Bush's "taking responsibility" statement: totally new body language.

[Marr]

I've been watching the World's Deadliest Moron for 5 years now. I've seen him swagger when talking about death, I've seen him fumble while talking about compassion, and I've seen the way he unconsciously points at himself when he says "the United States". I'm very well-versed in this particular idiot's body language- but tonight I saw him do a completely new dance.

He *turned about 45 degrees, looked at the ground, and closed his eyes*.

I saw it with the sound turned off first and thought, "whoah- is he choking or something?". I turned up the sound and was surprised to learn that he was- not apologizing- but admitting that someone, somewhere, with whom he has some vague relationship, had *somehow* done *something* incorrectly. This was no apology. It was an admission of an obvious fact: the federal government screwed up in New Orleans.

Anyway, it was interesting to me for two reasons. First, it was such a painfully revealing display. This was a man physically turning away from an uncomfortable fact. Practically shielding his eyes from it. Second, it was the first time I'd seen him move like that. I've never seen that man admit to any mistakes. Now I can see why. It's not just some political calculation- he's almost physically incapable of admitting a mistake.

Very creepy.

[Be Brave]

1. I noticed the body language, too.

It was very painful for him to make that statement, of taking responsibility. Nope, that was no apology. It was just another thing he had to do to save his ass.

Pride comes before the fall.

[eleny]

2. Can you imagine the session they had convincing him to do it?

And I fear the retribution he'll try to heap on the country. Socipaths never understand reaping what they've sown.

[punpirate]

5. Dan Froomkin's column in the WP yesterday...

... mentions the difficulty. It wasn't so much getting him to admit it--the real battle was just getting him to acknowledge that anything really bad had happened. Andrew Card had to have his staff make up a DVD of news reports on the three days between his flyover and his visit, so that he could watch it on Air Force One on the way down there--just to convince him he ought to do something or say something to acknowledge the level of destruction and the degree of loss of life.

He simply doesn't listen to people with bad news. He yells at them and chases them out. They're disloyal if they bring him bad news.

We don't have a President. We have a Mad King Ludwig.

[NVMojo]

16. this reminds me of all the koolaid drinkers who refuse to let any

other non-repuke thought around them, refuse to see anything from a different point of view.

[eleny]

51. I heard somethng about this on Ray Talafierro's program

He mentioned it but I didn't know all these details. Jeez! Talk about denial and negligent homicides. He's a madman.

[progdonkey]

82. please, don't insult Ludwig... ;-)

King Ludwig left us with beautiful castles and palaces (which, though like Chimpy, bankrupted his State) and provided a financial basis for Wagner to create German Opera (for better or worse...), whereas Chimpy's legacy is one of torture, murder, illegal warfare, and the newfound hatred of the world for the United States (to name a few).

[punpirate]

86. And, that changes...

... what, exactly? Was Ludwig sane? Is Dubya? I rest my case. BTW, I've been to his principal castle, and, as I recall, the second-floor dining room had a table which was lowered to the kitchen, loaded with food and then hoisted back up again because Ludwig couldn't stand to have the peons around him. Sound familiar? :)

[progdonkey]

87. that would be Herrenchiemsee... :-)

know it well. In fact, I was just staying in Prien (the main town on the Chiemsee) from this past December till June.

True, neither Bush nor Ludwig is/was in touch with reality, but there's no doubt that there are different types of madness, some far more dangerous than others. I would argue that Ludwig's madness was more like that of a dreamer, a Van Gogh (not likening him in talent, of course, but you know what I mean), whereas Bush's is that of a dangerous lunatic, an Ivan the Terrible.

As far as I know, Ludwig wasn't a tyrant. He was extremely difficult in person and loved to screw with people who came to him, but unlike Bush, he never started any wars, nor was keen to exercise military might, and was in fact extremely reluctant to give his Bavarian Army to the Prussians during the Franco-Prussian war (I hope I have my history correct).

Ludwig didn't feel the need to prove to anyone that he was better, since he was King, and it was simply assumed. Bush, however, needs to prove that he's better than his daddy; that he's not an idiot; that he's a big man, not a former cheerleader.

[punpirate]

90. Uh, nope...

... it was Linderhof. (I admit to having to look it up because I saw it almost five decades ago, and had to check the photos of it for the name--I remember the truly excessive use of gold leaf, the gardens and the reflecting pool quite well, along with the dining table. :) )

Ludwig, too, had his share of wars--first against Prussia in the Seven Weeks' War, and then with Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War, but, as you suggest, he doesn't seem the type to take much delight in being a war king--certainly not to the extent that Bush takes in being the "war president."

