Bush fucks up in front of millions

[king mob]

They've just shown a clip of last night's press conference with Bush on Channel 4 news.

Fucks sake if it wasnt so serious it would be the funniest thing i've seen on tv this year.Its just cringe worthy watching the most powerful man on the planet fall over his words & get confused by questions that didnt have scripted answers.

Try to catch it, its on the C4 website after tonights show.

article here.

[Pinball]

Bush is a neocon puppet, who serves his purpose well - he's malleable, amiable, unquestioningly stupid. Who cares if he looks like a chimp and struts around like a B-movie cowboy?

[GoochDogHigh5s]

Bush is a neocon puppet, who serves his purpose well - he's malleable, amiable, unquestioningly stupid. Who cares if he looks like a chimp and struts around like a B-movie cowboy?

Be nice if Gil Scott Heron wrote a song about him

[GoochDogHigh5s]

article here.

Cheers your majesty, just read it.
He scares the hell out of me

[MarmiteCarpenter]

Ack...you need to sign up to 4Broadband to see the video. Theres a free trial, but any free trial that requires your credit card info can fuck right off, especially if Real are involved.

Is there anywhere with a free audio/video stream?

[fanny splendid]

If you have a time machine, then you could join me last night to watch it live on BBC2.

One thing I didn't catch was his reason for holding the press conference?

Nice to see him look ruffled, though.

[Borboski]

As a matter of fact I can appreciate what they mean by 'folksiness' and why it appeals. I think the only reason it usually makes me scoff is becasue he is from the right.

Watching this last night I thought he was a lot more honest than the type of shite we get here (Harriet Harman, Tessa Jowell, Blair et al). The question he was asked (What would you say, after September the 11th, has been the biggest mistake you have made?) was just  a stupid question. He wasn't at an interview for a job after all.

Now Blair would have said...
"Yes well, as a government we make mistakes all the time, it's one the realities of public office, that we aren't perfect, and I think you'll see from our reord that we admit that. It's why we've initiated the big conversation. I think the important thing is that we move on from those mistakes, learn from them, and make things better"

... which in effect means nothing.

At least Bush was honest. Let's be fair, as if he keeps a top five mistakes just in case someone asks him.

But anyway, I don't like the guy, and i don't like his policies, but I do think that personality-wise, if he was convicted to humanitarian geniunely social-democratic policies he'd be an absolute hero.

[Alberon]

Just when you think this fuckwit won't get any worse he does.

He's managed to overshadow that less than stellar performance all ready. With Sharon in town he's declared that Israel has a legitimate claim to some parts of the West Bank.

I'm reading this book about Richard Nixon's term in office and I'm beginning to think I'd prefer that crook to the imbecile currently in residence.

[Bilko]

I'm reading this book about Richard Nixon's term in office and I'm beginning to think I'd prefer that crook to the imbecile currently in residence.

Is the book 'The Arrogrance Of Power', I've just finished reading that, it's a great book.

[Borboski]

I'm reading this book about Richard Nixon's term in office and I'm beginning to think I'd prefer that crook to the imbecile currently in residence.

Is the book 'The Arrogrance Of Power', I've used finished reading that, it's a great book.

Yes, it's great isn't it? Quite shocking that a nicompoop of such a high order could hold public office - but of course Yeltsin, Reagan, Kennedy, Clinton, Berlusconi, god they're all fucking human failures aren't they?

[Bilko]

What you learn reading the book is watergate is only one small part of how Nixon lied and set people up. The Alger Hiss scandal I think is much worse than watergate.

[Borboski]

What you learn reading the book is watergate is only one small part of how Nixon lied and set people up. The Alger Hiss scandal I think is much worse than watergate.

Yes, absolutely, but reading it I did feel a bit sorry for him that he's universally decried as a loser (despite a recent reinvention) and Kennedy is considered sacrosanct. It really was the case that everything he did Kennedy did too, and often worse. That said he wasn't a looker.

