Free Republic

Last night President George W. Bush gave his final scheduled speech as President of the United States. At noon next Tuesday, a new President will take the oath of office and the peaceful transfer of power from one American to another will take place as it has 44 times before. President Bush had been in office for less than eight months when the terrorists struck on September 11, 2001. Ten days later, a relatively untested President said of terrorism, we will "Stop it. Eliminate it. And destroy it where it grows." The President threw down the gauntlet to the rest...

More lasts today … This morning President & Mrs. Bush departed the White House for Camp David, Maryland, where they will spend their last weekend as the First Couple before Tuesday’s inauguration. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave her final press conference today at the State Department in Washington. She also met with Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Dr. Rice’s last official act as Secretary of State was signing a memorandum with Foreign Minister Livni that will help prevent arms smuggling to terrorists in Gaza. And today Press Secretary Dana Perino delivered the Administration’s final press briefing (Transcript). Dana took...

The three network morning shows on Friday almost totally skipped any coverage of President Bush's farewell address to the country on Thursday. Despite having a combined eight hours of air time, NBC's "Today," CBS's "Early Show" and ABC's "Good Morning America" devoted only 55 seconds total to reporting on Bush's speech. Instead, important topics such as "Obama thongs" and cheddar biscuits were highlighted. Over a period of two hours, "The Early Show" ignored the speech entirely. "Good Morning America," which has a similar running time, allowed a mere 17 seconds. The "Today" show, which now encompasses four hours of broadcast...