I musta missed something. I read and reread this AP article and can't find a single Bush Bash. Can somebody help me out here?
Posted on 01/23/2006 6:56:35 AM PST by Cagey
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Move over, Oprah. President Bush is making himself into television's newest talk show host by making audience participation a feature of his appearances.
Bush has been taking questions from audience members in recent speeches, and the White House says none has been prescreened. The sessions are not open to the public, but instead limited to invited groups. It's a throwback to the folksy style on the campaign trail that helped him win re-election and a departure from the heavily scripted speeches that were the norm last year.
And his answers have resulted in some revelations - both personal and political.
The White House has grown so comfortable with the format that most of his appearance Monday at Kansas State University scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET was reserved for Q-and-A with the audience.
And unlike the more intimate settings where the president has taken questions before, this appearance was set in front of a coliseum full of several thousands, including students, soldiers from nearby Fort Riley and invited guests.
Bush has taken a wide variety of questions in three appearances during the last six weeks. Many of the people he has called on have fawned over him, thanking him for his wartime leadership, saying they pray for him and bringing best wishes from other fans in their family who couldn't be there.
"It's always good to have a plant in every audience," Bush joked last week in Sterling, Va., after a woman rose and said she was proud of him.
But he has gotten some tough questions, too, such as the one from a woman in Philadelphia last month who challenged the administration's linkage of the Iraq war to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Bush said Saddam Hussein was a threat and at the time was widely believed to have weapons of mass destruction - which later proved false.
In response to another question in Philadelphia, he estimated 30,000 Iraqis had died in the war, the first time he publicly put a number on Iraqi deaths. In Louisville, Ky., he signaled that after initial reservations, he was resigned to congressional hearings into his domestic spying program as long as they don't aid the enemy.
He has spoken about one of the worst things about being president - exposing his daughters to public scrutiny - and one of the best - impressing his childhood friends with dinner at the White House.
"It's a great honor, pretty awe-inspiring deal," Bush said in Virginia. "They walk in there and, kind of (say), `What are you doing here, Bush?'"
He also ruled out any future run for office by his wife, Laura, in response to a plea from a fan who called her "one of the best first ladies we've ever had." And he disclosed that Mrs. Bush designed the rug in the Oval Office.
"I said, I want it to say `optimistic person comes here to work every day,'" the president said. "It was the strategic thought for the rug. She figured out the colors. And it looks like a sun, with nice, open colors."
Bush was opening Monday's event in Manhattan, Kan. by talking about the war on terror and making a point of defending his secret domestic eavesdropping program. It's part of a new administration effort to convince Americans that the National Security Agency's communications spying program is necessary to fight terrorism.
The public relations campaign comes two weeks before congressional hearings to examine the top-secret program, disclosed last month by The New York Times, are set to begin. Critics have said the president broke the law by authorizing the eavesdropping without a judge's approval and by failing to fully consult with Congress.
As part of that campaign, presidential adviser Dan Bartlett made a pitch for the surveillance program Monday morning on network television news shows.
"The very reason to do this is that the dots weren't connected before 9/11, to make sure we know if plans or operations are under way to attack our country again," he said on CBS's "The Early Show."
Bartlett insisted that Bush was "not bypassing the law. In fact, we're interpreting the law correctly."
"It would be our choice to not to have to talk about this at all," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
While the president was heading for Kansas, anti-abortion activists were gathering in Washington and elsewhere to protest the 33rd anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. As he has in past years, Bush planned to call in his support rather than attend in person.
Why not...the facts are on his side, all he has to do is remember them.
The libs should fear such a forum.
I bet Hildebeast wouldn't do that in a million years.......
Every question will probably be about Abramoff, the NSA, more Abramoff, followed by more NSA.
No doubt the dems will have several 'plants' in the audiance(probably a soldier or two)who will try to get on camera with some 'newsmaking' anti-Bush 'question'....YAWN.
The answers won't be scripted, but the media will make sure the questions are.
Exactly. The media will be infliltrating the heck out of this thing.
And they'll think we're too stupid to figure that out.
Careful... you know that if he takes open questions the libs will plant agitators in there, they have a pattern and practice of doing so.
Every question will probably be about Abramoff, the NSA, more Abramoff, followed by more NSA.Unless Kerry shows up and asks a question, in which case it will be: "Did you know I served in Vietnam?"
bring 'em on!
heheh.
I musta missed something. I read and reread this AP article and can't find a single Bush Bash. Can somebody help me out here?
Exactly. The media will be infliltrating the heck out of this thing.
And they'll think we're too stupid to figure that out.
Well, it is limited to invited groups and is not a public anyone-can-come event. So the chances are that it won't turn into a total Bush-bashing event. Obviously he's very comfortable about doing this type of event now; he should have started sooner IMO to get ahead of the hate-Bush MSM. I'm convinced the more the people hear from him in an honest open way, the more those in the heartland will continue to support him. Now if he'd only replace his press secretary with someone who can take control of the White House press corps, I'd be happy.
Stay Safe!!
> I bet Hildebeast wouldn't do that in a million years...
It takes a plantation to shelter the Hildebeast from unscripted questions.
I noticed that too. No doubt the reporter will get a reprimand for that oversight.
Nedra, Nedra, Nedra. So much bias, so little time.
Someone should do a Political Cartoon with Hildey as Simon Legree and the NAACP as Uncle Tom.............
Wrong Nedra! Democrats, European countries, the U.N. - all believed that Saddam had WMD. Don't let the facts get in the way of your biased POS article.
"Mr. President, what is that pen for on your desk that is all covered in dust and cobwebs?"
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