Replies

I would have had much more respect for George Bush if he had shot back at Kourick. That was his problem, someone called it passive-aggressive personality; he seldom stuck up for himself even when he was obviously in the right.

WMD, for ex. I remember hearing him say "Bring it on"! and I said, way to go, GB! But the left gave him just a little flak, and the next day or so he made some muling criticism of his own words. All thru the 7 years following 9/11, and in the end he withheld any criticism of Hussein (Barry).

It was Bush's dad, HW, who was so condescendingly spoken to by Couric -- she was chiding him like a schoolmarm chiding a child for his support of tobacco growers' rights. I don't remember the details because I was so infuriated that she would presume to treat a WWII warrior veteran, a contemporary of my own father, with such disrespect and presumption. I tell you, I almost crawled through the TV to stuff a tennis ball in her mouth!

I loved Dubya and voted for him twice. I'll tell you what I think Dubya's problem was and is on that "passive" thing that drove both you and me nuts.

I think it runs in the Bush family's public persona, which becomes more sadly apparent with every passing day: They allow how they think others will perceive them to dictate their actions. Therefore, others are in control of them at all times. They want to be perceived as classy and above engaging in dispute because it would be in such bad taste.

You may argue, "Then isn't the same true for a man who wants to be perceived as a gentleman?" And as I grew up around virtually all men and love men and appreciate deeply that they are literally the sole defenders of women, I can safely say that a gentleman doesn't behave like a gentleman because he wants to be perceived as a gentleman. He behaves like a gentleman because he IS one.

I don't recall Dubya ever being disarmed or put on the spot by virtue of a female interviewer, such as Couric. I DO recall seeing HW being put there, and as Couric knew full well that HW's being of her own father's generation, would restrain himself. She played dirty.

If she plays that kind of "dirty" with any woman, whether it be the WWII generation's Nancy Reagan, or our own Baby Boomers Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton -- she will lose that fight every time.

It's an interesting dynamic. It's not a NEW dynamic, but it is a current one in American political culture, as opposed to the old days when men were the ones doing the interviews.