Thoughts on Bush's Presentation: It looked taped, He didn't have enough

[KoKo]

makeup on, he gave it from a lecturn instead of a desk (odd since most presidents have addressed the Nation from their desks with photo's of their family behind them....even Bush before this, I believe.) His voice seemed "thin and higher in pitch....not his usually agressive Texas gunslinger style. His eyes moved back and forth on the telepromter as if he was carefully reading from left to right...not to miss a word.

Why didn't his handlers and coaches do a better job on him for this speech. It was probably the most important speech he had to give.....and they coached him pretty well for the SOU speech......what happened here? Why the lack of makeup..the monobrow...the obvious teleprompter, having him stand instead of doing a folksy behind his desk chat.

What's up with that? And, has anyone seen Karen Hughes lately. She was supposedly very influencial in his speeches before.

I'm glad this speech was awful and didn't inspire any confidence in him and he looked "cross-eyed" reading that teleprompter........but why did this most carefully controlled President come off looking and sounding so weak? Whose head should be rolling for this performance. Has he been abandoned and so they let him go on "au natural?"

:shrug:

[molly]

1. Being a Six Feet Under fan

I thought he looked dead. I didn't watch all of it, but it looked like he died, they made him up, and someone was making his mouth move - like a puppet.

[qb]

2. Same here - the first word that came to mind was "embalmed"

[sexybomber]

3. damn, now I wish i hadn't drawn on the picture in the NY Times

First thing I did when I got it this morning was give Bush a Hitler mustache, a tail, and horns... and now I can't quite tell what he looks like... but actually, come to think of it, I thought he looked a little strange as well... huh.

[moosedog]

8. Maybe he is neither here nor there.

Maybe he is a puppet. Maybe there is nothing coming forth from his mouth, but deceit. I guess we just have to take an intelligent guess. My guess is that he is neither here nor there and the rest follows. I often wonder what these thugs get from all this. It surely isn't happiness.

[notadmblnd]

28. I asked my 10 year old

If he could see the strings attached to his arms? He leaned to the television to look real hard, he thought I was serious till my husband laughed out loud. To me it just shows how plastic he came across.:shrug:

[caledesi]

31. Cadaver, maybe? LOL!

[spinbaby]

4. Could very well have been taped

In the oval office, you can see outside and it would have been obvious if it were taped in the afternoon. Also, there wasn't any audience present, was there?

The more I think about it, the more I think they propped him up and made him do the speech until they got an acceptable version on tape. Then he got a bottle of bourbon as a reward.

When did I get to be so cynical?

[Brian Sweat]

6. I find this hard to believe.

Wouldn't the media know if it were taped in advance? I could imagine one or two networks playing along, but someone would spill the beans.

[gratuitous]

16. I couldn't say if someone would spill the beans

But we don't hear a whole bunch about the fact that Chimpy's "press conference" which laid out his rationale for this invasion was totally scripted, with the questions all submitted in advance.

We also don't hear too much about the "ranch" in Crawford that doesn't make it sound like the re-creation of the Little Reata or South Fork.

So, depending on the presstitutes to level with the public about the gap between Bush administration appearances and realities is an iffy proposition.

[DoYouEverWonder]

29. How would they know?

This wasn't a public access event or even an invitation only. W is doing these in an empty room with only one camera crew and a couple of his staff.

The way these things are staged, it is impossible to tell if it is live or not. He could have taped it last year and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

We already have seen evidence that previous 'live' statements, were indeed taped, such as the live/taped speech the day the Columbia blew up.

His last two public statements were both 'taped' and the press advertised them as such. Seems it is harder for them to pretend anymore, but last night's speech was too important to admit it needed to be taped.

Too bad it doesn't matter either way, all that comes out of his mouth is bullshit anyway.

[molly]

24. I had the same thought - taped

[Beetwasher]

5. I noticed a marked difference in his presentation

and I chalk that up to his handlers completely.

There was absolutely NO SMIRKING and he didn't lean on the podium like he always does. There were also NO HAND GESTURES WHATSOEVER, which is unusual. His handlers told him not to lean on the podium and not to smirk and that's all he could handle aside from reading off the teleprompter. It took ALL his concentration to accomplish those three things, read accurately, no smirking and no leaning on the podium...

[Cocoa]

7. he tried to smirk at times

I think he couldn't summon up the arrogance this time.

[Beetwasher]

13. Or he remembered his handlers told him not to

and stopped it...

[Booberdawg]

9. I thought he looked like he had makeup on

[myomy]

11. Phonies are unable to wear makeup. You just canÕt

cover it up.

[quispquake]

10. Did you ever see the Star Trek episode...

...where they were on a Nazi planet, and the 'Fuhrer' was drugged up and controlled? That's what Bush looked like...

pp23

[Kolesar]

14. too funny

I know that episode! The Ecosians were the scapegoats. This time is is the Moslems.

[molly]

25. Yea - now that you mention it!

[Booberdawg]

12. We have a biased eye with him

And since we are better informed we are more discmininating when he gives a speech like this. I wonder how he came across to those who voted for him and have otherwise been supporting him.

[imax2268]

15. Hard to say...

but did anyone happen to see on CNN coverage that they were using quotes that were in the speech before the speech was given...?

So I think it was taped...but then again...who cares...he didn't say anything that we haven't heard already except asking for more money...!

[KoKo]

18. But, if he looks bad it means his "handlers" are slipping.....and if they

are....then it's interesting to know if he's losing support in his own Whitehouse. That's what's curious.

[carolinayellowdog]

22. Are they slipping or is he?

Seems to me that he now knows, in a way he didn't before, what a pack of lies he sold to the American people and what a clusterf**k Iraq is. Since he no longer believes what he is saying, and knows fewer and fewer people believe what he says, he is getting more and more stressed out and drug- or alcohol-dependent.

The handlers' job was a lot easier when they had a happy cowboy to handle. Now they have a scared and angry child.

[KoKo]

26. Good point Carolina.......a scared and angry child..........Yep........

He loved that "Top Gun Role." Appealed to his ego.......now he's looking like the failure he always was.

No makeup or handler in the world could cover that up..........I think you have the answer....

[nostamj]

19. the text of the speech was released

before the broadcast.

[qb]

20. The transcript could have been released in advance

I remember some controversy a while ago about "quotes" showing up on websites before they were spoken. This is what happens when you have this insane level of media control and a dufus who must read his teleprompter word for word.

[qb]

17. Anyone remember that cable movie, "Looker"?

They do a 3-D scan of a model so they have a digital "copy". Then they can use the digital version in commercials and off the model so they don't have to pay royalties. Next time, we'll have to watch closely to see if he develops a Max Headroom stutter!

[rusk2003]

21. Same old bad tune the white house has been singing for months

I was looking more forward to watching law and order my grandmother and mother thought it was great they had to stop shopping and run home to watch the speech. After words they had to go out and finish their shopping I wanted to yell to them (get a life). :boring:

[opihimoimoi]

23. Knowing the importance, yopu would think they could do a better job

But then, this is the best they can do???

Must be.

If so, then this guy better start looking for that baseball job...

as a bat boy.

[shirlden]

27. I thought he was a robot.

Didn't even appear to be breathing and looked like his face was made out of putty. Drugs are great......

[caledesi]

30. Looked stoic to me and looked like he really didn't want to do the speech!

[DoYouEverWonder]

32. Here's what W looked like last night

I keep waiting for his battery to fail in the middle of one of these speeches.