I can't wait for the debates.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) grimaced, sighed, rambled and chuckled under his breath on Tuesday, before saying he could not think of a single mistake he had made since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Before the glare of live television cameras at his first prime time news conference in more than a year, the Republican president responded to many of the questions from reporters by repeating fairly stock phrases about freedom in Iraq (news - web sites) and the history-changing impact of the Sept. 11 attacks.
But one question for which Bush was evidently not prepared invited him to name his biggest mistake since 9/11.
"I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it," Bush joked before taking a long pause.
"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."
Then came a meandering soliloquy that wandered from an affirmation of his decisions to invade Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Iraq to his firm belief that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) possessed weapons of mass destruction and the discovery of mustard gas on a turkey farm in Libya.
"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," Bush concluded.
His performance during the hour-long appearance in the ornate White House East Room, a venue reserved for large and formal occasions, featured the usual mix of misspoken words and grammatical conundrums for which the president is well known.
"This is a war against people who have no guilt in killing innocent people," he said in describing the gravity of Washington's war on terrorism.
By and large, the rare solo appearance before the White House press corps -- Bush's 12th since taking office in early 2001 -- appeared to go better than his February interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" which some conservatives criticized as unsure and bumbling.
On Tuesday, Bush smoothly delivered a 17-minute prepared statement about Iraq before fielding well over a dozen questions from reporters, some of whom were called upon in a preset order.
"I've got some must-calls," Bush said, while inviting a question from a reporter named on his list.
wil.
[This message was edited by wilheim on April 14, 2004 at 04:01 PM.]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) grimaced, sighed, rambled and chuckled under his breath on Tuesday, before saying he could not think of a single mistake he had made since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Before the glare of live television cameras at his first prime time news conference in more than a year, the Republican president responded to many of the questions from reporters by repeating fairly stock phrases about freedom in Iraq (news - web sites) and the history-changing impact of the Sept. 11 attacks.
But one question for which Bush was evidently not prepared invited him to name his biggest mistake since 9/11.
"I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it," Bush joked before taking a long pause.
"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."
Then came a meandering soliloquy that wandered from an affirmation of his decisions to invade Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Iraq to his firm belief that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) possessed weapons of mass destruction and the discovery of mustard gas on a turkey farm in Libya.
"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," Bush concluded.
His performance during the hour-long appearance in the ornate White House East Room, a venue reserved for large and formal occasions, featured the usual mix of misspoken words and grammatical conundrums for which the president is well known.
"This is a war against people who have no guilt in killing innocent people," he said in describing the gravity of Washington's war on terrorism.
By and large, the rare solo appearance before the White House press corps -- Bush's 12th since taking office in early 2001 -- appeared to go better than his February interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" which some conservatives criticized as unsure and bumbling.
On Tuesday, Bush smoothly delivered a 17-minute prepared statement about Iraq before fielding well over a dozen questions from reporters, some of whom were called upon in a preset order.
"I've got some must-calls," Bush said, while inviting a question from a reporter named on his list.
wil.
[This message was edited by wilheim on April 14, 2004 at 04:01 PM.]
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The General:
I wish he would have gave us a nice plan for Social Security, but I suppose a Free Iraq is more important than our Senior citizens.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Great post General. Why are we worrying so much about the Iraqi people ???? Lets get stuff squared away here first. Rebuild school systems and rebuildIraq. WTF. This is insane. SSN and medicare will go broke and we are spending billions upon billions over there. Deficit is through the roof.
So what is this morons hidden agenda ?
I love the USA
I wish he would have gave us a nice plan for Social Security, but I suppose a Free Iraq is more important than our Senior citizens.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Great post General. Why are we worrying so much about the Iraqi people ???? Lets get stuff squared away here first. Rebuild school systems and rebuildIraq. WTF. This is insane. SSN and medicare will go broke and we are spending billions upon billions over there. Deficit is through the roof.
So what is this morons hidden agenda ?
I love the USA
Truthteller, I am not a democrat and at the same time I cannot stand Bush and I have to say you are the first Bush supporter I have seen who is willing to tell it like it is - the guy did not answer any of the questions - he told stories about oceans, consoling familes, how much Iraqis want to be free, how 911 changed everything, how happy Iraqis are to have us there and how one or two bad guys are attacking our soldiers.
