think Cheney’s lips will be moving during the testimony of President Snerd to the 911 commission?
More importantly, why don’t the so-called conservatives, who constantly defend this sort of thing, pull their heads out of their asses, and realize what a threat such behavior is to a democracy?
Here’s a man who not only can’t admit that he doesn’t make mistakes, but clearly doesn’t believe he ever does, even when giving lip service to the possibility that he does. Two or three reporters ask him about mistakes he may have made, or whether he should apologize, and he just goes and answers some other question. When someone finally says flat out, what mistakes have you made, he says, gee, there must be some, but I just can’t think of any.
Well, I wish I had made bets with some of the folks in this thread. There were some tough questions asked tonight. None seem to have been really answered, but at least they were asked! We’ll see if there’s any repercussions to the reporters involved, cause the press’ll be squawking like a henhouse about it. But I think people here forget the distrust and distaste for the press that a lot of Americans share with the President. Dissing them means nothing.
I’m not sure if it’s a lack of introspection on a massive level or a fear of appearing wavering in the face of the enemy that makes him unable or unwilling to discuss mistakes and changes of mind. Probably mostly the latter. His face to the world is of Leader, and that’s all there is to it. There can be no seams, no cracks, no wishy-washiness, no doubts, in the fight against terror. And if he gets criticized for it, he really doesn’t care. If he loses I think he’ll do it with good grace but much sadness.
luc and airman: you two should be a comedy team.
mehitabel: you sick f*ck. I’ve been looking at that sig my whole life.
Actually, I don’t remember seeing one of those lately. They still have those on the trains and I’m not seeing it?
Heh. I don’t think they have them as prominently in the newest trains, the R-142s and 142A’s. But, dammit, those tracks ARE peligroso and don’t you forget it.
I forgot the tie. Gaaah. Moire everywhere!
Guys, c’mon, if this was scripted then Howard Dean wrote it.
Being permitted to ask a question is meaningless if the person being questioned is permitted to ignore the question by saying anything he wants without follow-up from the questioner.
Somebody really ought to produce an annotated text of Bush’s statements tonight. Hardly a sentence went by that wasn’t a meaningless platitude, a strawman evasion, or an outright lie.
LOL
Tried it, but every time I do the set-up line, he grabs a liberal and beats the snot out of him while yelling how much he agrees with him. Too hip for the room.
I nominate you, Minty. 
Is there a second to the nomination?
Haha, ya, like when a certain President looked right in the cameras and said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman…” Helluva lotta good that did us, huh? Or if you are so inclined, “Read my lips: No new taxes!”. Or how about "… “I don’t want to appear as though I am trying deliberately to be vague…” Or so on and so forth. No point to it.