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| Bush to appear on TV to answer criticism | |
| 2004-02-06 | |
| 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."
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| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #18 wouldn't be there. Jarhead, although I would love to see him addressed by Brit Hume's Fox All-Stars I don't think any cable news show would get to host GW because the raw number of viewers. Bush might even be well served to do a NH visit and face questions in a town meeting type visit. It would be interesting to see what his numbers did vis-a-vis Kerry in NH after the meeting. Might send chills through some DNC spines if he followed the Primaries around after about a month and flipped the polls back in his favor at each stop. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-2-6 5:34:43 PM |
| #17 LOL Matt.... used to make Teeshirts... I (card club suit mark) New Seals. In the overdone I valentine NY typeface. Life was good. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-6 3:01:41 PM |
| #16 You may be right Rafael... but there's a big demo bounce going on right now because of the primaries... the good guys will start shooting back in 2 mounths or so. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-6 2:58:02 PM |
| #15 Sarge, plus like mhw surmises, Kerry will have to follow suit and go on Billy O. If not, you know Billy O will say he's a puss for not coming on the factor for the rest of the campaign. Lots of indy's like me watch Billy O, big swing votes to be had. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-2-6 2:37:03 PM |
| #14 Rafael, the last two weeks have kind of a rough patch for Bush politically, but the election is several eternities away. Also, a little of John Kerry goes an awful long way. I think in November Bush clubs him like a seal pup. |
| Posted by: Matt 2004-2-6 2:34:08 PM |
| #13 Jarhead, I too would love to see W go on O'Reilly and pound the Dems on FNC. I will be watching to see how Russert handles the questions with W. I watched when he had Hillary, Dean, Clark, Kerry, and Edwards on and the word 'softballs' comes to mind. I don't want him to go easy on W I just want him to be fair. O'Rielly? That would be a grand performance indeed! BRING EM ON! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-2-6 2:05:55 PM |
| #12 I'm about to become rapidly unpopular here: I too, don't think that Bush will be elected this year. He looks embattled and as the election draws near he will be doing more damage control than any positive campaigning. Listening to Powell's UNSC speeches now seems painful, as you realize that so many months have passed, and what of those decontamination trucks? And those bunkers circled in red? Cheney's pre-war claim that there were stockpiles of the bad stuff now seems clearly false. Fellow Rantburgers can see the bigger picture, but what about the "average" fence-sitting citizen, who thinks that everything except the economy is back to normal again? "Success means nothing happens" also means people start asking about domestic issues again. In other words, is there enough Rantburgers out there to push Bush through? Call me a pessimist, but I don't think so. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-2-6 1:14:22 PM |
| #11 Possibly so Jarhead. However, the other part of the equation is that if W goes on Tim's show, Kerry will have to do so also. Kerry is way low on likeability and he also has the problem of not believing in anything beyond himself. The low likeability and insincerity are much more likely to come across on Tim's show because Billy O is also unlikeable. |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-2-6 11:31:33 AM |
| #10 MHW, I'm sure Billy O would give W the whole hour and tone it down some. The ratings would be too massive not to. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-2-6 10:12:50 AM |
| #9 Actually, W is probably much better suited for a one hour sit down with a 'long question, no interrupt' journalist with left inclinations than a 'short question with interuptions' interview with right inclined journalists. This is because W's best asset is likeability and the informal interview plays to this strength. |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-2-6 9:56:51 AM |
| #8 W needs to go on the Factor w/my boy Billy O. Matter of fact, if he has the cojones that I like in a leader, he'll go on all the talking head shows and state his case (even Nat'l Pinko Radio). He should take critism if it's justified but definitely give some black eyes to his critics who also have it coming. That's my suggestion, he'd prolly win more then a few people over to. I'd like to see him say, "yeah, we've made some mistakes, no one's perfect but we're doing our best to make the U.S. a safer place & let's be honest; the world's better off without Hussein, Bin Laden is an impotent derelict in some cave in Pakistan, Market's up, crimes down, Al-Queda's a fractured mess, and the only person giving me oral sex in the oval office is my wife...." BTW - I got a tax break to and am by no means a top 5% dude. As for the pariah state thing, c'mon NMM, do you really give a shit what some folks think outside the US? Thankfully we don't have to depend on any of those pussies for our nat'l security. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-2-6 8:18:39 AM |
| #7 Sounds like it must be a bad day at BlogFoeAmerica. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-6 7:51:54 AM |
| #6 NMM -- have you replaced your lips yet? There's nothing you've said that is the least bit true. Not that I'm surprised; you lie like your not-namesake. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-2-6 7:08:47 AM |
| #5 Oh--and I'm sure with all the lies he told--his lips fell off... |
| Posted by: NotMike Moore 2004-2-6 3:44:07 AM |
| #4 Well it's about time the moron in chief showed up to explain his disastrous policies that have emptied the Treasury--made us a pariah state in the court of world opinion --and given tax cuts to the top 5% of the population---while the economy reminds one of his dad's mis-tenure and dis-connect to working families. Sorry guys-- he won't be |
| Posted by: NotMike Moore 2004-2-6 3:36:19 AM |
| #3 Are you kidding?!?! Are we talking about the same russert mutt who was begging hillary to run for president? Yeah, THAT guy doesn't play favorites, nuh-uh. Nope, nope. Never. |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2004-2-6 1:31:43 AM |
| #2 Yeah, Russert does "gotcha" journalism, just like the rest of them. But at least from what I've seen, he doesn't play favorites - unlike damn near ALL other big-network journos who pound the hell out of Republicans, then do just about everything but fellate Democrats. |
| Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2004-2-6 1:07:17 AM |
| #1 Russert? Got'sya 101. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-2-6 12:44:56 AM |