JoeyBahr.com

Yeah, I’m posting again. I’m on fire tonight, even busting out the rapid fire. OHHH YYEEEAAAHHHH

(I must apologize for the really bad Macho Man Randy Savage impression there.)

As I was typing that last post a thought came to mind. Think back several months to the last formal news conference that Bush gave. A report asked him the question, “Mr. President. In the last campaign, you were asked a question about the biggest mistake you’d made in your life, and you used to like to joke that it was trading Sammy Sosa. You’ve looked back before 9/11 for what mistakes might have been made. After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say, and what lessons have you learned from it?”

Bush hemmed and hawed for a few moments. You could see a look on his face of both bewilderment and to a slight anger. He ultimately said that he has not made any mistakes. Most people would probably question him on that one, but that is not the point of this post.

What is, is the mannerisms of the president. There have been several articles since the first debate about how sheltered Bush is. The result of this sheltering is the display we saw a week ago. A man who clearly cannot handle being critized. He has surrounded himself with a combination of yes men and strong leaders. It is this arrangement that has allowed Bush to have his information filtered to him. Essentially making life and death decisions about how to run this nation by looking at the world through a straw.

The problem is that when he finally has to put down the straw and see the world at large, he is not ready for it. It is clear that he does not like to be ambushed.

Now he has to put down the straw again and the question is will he be ready for it this time?

While it is very likely that he will be, ultimately the real answer to that question lies in how much the questions the voters ask tomorrow night follow the script or not. If the questions are the safe ones the Bush White House prepares for, W. will come out with flying colors. But, if John Kerry can get him off his game any or if a voter asks an unexpected question, then wheels will come flying off again.

In the grand scheme of things, this should be the biggest thing a voter takes into account this election. Is Bush really the resolute rock that he tries to portray? Or is he someone who really does not know how to roll with the punches and adjust to the situation?

Finally a weapon of mass destruction from Iraq has been found. What was the weapon? Sarin nerve gas? Anthrax? A 10 kiloton nuclear weapon? Acutally it’s none of the above. Instead the weapon is a report by Charles Duefler stating that Iraq didn’t have any weapons of mass destruction at all.

You’re probably saying to yourself, “Wait a minute, isn’t the title of this post ‘Why the Duelfer Report Doesn’t Matter’?”

Why, yes, yes it is.

“Then why doesn’t it matter if you are also saying that it is a weapon of mass destruction?”

The reason it does not matter is that no one in the press has the balls to challenge the press on it. Until the media steps up and asks the question, “Mr. President, when did you know that Saddam Hussein did not have WMDs?” Then again to think of it, that’s a horrible question to ask him, given how he likes to play fast and loose with the facts. It wouldn’t be too hard for him to say, “Well it was Wednesday when I found out that.”

The root of the problems we have in Iraq today goes back to a press that has been more than cowered into the corner by the Bush White House. I’m not meaning they have to assholes when they actually get a press conference with the man, but they can’t just toss him softballs.

So ultimately a report that would have caused a great amount of problems for the last president, will probably go softly into the dark night. Taht is until the time comes for the historians to tell us all that really happened right now.