But, you're right in the sense that Ludwig certainly doesn't rise to the level of sociopathy, as Bush certainly may.

Cheers.

[progdonkey]

91. then it's both...

Herrenchiemsee has the same mechanism. It makes sense that he liked it at Linderhof and decided to put a second one into Herrenchiemsee.

[ladylibertee]

3. I smell........DEMOCRATIC RESTORATION...Oh, how sweet it is.

[SoCalDem]

29. Got Voting Machines??

THEY do :cry:

[Nothing Without Hope]

78. We have to get them back. This is not the end of the story.

:hug:

[driver8]

4. He's like Fonzie on Happy Days ---

"I was w-r-o...w-r...w-ro-oon..."

He can't even bring himself to say it.

[Lugnut]

46. Exactly

As I watched him almost choke on his words I thought of Fonzie too. When you think you're never wrong it has to suck.

[alphafemale]

6. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice. Shame on...Shame on...

He was incapable of saying "Shame on me."

That's why he twisted that well known axiom imho.

[yodermon]

30. YES.

You're not alone in your thinking:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1128-02.htm

At a public address in Nashville, Tenn., in September, Bush provided one of his most memorable stumbles. Trying to give strength to his case that Saddam Hussein had already deceived the West concerning his store of weapons, Bush was scripted to offer an old saying: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. What came out was the following:

"Fool me once, shame ... shame on ... you." Long, uncomfortable pause. "Fool me — can't get fooled again!"

Played for laughs everywhere, Miller saw a darkness underlying the gaffe.

"There's an episode of Happy Days, where The Fonz has to say, `I'm sorry' and can't do it. Same thing," Miller said.

"What's revealing about this is that Bush could not say, `Shame on me' to save his life. That's a completely alien idea to him. This is a guy who is absolutely proud of his own inflexibility and rectitude."

[roseBudd]

54. I thought is was because he was channeling a Who song

and he could only remember lyrics

[alphafemale]

75. There are some serious mental issues with him. No Doubt.

Frightening that his finger's on the Nuclear Trigger.

[MADem]

56. Shame is a foreign concept, unless applied to OTHERS

He finished that sentence with a rather threatening "Won't get fooled AGIN!!!!"

He is a teenypeckered bully.

[alphafemale]

74. He is such a tiny man. nt

[StefanX]

72. That's a very interesting point

I never really looked at it that way:

(1) He couldn't bring himself to say, "Shame on me." That's why he messed up that old "saying".

(2) He had really weird body language when his advisors told him he HAD to take responsibility this time because his out-of-touch attitude was wrecking him in the polls.

What kind of personality is this, where he simply CANNOT ever be wrong?

Dictatorial, is what I would call it.

[alphafemale]

73. He had weird body language when the next line was "Shame on Me" too.

Don't have a clip to post but I remember it distinctly.

[DELUSIONAL]

7. Thanks for watching him -- I can't bear to watch him

AND listen to him.

He makes me physically ill.

[giant_robot]

8. In the Bush lexicon...

Sacrifice means sacrifice. Well, not for him or his family, but somebody else sure as hell is going to sacrifice. Similarly, taking responsibility means taking responsibility...to the extent that some government agencies didn't do their jobs, but not singling out the executive branch for blame.

Ugh! SERENITY NOW!

[radfringe]

13. taking responsibility with a *

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of Iraq.

"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.

notice the QUALIFIER? "To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right...

to what extent? Yes, he's admitting his mis-administration fell on it's butt - but the door is still open to lay it on others....

the "extent" could mean anything from 99% responsible to an "oopsie - forgot to tie my shoes..."

[Im with Rosey]

20. This is exactly what I thought.

He is like a spoiled little brat, worming his way out of trouble.

[mwb970]

84. He always reminds me of a sullen teenage boy.

When he reads his speeches he looks like he's giving an 8th-grade Social Studies report. Everything is someone else's fault. He is always right.

Are these the characteristics of a good leader? Or of a misbegotten man-child who is in way, way over his head? He doesn't even know the meaning of the speeches they give him to read. What a worthless president he is.

[Arkansas Granny]

25. Someone in the administration will take the fall for this.

Bush will never take any personal responsibility for any of the tragedies he has wrought on this country.

