If Bush had delivered a performance like Obama did yesterday, what impact would it have had on you?

[Onlooker]

I would guess that many diehard Republicans and political enthusiasts of all stripes watched Obama's Q&A with the Republicans. I'm an Obama supporter (though not all that thrilled with him lately), and was awed by his command of facts, his reasoning, and his off-the-cuff eloquence. But, what do you think someone from another political persuasion would think?

If roles had been reversed, and yesterday it had been George Bush talking with that kind of knowledge and eloquence before the Democrats, I think I would be forced to reassess Bush. I think I would concede that, while I don't like his policies, he's up to the task of being president and that my own Party needs to engage constructively with him. I would be a little embarrassed by the dishonesty of some of the questions put forward by my party. I would think my party was filled with idiots for giving Bush that opportunity. I would be angry at the pundits and columnists I follow who told me Bush was an idiot who didn't know his facts and could not speak except at carefully scripted events. Now, I know a lot of political types are incapable of admitting the truth even to themselves, but I also know a lot of political types are sincere. I think Obama had to make a big impression on that group.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. If I had watched Bush deliver a performance like that

I would have assumed I'd somehow been sucked into an alternate universe.

[havocmom]

2. The effect would have been a quiet celebration at the passing

of the dick, who would have had the big one from the very idea that the chimp could think and react on his own. And perhaps Babs & Poppy would require medical attention at such a discovery too.

ah, 'tis only fantasy.

[AndyA]

3. Impossible. Couldn't have happened, and can't imagine such a scenario.

Bush was doing good to get through a press conference without pooping his pants.

Stupid is as stupid does.

[OnionPatch]

24. Yep, impossible.

He simply would not have had the facts and statistics to back up his arguments, even if he had somehow, miraculously acquired debating skills like Obama's.

[Ikonoklast]

4. I would wonder how they replaced Dubya with an intelligent robot.

[Demoiselle]

15. Didn't they do that with the little transmitter in the ear trick?

[Blasphemer]

23. Exactly. nt

[Strelnikov_]

5. "up to the task of being president" sums it up

While I disagree with the Reich policies, which year by year seem to be getting worse, my main concern with the Reichpublicans in general, and the Bush administration in particular, was/is their sheer stupidity.

At least when Daddy Bush was in power, I did not have to worry as much about them making a really stupid foreign policy blunder, like Iraq II.

[mwb970]

6. The difference is that Obama is always this way.

If bush had suddenly become well-informed and articulate, his sudden conversion from known dunce to scholar would have been much more interesting than whatever his new self was saying. With Obama, all you have to do is listen to him instead of only to his fiercest critics to know who you are dealing with. There are no books and calendars filled with Obama bloopers and gaffes as there were with bush, and there never will be.

To address the spirit of your question, though, yes! If a republican president that I had decided was useless spoke in that way in that setting I would have to give him or her another look.

[customerserviceguy]

7. Here's what's wrong with your analysis

You (and I) would not have perceived George W. Bush to be eloquent, or any of the other adjectives that you used. Our personal distaste for the man would have compelled us to think it was some kind of soft-soap, BS, Jedi mind trick he was trying to play on us.

I have no doubt that the Repukes he addressed made pretty much the same calculation.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. If broccoli could talk would you still be a vegetarian?

hypothetically, if boosh were not an ignorant ill spoken disingenuous liar of the first order, I probably would not have hated that person as much as I do, but then again that person would not be boosh.

[hisownpetard]

16. "If broccoli could talk...". Hahahaaa!!!

Thanks for the laugh!

[Frustratedlady]

9. I would be in perpetual shock and unable to answer your question.

The Repugs have tried to portray Obama as weak, but I'll bet there wasn't one of them that could have done the same if the roles were reversed. Obama was amazing. I felt, at times, that it was all he could do to keep his jaw from dropping in shock at some of those questions, and he seemed to be on the edge of incredulous giggling, but he pulled it off.

"Boner" will have to work double-time to make sure he didn't lose control of his sheeple, as some seemed to be welcoming and nice during their questioning. That surprised me.

Obama's a charmer, but that man sure knows what he's talking about. He may not have been spot on for all the numbers, but he was a hell of a lot closer than what the Repugs were spewing.

[JohnnyLib2]

10. a "double"

[Phx_Dem]

11. I wouldn't thought he was so fucking stupid. And then I would have

immediately gone out and bought some more of the awesome weed I must have been smoking when I hallucinated the event.

Seriously, If Bush had ever shown a command of facts and figures like that, the entire world wouldn't have thought him the village idiot. But he is, and he never did, so . . .

[Jennicut]

12. I don't think Bush was that stupid, he was just intellectually lazy.

And let Cheney do all the hard work.

[hisownpetard]

20. Actually, he was stupid *and* lazy - a great combo for a President.

[stray cat]

13. I might have decided he had a brain and was worth listening to

[blueworld]

14. I would have switched off the Comedy Channel

I was proud of the Prez - never could have happened with Dubya.

[spanone]

17. it's hard to imagine the impossible...bu$h* was incapable of such a performance

[NV Whino]

18. I would have dropped dead from shock

... and been spared the rest of his reign of terror.

[mr1956]

19. Reagan would be an more apt comparison

I disliked the man's policies but there were times I was impressed by his eloquence. However, Reagan was all style and President Obama has both style and substance.

[XOKCowboy]

21. A Stroke I'm thinking (nt)

[lunatica]

22. Fool me once....

Can't be er, um, snort, fooled...

[dkf]

25. Is it possible to defend Bush's policies on an intellectual basis period?

In my opinion his policies are the product of an irrational mind. Therefore not defensible.

[Brother Buzz]

26. I'd immediately become a schizoid soul: Telefon and Manchurian Candidate are playing in my head

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. - Robert Frost