Bush Interview on PrimeTime

MeatProduct

I assume a number of people here saw this interview. Sadly I found myself laughing for a considerable duration of the interview.

What are your thoughts on this?

Nick

keu

watching Jesus Bush as we speak...

edit: Bush thinking...Damn, those Irish people are ugly...

Sand

I assume a number of people here saw this interview. Sadly I found myself laughing for a considerable duration of the interview.

What are your thoughts on this?

Odd sense of humour, perhaps the deadpan delivery works best for you. I reccomend Jack Dee, though hes getting a little bit on.

MeatProduct

Originally posted by Sand
Odd sense of humour, perhaps the deadpan delivery works best for you. I reccomend Jack Dee, though hes getting a little bit on.

Well what I found humorous were his incredible contradictions. At one stage he said words to the effect that he doesn't follow the popular view. I found that so staggering that my only way to deal with it was through laughter.

Did you see the interview Sand?

Nick

chewy

it was ok for a ten minute job....

doens't follow popular opinion well theres one poll coming up he'll have to follow...

would like to have see her ask some more question bout ireland military role in shannon and on protestors...


im beginning to think rte is a bit lefty well relatively

they archive it on rte by the way

sceptre

Seems to be repeated at 2:25am. If it's as funny as MeatProduct reckons, it might even be worth taping over the funeral video of someone you didn't like.


As for RTE being a bit lefty actually, the few people I know in FF are pretty sure it's practically run by Trots while the few people I know from the Greens and the wacky left are pretty sure it's being run by FF and the PDs. Take your pick but it's more a barometer of what side of the fence you fall on yourself than what's actually going on there. Probably belongs in another thread, though as I recall, last time we had this discussion it got angry fast, incoherent faster and attracted idiots like flies to dead sheep

simu

Dubya was funny - he kept going "guess what?" - but I didn't think the RTÉ interviewer was great - she didn't really challenge him very much but rather let him spout out his usual waffle about how he's making the world a safer place etc. Meh.

Magnolia_Fan

Anyone note that Network 2 chose to show the part of the interview in which Caroline Coleman cut Dubya off mid sentence and he asked her to please let him finish...I haven't seen the interview in full but if thats the most controversial part of the interview I don't think I'll watch the repeat

conZ

He stopped her twice saying "please let me finish" during the clips they showed on the News. Awful ignorant of him, imo , but I'd say he stopped her so he could have time to plan his sentance.

Oh,
http://www.Rte.ie/news -
(haven't checked these links)
Watch PrimeTime - http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0624/primetime/primetime56.smil

flogen

From that clip alone it is obvious that he is no where near a respectable stateman. His answers were that of a politician, blurry, vague and out of place, but from the outset you could see that he had no respect for Coleman, and was completely ignorant to her (even before he began his round of 'let me finish'.
It was obvious after a short period that Coleman was liberal and disagreed with Bush on many issues, but he was instantly rude even before you could guess that, which is completely unprofessional.

As for the questions, he dodged most tricky ones (and they wernt that hard) like being even handed in Israel/Palestine, and if he believes that he is fighting Gods battle. He also dodged her hint at the fact that the war in Iraq is not tackling Al Quaida, and tried to say the world is safer now, despite the US recently admiting terrorist attacts have risen in the last year. He also claimed the Madrid bombing had nothing to do with the Iraq war or US policy, and when told these attacks are move vicious than before, he played the Sept 11th card.

What a moron.

flogen

dahamsta

Originally posted by conZ
I'd say he stopped her so he could have time to plan his sentance.

He doesn't need time to plan his sentence, since he hasn't said a word of his own since shortly after he became President. Surely I'm not the only one that's noticed that a coupla weeks afterward he stopped talking like a complete bumbling retard, and the voices in his head (that would be the earpiece) took over...?

adam

And no, no matter how funny you think the idea, no matter how large you think my tinfoil hat is... No. I'm not kidding. Think back kids, think back... And more importantly, watch him while he talks. Watch the retard listen to the neocons in his head... (With apologies to the mentally handicapped. Seriously.)

aidan_walsh

Originally posted by conZ
He stopped her twice saying "please let me finish" during the clips they showed on the News. Awful ignorant of him, imo , but I'd say he stopped her so he could have time to plan his sentance.

Oh,
http://www.Rte.ie/news -
(haven't checked these links)
Watch PrimeTime - http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0624/primetime/primetime56.smil

It was closer to four of five times in the full interview... It looked to me like he didn't take her seriously because she didn't come from one of the main players in world media...

