Bush gets animated

September 15, 2006

The president’s Rose Garden press conference today featured a different Bush than we’re used to seeing. As Ezra noted, “Whereas Bush is generally petulant and unhappy at these events, he’s now snapping at reporters, straightforwardly insulting them, yelling from the podium, losing control, and generally evincing a combativeness and barely suppressed rage that I’ve never seen from him before.”

I wholeheartedly agree. Bush looked as if he wanted to punch someone, particularly David Gregory, who dared to ask the president how he’d react if a foreign government captured an American, tortured him, and tried and convicted him with evidence he wasn’t allowed to see. As Salon’s Tim Grieve noted, “Bush didn’t — Bush couldn’t — answer the question.”

“My reaction is that, if the nations such as those you named adopted the standards within the [White House’s] Detainee Detention Act, the world would be better,” he said.

Gregory pressed on what he called the “important point,” the same point Colin Powell made this week in his letter opposing Bush’s plan. “I know you think it’s an important point,” Bush snapped back. But he said “the most important point” was the rather unlikely one he was making — that U.S. intelligence officers will have to stop interrogating detainees entirely if they don’t have more clarity on the outer limits of the coercive techniques they can use.

Gregory pressed one more time, at which point Bush cut him off and said “next man.”

Bush even took a not-so-subtle jab at Colin Powell.

TP has the transcript and video:

QUESTION: Mr. President, former Secretary of State Colin Powell says, The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. If a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former secretary of state feels this way, don’t you think that Americans and the rest of the world are beginning to wonder whether you’re following a flawed strategy?

BUSH: If there’s any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it’s flawed logic. It’s just — I simply can’t accept that. It’s unacceptable to think that there’s any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective.

It’s a rather routine rhetorical trick for the president. Colin Powell spoke out against Bush’s proposal, saying, “The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk.” From there, Bush extrapolated that Powell was comparing the U.S. to terrorists, which necessarily makes Powell’s concerns “unacceptable.”

At least this morning, Powell probably knows how John Kerry felt in 2004, when the Bush campaign smeared the Dem nominee with the same kind of rhetorical flourishes.

Doesn’t Boy George II want Colin Powell to stay quiet about his lying presentation to the United Nations. Once Colin wakes up and smells the slander, he’s going to tell the world that even he knows he lied in New York, and that there is no reason to credit anything that comes out of the Bushite White House.

But then, I suppose Boy George II only needs God as an ally.

  • There’ s nothing reporters like more than the smell of blood in the water. I hope they see Bush for the wounded animal he is and stop taking his guff. Kudos to Gregory. It looks like he’s quit the White House Stenographers Association and is doing what a real reporter should. Good for him …. and us.

  • Though I’m glad some reporters are showing some backbone, I can’t help but feeling its way too little way to late. Where were the moral basis questions 4 years ago?

  • The wheels are finally off the administration. Let’s hope that in November we can stop the slide forward.

  • When donkeys fly you don’t complain how far. At least the White House Press Corp seems to be waking up. Hey David Gregory is asking tough questions and he hasn’t been thrown out of the corps. (Other revenge might be in the works though.)

  • Time for all of us to thank David Gregory loudly so that the press corpse can see the upside of angering the petulent boy king.

    Do it here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3660744/

    Go David!

    And Colin, you should know what happens to people who are disloyal to the Bush machine. They get attacked mercilessly. Now that you’ve been compared to the terrorists, maybe you should do the right thing and write a real book, and pleeeese let the excerpts out before the election.

  • Petulant little boy.

    His entire life he has scated. He has been bailed out when he got in trouble and has been enabled by friends and family. He has generally gotten whatever he wanted and never had to really work for it. For the first time in his lame little life, people have finally started to push back, and push back in a more sustained manner (though not as much as I would like considering the offenses). He has no experience with resistance and consequently no idea of how to handle it in a grown up fashion. If/when Democrats take over the House or Senate, look for him to either become more unhinged or his campaign staff to keep in away from hostile audience because they are afraid he will be come unginged. I don’t think he is sufficiently able to control himself and I wonder what his handler are already doing behind the scenes, to keep him propped up.

