President Bush gave a Press Conference yesterday, and it was only his 17th to date. According to Editor & Publisher, this compares to 43 for Bill Clinton, 84 for George H.W. Bush, and 26 for Ronald Reagan at similar points in their presidencies. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post has an analysis of yesterday's rare event, calling him "elusive". (Milbank was the same reporter who shredded Dubya a couple of years ago for granting an exclusive interview to Rupert Murdoch's trashy UK Sun while snubbing reputable US newspapers that would have been more likely to ask hard-hitting questions.) (The WashPost links require registration, which can be bypassed with BugMeNot.) Don't want to read the entire transcript? Try the poem "Man Date", instead. RudePundit took text from Bush's statements and turned 'em into poetry.
posted by zarq on Dec 21, 2004 - 28 comments

Alhamdullah. "I do say that freedom is the Almighty's gift to every person," the president replied. "I also condition it by saying freedom is not America's gift to the world. It's much greater than that, of course. And I believe we worship the same god." Apparently, this is causing no small amount of controversy in the Christian God-believing circles. I was always under the impression that it was commonly accepted that Jews, Christians, and Muslims were all working for the same Guy. So, Bush finally says something that's not completely stupid, and he gets all kind of hell for it. Great.
posted by majcher on Nov 24, 2003 - 55 comments

The Clinton death list meme, so popular right before the 2000 election, has the possibility to start for GWB. WaPo, Oct 5th; Bush Family Babysitter Killed in Fairfax . I'm just wondering how you get your own car to roll on top of you?

"Officer Courtney Young, a police spokeswoman, said Champagne had gone outside the house about 9 p.m. Monday, reportedly to retrieve something from her car. The vehicle had been in gear, police said, and appeared to have rolled in her direction when Champagne was in front of it."
posted by CrazyJub on Oct 16, 2003 - 23 comments

U.S. Stops Iraq-Al Qaeda Talk From the Washington Post. Beyond the superficial significance of administration back-tracking, in regards to intelligence there seems to be two key aspects to this story: 1) The article talks about how the CIA was unable to "validate two prominent allegations made by high-ranking administration officials," implying that Bush/Cheney/etc. have been making baseless assumptions about Iraq in their pro-war arguments, and 2) it brings into question whether we know anything at all about Iraq, anyway. What if the same can be said of Hussein's nuclear plans?
posted by risenc on Sep 10, 2002 - 27 comments

Administration Says It Can Attack Iraq without Congressional Approval Not a new story, per se, but this Post article lays out pretty well the arguments behind the administration's case, one being simply Bush's role as commander-in-chief. It's strange how closely this issue reflects earlier attempts by the administration to avoid Congressional and/or public scrutiny (Cheney's Enron meetings, for example). Why this aversion, and why fight so hard? And I have a sneaking fear that Bush will seek Congressional approval only after invading, and he will bully votes by claiming that reps have a patriotic duty to support a president in a time of war.
posted by risenc on Aug 26, 2002 - 65 comments

Bush readies military--calls up 50 thousand reserves Well that will take care of the job market. But just what is it they are to do? One suggestion is that they will stay in the U.S. to ensure our safety. Isn't that called a garrison state? And Carnivore now installed at Hotmail and just about all oter places. But Bush had warned us early on that sometimes you have to give up freedoms, even in a democracy.
posted by Postroad on Sep 14, 2001 - 12 comments

"So now that I've kissed your ass, what do I have to do to get a deal?" - Bush cuts a deal on the "patients bill-o-rights". Is this going to appease those who keep shouting "concession and bipartisanship" or will they hate him all the more?
posted by revbrian on Aug 3, 2001 - 19 comments

Something about "fighting your own battles" prevented my Dad from doing stuff like this for me when I was a kid.
posted by TiggleTaggleTiger on Jul 16, 2001 - 31 comments

Culture as Culprit. Myron Magnet is the author of The Dream and the Nightmare, which George W. Bush has called the most influential book -- aside from the Bible -- that he's ever read. Is poverty in American less an economic matter than a cultural one?
posted by techgnollogic on Apr 6, 2001 - 9 comments

Bush says "Nuh-uh" to Reagan Memorial Good googly-moogly, Dubya does something right!!! Oh, gawd and I'm agreeing with his decision. I need to go wash myself.
posted by ratbastard on Mar 9, 2001 - 21 comments

Bush Evades Prime-Time Debates. "Gore spokesman Chris Lehane said Bush's 'idea of the perfect debate is on Austin cable access during the Olympic finals women's gymnastics.'"
posted by lbergstr on Aug 29, 2000 - 21 comments