Also, do you think it was deliberate the way he managed to avoid a question to go on to talk about eliminating famine? Am I the only one who thinks that this was in any way patronising, that he decided to bring famine into the equation with an Irish journalist?

Originally posted by the empty space between presidental ears
"Hmm... Now what can the Irish empathise with? Ah yes, starving... GW, you are a genius!!"

bonkey

Originally posted by dahamsta
He doesn't need time to plan his sentence, since he hasn't said a word of his own since shortly after he became President.

Adam....

you haven't been reading Interface by Stephen Bury perchance?

jc

ixoy

Any chance we could have got Jeremy Paxman to interview him aside? It'd have been highly amusing when Bush tried to dodge and Paxman would, hopefully, have had none of it - "Answer the question. Answer the question. Answer the question..."

flogen

Originally posted by ixoy
Any chance we could have got Jeremy Paxman to interview him aside? It'd have been highly amusing when Bush tried to dodge and Paxman would, hopefully, have had none of it - "Answer the question. Answer the question. Answer the question..."

my brother and I were saying the very same thing today, but Paxman wouldnt get a chance, I'm sure Bush has a list of interviewers who are good, and he dodges them like... well, questions.

Flogen

giftgrub

looking at its obvious how different things are over there.

bertie and tony blair face a constant barrage of questions from the opposition and the press every day of the week....the us president doesnt

id bet that rte had to give the white house a brief of their questions beforehand...so dubya could prepare

he had his speeches prepared...the interruptions got to him because he didnt want to go down the road she was pushing him

as well i have a feeling he's more used to the cheerleaders they call the whitehouse press corp, their idea of a hard question is probably something like "whats your favourite colour?"

dahamsta

Originally posted by bonkey
you haven't been reading Interface by Stephen Bury perchance?

Nope. Is it any good?

I'm not suggesting Captain Cyborg hijinks, I've just seen the size wireless earpieces can be these days. I think it's completely illogical that Bush could go from bumbling retard (1MB MPG!) to (relatively!) well-spoken overnight. Prompting over an earpiece is a much more feasible explanation.

Press conferences are a dead giveaway, watch him "think" before he answers a question...

adam

flogen

dahamsta, never saw that clip before... tis marvelous...

I dont doubt he has an ear piece, and its well known that all questions asked to him have to be vetted before hand (despite this, he still had trouble answering the 'what do you regret' question given to him at a White House press call afew months back).

giftgrub, while our politicians do have to face media pressure day in and day out (thank god), Sky News is doing its best to change that.. did anyone see today the short clip of the press conference with Bertie and Blair about the good friday agreement, they basically said that if it doesnt work now, they'll have to abandon it and move on to something else, to which the sky news guy asks 'Do you think Campells goal should have been disallowed last night?'

flogen

keu

did anyone see today the short clip of the press conference with Bertie and Blair about the good friday agreement, they basically said that if it doesnt work now, they'll have to abandon it and move on to something else, to which the sky news guy asks 'Do you think Campells goal should have been disallowed last night?'

still makes me laugh..

The Bush interview was crap. I think the only way to get a direct answer from him would to make the interviewer a priest/minister or something and get him to do a confessional. He seems to respond to the "big guy"...doesn't like those damn mortals asking him questions. How dare they.

bonkey

Originally posted by dahamsta
Nope. Is it any good?

I'm not suggesting Captain Cyborg hijinks,

Think of a "real" Captain Cyborg, and you've got the idea for the book.

Bury, incidentally, is apparently a pseudonym that Neal Stephenson wrote under, if that serves as a recommentdation either way (e.g. author of Cryptonomicon).

I enjoyed it.

jc

sceptre

I wrote this last night after watching the interview so it'd be nice if you excuse the bits you can attribute to "oh dear lord, shut up you blithering pontificator" (which is a bit rich coming from me, I know)

Originally posted by conZ
He stopped her twice saying "please let me finish" during the clips they showed on the News.

Oh in the end he used that one a few more times than two. Quite a few more actually.

