Planted Question Asked By A College Student...gate

Yawn. Is anyone listening to the answers to the questions rather than wondering where the questions came from? Okay. How about a little refresher from the lord of stagecraft himself, George W. Bush?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, sir, back in the back.

Q       First, sir, a message from the crew that just recently returned from the USS Enterprise.  My son-in-law was aboard that.  From the last man and woman on that crew, they are honored to call you their Commander in Chief.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Okay.

THE PRESIDENT:  Do you have a question.  Come on underneath.  The man's got a question.

Q       First of all, I'm very impressed in how you handled the situation on September 11th.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  That's plenty.  (Applause.)  No.  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Como esta?

Q       Muy bien.  I'm so proud you came here from the largest state of Texas, and the biggest President of the world.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you

THE PRESIDENT:  Where's Logan?  (Applause.)

Q       First of all, I'd like to thank you for being here today, Mr. President Bush.  My name is Adam Hallsman, (phonetic) and I'm a 7th grader at Shelley Boon Middle School (phonetic) in Haines City, Florida.  I'd like to know what the children and the small -- and the young people in America, how can they help the economy?

THE PRESIDENT:  Listen to your mother.  (Applause.) 

Q       Mr. President, I'm an educator for the Orange County Public School System.  And, first of all, I'd like to thank you very much for your ethics and integrity, because that's what we're all about -- (applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.

Q       I'm Caitlin.  Our family wants to help out our country, and we think that making families strong will make our country strong.  My parents believe that eating meals together will do that.  Is it something that you did when you were a kid, and that you and Mrs. Bush believe in?

THE PRESIDENT:  I did eat with my family, so long as my mother wasn't cooking.  (Laughter.)  Wait a minute.  Just kidding, Mom.  (Laughter and applause.)

Q    Sir, you know, in the Clinton administration, they had some battles up there.  They had to shut down the government from overspending, they wanted more money.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.  Right.  A new sheriff in town.

Q    Do you see, as some of your critics do, a parallel between what's going on in Iraq now and Vietnam?

THE PRESIDENT: No.

Q    Why?

THE PRESIDENT: Because there's a duly-elected government...You know, look -- I thought you were going to ask, do I regret what I did. Absolutely not.

Q I'm wondering if you -- what is different about the current set of warnings, and do you think the administration and our government runs a risk of looking feckless to the world by issuing these kinds of warnings regularly without response from the countries?

THE PRESIDENT: That's a fair question....I thought you were going to ask the question, following up on Sanger, how come you don't use military action now.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, sir.

Q    Thank you.  First, let me say, I think a lot of people will be helped by this program.

THE PRESIDENT: They will --

Q    A lot of people will be helped by the Medicare Part D program.

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, thank you.

And finally, a cocktail of both the planted inquisitor and the "I thought you were going to ask..." paradigms.

Q    First of all, Mr. President, I want you to know that you are in our prayers on a daily basis.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

Q    We pray for you and your Cabinet. (Applause.)   Secondly of all, I would like to ask one question about the Alaskan pipeline.  My understanding is that most of that supply does not come to the United States, and I would like to know why that goes to other countries rather than to where it's needed here, so that we can --

THE PRESIDENT: You mean the crude oil coming down the pipeline?

Q    Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: I don't know where it goes, to be honest with you.  Sorry. I can find out.  (Laughter.)

Q    Okay.  Could we just divert a little bit of that our direction, please?  (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: I thought you were going to ask, how come we don't have the gas pipeline coming down yet --

If I didn't have to go back to work, I could find several thousand more...and HE'S the guy who's currently president. If he can't answer anything other than unvetted questions, then we have a problem.

Oh wait. We do.

Comments

[KevKev in Apache Junction]

George W. Bush = Frank Booth*

*the Dennis Hopper character from the David Lynch Movie:
Blue Velvet.

[OxyCon]

Bush Records Back-To-Back Interviews For Fox News And Fox Business Channel
Yesterday, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino held a news briefing aboard Air Force One where she went over President Bush’s media schedule. His two upcoming appearances? Fox News and Fox Business Channel. From the briefing:

PERINO: Okay, a couple of scheduling updates for you before we take off, back to Washington, D.C.

The President on his ranch this morning had an interview with Bret Baier of FOX News, for a documentary that Bret is producing for January, that will run in January.

QUESTION: Isn’t there a FOX thing tomorrow that —

PERINO: The FOX Business Channel interview is happening tomorrow. It was rescheduled from — it was supposed to happen the day the President went to California. The President wasn’t supposed to go to California that day; we just had to reschedule the event, so that interview is on for tomorrow.

QUESTION: Oh, okay, it’s different.

PERINO: It’s different, yes. Bret’s interview won’t air until January. That’s a separate channel.

With 64 percent of the American public unhappy with the job he is doing, Bush is sticking to friendly media. In September, the White House cherry-picked NPR’s Juan Williams — who is also a Fox News contributor — to conduct an exclusive interview. When NPR insisted that someone other than Williams interview the President, the White House backed out. “[W]e’re grateful for the opportunity to talk to the president but we wanted to determine who did the interview,” said Perino.

Bush’s father, George H.W., also recently appeared on Fox News and said that when he watches TV news, he tends to “turn on the Fox.” Vice President Cheney requires that all televisions in his hotel room be turned to Fox News whenever he travels and in 2004, he told “a conference call” of “tens of thousands of Republicans” that he ends up “spending a lot of time watching Fox News.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/13/bush-fox-interviews/

[dennis in West Chazy]

Wait a minute. Are you saying that these questions are staged? I am shocked, shocked I tell you.

[dennis in West Chazy]

Wait a minute. Are you saying that these questions are staged? I am shocked, shocked I tell you.

[dennis in West Chazy]

Actually, I'm doubly shocked. How did I do that?

[terri]

No surprise about the hoooo-hah. The Dean-scream strategy worked so well, we should not be surprised when the propaganda machine begins to spew stuff like the plantedquestiongate noise. It's got nothing to do with factual reporting.

Stop paying for FOX news in any form and loudly demand that it be removed from any public space that turns it on.

[cage free brown]

did you see Brian Williams with Rudy?
Rudy should have left money on the table when he got up to leave.

it's weird to demand that team to play by the rules when the other team is doing the catering.

[Diamond Joe]

Q I'd like to know what the children and the small -- and the young people in America, how can they help the economy?

THE PRESIDENT: Listen to your mother. (Applause.)

***

What the heck is that even supposed to mean? Of course, it's possible my brain short-circuited from cognitive dissonance there when he claimed that as the "new sheriff in town," he turned around those nasty Clinton-era deficits.

[oldgringo]

Pointless point no point to anything to do with BUSH or HIZ Sheepole, so why bother?

[ted]

No questions from Bush's planted homosexual prostitute Jeff Gannon?

[Happenstance]

Haven't we learned anything? The rules are different for Li'l Dubbie! He's SPECIAL. His Daddy says so!

Seriously, how do you expect him to compete on a LEVEL playing field, with all the hardships he's faced, and with all the cards stacked against him? 9_9