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Bush to appear on TV to answer criticism
President Bush suggested to his staff that he appear on "Meet the Press" on Sunday as a way of answering questions about Iraq after a barrage of Democratic criticism against him, a White House official said yesterday. The president has stepped up his television presence over the past year or so, granting interviews to ABC’s Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters, NBC’s Tom Brokaw and CNBC’s Ron Insana. But at a time when he has dipped in the polls and is on the defensive over the failure to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, "Meet the Press" and its audience of 5 million represents a roll of the dice. Communications Director Dan Bartlett said that Bush, who plans to appoint a commission to examine intelligence failures on Iraq, "felt it was important that the American people hear his thinking on this issue and pursuing the war on terrorism." On Tuesday, Bush suggested "Meet the Press" because of the "lengthy format" and because "Tim Russert has an enormous amount of respect," Bartlett said.

Others were puzzled. "Frankly, it seems that they’re overreacting," said GOP consultant Don Sipple, who worked for Bush’s first gubernatorial campaign in Texas. "I don’t think it’s the best forum for him right now." But, Sipple said that "he’s in a much different race than they thought they were in a month and a half ago." Adam Levine, a former White House aide who portrayed Russert in mock sessions with administration officials, said: "There are times for the White House when it makes sense to do a big, high-profile, difficult interview." He said a Russert interview "is going to be fair and straightforward, and if you pass that test, you’ve moved beyond those [negative] stories."
Russert has a good reputation, despite being way out of the Larry King marshmallow league...
Russert, who typically confronts his guests with videotape and graphics of past statements to try to highlight inconsistencies, had asked for an interview two weeks ago but was turned down. "The biggest challenge is trying to distill everything down to an hour," said Russert, who will tape the session at the White House on Saturday. "You could literally have a 12-hour interview and want more. Tone is everything. You realize that anything and everything a president says usually has some impact."
Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-02-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=25689