Well, I'm getting pretty close to cancelling The Washington Post - again

[DancingBear]

On the front page today was this little gem:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/19/AR2005121900924.html


Bush's Support Jumps After a Long Decline

More Americans Upbeat on Iraq, Economy


President Bush's approval rating has surged in recent weeks, reversing what had been an extended period of decline, with Americans now expressing renewed optimism about the future of democracy in Iraq, the campaign against terrorism and the U.S. economy, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll.

<snip>

The Post-ABC News poll suggests that the massive turnout in last week's elections in Iraq, coupled with a public relations offensive in which the president delivered five speeches and held one news conference in 19 days, have delivered a substantial year-end dividend to a president badly in need of good news.

(note: The rest of this article paints a less than rosy picture for El Chimperor, but of course everybody sees the headline, and that's what counts).


Then, inside the main page was this gag-inducing homage to our great leader:

President Takes the Offensive With Press

News conferences have never been President Bush's favorite venue, which is probably the main reason he's held fewer than any modern president. But any discomfort he felt yesterday was for the most part well concealed.

In the face of repeated skeptical questions on the Iraq war and whether he acted within the law in ordering a domestic spying program, Bush apparently decided that a passionate offense was his best defense. In a morning event in the White House East Room, he answered questions for 56 minutes, sometimes conveying humor, sometimes impatience, but never anything less than full confidence in his own answers.

<snip>

or most of the time, Bush's mood was casual and crisp. He admonished reporters to refrain from long questions and -- amid concern that he is overreaching on his own powers -- joked that he had signed an executive order to ban them. On the question of domestic surveillance in fighting terrorism, Bush acknowledged civil liberties concerns and said he would ask the same questions if he were sitting in the reporters' seats.

<snip>

The morning's dominant impression was of a president who feels so strongly about his own presidential prerogatives that he was ready to take on all comers who might disagree. He said that as commander in chief he has responsibility for defending the nation against an extraordinary threat, and that he needs extraordinary tools to do so.

article at: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/19/AR2005121901

I must have seen a different press conference - I saw a blithering idiot who thought he was at a fratnerity party.