By the by, the greatest success of both Kennedy and Clinton was to make women hate themselves. I've never heard such confused women-hating comments from women defending their attitudes (Kennedy's and Clinton's) towards women and marriage.

[Alberon]

I'm reading this book about Richard Nixon's term in office and I'm beginning to think I'd prefer that crook to the imbecile currently in residence.

Is the book 'The Arrogrance Of Power', I've just finished reading that, it's a great book.

Not read that one, I might try that later. I'm reading 'Alone in the White House' by Richard Reeves. It's a lot more sober and I'm about half way through it. Nixon isn't coming out of it well so far. So far he's isolated himself from all but three subordinates (the vice-president isn't one of them) and he's ordered wire taps and illegal investigations and smears of opponents. The serious discussions they had over using tactical nukes in Vietnam is frightening. And all this comes straight from the tapes, memos and diaries the people involved produced.

Nixon was racist, and didn't want to help the black population, but that seemed to stem directly from the fact they didn't vote for him and he didn't think anything he could do would get them to. Interestingly, his racism was a bit different. He did think black people were mentally inferior to whites, but he also thought that Asians were superior and would go on to dominate the 21st Century.

I read the biography of Nancy Reagan done by Kitty Kelley years ago. What was scary about that one (apart from Reagan's mental fallibilities) was the way he and his wife consulted astrologers about everything. Interesting book though.

I get the feeling Dubya's reign is going to produce many of the 'Jesus, how did we survive him?' books in the next decade.

[sproggy]

Thread hijack!


There could be another parallel drawn between Nixon & Bush, what with the latest talk of impeachment.


Does make one wonder what sort of qualities are required to make a national leader in these modern times.  It would appear decisive leadership, intelligence and integrity are no longer a prerequisite.

[NaN]

Does make one wonder what sort of qualities are required to make a national leader in these modern times.  It would appear decisive leadership, intelligence and integrity are no longer a prerequisite.

an effective election campaign


which the bush camp will attempt by telling people "We're tough on defence we are... well after 9/11 anyway... we didn't see THAT coming.... a vote for the other guys is a vote for TERRORISM"

[Lt Plonker]

I caught some of this last night, but couldn't, as with a lot of political news, follow it very well. Was he questioned, at all, on his 'for us or against us' comments? I'd find that quite an interesting topic.

Perhaps someone could recommend a book about world politics for me to read? A sort of beginners guide style book?

[9]

Bush is a neocon puppet, who serves his purpose well - he's malleable, amiable, unquestioningly stupid. Who cares if he looks like a chimp and struts around like a B-movie cowboy?

i agree with Pinball here. This incident made it painfully obvious just how slow witted this man is. I was amazed he didn't just do the standard slippery politico dance around the question. He just seemed to stand there and dig a fat-bastard hole for himself.

[Ambient Sheep]

Bush is a neocon puppet, who serves his purpose well - he's malleable, amiable, unquestioningly stupid. Who cares if he looks like a chimp and struts around like a B-movie cowboy?

The odd thing is, is that when he came over here, some Liberal Democrat chap (may even have been Charles Kennedy himself) had an audience with him, and when he came out of it was clearly perplexed, and said something like "The popular image of him as stupid is surprisingly far from the truth.  He's *very* astute".  And yet as the article showed, he seems to have terrible trouble with the English Language.  Perhaps he's intelligent but inarticulate?!

[weirdbeard]

Ack...you need to sign up to 4Broadband to see the video. Theres a free trial, but any free trial that requires your credit card info can fuck right off, especially if Real are involved.

Is there anywhere with a free audio/video stream?

God bless the BBC.  It's a broadband only link though, and you need something on your system which playes Real Video files.  

Link-o

[ccab]

Perhaps he's intelligent but inarticulate?!