Pushed the "compassionate nation" thing quite a bit, tried to sell her on the 15 billion health programme for Africa[1], foreign leaders pleading with him to do something, the nasty nature of Saddam Hussein (which no-one's ever disputed) and despite Coleman offering the thesis that the world was a more dangerous place as a result of his actions, tried to use terrorist attacks since the WTC attack as a retort before asking her if she knew "what New York was like on September eleventh". Probably not too nice, George. Coleman was as nervous as heck and missed the opportunity to hammer home on the lack of evidence connecting Iraq to Al-Queda, though I suspect it may have been a condition of the interview that she wouldn't ask about it. I'd rather she had asked that than trying to get George to say that God was on his side though. It's a road he's been asked to dance down so often that it's something he's well able to deal with. Admittedly I've long been of the opinion that George Junior is the little engine who thought he could only for his father to discover he didn't have any staying power on his own but even for an open-minded viewer who didn't notice that Coleman failed to focus on the lack of WMD found and the Al-Quada link, Bush was pretty unconvincing.

As some may remember, I was pretty sure about two years ago that Bush wouldn't go for a March invasion of Iraq and that'd he'd favour a November invasion, even allowing for the difficulties that this would cause. A country involved in a proper war would be fairly unlikely to dump a head of state despite any economic difficulties the country might go through. They ran with a March invasion anyway. So what he's got now is body bags continuing to come home despite his announcement that major hostilities had ceased almost a year ago, oil prices going through the roof in the country that most feels an oil price increase[2] and without an actual war going on, people can feel as free to look at the state of the economy as a whole and what's going into their own pockets (which idiot boy here predicted as a potential problem)He's got the biggest job losses since Hoover and average income has dropped dramatically since he took over. Sure, GNP is officially up but PPP is down[3]. And this is hopefully what'll bite the Lesser Bush in the fanny unless he can find somewhere else to invade around August. Shame I'm not the praying type. Kerry mightn't be all that much better but he truly can't be as bad. He'd also be unlikely to drag the worst of the Johnson administration back to Washinton as Bush did with Nixon's lesser plonkers.

As chewy said, the interview was OK for a ten minute job. No points for either participant and it's unlikely to get Coleman a promotion.



[1]Wasn't it 10? I rambled on quite a few months ago about where this money was going and ran with the drug company IP protection conspiracy theory in the end as the figures added up and gave it a cautious "good but..." rating.
[2]Not just because of the amount they use. Obviously because of the lower tax on gas at the pumps any price increase is relatively greater over there than it is here. We may moan that prices have hit a euro a litre but it's only about a 12% increase since a year ago. In the US they've got the guts of a 50% increase.
[3]Hence the likely temporary tax cuts on repatriating foreign profits. They're desperate to get this money home

bonkey

Originally posted by dahamsta
Surely I'm not the only one that's noticed that a coupla weeks afterward he stopped talking like a complete bumbling retard, and the voices in his head (that would be the earpiece) took over...?

Something just occurred to me, cause I had seen that "fool me once" speech before (possibly even the day it was made)....

That speech excerpt was from 2002, when Bush was trying to make a case for the invasion of Iraq.

So in fairness, it wasn't a couple of weeks into his Presidency. More like halfway through.

jc

thejollyrodger

Any chance we could have got Jeremy Paxman to interview him aside? It'd have been highly amusing when Bush tried to dodge and Paxman would, hopefully, have had none of it - "Answer the question. Answer the question. Answer the question..."

Too right, he would have kicked ass!!

Fair play to Coleman, she had to put in her questions 3 days before the interview so that bush could prepare. But she is no heavy weight T.V interviewer.

In saying that if this was Blair Charic or someone trying to shake off a dodgy issue they would be more articulate that this idiot Bush and would at least be able to put a counter argument across.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Time Magazine

Originally posted by sceptre
15 billion health programme for Africa[1],
[1]Wasn't it 10? I rambled on quite a few months ago about where this money was going and ran with the drug company IP protection conspiracy theory in the end as the figures added up and gave it a cautious "good but..." rating.

Hmm well it's a dilly of a pickle. As much as I hate Bush I don't think this is a bad one. It's "15", provisionally. But only if another 30 is given by other nations. It only promises to pay 1/3rd of the "AIDS bill", if you will, so it requires 30 more. It is also 0.0001% of the American GDP over its span. It hints that the money will go to American pharmacutecal companies (i.e. GlaxoSmithKlein who are basically dirty rotten bastards but they have a cure for HIV - they also make Aquafresh, Beechems, Lucozade and Ribena to name but a few)

But, the bill itself is good. $45 bn is the figure thrown around a lot to fix the AIDS problem. This bill says "Ok, lets do it, we'll pay 33%". And if other nations contributed it would be a major factor in the fight on AIDS.

I think if Schroeder had come up with something similar we'd all marry Germans, I think it's just cynicism to Bush that makes wary of this.




