A Bad Angle?

JB Doughtless makes a good call on the alleged rug of Mark Knoller, but Fox News's Jim Angle might give him a run for the title of the Worst Cover Up in DC (media division).

Thoughts on Mr. Bush. His hair looked real. But also really wet. This is unfortunate in that it made him look like an 8-year-old who just had his mom slick down a cowlick before pushing him on stage. (Remember, I am a supporter of our dear President - so get your hackles down! Aesthetically-speaking, I've got to call 'em as I see 'em, such is the blogger's code of honor.)

Another strange phenomena was the varied delivery style of his prepared remarks vs. his impromptu responses to questions. His well deserved rep is that he can deliver a good speech, but tends to struggle when put on the spot to deliver extemporaneously. The opposite occurred this time. He didn't actually struggle in his prepared remarks, but his delivery was much too slow and deliberate, more so than usual. It looked like he was trying very hard not to make a mistake, which is not exactly the image one wants to portray when attempting to rally a partially skeptical nation around the causes for declaring war. Brimming confidence man, that's what we need!

That's what America needs to see anyway. But if his intended audience was the International community, perhaps showing a more deliberate, world-weary countenance was more palatable. In fact much of the substance of his remarks... (you do care about that too, don't you? Substance? Me too, but I'm confident NRO or Opinion Journal will nail this down by morning, so I'm content to nibble around the edges. Now back to the original sentence, shown in it's entirety) ..... In fact much of the substance of his remarks seemed targeted at the International community. His continued emphasis that he didn't seek war, that he still held out hope diplomacy could win the day, and that war would only be a last resort (as if we weren't already at that point). Most Western Europeans still won't believe him of course. But if for no other reason, he needed to provide Tony Blair some plausible deniability to the accusation that we believe the UN route taken so far was an illegitimate game of delay, appeasement, and anti-American power politics.

During the Q & A period, I didn't see a major foible by the President, which is uncommon for the man in this type of unscripted setting. He stayed on message yet still addressed (directly or at least tangentially) the specific questions being asked. He created rapport with his in-house audience and it felt like he was fully engaged and above all considerate of dissenting opinions. I also liked how he skillfully avoided insulting anyone (except Saddam), despite the attempts of reporters to get him to lash out at the likes of the French, Germans, Turks, anti-war protesters, and Ted Kennedy.

A couple of slightly cringe-worthy episodes. Bush's habit of saying "uhhhhhhhh" when searching for the name of the next questioner to call on. It sounded bad on TV, the vocal place holding habit of an adolescent or novice public speaker, uncomfortable with what silence would imply.

Also there was an uncomfortable moment upon Bush's calling on a young, black, female reporter, from the Urban Radio News Network. The reporter, first name was "April," didn't respond right away so Bush jokingly said "that is if you have a question, or did I catch you cold?" There was some light tittering in the audience, the reporter in question smiled, and Bush quickly said "of course you have a question." But the exchange seemed like it could be turned into some sort of racial slight, as if Bush assumed a black reporter (I think the only one who asked a question during the entire press conference) wouldn't be prepared with a question.

Of course that wasn't the President's motivation, if anything he was just being overly familiar in an attempt to ingratiate himself to a reporter with whom he may have assumed wasn't going to toss him a softball question. (However, it turns out she tossed the softest ball of all, something about how his personal faith is being utilized in this crisis). As this topic is getting perilously close to "substance" I'll drop it for now and wait and see if Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson have it nailed down by morning.