But that was far more than mere inarticulacy. How much of it could you actually understand? I laughed myself silly watching it - nothing made any sense - it was just bizarre gibberish. Notice the way instead of trying to present any ideas he was casting about ineptly for anything with the slightest ring of a soundbite?  Another amusing thing was the way Condo. Rice seemed to be battling a grimace every time the camera caught her. It was just beautiful - all of it. This is the supreme representative of all things american. They all boil down to this daft little cretin.

Watching this last night I thought he was a lot more honest than the type of shite we get here (Harriet Harman, Tessa Jowell, Blair et al).
...
Quite shocking that a nicompoop of such a high order could hold public office - but of course Yeltsin, Reagan, Kennedy, Clinton, Berlusconi, god they're all fucking human failures aren't they?

No. I don't know enough about Kennedy or Reagan to argue their case - but the other 3 are pretty canny politicians. Particularly Clinton. I heard him speaking following  a dinner speech in Hay on Wye a few years ago - & he's a sound intellectual - like Blair - whether or not you agree with his politics, his unscripted arguments are usually cogent & show he knows his field & thoroughly understands the stakes. Bush on the other hand really is a pure idiot. Put his incoherence down to poor articulacy if you have to, but you can't deny or defend the meandering disconnectedness in those answers of his last night. That's a flimsy flustered floundering little brain & it's a desperate tragedy for the Americans that he's embarrassing the world's highest office as blatantly as that. (But great fun for the rest of us.)

[Cheese Arse H Christ]

Re-cap of the Press Conference

"Good Evening. Before I take questions, I'd just like to say Iraq, Saddam, rebuilding, uh, stay the course, not going to be easy, applaud the military.

9/11, al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, 3000 people who died and their families, tilt head left to hear words in earpiece.

Turn to guy wearing a blue or red tie. Stutter, stammer, answer scripted question. Smirk. Move on to next question. Tilt head to left. Give answer not closely related to question. Smirk. Mention 9/11 and the 'non-specific threat', smirk.

Get unscripted question, shit self, stutter, stammer, give an answer not related to question. Give confounded look (see above), move on to next question. Smirk.

Say good night, bask in praise from media."

(from Bush is a Moron)

[Mister Six]

Shite, "premium service". I hate having to register on news sites.

Can someone rip and upload it?

[sproggy]

The odd thing is, is that when he came over here, some Liberal Democrat chap (may even have been Charles Kennedy himself) had an audience with him, and when he came out of it was clearly perplexed, and said something like "The popular image of him as stupid is surprisingly far from the truth.  He's *very* astute".  And yet as the article showed, he seems to have terrible trouble with the English Language.  Perhaps he's intelligent but inarticulate?!

That's an interesting angle sheepy  Maybe it's a simple case of him being unable to 'perform' in front of an audience?  You must admit, the pressure must be immense during press conferences, with millions of people hanging on every word that trips out of his mouth.

But then he was born and raised in the political limelight, and what with the media playing such an influential role in modern politics, one would have thought he'd have had plenty of time to brush up on his public speaking technique.

[Alberon]

Yeah, but he spent a great deal of his life being drunk and being crap at business and his father doesn't have the most astute political mind around either.

An interesting biog here http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/presidents/george-w-bush/ suggests he portrays himself as more down to Earth and less politically aware after being defeated in a race for Congress back in 1978 for being painted as the smart little rich kid.

How true that is, I don't know, but I don't dislike him for being bad at presentation (an oily Blair-style answer would have annoyed me much more) though the stumble at the press conference was clearly not deliberate.

[MonkeyDrummer]

To be honest, if I was responsible for invading a country on false pretences, killing 600 of my own citizens as well as around 6000 of the "enemy". I'd be tripping over my words too, in fact I think my mouth would go a bit dry when faced with a hotile press.

[chand]

He seemed to be quite flippant on two occasions when he was asked if he'd made any mistakes. There was one statement along the lines of 'I'm not saying I've never made a mistake, but right now I can't think of any', followed by a self-satisfied smirk, which I thought was a bit out of order given the gravity of the situation, where a Presidential mistake can cost the lives of real people.