As we say in the South, "You just hide and watch". This won't be his fault. He will claim that he was misinformed and didn't realize the full scope of the disaster or some such crap.

My prediction is that it won't take him long to affix the blame on someone else and then we'll see that smirk again.

[mnhtnbb]

50. Chertoff will be next to go

Make it look like Bushie's fixing problems

[Arkansas Granny]

55. Oh yeah. "Off with his head"!!!!!

[donkeyotay]

62. Oh yeah, the wiggle words scream louder than the supposed headline

to the extent that I have not finished grinding the peasants under by boots, I will need to usurp more powers. Hold your shorts. This speech Thursday will not be an apology.

[Lisa]

66. YES! great point, radfringe -- here's a possible interpretation

... of his statement.

"It's the government that screwed up, and remember that I personify America, not the government. In fact, I hate the government, and am already doing everything in my power to single out the parts that are working, and destroy them. (The parts that aren't working -- I have no interest in fixing them, since I can point at them as my justification for downsizing government.) So I see it as my duty to slam everyone remotely connected with this situation, regardless of whether they did their jobs right. And I'm going to start with the National Weather Service. Who cares if they actually got the forecast right and were running around trying to warn everybody? They're only a bunch of scientists, and canning their asses will be a good example to everyone else. Watch out, EPA."

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. "Doesn't work for me, I gotta have more cowbell!"

[thecrow]

9. I saw it and wondered if the Chinese delegation had something

to do with it??
Just yesterday he was all swagger, and today he walks out with the Chinese leader and goes into this new routine.

[Tracyjo]

10. I'd never seen him move like that either

I thought he may be trying to poop.

[charlie]

11. Just saw it

You're right, it was a remarkably odd performance. His speech was more halting than usual (if you can believe that) and in the midst of the first sentence he paused for a deep inhalation and long exhale. He clasped his hands at the podium and wore the most dour expression. And not only did he turn 45 degrees, but when it was over, he turned to the front... and kept on going, 45 degrees to the other side. Blinkblinkblinkblinking the whole time.

Hard to believe just a week ago he was doing his hypermasculine schtick, with that shipboard stance, hip cocked, arms at 8 and 4 o' clock, handing out attaboys to his crew like peanuts.

[stanwyck]

12. Someday, one of his little cronies will be strapped

for cash after the divorce of the fourth trophy wife, and write a memoir about his Bushian days.
I may read that. But I won't watch Bush tomorrow night. Watching Bush is like really awkward, unfulfilling sex. He's not comfortable. We're not comfortable. And nobody gets what they want. Finally, everyone just hurriedly walks away, hoping to forget what happened as soon as possible.
But, you gotta give Karen Hughes credit. Just a few days on the job as "image czar" and Bush is kinda, sorta apologizing, Brownie (doin' a helluva job) "resigns", and Bush goes prime time.
The man needs a dominatrix. I wonder if Karen has a pair of those black leather boots like Condi's?
Cause somebody poked a pointed high heel up his ass.

[NVMojo]

17. stanwyck, the best commentary I've read here so far!!

[Atman]

21. Ew...I'll never have awkward, unfulfilling sex again!

I used to think sex was like a pizza...when it's good, it's great. When it's bad, it's still pretty good.




Now when it's not doin' it for me, W will come to mind. It'll be like thinking baseball, squared. Instant limpy. Thanks a lot! NOT.

[stanwyck]

28. I am so sorry!

On retrospect, I should never have mentioned sex and Dubya. Very cruel to my wonderful fellow DUers.
I apologize.

[Glenda]

63. LOL!! Me neither! n/t

[lectrobyte]

22. I kind of agree with you, except you are being way too cruel to

unfulfilling sex, comparing it to GW and all.

[CatWoman]

48. girl/woman

you sure have a way with words!!

:thumbsup:

[hedda_foil]

64. You're right about the dominatrix thing

Condi has the black leather outfit and boots, but she doesn't WIELD them like Karen.

[hedda_foil]

65. You're right about the dominatrix thing

Condi has the black leather outfit and boots, but she doesn't WIELD them like Karen.

[Lisa]

67. Ewww! Now my brain is thinking about * and sex at the same time!

I might have to shut my cerebral cortex down and do an emergency reboot.

[NVMojo]

14. which means we've been watching an actor for 5 years???

this guy is a meglomaniac.

