The Olympics: Did anyone see....

[HAL 9000 96]

Hey we can get you into the women's boxing quals for London 2012!!!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well... even leaving aside his record and the current state of the country (surely a fairly large indicator of his administration's success) - what's worth defending here?

That some people get a buzz because he's at the Olympics...? Just doesn't seem to cut it, does it.

[HAL 9000 96]

Well... even leaving aside his record and the current state of the country (surely a fairly large indicator of his administration's success) - what's worth defending here?

That some people get a buzz because he's at the Olympics...? Just doesn't seem to cut it, does it.

To credit the US Basketball Team... the last huddle I saw with him in it seemed quite ignorant of his presence if you know what I mean.

[Peikko 1,575]

For the athletes having the president there is symbolic. He's a head of state and the whole patriotic, flag waving, team USA thing kicks in. That's fine as far as it goes. I am not sure I would expect anything serious in terms of a political discussion at that kind of interview either and I am sure even the media were just paying lip service to the whole political differences/human rights issues stuff. Which is hardly surprising, it's not exactly a simple issue.

It will probably surprise many people, but I don't really mind Bush as a head of state figure. He's like an affable uncle who plucks the sweeties out from behind the kids ear. As to whether that's embarressing or not, well on the scale of one to ten of embarressing moments, I'd rather have him serving platitudes about 'getting along' than those where he tries to whip up outrage against 'terrorism'.

May the games continue...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There's nothing in this interview thats any more profound than any of the others he's done over the last 8 years. That's fine as far as it goes - and clearly this wasn't a serious, hardcore interview with deep searching questions. I get that totally.

What I think bothers me - is that this man has essentially been allowed to get away with this since his term of office began, and it seems that the press have lowered their expectations of what they'll get out of him, so they don't even bother asking the tough questions anymore - and haven't for quite a while. By rights - if the press were doing its job (the function that the Fourth Estate is supposed to serve), they would tear him to shreds for his apparent cluelessness. Instead we get a stage managed farce at every press conference and every TV interview where the journalist simply won't push back if the guy misinterprets or ignores a question.

As I see it GWB has lowered the bar on what is acceptable from a public figure - as far as being able to be held accountable in the court of public (and media) opinion. And I don't think its some problem he has with public speaking - rather it seems he just doesn't seem to understand the policies he's pushing or the underlying problems they're supposed to solve. Its just a joke.

Clearly if you believe that the President is simply supposed to be a figurehead (and there is merit to this view) - who basically signs the checks that are put on his desk and doesn't need to read them or understand what he's doing - while all the "dirty work" is done by his administration, then this probably doesn't matter.

[Peikko 1,575]

With him in the whitehouse, one has to take the pragmatic view that for this presidency at least, the president has made precious few decisions but he's excellent at wielding the rubber stamp.

As for the press, they deliver what the people demand. Bite sized portions of easily digestible news and then onto the serious stuff about celebrities and sex scandals. Bleh.

Edited August 11, 2008 by Purple_Hibiscus

[baxxy 0]

There's nothing in this interview thats any more profound than any of the others he's done over the last 8 years. That's fine as far as it goes - and clearly this wasn't a serious, hardcore interview with deep searching questions. I get that totally.

What I think bothers me - is that this man has essentially been allowed to get away with this since his term of office began, and it seems that the press have lowered their expectations of what they'll get out of him, so they don't even bother asking the tough questions anymore - and haven't for quite a while. By rights - if the press were doing its job (the function that the Fourth Estate is supposed to serve), they would tear him to shreds for his apparent cluelessness. Instead we get a stage managed farce at every press conference and every TV interview where the journalist simply won't push back if the guy misinterprets or ignores a question.

As I see it GWB has lowered the bar on what is acceptable from a public figure - as far as being able to be held accountable in the court of public (and media) opinion. And I don't think its some problem he has with public speaking - rather it seems he just doesn't seem to understand the policies he's pushing or the underlying problems they're supposed to solve. Its just a joke.

Clearly if you believe that the President is simply supposed to be a figurehead (and there is merit to this view) - who basically signs the checks that are put on his desk and doesn't need to read them or understand what he's doing - while all the "dirty work" is done by his administration, then this probably doesn't matter.

Excellent !

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

With him in the whitehouse, one has to take the pragmatic view that for this presidency at least, the president has made precious few decisions but he's excellent at wielding the rubber stamp.

As for the press, they deliver what the people demand. Bite sized portions of easily digestible news and then onto the serious stuff about celebrities and sex scandals. Bleh.

The media oversight really is a joke - I don't much care for Jeremy Paxman but at least the guy is aggressive and you just can't get away with falling back on some stale party soundbite. There's that infamous interview with Michael Howard during the 90's that torpedoed Howard's career for nearly a decade.

Incidentally - I expect this is partly why the current Presidential candidates aren't queuing up to do the rounds of TV talkshows. Leaving aside the merits (or lack of) or Messrs O'Reilly, Dobbs or Olberman - Its become such a staple to have an easy time of it and that nothing must besmirch an established political brand that they'll actually avoid putting themselves in the line of fire.

Or they'll put themselves into shows where the only questions they'll be asked are stuff about the family - rarely anything where they will have to freethink and risk coming over badly.

Shouldn't people be angry about this - I think so. People make light of George for obvious reasons - but there is a serious problem underlying that stuff. This is the man people voted for to run the country - supposedly a well-educated, intelligent and charismatic statesman who can grasp the responsibilities of leadership and not appear totally out of his depth or intellectually weak.

He fails every test - in my book.

[Peikko 1,575]

Yes, I think this is where some justifiable outrage should be unleashed!

[Marilyn. 340]

I just have no clue how he got voted into office twice.. but someone told me that at the time he was the lesser of two evils or something...

[HAL 9000 96]

I just have no clue how he got voted into office twice.. but someone told me that at the time he was the lesser of two evils or something...

Yeah... how many dead civilians and soldiers were there... ?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I just have no clue how he got voted into office twice.. but someone told me that at the time he was the lesser of two evils or something...

On paper...

[Yiyi and Chris 0]

Shallow.... Gymnastics were great, until..........

[one...two...tree 2,762]

this isn't the vid of the interview...

LOL...awesome, Marilyn! Man, he sure looks haggard! The presidency hasn't been very kind to his looks.

[Yiyi and Chris 0]