I was gonna say that he's a bumbling fool when he's forced to veer from the script, but he wasn't exactly shit-hot at reading that out either, and he often looks as though he's viewing the words coming out of his mouth for the first time. I guess they realised it was too dangerous to have him strike out alone after some of the shit he came out with after 9/11.

[MarmiteCarpenter]

Thanks for the link, weirdbeard

I've only managed to watch the first few minutes cos I'm at work, but that was truly painful to watch. All those long pauses he gave while he struggled to assemble the next sentence in his head where unbearable, and the way he stared meaningfully at people to make it sound deliberate, I kept thinking he was going to bite his bottom lip Brent-style.

You might have a point, Ambient Sheep, it's hard to tell. I know a few intelligent people who become totally inarticulate when it comes to public speaking, but they don't act at all like Bush. He comes across much more as someone who has to talk at length about something he doesn't know much about. He's the president of America, he should be able to answer such basic questions without so much as a flinch, not stumble over his words like a nervous schoolkid whos forgotten to prepare for his presentation.

[Ambient Sheep]

I agree with all of you who have taken issue (to varying degrees) with my comments...believe me, I find it difficult to believe there's a brain in there as well, and I haven't even seen this startling news clip you chaps are talking about - yet.

Maybe they just paid off the LibDem guy to say he was clever... ;-)

Right - this has taken about 20-30 minutes to find, but here it is.  It was Menzies Campbell (the LibDem foreign affairs spokesman), quoted here in The Scotsman, from what appears to be a PA News report (emphasis mine):

US President George Bush is "totally at odds" with his media image, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said today.

Mr Campbell, an opponent of the war with Iraq, spoke out on the ePolitix website about his discussions with the President during the state visit.

He said that they discussed directly issues such as Iraq, the Middle East, Guantanamo Bay, Kyoto and trade sanctions.

"He is personally extremely engaging. He has a well-developed sense of humour, is self-deprecating and when he engages in a discussion with you he is warm and concentrates directly on you.  He looks you straight in the eye and tells you exactly what he thinks."

Mr Campbell, stressing that the President was "totally at odds" with his media image, went on: "I was not persuaded by what he said, but I was most certainly surprised at the extent to which the caricature of him was inaccurate."

He believed that the President's talks with him and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy was the only time during the visit that Mr Bush actually encountered major criticism.

"I suspect we were the only group of politicians in Britain that he met who were challenging his political views.  He met the Cabinet, Michael Howard and Michael Ancram (shadow foreign secretary).  I think the Liberal Democrats proved to be a stimulating alternative."

I probably first read the comment itself  in this Andrew Rawnsley column in the Observer:

Even some of the most vigorous Bush-whackers pronounced themselves quite impressed. I would judge that he exceeded most people's expectations, even if we must allow for how grass-cutting expectations of the President are on this side of the Atlantic. The Liberal Democrats' Menzies Campbell, one of the most trenchant opponents of the war against Saddam, no Bushie he, emerged from his private talks with the President to announce that he was 'most certainly surprised at the extent to which the caricature of him was inaccurate'.

Odd, isn't it?

[joFFeman]

Thanks for the link, weirdbeard

I've only managed to watch the first few minutes cos I'm at work, but that was truly painful to watch. All those long pauses he gave while he struggled to assemble the next sentence in his head where unbearable, and the way he stared meaningfully at people to make it sound deliberate, I kept thinking he was going to bite his bottom lip Brent-style.

You might have a point, Ambient Sheep, it's hard to tell. I know a few intelligent people who become totally inarticulate when it comes to public speaking, but they don't act at all like Bush. He comes across much more as someone who has to talk at length about something he doesn't know much about. He's the president of America, he should be able to answer such basic questions without so much as a flinch, not stumble over his words like a nervous schoolkid whos forgotten to prepare for his presentation.

his pauses are because he doesn't use a teleprompter [because he has a.. reading problem], but an earpiece which feeds him his speeches. i imagine at a Q&A he also uses the earpiece.