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August 09, 2007

Bush Whacks Liberal Pressies

The Democratic talking points flew fast and furious at President Bush during today’s press conference. The Associated Press presaged the question and answer session in its typical slanted way. Jennifer Loven began her story with: “President Bush, clearing the decks before his August vacation, called a news conference for Thursday.”

The lede implied that Bush would be AWOL on his ranch for the entire month instead of in Washington taking care of “the peoples’ business.” Perhaps Loven did not see the exodus of senators from the Nation’s Capital last Friday or the stampede of House members the day after. Nine days into August, Bush is still at work in the White House – not on vacation. As an aside, even though the President enjoys his Texas ranch, Bush once told me that he goes there frequently because he knows how much the press corps hates being in Crawford, especially in August.

AP’s White House correspondent started off the list of DNC talking points with a question asking if Bush would support a gas tax increase to fix all of the bridges that might be in danger of falling down. The President gently chastised Congress for wasting money (like the $8 million gym for House members, Rep. Abercrombie?) ABC Radio’s Ann Compton gave it another shot with her emotionally charged question about whether Bush would allocate more federal dollars for bridges and housing and less for the war (Build bridges, not bombs, kum bah ya.) Bush swatted that one away with a reiteration about the upside-down funding priorities of Congress.

Jim Axelrod of CBS News moved the goalposts for Democrats and the Old Media on Iraq. When Brookings Institute analysts recently declared that the troop surge showed signs of working it became necessary for the retreat and defeat crowd to shift the focus on the lack of political progress. What will they do if the Iraqi parliament comes back in early September and accomplishes most of the political imperatives?

NBC’s David Gregory asked about the sub-prime loan debacle, casting doubt on the statements the President made at the opening of the press conference about the strength of the economy. Bush began his answer with a knock on economists and then gave an economics lesson to the pressies.

One reporter asked about Guantanamo Bay and torture and received the appropriate standard response. He chided Senators for voting NIMBY on the dilemma over what to do with the enemy combatants held there.

Bush nailed one of the grandstanding “reporters” who asked about a familiar Democratic talking point: accountability. He brought up Iraq, Scooter Libby and Alberto Gonzales. The President bristled at the accusations and slammed the operative saying, “I know you are a kind, open-minded fellow,” (meaning precisely the opposite.) Bush pointed out that Congress conducted over 600 hearings since January, but passed little legislation.

CNN’s Ed Henry continued his quest to become the Democrats’ point man in the White House press corps. Henry’s question about Pat Tillman came directly from the gibberish at DailyKos. Then he pulled a stunt trying to get a pledge from Bush to find the truth about whether the former NFL star was murdered in Afghanistan. (The moonbat conspiracy theory says that the Neocons in the Bush administration ordered Tillman’s murder because he expressed opinions against the war and that Rumsfeld had covered it up.)

BOOK PLUG: I worked “behind enemy lines” in the liberal White House press corps for two years. In my book due out in September I “name names” of the political operatives among my former colleagues who pose as objective journalists.

Posted by jeffgannon at August 9, 2007 12:34 PM

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