George W. Bush: Not Ready for Prime Time!

Tar, Thanks. I'm a dummy at these things.

We all have to learn sometime. I'm a dummy at LOTS of things.

foxfrye,
Based on the replies you've garnered on my thread, it looks as if you'll be getting fewer than 7 hours of sleep as you man your keyboard to defend a seemingly endless chorus of critics who think you're just rightwing wrong.

foxfryre opines, "There are a small group of 9/11 familes who are getting a huge amount of press, all saying the same scripted message when they get the microphone. These are members of a group that is funded by Mrs. John Kerry's billion dollar foundation."

So, you'll have to assist this newbie get up to speed on such matters.

You're actually saying with a straight face the 9/11 families who are also critics of Bush have some sort of nefarious ties to a sinister left wing organization funded by Mrs. John Kerry?

What is your proof?

This is about as nutty as the Clinton bashers claiming Hillary Clinton had Vince Foster whacked so the secrets of Whitewater would go to the grave with him.

Do you also think little green men landed in Roswell, NM in 1947?

Thanks for the articles, C.I..

fealola, Tis my pleasure, maddam.

Here's you a link Deecups.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12616

And since the tone of debate has now disintegrated into personal insult, I'll adhere to my own personal policy and move on.

April 14, 2004 | 10:41 AM ET



Eric Rauchway altercates for Eric Alterman today.

My heart sank when the President said, "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 [an] answer, but it hadn't yet." Has ever a President uttered more demoralizing words in the course of seeking to reassure Americans and the world? ("I am not a crook," maybe.) I wish the President to stand by our troops now in peril on foreign shores. I wish the President to protect us from terrorist attacks at home. I wish the President to preside wisely over a vigorous and free economy and society. I wish the President were able to stand up to the pressures of those jobs. But the President cannot even come up with an answer to a question he said, mere seconds before, he has "oftentimes [thought] about" over the last couple of years: "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?" The President replied, "I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it." And then he then explained about the pressure of press conferences.

Honestly, I was truly astonished to feel so saddened at that moment. I hadn't supposed any appreciable confidence in the President's ability remained in me. But it turns out I am enough of a Pollyanna to have held out some secret hope, at least till then. There are more worldly people out there; apparently a Sky News reporter drily remarked of the President's answer to this question, "By his standards this was a relatively assured performance."

Trust, Don't Verify
Bush's incredible definition of credibility.
By William Saletan
Posted Wednesday, April 14, 2004, at 3:27 AM PT


One thing is for certain, though, about me, and the world has learned this: When I say something, I mean it. And the credibility of the United States is incredibly important for keeping world peace and freedom.

That's the summation President Bush delivered as he wrapped up his press conference Tuesday night. It's the message he emphasized throughout: Our commitment. Our pledge. Our word. My conviction. Given the stakes in Iraq and the war against terrorism, it would be petty to poke fun at Bush for calling credibility "incredibly important." His routine misuse of the word "incredible," while illiterate, is harmless. His misunderstanding of the word "credible," however, isn't harmless. It's catastrophic.

To Bush, credibility means that you keep saying today what you said yesterday, and that you do today what you promised yesterday. "A free Iraq will confirm to a watching world that America's word, once given, can be relied upon," he argued Tuesday night. When the situation is clear and requires pure courage, this steadfastness is Bush's most useful trait. But when the situation is unclear, Bush's notion of credibility turns out to be dangerously unhinged. The only words and deeds that have to match are his. No correspondence to reality is required. Bush can say today what he said yesterday, and do today what he promised yesterday, even if nothing he believes about the rest of the world is true.

Having difficulty speaking off the cuff is one thing; making things up as one goes along is another.

How about his line about his belief that, despite what people say, Muslim and brown-skinned people have a right to self-governance?

Who was he rebutting there?

Osama? Saddam?

foxfyre plays her hand, "And since the tone of debate has now disintegrated into personal insult, I'll adhere to my own personal policy and move on."

I've noticed in my short time here that this is your technique.

Staying on a thread just long enough to stir the pot and annoy and aggravate all, then you pull up your skirt and shuffle off.

Well done! :wink:

The link foxfrye provided was breathtaking for what it didn't say.

The Heinz charitable foundation gives donations to hundreds, if not thousands of non-profit organizations -- so what?

To imply that 9/11 families should not be able to exercise their Constitutional rights and join any organization of their choosing (Golly, even antiwar organizations -- shocking!) is simply nutty and attempts to find a conspiracy where there is none.

The source of foxfrye's rant is Frontpage magazine.com: I hope everyone visits it as it's a stunning glimpse into the world of the ultra-far right.

A few of the items I found were:

-a stop Hillary PAC link
-an article demonizing the left (here we go again) that claims "Pro-terror Islamists have teamed up with the American campus Left to demonize Israel
-lots of articles suggesting commies and radicals have infiltrated "academia"

It's important to point out that Frontpage magazine.com was hatched from none other than radical, rightwinger David Horowitz' brain.

Frontpage magazine.com was a trip back to the 1950's. I expected to see jingoistic phrases like "no Reds under my bed."

You make perfect sense to me (and others, I hope) now, foxfrye.

Just citing examples of media that don't necessarily filter content to please Bush or a CEO.

neo, Bush's honeymoon with the media (the longest one in history) has finally come to an end.

And not a moment too soon either.