  • One other thing about the media that bothers me is reflected by the NYTimes article on this titled “Bush Strongly Defends Plan on Prisoners.” Well, “animated,” as used by CB is definitely appropriate. “Belligerantly” would be another adjective to use. Maybe even “loudly.” But “strongly?” “Strong” seems to impute one’s having and making lots of rational arguments and possessing good and solid facts to support those rational arguments. Bush has nothing of the sort and presents nothing of the sort. Yet the Times insists on making Bush appear more than what he was. I just don’t get it anymore.

  • Bush is a self admitted war criminal desperately trying to cover his own ass. Any congressperson that signs on with him will be aiding and abetting a war criminal and, thus will become a war criminal also.
    Winning the House in November isn’t enough. The Republican Party has to be destroyed. Bush may be the man to do it.

  • “Sign my bill or I am taking my ball and going home!” – WPB

    Actually, more like: “Sign my bill or I’m taking KSM back to Poland to torture some more.”

    That’s what he is saying. He can’t bring KSM and the other thirteen “big” terrorists to trial on any terms but his own. And boy, after five years of giving the 9/11/01 families nothing, now he’s going to scream like a banshee if they aren’t tried right away.

    What a load of crap!

  • From the Rude Pundit;

    Bush’s Press Conference: Bring the Rude Pundit a Bucket:
    The President of the United States just said that he doesn’t care if American soldiers are tortured and then tried, convicted, and executed with secret evidence. This motherfxxxxr just sold out the troops on the ground in favor of covering the asses of those who have tortured prisoners.

    Motherfxxxxr is flailing around like he ought to have a fan blowing up his skirt outside a car dealership.

    More later, after the horrible retching ends.

    // posted by Rude One

  • This is a boy in a man’s body who never grew up and became an adult. He’s never had to face up to what he’s done, he’s always been able to get away with declaring that his hand isn’t in the cookie jar and getting away with it with dear ol’ Mom.

    When I was 4, a friend and I stomped a neighbor’s chicken to death. We were 4, we didn’t know what death was and didn’t think it was wrong. Boy, did we learn otherwise, and fast! I didn’t sit down the rest of the afternoon or evening and slept on my stomach that night. And I never ever ever did such a thing again. When George was caught sticking firecrackers in frogs, either no one did anything about it, or whatever they did didn’t “take” (it rarely does with a budding psychopath). Nobody ever gave him the lickin’ he needed or followed up with the discipline he required. When a spoiled brat is punished for the first time, he or she thinks its the fault of those punishing them.

    Bush got punished today, and reacted the way a spoiled 10-year old would.

    My bet is that is his last “open” press conference and he goes back in the bubble permanently.

    Watching him fall apart is soooooo much fun – except when you consider what position he holds, and then the thought we have a psychopath who never grew up running things – that’s truly scary.

  • There’ s nothing reporters like more than the smell of blood in the water. I hope they see Bush for the wounded animal he is

    The wheels are finally off the administration.

    I don’t know — I think I’m living in a parallel universe, where gas prices are falling, right-wing scare-propaganda is monopolizing the airwaves, and the GOP is gaining ground at a steady pace.

  • I think Gregory should have clarified, for Bush’s edification, that Bush’s strawman compassion and decency of the “American people” aren’t the appropriate comparison with the action of terrorists and should have suggested instead that Bush compare his own administration’s actions to those of terrorists.

    Actually, I love it that Bush is losing his confident equilibrium. Maybe we’ll get to see some presidential temper tantrums that have his staff vomiting with anxiety.

  • Exactly what I noticed, anney.

    Amazing how he utters the words “flawed logic” and then dares to build the “How can you compare Americans with ‘Islamists'” straw man without taking a breath in between.

    Not only is it a straw man, but I believe his reference to the “3rd awakening” (again today) and “Islamists” is both purposeful and TERRIFYING.

    What. A. Psycho.

  • The crux of Bush’s entire presidency is the crux of his response to Gregory: “I would hope that they would adopt the same standards that we adopt.” The antecedent for “they” can be everyone his administration has tried to steamroll, from Democrats to non-Evangelicals to Iraqis. The problems is, people don’t want to adopt his standards so he has to force them down their throat.