[shadowknows69]

18. I think they're all megalomaniacs by now

I think we should have every politician get up on camera and say "Although I went into publice service with the best of intention to benefit the people of this country. I admit that probably at least once I fucked up and did something that served only my own needs and perhaps those of a lobbyist or two. My bad. Won't happen again.

[shanti]

81. they know the old saw...

it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, and have really run with it!

[Lisa]

69. not even a good actor, either

There are amateurs, and plenty of professionals, who can do a more convincing impression of Dubya than Dubya himself.

Even when it's meant to be a satirical portrayal ... for example, Timothy Bottoms did him on that comedy show. No offense to Mr. Bottoms, but how bad is it when someone who's never been an actor's actor, or on the Hollywood A-list, can come across as more sincere, quick-witted, and likeable as the actual guy? (For example, the episode when he tricks his assistant into letting him out of a locked room ... because he wants to warn her not to let him out, for real, once the drugs he's accidentally ingested kick in.)

[dbt]

19. This belongs on the Greatest page, IMO.

Good job, Marr--and I hope you will continue to analyze the WLF* in the coming days. I fear things will continue to get worse for the Little King and his handlers will have to resort to the cattle prod to get him to appear in public.

It should be interesting, in the Ancient Chinese Curse sort of way, to watch his continued implosion and to play guess-which-drug he's on this week. His little Fireside Chat tomorrow night should reveal much. I may have to force myself to watch, just to see his jaw-jutting go off the scale.

Remember New Orleans.

* Worthless Little Fuck

[kimpossible]

23. He looked like a petulant child

His expression, tone, and body language looked like a kid who was being forced by his mom to apologize. And he was completely insincere. My guess is that Karl was backstage with the cattle prod to make him do it.

[Arkansas Granny]

24. It looked like he was i physical pain. This is a complete

reversal of the body language you usually see. The smirk was gone. I've urged people to watch him speak with the volume turned down and then tell me if they would buy a used car from him, much less let him run a country.

[highplainsdem]

26. I noticed this too & mentioned it in my topic on his "limited-liability"

admission of responsibility (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4756919 ). I thought it was really striking. My comment on the body language is the 30th message there, because I didn't see the video until a couple of hours after I read his statement, which I'd looked up online after seeing the initial reactions here to the "I take responsibility" abbreviation. The "to the extent" wording immediately caught my eye, so I was sure Bush really wasn't accepting responsibility, but that was even more obvious when I finally saw the vid clip and noticed the body language.

You're right -- he's almost physically incapable of admitting a mistake.

Even when he's just repeating an old saying. Remember the famous Bushism where he tried to say, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." (There's a page about that, with a link to a video clip, at http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/bushvideos/v/bushfoolme.htm .) He simply couldn't do it, and I believe it was Mark Crispin Miller who pointed out that it was because Bush can't say, "Shame on me."

Yes, it was Miller; just Googled this and found an old Buzzflash interview at http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/04/07/int04037.html , which I think is worth quoting here. This was in response to a Buzzflash question about the Bush administration's "complete lack of humility," which Buzzflash said was so "overt":

Mark Crispin Miller: I agree. That's why Bush, in the fall of 2002, had such a hard time uttering that Quaker axiom, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." As ever, his tongue went AWOL not because the man's an imbecile, but because he just can't make his mouth say things that are completely foreign to his nature. One of those things is, of course, contrition. Bush could just as easily say "Shame on me" as he could dance Swan Lake.

The far right's shamelessness, I believe, marks a certain turning-point in American politics. Throughout the history of our politics, of course, there's always been a streak of lunacy, there have always been explosive types, and public vitriol per se is nothing new. But what we've been experiencing since the Clinton era represents a whole new ball-game. Imagine a game where one team wants not just to win, but to destroy the other side, which they regard as evil. They use their bats as clubs, they throw their fastballs at the batters' heads, they tamper with the scoreboard, wreck the field and take over the stadium. They need to feel that kind of animus -- which is really all that they're about. And what makes them shameless is their firm belief that God approves of everything they do.

What we're confronting now, in other words, is something wilder, something much harder to deal with, than mere political corruption -- although this bunch is so corrupt that it defies description. I think that there is madness at the top of this enterprise -- not just in the Oval Office, as in Nixon's case, but all throughout the upper tier of Bush & Co.'s managers. Whether it's Bush melting down onstage or, say, Karl Rove behind the curtain, there's a fanatical unreason -- an unnatural unanimity of viewpoints -- that you finally cannot argue with, and that you can't defeat in the traditional way because they will do anything to win. The same mind-set is evident at the grass roots. Certain millions of our fellow-citizens enjoy Bush's short temper, his intransigence, his swaggering, because it makes them feel vicariously powerful. There's certainly no other reason to explain why any have-nots would support this administration, which has been screwing them royally from the get-go.

