How will the interview play politically? That's really hard for me to judge. I've never found Bush to be a sympathetic character. But others respond to him more favorably.
I was struck by how he seemed to be unaware of the import of some of the questions. He really doesn't seem to be aware that American citizens, apart from partisan politics, are really concerned about whether the United States went to war in Iraq for valid reasons. His preppy smirk tends to reinforce that impression of being out of touch.
His responses often seemed to me rather fumbling. That doesn't come across so much in the transcript, because it doesn't indicate the long pauses that preceded some of his answers. He seemed surprised that Russert was asking such challenging questions, and also presenting good follow-ups. His answers at times were a bit garbled.
Bush claimed he wasn't surprised by the level of Iraqi resistance, which seemed like a real whopper to me. And I thought a number of his answers were pretty disingenious. He wasn't very convincing about the investigations into intelligence problems.
In today's environment, most partisan Republicans will like the interview, and partisan Democrats will have their doubts.confirmed, if not intensified. For independents and less committed partisans, I think his continual emphasis on the "war on terrorism" will play well. He's actually good about sticking to a theme. But some of them will surely be put off by his evasiveness and his sense of detachment, which his preppy smirk reinforces.
4 comments:
Yeah, Bush can really stick to the message like no other -- except maybe his spiritual predecessor, Ronald Reagan.
Bush doesn't seem to think too fast on his feet. Like Reagan, most of his appearances and interviews are very scripted. I believe this will catch up with him in this year's debates with the Dem. nominee.
Against Gore in 2000, Bush was the master of low expectations, but people expect more out of the President.
I really haven't watched Kerry much so I can't really picture how he'd do against Bushie in a debate. Edwards isn't my choice for Pres (mostly for his co-sponsorship of Bush's Iraq resolution), but I'd LOVE to watch him go head to head with Dubya. He's smart, a quick thinker, and definitely a great talker. He'd make Bush look like an idiot!
I'm glad he did the interview. He's so unequivocally and obviously pathetic when left without a teleprompter...and, of course, I was pleased to see that even the right-wingers are gurgling up bile (including Peggy Noonan).
I'm sure the Democratic candidates were ecstatic over the interview. If that's how Bush comes off when directly challenged, that's good for the Democratic candidate. I'm pretty surprised at some of the sharp criticism from conservatives. And I know I harp on this theme, but a lot of his problems come back to the phony case for war in Iraq. Most conservatives supported the war; but he's not giving them much substantial to fall back on now. - Bruce
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