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Bush's Last Press Conference

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deanhills
I listened to Bush's Last Press Conference. Time is really flying, and apparently Wednesday is his last day in office. A new President, No. 44. It was a very long Press Conference by President standards, but perhaps the President had a lot on his chest. The Press Conference was almost a review of his performance over the last 8 years, in an analytical way. There were a few questions and discussions that made an impression on me. One was a perception by US citizens that world opinion of the US has declined during Bush's presidency. Perhaps it has, but at the same time the US has earned lots of respect for its ability to take decisions in a firm way and see them through. The US is definitely not looked upon as a weak country. Bush reiterated a number of times that Sept/11 is still a threat and that the US position in the Middle East is a crucial one for gathering of intelligence. So many challenges waiting for Obama. Good performance by Bush though.

Did anybody else have a chance to look at his Press Conference and what were your thoughts on it?

Last edited by deanhills on Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:38 pm; edited 1 time in total
ocalhoun
I saw some of it while waiting for a dentist appointment ^.^
I was glad to hear a few of the things he said, but other comments were anachronisms, and some (like the "I don't think the world sees the USA in a dim light" comment) were outrageously wrong. (And some times I just had to laugh like I did at the "sometimes you [the press] misunderestimated me".)
deanhills
ocalhoun wrote:
(And some times I just had to laugh like I did at the "sometimes you [the press] misunderestimated me".)


I watched the Press Conference on UK Skynews (a really good news service) and the commentator picked up on exactly that word! He made the comment that Bush had missed an opportunity to express his real regret about all the lives that had been lost, and he still has problem with using wrong words, not very good with his discourses Smile
ocalhoun
deanhills wrote:
ocalhoun wrote:
(And some times I just had to laugh like I did at the "sometimes you [the press] misunderestimated me".)


I watched the Press Conference on UK Skynews (a really good news service) and the commentator picked up on exactly that word! He made the comment that Bush had missed an opportunity to express his real regret about all the lives that had been lost, and he still has problem with using wrong words, not very good with his discourses Smile

I think he may have been mangling the word for exactly that ironic purpose. People misunderestimate him a lot when it comes to that. ^.^
handfleisch
Last Press Conference Ever by W.P.E. and he went out classy and brave, refusing to call on Helen Thomas

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/george-bush-snubs-helen-thomas-his-fina
deanhills
handfleisch wrote:
Last Press Conference Ever by W.P.E. and he went out classy and brave, refusing to call on Helen Thomas

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/george-bush-snubs-helen-thomas-his-fina


Maybe there are facts here that we do not know about, and as per usual people are coming to their own conclusions about it. It can be both good or bad. How do we know? And perhaps she got more mileage out of it through this action, whether intended or not, than she would have got, if he had included her. What is certain however is that his Presidency is over. And Helen Thomas is still in her job.
handfleisch
deanhills wrote:


Maybe there are facts here that we do not know about, and as per usual people are coming to their own conclusions about it. It can be both good or bad. How do we know? .


We know from following events and seeing patterns and weighing evidence and seeing results.

Helen Thomas is something of a national treasure; this snub by Bush, while no big deal in the grand scheme of his disastrous reign, was a very petty end to his presidential interaction with the press.
deanhills
handfleisch wrote:
We know from following events and seeing patterns and weighing evidence and seeing results.

Helen Thomas is something of a national treasure; this snub by Bush, while no big deal in the grand scheme of his disastrous reign, was a very petty end to his presidential interaction with the press.


What do you think his motive would be for doing that? Was he not thinking, or was there a particular reason why he left her out of the Conference? While I was listening I was wondering whether all of his replies had been rehearsed before, as some of it came out really well coached and prepared, especially the ones about the list of mistakes he had made and particularly what had disappointed him. It felt as though he had decided before the Conference which reporters he would get him to ask the questions.

So in your experience would you say that he had planned ahead of the conference exactly which reporters he would be taking the questions from? And through that had planned to leave Helen Thomas out right from the start of the Conference?
handfleisch
deanhills wrote:
handfleisch wrote:
We know from following events and seeing patterns and weighing evidence and seeing results.

Helen Thomas is something of a national treasure; this snub by Bush, while no big deal in the grand scheme of his disastrous reign, was a very petty end to his presidential interaction with the press.


What do you think his motive would be for doing that? Was he not thinking, or was there a particular reason why he left her out of the Conference? While I was listening I was wondering whether all of his replies had been rehearsed before, as some of it came out really well coached and prepared, especially the ones about the list of mistakes he had made and particularly what had disappointed him. It felt as though he had decided before the Conference which reporters he would get him to ask the questions.

So in your experience would you say that he had planned ahead of the conference exactly which reporters he would be taking the questions from? And through that had planned to leave Helen Thomas out right from the start of the Conference?


Good questions. Most of my answers would be speculation.

Motive for snubbing Thomas? To avoid getting a hardball question, the kind she is famous for.

Was the press conference rehearsed? Maybe not rehearsed, but they have been scripted in the past, and Bush has even made comments & jokes about it. Also, reporters can be uninvited to future press conferences as penalty for crossing the line.

http://www.nypress.com/article-7203-bush-gets-a-free-pass-from-the-white-house-press-corps.html

Quote:
KING: "Mr. President."

BUSH: "We’ll be there in a minute. King, John King. This is a scripted..."

A ripple of nervous laughter shot through the East Room. Moments later, the camera angle of the conference shifted to a side shot, revealing a ring of potted plants around the presidential podium. It would be hard to imagine an image that more perfectly describes American political journalism today: George Bush, surrounded by a row of potted plants, in turn surrounded by the White House press corps.

Newspapers the next day ignored the scripted-question issue completely. (King himself, incidentally, left it out of his CNN.com report.) Of the major news services and dailies, only one–the Washington Post–even parenthetically addressed the issue.
...
Reporters argue that they have no choice. They’ll say they can’t protest or boycott the staged format, because they risk being stripped of their seat in the press pool. For the same reason, they say they can’t write anything too negative. They can’t write, for instance, "President Bush, looking like a demented retard on the eve of war…" That leaves them with the sole option of "working within the system" and, as they like to say, "trying to take our shots when we can."


Here you can see a video of a press conference where Bush plainly admits that questions are submitted beforehand and being unable to answer one that is not: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2004/041404bushscripted.htm

You say you "felt as though he had decided before the Conference which reporters he would get him to ask the questions", and I would guess that his last press conference was scripted like previous (all previous?) ones, with questions submitted in advance, and Bush snubbed Helen Thomas because he lacked the courage and the wits to face her.
lyndonray
In a small way I am going to miss ol' Dubya for one reason only: the fun it is to watch him make an as$ of himself. You have to admit, there is nothing quite like it. The number of wtf moments he has given us priceless. the only sad part is that those moments were coming from a person had the power to (and did) destroy so many lives. With his powers now gone, he should continue giving us monthly press conferences so that we can laugh!!!
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