But yes, he did announce just before the invasion - surprise surprise

Magnolia_Fan

Originally posted by conZ
He stopped her twice saying "please let me finish" during the clips they showed on the News. Awful ignorant of him, imo , but I'd say he stopped her so he could have time to plan his sentance.

Oh,
http://www.Rte.ie/news -
(haven't checked these links)
Watch PrimeTime - http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0624/primetime/primetime56.smil

Ignorant lol I would of said shut up ya b!tch and let me finish

Sparks

Seems that the White House has officially protested that the interview wasn't nice.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1205871&issue_id=11063

Angry White House pulls RTE interview

THE White House has lodged a complaint with the Irish Embassy in Washington over RTE journalist Carole Coleman's interview with US President George Bush.

And it is believed the President's staff have now withdrawn from an exclusive interview which was to have been given to RTE this morning by First Lady Laura Bush.

It is understood that both RTE and the Department of Foreign Affairs were aware of the exclusive arrangement, scheduled for 11am today. However, when RTE put Ms Coleman's name forward as interviewer, they were told Mrs Bush would no longer be available.

The Irish Independent learned last night that the White House told Ms Coleman that she interrupted the president unnecessarily and was disrespectful.

She also received a call from the White House in which she was admonished for her tone.

And it emerged last night that presidential staff suggested to Ms Coleman as she went into the interview that she ask him a question on the outfit that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern wore to the G8 summit.

MeatProduct

How about Bush being disrespectful to the Irish people? It would be nice if the Irish government mentioned that to the US embassy. Also adding that Bush will not be allowed to be interviewed by an Irish reporter again

I think Ms. Coleman acted in a reasonable manner since Bush couldn't answer the questions asked anyway. She could have been much harder. She could have asked why members of the administration benefit from companies that support terrorism.

Ah well. The bit about Ms. Coleman being disrespectful is utter rubbish! That's like asking someone to show respect to a single-celled organism that's had it's intellect removed!

Nick

Hobbes

but I'd say he stopped her so he could have time to plan his sentance.

He had no answer. He was Filibustering. The fact the White house asked her to talk about a suit bertie wore, it is clear they didn't want to answer anything.

It is also possible he was trained to give facial clues to force the interviewer into acting as if they were cutting in. Maggie Thatcher was famous for this (parts of her interviews were even used as samples in teaching).

TomF

I would say President Bush is the first to admit that he's no great shakes as a speaker or a responder-to-questions. The U.S. federal executive isn't a parliamentary one, and there is no prime minister who has to keep people happy minute-to-minute to ensure that an election doesn't get called and he gets tossed out on his backside. So a prime minister develops and lives in a gassy world like a debating society and becomes very glib. If he isn't glib, he loses his job.

The U.S. president is like the president of a 216 year-old corporation (maybe corporate management is modelled on the U.S. executive branch) and he gets four years in office no matter who doesn't agree with him. Unless, of course, he spends much of his time in an alcove beside his office playing games with nubile female staff, and runs the risk of being discovered and impeached by the Board of Directors (Congress) and removed from office early. The result of the presidency being like this is that you don't have a lot of great speakers serving (unless you count Beelzebubba, who took nearly 1000 pages recently to tell a reluctant world about "My Life".)

Anyway, to sum it all up, Bush is a do-er, not a talker, and has taken an enormous risk invading Iraq and trying to make it into a democracy. If he succeeds in Iraq in spite of all the ill-wishers on the left wing, and then continues the effort until the Middle East is "changed utterly", there will be many aged lefties in years to come still grumbling into their beer/stout/wine/coffee that it was really the United Nations who brought it all about.

mike65

Angry White House pulls RTE interview


THE White House has lodged a complaint with the Irish Embassy in Washington over RTE journalist Carole Coleman's interview with US President George Bush.

And it is believed the President's staff have now withdrawn from an exclusive interview which was to have been given to RTE this morning by First Lady Laura Bush.

It is understood that both RTE and the Department of Foreign Affairs were aware of the exclusive arrangement, scheduled for 11am today. However, when RTE put Ms Coleman's name forward as interviewer, they were told Mrs Bush would no longer be available.

The Irish Independent learned last night that the White House told Ms Coleman that she interrupted the president unnecessarily and was disrespectful.

She also received a call from the White House in which she was admonished for her tone.

And it emerged last night that presidential staff suggested to Ms Coleman as she went into the interview that she ask him a question on the outfit that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern wore to the G8 summit.

Miriam Lord