This may sound odd, but I wish that Bush and Cheney were all about the bottom line, and nothing else. Such an impetus would at least be rational. Of course, there is a certain craziness in trying to burn up every last drop of oil in the whole world, but there is a nationalistic logic to it. Everybody needs power, and we might as well be the ones to control the world's power supply. Such partial explanations sell Bush/Cheney short: I think there's an important pathological dimension to this moment that most of this regime's detractors overlook by imputing to Team Bush a certain kind of craftiness, deliberateness, detachment that just isn't there.

I'm sure Miller and others who've been analyzing Bush were all watching yesterday's "acceptance of responsibility" VERY closely...

[omega minimo]

41. OF COURSE THERE'S INSANITY!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a great discussion. I'm not gonna go all
:bounce::bounce:
on ya, highplainsdem, esp. as we are not acquainted. I would like to plug my comment in on something you said, and yes, I'm a bit excitable about the unecessary (that's why) inevitability of all this.

"What we're confronting now, in other words, is something wilder, something much harder to deal with, than mere political corruption -- although this bunch is so corrupt that it defies description. I think that there is madness at the top of this enterprise -- not just in the Oval Office, as in Nixon's case, but all throughout the upper tier of Bush & Co.'s managers."

"The same mind-set is evident at the grass roots."

Well um YEAH! This is the inevitable outcome of the Big Lie: for the perpetrators, the participantsa AND the public that complies and enables the Lie and the Liars.

Of course they're crazy-- and now crazy with paranoia that Katrina WAS strong enough to blow down their House of Cards (remains to be seen). And the American public is crazy, too, from 25 years of propaganda and denial. This is the final chance for American to PAY ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN.

2005 = 1984
2 + 2 = 4......... for now.

"I think there's an important pathological dimension to this moment that most of this regime's detractors overlook by imputing to Team Bush a certain kind of craftiness, deliberateness, detachment that just isn't there."

The craft is in the Big Lie, deliberately and continuously inflicted on the American public and it depends on the DETACHMENT of the American public.

Crazy :crazy:

[Hamlette]

45. Miller's point about religion is what totally freaks me out!

hence the quote in my signature line.

Miller has a book due out any day now (has a release date of October 18 but sometimes you can get them earlier.) It's called Fooled Again and it's about the Ohio vote in 2004.

oops. Edited to add "hard copy" of my signature quote:

Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience. Adam Smith

[Nothing Without Hope]

80. Creepy and all too true. And he does seem to be deteriorating - see this

video presentation comparing his ability to speak - without notes! - 10 years ago in Texas with his stumbling inanities and wooden, incoherent delivery now.
http://www.adbuzz.com/bushbuzz.htm

If it is indeed a form of presenile dementia, as a number of mental health professionals havae suggested, we are in even bigger trouble. Not only is that progressive, but there is the mostly-overlooked recent story that a NEW US POLICY OF PRE-EMPTIVE NUCLEAR STRIKES IS NEARING APPROVAL.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1770759

Just think of whose palsied finger is on that button.

[whatever4]

27. Thank you for your analysis

That was very interesting, just wanted to say thanks :) I somewhat noticed the difference, but don't have the knowledge of body language to really analyze it. As you describe it, it's more creepy than I thought, the difference in attitude. Like a child in trouble, petulant but trying to sound sincere. *foot scraping on the floor* shucks darn, yeah I did it I guess, I'm sorry, I guess....

No real recognition of the scope of how wrong his actions (lack of action) was, and no real guilt. I think, all things considered, he must be card-carrying nuts, our leader of the most powerful nation on earth.

Now I'm wondering what else new we might see from him. Personally, I think if he'd just lose it, just one time, it would be a fine display of his true colors. LOVE to see one of his tirades on film.

[CrackpotAmerica]

31. He Cringed In The Face Of His Upcoming Statement.

Karl Rove forgot to say,

"Now, Georgie, make sure you don't cringe when you read this."

[CrackpotAmerica]

32. Oh yeah,

Kicked!

:kick:

[peekaloo]

33. I thought his head was gonna roll off his shoulders.

Fitting metaphor, too.

