« Pat Robertson's Gaydar | Main | V-TV Day »

May 9, 2005
If The Media Would Please Step Outside...

Via The Carpetbagger Report.

It seems that President Bush was forced to face questions from people who - and I'm as appalled as you are - were not pre-screened and had signed no loyalty oath whatsoever! He even had to endure questions that were made up - I know - by the people asking them. Seriously, it didn't seem like there was one lickspittle in the whole crowd! Where is Jeff Gannon when you need him?

Of course, the people I'm speaking of were not Americans, they were Dutch, and luckily, the media were ushered out of the room once the questions got a little too pointed.

At home, President Bush regularly travels the nation for "conversations" with hand-picked audiences who routinely shower him and his policies with praise. But abroad on Sunday, some youths in Holland had a rare, unscripted opportunity to ask questions that some Americans might want to pose if given the chance.

..snip..

"I have a question … concerning the terrorism," said the first student to be called on, a young woman. "And you made many laws after 9/11, many — many laws and many measures. And I'm wondering, will there be a time when you drop those laws and when you decrease the measures?"

"Look," Bush replied, "a free society such as ours, obviously, must balance the government's most important duty, which is to protect the American people from harm, with the civil liberties of our citizens. And every law we passed that was aimed to protect us in this new era of threats from abroad and the willingness for people to kill without mercy has been scrutinized and, of course, balanced by our Constitution."

LA Times

My favorite part about Bush's answer, besides that cute way he has of beginning his replies with "Look," or "Listen," was the way he was telling the DUTCH about what it's like to live in a free society.

The next question — the last heard by reporters or included in the White House transcript — concerned the cost of the Iraq war.

The unidentified questioner noted that the U.S. had been involved in "a lot of wars," and wondered about the impact on Americans at home.

She said she had recently received a brochure seeking donations for poor people in the United States and asked Bush: "What's the balance between the responsibility to the world and the responsibility to your own people?"

Said Bush: "I think we have a responsibility to both." Reverting to what resembled a campaign stump speech, he then listed the value of small businesses in creating jobs and spoke of the United States' role in fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa and safeguarding freedom around the world.

Media were then asked to leave, though the meeting, held in a window-lined room at a glorious chateau near Maastricht, went on for another half-hour.

Ibid.

Isn't that lovely. Not only were the media asked to leave, but the White House cut it all from the transcript. I seem to recall some pretty thorough transcripts of his stateside "town hall meetings"...

Really, the shame here lies less with George Bush - he's just being himself - and with the media - they also seem to suck reflexively these days - as it does with us, you and me. He is our president.

How sad is that?

Comments

Previous Comments