South Knox Bubba offers a view commonly held by those who don’t care for President Bush–that he isn’t too bright.
I don’t know how “smart” Bush is. Perhaps he does all right when he’s in the Oval Office hashing out issues with advisers. But when he’s publicly speaking on complex matters, he rarely seems to have a commanding grasp on an issue.
This is painfully demonstrated in presidential press conferences, when Bush is forced to abandon the safety of the teleprompter and think on his feet. The press likes to hype these events up, because that’s where they appear most important. But does anyone ever gain any policy insights listening to Bush speak?
The conference held Monday was unenlightening as usual. For some reason, Bush felt the need to spend 70% of the conference establishing that Saddam Hussein is a bad guy. But reporters did manage to get a few other things in. Here’s one of them:
Q In that case, sir, can I follow up on something unrelated? (Laughter.) Tom Ridge recently seemed to discuss something you had talked about pre-9/11, and that is finding a way to legalize some of the illegal immigrants in this country. Could you clarify your policy, what it is, short of blanket amnesty?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, I have constantly said that we need to have a immigration policy that helps match any willing employer with any willing employee. It makes sense that that policy go forward. And we’re in the process of working that through now so I can make a recommendation to the Congress.
Let me also clarify something. This administration is firmly against blanket amnesty.
It’s a good thing Bush clarified that he was against blanket amnesty, since the reporter apparently was under the illusion that the administration didn’t support blanket amnesty.
But more importantly, the immigration issue has been on the radar screen for a long time. And supposedly it became a priority after 9/11. Here we are over two years later and this is all Bush has to say for it? What is this policy that Bush wants to go forward–matching willing employees with willing employers? Is that something like what we have now? People sneaking in from Mexico to work? And how long is this process of working it through going to take? His answer didn’t clarify anything.
It’s a good thing Bush has all his talk radio and Fox News Channel agents to promote his agenda. Because if he had to explain and sell his policies to the public himself, he wouldn’t get very far.
It’s a shame he has CNN, MSNBC, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, Time Magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, etc. blasting Bush at every turn, even at the expense of the facts.
Oh… but that Fox News is all powerful!
Do they? Or is the Bush “blasting” the only thing you notice?
It’s hard not to notice 😉
It’s amusing that liberals believe everything Fox News does is cheerleading for Bush… but they scoff at the suggestion that CNN is as liberal as they come.
This Republican liberal media meme has been surprisingly effective in denouncing media reports that challenge or ignore the message they are trying to put forward. As a result of this and media consolidation, the media is being emascualted as defender of the public interest. Fox News is as much the mouthpiece of the Bush Administration as newspapers and television here in China are the mouthpieces of the Chinese Communist Party.