E&P: A Less Than Friendly ASNE Intro for Bush ...

[quaoar]

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000883598

A Less Than Friendly ASNE Intro for Bush, But Plenty of Jokes from the President

By Joe Strupp
Published: April 14, 2005 4:30 PM ET

WASHINGTON President Bush might have thought he would get a kind, welcoming introduction for his appearance Thursday at the American Society of Newspaper Editors conference.

After all, he was introduced for the lunchtime address by Rich Oppel, editor of the Austin American-Statesman, which Bush termed his “hometown paper” during his eight years as Texas governor. The president even joked that when someone mentioned Oppel’s son, Richard, a Baghdad correspondent for The New York Times, to Bush during a recent overseas visit, he exclaimed, “I know the old man!”

But, apparently, such ties do not bind. When Oppel introduced Bush, he made clear his dissatisfaction with the president’s war approach, declaring that “President Bush led us in to a costly war that seemed to undermine our alliances. We can be confident that history will not cite him for inaction.”

Oppel did not stop there, adding, “Since then, we have become a less-open society. Classification of documents increased 50% in 2004 over the previous year. The government has also created 1 million new classified documents.”

[Merlin]

1. Good for Oppie.

Nice to see somebody sticking a knife into * publicly.

[quaoar]

2. This was pretty strange also

Other editors did ask about FOIA, which Bush said he supported, but only if it did not affect national security. He also declined to comment on the subpoena fight in the Plame case, while supporting government-sponsored news propaganda as long as it is not deceptive.

Aftr about 30 minutes of questions, Bush cut it off and left, declaring, “I gotta hop.”

[Selteri]

3. A president saying "I gotta hop." How... inspiring of a leader.

NOT

Bush isn't able to handle it when the press actually asks him hard questions. I guess he got too used to being thrown softballs over the past few years. Now if only they'd start to really go after him, he's a lame duck and pulled enough that if the press makes a stink about him everyone will turn on him.

[maddezmom]

4. that's bunnypants for you

:D