[confludemocrat]

34. On a foreign language channel we watch, they have shown that repeatedly

and lingered on that "pain" on his face as well as what looks like what most woud say is an air of defeat.

[CrispyQ]

35. I can't stand to watch the dimson or listen to him,

but darn! Now I'm compelled to just to see him point at himself when he says the "United States." Gasp!

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

47. I've noticed that one

He does it with his palm towards his chest, all five fingers extended, sometimes with both hands.

Everything is always ALL about him.

[rsdsharp]

61. I think it's also a sign of dishonesty and disrespect

If you want to show someone you have nothing to hide, you open your arms with the palms facing them. Bush always closes his arms in toward himself, and shows the viewers the back of his hands. I have NEVER seen anyone else do that on a consistent basis.

[Lisa]

70. "I'm a proud man to be the nation"

He's even said stuff like this on a couple of occasions.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2001/070601a.html

"“It’s an unimaginable honor to be the president during the Fourth of July,” Bush said. “It means what these words say, for starters. The great inalienable rights of our country. We’re blessed with such values in America. And I – it’s – I’m a proud man to be the nation based upon such wonderful values.”

[Lisa]

71. "Laura and I are proud to be Texas"

"I like to tell people, Laura and I are proud to be Texas -- own a Texas ranch, and for us, every day is Earth Day."
-- Wilmington, New York, Apr. 22, 2002

[defiant1]

36. I thought I was seeing things....

It was just so surreal. I was just waiting for him to puke then continue.

*edited for spelling*

[kestrel91316]

37. I swear you could HEAR this body language on the RADIO, too!

[maxsolomon]

38. it will be trumpeted as evidence of his human frailty

now we're just kicking him when he's down. when will the liberal attack machine ever stop? have they no decency?

he's macho! he's just human! how ya like me now?

[indepat]

39. Yet it could be argued W's mistakes have taken countless lives and limbs

at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars and his fiscal and tax mistakes have cost the treasury (we the people) trillion of dollars. But these are but small prices to pay for the joy of having W's vision implemented.

[omega minimo]

40. Dubya was turning to look for the REAL prezdent-- it's HIS fault

and the fault of ALL those people, including Daddy, who set this patsy up for an enormous fall; who encouraged him to think he was the perfect person to pull off this historic and deadly charade; those who led him to believe that he actually has anything to offer, other than to be the sucker suckered into suckering the American public.

:evilfrown:

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. Quick look for the Kennedy admitance of the screw up

at the bay of pigs, or right after, this was a bad act, but that is where it came from ... he IS trying to be JFK, quite brutally honest... but the voice betrayed the act

[Whoa_Nelly]

43. Are there any video links to this speech?

So far, have missed replays on TV, and didn't get to see the original.

THX in advance :hi:

[liveoaktx]

53. Vid Clip of that question

To the Extent that... blah blah blah

[Whoa_Nelly]

59. Thanks!!! n/t

[Generator]

44. As parents

My husband and I both agree. We watched the "responsibility" moment last night. Husband's comment: apparently first time anyone has ever made him account for anything. First rule: You get the kid to look you in the eye when they say sorry. You get them to connect with you because it actually takes some shamefulness to do that. Not the half assed looking at the ground mumbling sorry. That doesn't cut it.

We have a spoiled brat for President.

[CrispyQ]

49. "We have a spoiled brat for President."

And half our constitutents, too!

Where did this gross sense of entitlement come from? And how can they possible call this worldview family values? The only family these people value is their own & everyone else be damned.

[Sapphire Blue]

52. What I've noticed is that for the first time he is on the defensive...

His arrogance has been punctured... perhaps he is decompensating.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

They won't put bush back together again, either.

[Joe Chi Minh]

57. "It's not just some political calculation

- he's almost physically incapable of admitting a mistake".

Which actually sits very well with the monolithic, brutal Straussian indifference to criticism of the neocon "philosophy" (more like an atavistic lurch, really).

But it has to be that way, since the only "legal" justification for so many of his ministrations to the nation is the fact that, at the macro level of government, he is protected by his majorities in the two chambers. He even needs to remain in absolute power for the rest of his days, for the same reason. At the micro level, he is "riding the tiger" of his own absolutist non-accountability/lawlessness for which, up to the present, with his support on Capitol Hill , no-one has been able to hold him to account.

