NYT: Before Friendly Audiences on the Trail, a Looser, Livelier Bush Appea

[kskiska]

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

George W. Bush says he enjoys being president. But judging from his performance on the stump over the last few weeks, he enjoys campaigning for president even more.

From rallies in Ohio to attacks on Senator John Kerry's economic record in Pennsylvania to "Ask President Bush'' events with rapturous Republican crowds, the president has emerged as a kinetic stage performer with a personality that seems to fits the frantic quality of the campaign.

In Washington, Mr. Bush delivers serious speeches, tangles with the press and can appear stolid, defensive and halting. But on the campaign trail, where the invited crowds are kept friendly because opponents are sometimes arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts or dragged from events by their hair, there is a different President Bush. He is looser and livelier, a former Andover cheerleader who has learned how to rouse the crowd in the argot of ordinary America.

"So I'm here asking for the vote, see,'' Mr. Bush said at a recent invitation-only "Ask President Bush'' event in Nashua, N.H., where he paced happily in his shirtsleeves, microphone in hand, in the middle of a packed high school gymnasium. "That's what you've got to do. I think you've got to get out amongst the people and say, 'I want your vote.' "

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/13/politics/campaign/13letter.html

[liveoaktx]

1. That's because he's a friggin CLOWN-what he SHOULD have been

instead of president

[grasswire]

2. good

After Nov. 2, he can take the act to Vegas.

[Ruffhowse]

3. not too tough to be livlier and looser when you know you're in front of a

hand picked crowd of ass kissers for the GOP.

[0rganism]

4. Still won't let the general public attend his "shows", eh?

Kerry oughta make some hay with this.

"My opponent is afraid of the American people. How can he protect us from foreign terrorists if he can't even talk to his own countrymen?"

[Protected]

5. Ah, the enthusiasm of an invitation-only event

That's a good way to connect with those undecided voters.

[krkaufman]

6. Dear lord, the NYTimes writer says this without missing a beat...

... or commenting further, as though the actions are reasonable:

...opponents are sometimes arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts or dragged from events by their hair, ...

But *this* was a nice reminder:

There is also no disputing that Mr. Bush can falter in front of more skeptical audiences, as he did at a convention of minority journalists in Washington last month.

The president got so twisted up in response to a question about tribal sovereignty - "tribal sovereignty means that it's sovereign'' - that the crowd started laughing at him.

[MO_Dem]

7. In Washington, Bush tangles with the press?

Who knew?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

8. Well it's about time the NYT gave * a kick in the back side!

:kick:

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. where seldom is heard, a discouraging word....

....
But on the campaign trail, where the invited crowds are kept friendly because opponents are sometimes arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts or dragged from events by their hair....

[In Truth We Trust]

10. The NY Times is still complicit if they can publish this drivel

I agree with the suggestion that JFK should make hay of the fact that our democracy is now "By Invitation Only?!?!"

[bagnana]

I disagree. The article is accurate.

In front of a hand-picked, friendly audience, he is better. I still find him an obnoxious bullying asshole, but he is better. The article makes him sound like an idiot who can't handle anything but soft ball questions and cheering crowds. That is the truth.

[bagnana]

12. I disagree. The article is accurate.

In front of a hand-picked, friendly audience, he is better. I still find him an obnoxious bullying asshole, but he is better. The article makes him sound like an idiot who can't handle anything but soft ball questions and cheering crowds. That is the truth.

[henslee]

14. It is irresponsible journalism. 1st, Read the title. Its misleading.

Before Friendly Audiences on the Trail, a Looser, Livelier Bush

To someone who just reads the title and not the article, it implies that audiences on the trail happen to be friendly.

A more accurate/honest title would be: Handpicked Friendly Audiences on the Trail make for a Looser Livelier Bush

Also and more disgustingly to completely ignore the umprecedented Nazi-like staged-event crowd control tactics is irrepsonsible jo-journalism.

Also, the fluffy soft pedaling tone of the article is reprehensible.

[bagnana]

16. yes, the title is misleading.

Should read "Before hand-picked, screened audiences. . ."

[Cha]

11. Duh! A big Duh!

Screened audiences! HELLO! NYTimes!

[henslee]

13. Outraged, I just wrote the NYT about this article and copied

everyone there from the publisher to the pres to Shulzburger to etc. How the fck can they write a fluff piece on the prez, give him a free pass and not even address these deplorable tactics of hand picking audience members at staged events. Is this American. Two days after 9/11 anniversary and less than 60 days before an election and they cant even address these Nazi crowd control tactics -- stuff you'd from the Pres of N. Korea of the former Pres of Iraq. Not the Pres of US? What kind of journalism is this? What the fuck has happened to the NYT. Don't tell me, I know.

[skrunch]

15. He just had a good breakfast

Vicodin and Wild Turkey

[truthisfreedom]

17. i see this article as a remarkable slam on the prez, myself. eom