  • Aren’t addicts fun? The unrecovered addict doesn’t understand simple concepts like consequences, personal responsibility, restraining one’s impulses or even the word “No.” And that’s just your common or garden addict. Add to that a life of wealth and privilege, mix with a huge dollop of power and it is no surprise he’s pitching a fit. After five years in office he does not. Can not, conceive of a world where he doesn’t get his way and getting his way is the only thing that matters to him. People who try to thwart him are evil.
    Best case scenario: He sees his team of handlers and toadies as traitors and dismisses them all because they didn’t deliver on their promise he’d get his way, again.
    Second best: He wigs out while the cameras roll.
    OK, it would be great if he got in Powell’s face and got punched, but I know that’s not going to happen. However, I’m sure Powell isn’t surprised by this incoherent broadside from the Addict in Chief.

  • Steve M.
    You mentioned that gas prices are falling. Am I the only person that thinks that with the Alaskan BP pipeline down reducing the US supply of oil by 8%, it is odd that prices are falling? I thought with supply and demand, when the supply is reduced and the demand remains the same, the price usually goes up. This also proves to me that the price of gas has been manipulated all along since President Shitstain took office. Any mention of a storm near the Gulf and the price shot up and it never went back down much. Either that or Shitstain has released oil from our national reserve.

  • I agree Bush really did sound “Up against the ropes” Very Punchy and
    flaky sounding in his reasoning.
    Things fall apart ..The centre cannot hold…
    Bush is going to spend his remaining days unravelling and shouting at Squirrels on the White House lawn.

  • Powell already knows what it’s like to be stabbed in the back. He knows that Bush shoved him in front the oncoming headlights at the U.N. and then walked away from the mangled corpse of Powell’s reputation. As the loyal soldier, Powell bit his tongue, saying nothing about how he was used and abused. It’s hard to fault that kind of loyalty, unless it becomes an excuse equivalent to “I was only following orders.”

    Powell forgot that, ultimately, he owes more to the public and the troops under his command than he owes to the President. He lost my respect as a result. I am very glad to hear him speak up now, and he may yet resurrect his reputation, but not if he keeps pussyfooting around. Powell could probably annihilate half of the current chickenhawk administration single-handedly if he was of a mind to stir up some real trouble.

  • Typical GOP logic on ethics/morality: we are a “good” country, therefore, no matter what we do, it is OK. The “good” being defined by a criteria that has nothing to do with ethics or morality, such as christianity.

    He fundamentally doesn’t understand (or is not willing to) that, if you want to take the moral high ground, you actually have to justify it. You can’t just say it. Sort of like with our freedoms. You actually have to honor them ALL the time, not just when you feel like it or when it is the easy thing to do. There cannot be two kinds of trials for the presumed innocent and the presumed guilty, like the Bushites want.

  • Here’s a real jewel from today’s press conference (emphasis added, of course):

    QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.Earlier this week, you told a group of journalists that you thought the idea of sending special forces to Pakistan to hunt down bin Laden was a strategy that would not work.

    BUSH: Yes.

    QUESTION: Now recently, you’ve also…

    BUSH: Because, first of all, Pakistan is a sovereign nation.

    QUESTION: Well, recently, you’ve also described bin Laden as a sort of modern day Hitler or Mussolini. And I’m wondering why, if you can explain, why you think it’s a bad idea to send more resources to hunt down bin Laden wherever he is.

    BUSH: We are, Richard. Thank you. Thanks for asking the question.They were asking me about — somebody report — well, you know, your special forces here. Pakistan — if he is in Pakistan, which this person thought he might be who was asking me the question — Pakistan’s a sovereign nation. In order for us to send thousands of troops into a sovereign nation, we’ve got to be invited by the government of Pakistan…

    I’m confused. With us, against us. No difference between terrorists and countries that harbor terrorists. One percent solutions. Then again, maybe I missed the invitation Iraq sent us to send thousands of troups into that nation.

  • I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but from what I saw of the Bush/Lauer interview on Countdown and the Daily Show Bush had a scarily deranged look in his eyes. I’ve seen that look before in people seriously fucked up on powerful drugs and a few deranged homeless persons who have lost their grasp of reality wandering around on city streets. I think if he hasn’t already, W is pretty close to having both oars out of the water.

