Is it me, or did Bush seem to keep pausing and waiting for applause? Could he be that out of it?

Also, the media says about Bush that his strength is that he can stay relentlessly “on message.” This is a total, big, steaming pile of bullshit. “Stay on message” means repeats himself over and over because all he has are talking points coached into him by his handlers and he’s run out but needs to fill his time. He had to struggle to fill the tiny amount of allotted time half the time! What a pathetic ass.

And from talkingpointsmemo.com:

Every president gets tucked away into a cocoon to some degree. But President Bush does notoriously few press conferences or serious interviews. His townhall meetings are screened so that only supporters show up. And, of course, he hasn’t debated anyone since almost exactly four years ago.

Frankly, I think it showed. It irked him to have to stand there and be criticized and not be able to repeat his talking points without contradiction.

I had the same impression and loved it. permanent link to this post