Posted on 09/10/2002 8:32:22 PM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs
CBS' Scott Pelley isn't the first person to observe that in a world of grays, President Bush sees mainly black and white.
But Pelley says there are aspects about the Bush's personality that might surprise some people during Bush's only TV interview this Sept. 11 anniversary week - on 60 Minutes II Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
"There are times in the interview where he is pounding the desk, he's so angry," Pelley said Monday. "There are parts where tears are running down his face as he's describing the people (he) met in New York. Viewers are going to see a man who has a great deal more range of emotion that he betrays in public."
But they'll also see Bush repeating a familiar refrain: "He sees this (the war on terrorism) as a struggle between good an evil and he sees America as the leading champion of good in the world, with a responsibility to put an end to this evil wherever it is - way beyond Afghanistan."
Pelley spent 2 1/2 hours with Bush, speaking to him aboard Air Force One and at the White House. Pelley said Bush gets "a little testy. But I think he has fun with it: He likes the give and take."
Pelley also talked to 20 other Bush administration officials about their recollections of Sept. 11 and ensuing days.
But Pelley devotes a full 40 minutes of the show to examining what happened in the hours immediately after the attacks, when Bush remained largely aboard Air Force One instead of returning to the White House - a controversial move that Pelley came away thinking was justified.
By the end of the day it was Bush who overruled the Secret Service and ordered Air Force One to return to the the capital. "He said, 'Tell my wife to meet me at the White House' - and they did."
Pelley said that Bush is a bit like President Reagan - he paints the big picture but expects others to figure out the nitty-gritty - but someone who, in this case, needed to talk about the days that changed history.
"He was very engaged and thrilled to talk about it," Pelley said. "It was almost as if it seemed he needed to get it off his chest. He wanted to tell somebody about that week and what has been going through his mind."
That is not true. I am ambivalent about the man. I dislike many of his policies, and very much like others.
Now, having said that, I would like to ask you what you make of the fact that most people I know get choked up when discussing what happened on 9/11 last year. These are normal, everyday people who saw all the images we all saw on TV.
What I make of it? I don't know you, nor your friends. What do you suppose I should make of it?
President probably Bush saw the images that weren't shown on TV, the ones I have yet to see. He probably knows the name of that Mom seen holding her baby out the window on one of the towers, he may have seen pictures of the two of them on the pavement. I don't know that a man would have to fake emotion when talking about 9/11.
Perhaps not. And yet, he would not enter an interview like this without first being prepared by his consultants and handlers. These interviews are practiced. We both know that. Surely you don't believe that he just dropped in and decided to wing it and see how it went?
The true actor here would probably be the person hiding the ulterior motive behind a facade of "honesty". Get yourself a mirror.
I'm not hiding any ulterior motives. However, there seem to be a great many people on this thread who would like to shout down even the hint of criticism of their hero.
Bwahahaha! You said that in seriousness?
The issue here is not GW; it is your disdain those in authority.
Your attempt at pop psychology has been noted, and laughed at.
HINT?
Perhaps you are simply a lousy writer, then.
I remember another President who did that very same thing.
His name was Ronald Reagan.
He was an actor, but he was also real.
George Bush is just as real as Ronald Reagan.
To equate him in ANY context with Slick Willie you'd have to have the intelligence of a rock.
Hello, rock.
Nobody is stupid enough to do something on a thread like this that would get it pulled. Are they? I mean, come on. We aren't talking about sex, or conspiracy theories, or racism, or terrorism, or religion.
Bingo!
" HONESTY " ? You don't know the meaning of the word !
We not only lost fellow FREEPERS, but many of us lost friends and family, a year ago, to a pack of evil monsters and frankly, I'd rather have this president talk about that, than the last one, or algore, the tree. How about YOU ?
Why did you page the admin moderator? Are you trying to get the thread pulled, or something? That's downright weird.
No, he most certainly is not Bill Clinton. However, the Bush groupies are very much the same as the Clinton groupies were. For years we mused on FR how the Clinton fanatics could be so blind. Now we have the opportunity to see that it is a bi-partisan endeavor.
Must you resort to potty-mouth?
This guy is enjoying the arguing; and from what I see, seems to love being ill as a snake all the time.
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