NYT: Paying in Dread for a Date with the People (prepping W)

[DeepModem Mom]

WHITE HOUSE LETTER
Paying in Dread for a Date With the People
By ELISABETH BUMILLER

Published: April 19, 2004

WASHINGTON

As Iraq continued to fall into chaos on the Thursday before Easter, the vacationing President Bush decided he would have to submit to an event he hates: a live prime-time news conference in the classical grandeur of the East Room of the White House....

***

Reporters do not submit questions to the White House beforehand, but administration officials have a good idea of what's coming from the questions reporters ask at the daily press briefings. "For the most part, we got all the subject matter," Mr. Bartlett said. He added that the president dislikes East Room news conferences not because he is afraid to answer questions, but because of the "pomp and circumstance" and what Mr. Bush considers the "peacocking" of reporters. (NOTE: Flight-suit-man accuses REPORTERS of "peacocking"???)

By late last week, White House officials were hardly doing somersaults over Mr. Bush's performance. Still, their view was that he was back on the offensive on Iraq, and that his emotion came through with a committed tone and serious bearing. "He gets his point across in a variety of ways, using more than one language," said Martha Joynt Kumar, a political science professor at Towson University who is working on a book about White House communications....

**

(Condoleeza) Rice and (Karl) Rove chatted easily in the front row until the president arrived, at which point they watched him with worried expressions on their faces for much of the next hour.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/19/politics/campaign/19LETT.html

[shockingelk]

1. they rolled the dice and lost

The anticipated question, Mr. Bartlett said, was, "Was it a mistake not to take out Sadr four months ago?"

This is similar to one of the questions I would have asked:

"Does the President think arresting or killing al Sadr would increase or decrease the violence in Iraq, and did he he personally approve the directive to arrest or kill him?"

Second was, "What specific information did you have that led you to believe we would be welcomed as liberators and if you didn't think we'd be universally welcomed, what was your plan for dealing with an partially unwelcome and ongoing occupation?"

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks, shockingelk --

I got caught up in the gossipy bits about the difficulty of prepping W for such events, and neglected that important note re. the unasked al Sadr question.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Bush's answer seems obvious

The anticipated question, Mr. Bartlett said, was, "Was it a mistake not to take out Sadr four months ago?" Mr. Bartlett would not say what Mr. Bush's answer would have been.

Since he later couldn't think of a mistake he's made, then he can't think that not 'taking out' Sadr 4 months ago (by which an administration interested in the rule of law ought to mean 'arrest', but this lot probably means 'shoot') was wrong. Unless Bush wants to say that the buck stops long before it gets to his desk.

The truthful answers to your questions would be:
The president didn't 'think' about the consequences of arresting al Sadr beyond shutting him up; he probably said 'yeah, OK, whatever' when it was suggested to him. His information for the Iraqi welcome was the lies of Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress; his plan was 'anyone who doesn't welcome us must be a Saddam supporter, so we'll shoot them'.

What he probably would have said was:
"Mr. Sadr hates freedom, so we have to take him out. I'm sure that's the right decision. The Iraqi people want freedom.
"To your second question: The Iraqi people want freedom. They are happy Saddam has gone. We need to continue the good work of the US-led coalition. I think questioning the troops sends the wrong message."
ie he wouldn't have answered your questions, since they're good ones.

[shockingelk]

8. they have no answers

and I think your guessed answers are pretty close to the nonsense that would have been offered.

"They" have no answers beyond the essence of "Bring em on! Er, freedom, er, democracy er, something like that"

[central scrutinizer]

12. no, they have the same "answer" for everything

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[grasswire]

3. say what???????????

"....and Karl Rove, the president's chief political aide (who, like Adlai Stevenson with a hole in his shoe, inexplicably turned up in the East Room with holes in the ankles of his socks)."

How much are we paying this guy?

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Maybe was so stressed when he got up and got dressed...

that morning, he didn't notice the holey socks?

[MetaTrope]

17. Socks with holes a visual code for

Self-absorbed, empathy-challenged geek.

[Piperay]

5. "using more than one language", hehehe

:wtf: he can't even use English to coherently put together one thought. :argh:

[retread]

6. "...using more than one language". Now there's a spin I haven't heard!! I

thought he only spoke dumbass!

[JoFerret]

9. ChimpSpeak

- the arm swing; the swagger; the pout; the underarm scratching

[opihimoimoi]

10. LOL, can I add nose picking too. :o)

[teryang]

11. He lost a lot of ground in this conference

Good thing they had Blair waiting in the wings to rehabilitate him. Time magazine reporters were even critical.

[74dodgedart]

13. Put *'s MTP showing side by side with Kerry's

Kerry blew George away (IMHO) in terms of confidence, coherence, actually understanding the issues, smart answers.

I think Dubya's worst fear is debating Kerry. The democrats should push to get Kerry face-to-face with Bush every chance they can.
Kerry will wipe the floor with that moron.

[54anickel]

14. Funny, it seemed pretty scripted to me in the beginning. I could only

stomach watching for the first 3 or 4 questions though. Then I had to just turn it off and walk away.
Anyone watch the whole thing to back up the claim that he isn't given the questions in advance? Obviously the mistakes question caught him "under the spot".

[Catfight]

15. totally scripted, even the staged, "have you made mistakes,"

he was wearing a mike, no doubt to me. They would never leave him on his own, he's a hallow shell, no substance, empty, you have to tell Bush what to think, feel and say.

[Piperay]

18. You wouldn't know by the

way he responds that he has the questions ahead of time because his answers are so poor and his delivery is so pathetic. :puke:

[progressivebydesign]

16. OMG what a puff piece!!!

Bush "hates all the pomp and circumstance". This is yet another attempt to spin his shitty performance, and complete lack of knowledge of his own administration's operations. They're trying to paint him as a cowboy, an outsider. The man wears BRIGHT GREEN golf pants for God's sake!! He's a blue blood Easterner!! He's NOT a cowboy! He's an aging frat boy socialite.. Of course he knew WHO he was calling on, and what the questions would be.. whether they were scripted or not.. exactly, he KNEW and was coached on it. The earpiece didn't hurt, either. The beginning of the event, was completely read from cards on the podium. They aren't claiming it was off the cuff, are they? I'm so sick of him and the liars in the White House!! Can we have a REAL president again? I'm at the point where I don't even care if it's another republican.. just as long as he's for real. No more Reagans or GWBushs.. I want a president that is actually in control! No more puppets for the shadow government.

Okay.. as long as I'm ranting. I love the spin on trying to create a super secret spy agency, that everyone is railing against in D.C. That's because we have one already. Is it some secret that we have the NSA??? Most people don't know about that one.. flies under the radar... look there for your shadow government.