  • I agree with those who have commented before me: George W. Bush acts like a petulant, spoiled brat who has to have his way and only his way. What he has termed “vague” had been clear to all his recent predecessors and the U.S. military before his presidency.

    Does he really believe that, if he had his way, those countries who oppose us wouldn’t treat American POWs with similar torturous methods instead of adhering to the current Geneva Convention protocols that previous administrations had no problem understanding? If so, how would we as a country be any different than those who oppose us and whom we are to be protected against?

    He is an embarrassment as the chief representative of the current U.S. government and its citizens. For him to equate all those loyal, patriotic Americans who have exercised their heretofore treasured constitutional right of peaceful dissent as “confused” or “un-American” is an abomination.

    Let’s hope that our fellow Americans will replace the callous politicians now in power with caring, responsive, and responsible ones in the coming ’06 and ’08 elections. Let true democracy be restored to our shores.

  • What is up with Colin Powell? I thought he’d decided a long time ago that loyalty to the president was more important than loyalty to the country or any other principle. He’s already sacrificed his reputation by following that idea. Why is he only now deciding to stand up to Bush, and why won’t he stand up to him on any other subject (like Iraq)?

  • beep52, interesting.

    So Bush, are you saying Iraq is not a sovereign nation? Afghanistan? Last time I checked they were. I thought those BS loopholes Congress gave you to pursue this “war on terror” made it possible to head into Pakistan? If they didn’t, why don’t you ask Congress to do so? and one more thing…

    If “losing Bin Laden is an urban myth” then where in the hell is he? If you haven’t found Bin Laden, have you LOST the trail or are you afraid to keep looking?

    Keep pushin’ press. My bet is Rove pulls him out of the public eye for a while before he cracks up and turns his whining into sniffing and crying. or (my bet also…) a circular, stomping rage like some brat I saw at the grocery store.

  • Shruby’s rage stems from the worlds inability to see his holy aura and fall to their knees in startled comprehension and wonder at Shruby’s being a direct conduit to a dementedly sacred reality that he sees clearly.

    Shrubweh has accepted his own divinity. Shrubweh is infallible. Shrubweh is beyond reproach or question. Shrubweh has come to oversee the unwashed and the unwashed are not showing Shrubweh adequate obeisance. Ingrates. It’s time to stamp the holy foot.

    The Whine of Shrubweh. Like a mosquito in the dark. Like a thin, pinched fart. Like a motor with a bearing that’s about to fry. The scent of sizzling synapses never smelled so good.

    It’s, It’s…. It’s like a….Third Awakening.

  • Tom may be pretty close to the truth. A fantastic book to read is “Fortunate Son” by James Hatfield. It’s an extensively-researched, immensely-footnoted biography of the Bush Clan from Prescott down to Jenna and non-Jenna. It presents a fascinating personal history of Shrub and his demons.

    Shrub grew up without a father. There was nobody around to discipline him. Poppy was off wildcatting in the Permian basin and was never home to give Shrub the smacking around that he needed. Babs was and still is quite the tough old biatch, but still, being a new mother in a completely foreign place (Texas) in the 1950’s was no picnic, especially when all the siblings arrived, and she was likely just trying to maintain.

    Shrubby is still tormented by the death of his infant sister, too.

    That is one scary clan.

  • It’s unacceptable to think that there’s any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective.

    Umm… How many innocent women and children have U.S. soldiers killed to achieve Bush’s nebulous objective in Iraq? Tens of thousands would be the most reasonable estimate. How dare anyone compare that to the puny actions of Islamic extremists. “It’s unacceptable to think that there’s any kind of comparison!” We kill WAY more than those amateurs.

  • Is Bush being allowed to act out, and Friday’s press conference was really over the top, so that Republican Candidates can be allowed to distance themselves from him and win re-election? Could it be that Rove, the neo-cons and wealth are going to boot junior out after the first of next year and let Cheney be President-in-fact? Or will they both be gone so that the new appointed President will have a leg up for ’08?

  • I’ve known that occasionnally guitarist Eric Clapton plays “unplugged.” At that Rose Garden press conference, George W. was playing “unhinged.” Of course, W. could have played one of his more recent hits: “I’m the Decider.”

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