[DemocracyInaction]

58. Did you notice it wasn't meant to be...it was an inadvertent stumble??

THAT I picked up on right away when I saw the clip. He didn't take to the mike and admit that in a statement. He did it in answer to a question. He fell over it. Looked sick that he said it and quickly added the "and I'm going to investigate what went RIGHT (said right first) and what went wrong". In other words, he never meant to say it and he flipped it off as fast as he could when it slipped out. And the goddamn useless media has been trying to hype it all day long as a Kennedy momement equivalent to the Bay of Pigs. In other words, the White House must have got an inkling that this kind of talk might save the creeps hide and told the media to pound it. We are now going to be inundated with the stupid speech, followed by him prancing around praying on the day of prayer, revising NO, and on and on. I'm afraid the people will eventually respond and raise his numbers. Just once I'd like to see the morons of this nation spit in his face for his endless p.r. as he tries to erase his fuck up.

[librechik]

60. I wonder how hard and frequently Barr beat him as a child

whenever he made a mistake.Maybe not so hard--it's the stinging words of disapproval that do the real damage. And Bar can really sling the harsh language!

[Nothing Without Hope]

79. Yeah, wasn't it Nixon who said of her "She really knows how to hate"?

She's a perfect example of someone who should not have control of vulnerable children. Who knows what he would have been like with those genes from Poppy and Babs, but what "nature" didn't ruin in him, "nurture" finished off.

[warrens]

68. He's a sociopath

He is incapable of believing he could ever do anything wrong, because he doesn't have any rules. Rules are for other people. Not Georgie. He was ordered to make a minor, quibbling admission of error, and it nearly killed him to do it, even though not doing it would probably bring down his government. Or so-called government. Pack of rapacious greedy looters is closer to the truth.

[MisterP]

76. yahoo link (current as of posting)

URL for search:
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Rick+Wilking&c=news_photos

[Nothing Without Hope]

77. Just one or two days earlier he was strutting and congratulating himself

for being "extraordinary" for signing the Katrina state of emergency orders so fast. (Apparently he missed the irony that this was admitting the blatant falsehood of the WH-generated lie that Gov. Blanco had held up relief efforts by not calling for a state of emergency.) He then went on to challenge belligerently anyone who dared to suggest the "just preposterous" idea that having the National Guard in Iraq had any effect whatsoever on the Katrina efforts.

See what you think of his body language as he says these outrageous things. To me, he looks like a 2nd grade bully crowing over stealing someone's milk money and daring anyone to call him on it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4752689
thread title: VIDEO - Bush on CNN: self-congratulatory about his handling of Katrina

[Pachamama]

83. He looked as if he was in serious discomfort & agony...as if getting the

words out were the most difficult thing and someone was holding a gun to him and saying you have to say this and he begrudgingly answered....

Your absolutely right...this wasn't just "new" that he actually (gasp) admitted something didn't go "right", but his body language was an entirely new experience and observation to those that have painfully watched for 4 1/2 years....

Very creepy indeed...not to mention that it came across as incredibly insincere....

[charlie]

85. We've seen him act this way once before

When he called on "Big Stretch" at a press conference. He was asked if he'd heard about Dean's suggestion that he knew about the 911 attack in advance and whether he considered the remark a form of "hate speech."

Video of his infamous "there's time for politics" reply:

http://images.indymedia.org/imc/washingtondc/media/video/6/9_11laugh.mpg

[Lethe]

88. um, why did everyone laugh at the end?

[newswolf56]

89. What I thought was even creepier was how he seemed to be struggling...

to keep from breaking out in a huge grin, the way people do when they're secretly pleased by someone's misbehavior: like a smug superjock father smirking behind his hand at his young son's suddenly demonstrated penchant for physical violence. Completely inappropriate given the circumstances -- as the shrinks would say, "clinically significant" -- and to my mind proof Bush believes "the fix is in": that whatever happens, he, his administration, the schemes of Rove, Norquist and the hidden oligarchy -- all these people and plans are now once again just as omnipotently impregnable as they were before Katrina exposed their darker policies and intentions.

Very depressing -- and frightening -- indeed.

92. admitting he was wrong was a hard act for him

It was all an act, but still difficult for him to even fake it. Isn't that like Saddam Hussein, just so fixated on his own lies that the lies are more important than the truth, to uphold his ego.

We are in a phase now, in our current times, where manipulating the truth is the way to get the power. All that orwellian stuff really springing up everywhere.