What follows is coverage of the February 28 presidential news conference. I focused mostly on the questions posited by the media. Video of the most biased questions should be posted shortly thereafter. [Update: White House transcript available here.]
Bottom line: Most of the really biased questions came down on the economy, particularly with regard to gas prices. Other than that and a question by Bill Plante about FISA immunity for telecom companies, most of the questions were fine, although the reporters often tried to draw Bush into handicapping the 2008 presidential contest or commenting on how his policies affect Sen. John McCain's chances:
Audio available here (1.28 MB| 2:50).
10:52 | end of news conference.
10:50 | Mark Smith, AP radio with question on tax break policy for oil companies and how Bush's position has shifted over the years.
10:47 | Olivier Knox, AFP: Do you think athletes at the Olympics should be able to express their dissent?
10:47 | Unid'd male reporter: Where does the people's right to know this weigh into all that [the prez library funding]
10:46 | Unid'd male reporter: Now that you've found a location for your presidential library... do you believe its important for the American people to know who's giving to your library, will you disclose how much and who?
10:43 | Peter Maer, CBS Radio: With the prospect of $4 gasoline...What kind of hope can you offer people?
10:42 | Ed Chen, LAT: Our economy is increasingly relying on U.S. exports to keep the economy going. How important is a strong dollar?
10:40 | Stolberg, NYT: You said you want a sustainable policy in Iraq. You've said that you want to leave Iraq in a sustainable situation. Can you describe specifically what you mean by sustainable?
10:38 | Sheryl Stolberg, NYT: with question on reaction to Obama on Iraq
10:35 | Mike Abramovitz, Washington Post: I'd like to ask you about another issue on the campaign trail. Some have suggested that we woud be better off if we talked to our adversaries like Iran or Cuba without precondition. You've rejected that. Can you give up some insight into your thinking about this and what's lost when you embrace this?
10:33 | Mike Emanuel, Fox News: On FISA do you worry some Democratic leaders are playing a high stakes game of wait and see? To see if we don't get attacked?
10:29 | John McKinnon, Wall Street Journal: There's been a lot of criticism on the campaign trail of NAFTA. Just given all the concerns about the economy... do you think that you could win in a state like Ohio were you running again for President?
10:28 | Unid'd female reporter: What is the delay there and what are Americans to make of no replacement having been made for (national security adviser) Fran Townsend
10:24 | Bill Plante, CBS: If you can get Congress to protect telecoms, there's no recourse for Americans... If Americans don't have any recourse, are you telling them when it comes to their privacy to suck it up?
10:22 | Jon Karl, ABC: Do you believe a rapid pullout from Iraq like the Democrats favor would give a greater threat of terrorist attack at home?
10:20 | Gregory, NBC: Are you worried he's [Dmitri Medvedev] a puppet for Putin? Is there something you took away and can offer to your successer about sizing up your Russian counterpart?
10:18 | David Gregory, NBC: What would be your cautionary tale to your successor about the threat Russia poses?
10:17 | Matt Spetalnick, Reuters: How quickly would you like to see Turkey end its incursion into Iraq.
10:15 | Bush gives timeline for direct deposit of tax rebates and tax rebate checks
10:14 | Terence Hunt, AP: Bad economic news continues to pile up. Are you concerned bad economic times will help defeat McCain like it helped defeat your father?
10:13 | Bush addressing subprime mortgage problems. Says Congress should "modernize" the FHA and Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
10:12 | Bush says those who say he refused to acknowledge setbacks in Iraq are same ones refusing to admit there is progress in Iraq with surge.
10:11 | Bush notes success of the surge.
10:10 | Bush says House's inaction raises risk of an intelligence gap.
10:09 | Bush says Congress must extend civil suit immunity to telecoms cooperating with the govt. on FISA requests
10:07 | President Bush gives opening statement for press conference.
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
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Comments Policy
Oil drilling in USA
February 28, 2008 - 12:05 ET by MaximusBraveheartFunny how people complain about gas prices yet not concerned that drilling is not allowed where oil and gas may be. The media could get the public whipped up about all the studid things increasing gas prices but they don't. What about all the EPA gas reformulation crap each season driving prices up? Ethanol driving prices of gas and food up. A free market would allow oil & gas to be drilled and pure gasoline to be sold without government interference. Get rid of all these bureaucrats and you will see prices drop.
Most of the questions are
February 28, 2008 - 12:07 ET by mattmMost of the questions are either leading, loaded or just plain irrelevant.
Obama hammered; Obama irrelevant
February 28, 2008 - 12:26 ET by ThisnThatThe President really hammered Obama today when he explained how stupid and damaging it would be to sit down with dictators, as Obama has said he would. WOW. I hope McCain was listening.
And, I liked the way he took it to the MSM. He didn't put up with any of their crap -- and they tried. He shut down several questioners because he thought their questions were simply pestering.
Then I caught a little of Obama's speech just a minute ago. He was trying to build sympathy for everyone with credit card debt, implying it was all Republicans' fault. But he failed, again, to provide details. How much of that dept was attributed to Best Buy purchases; Restaurants; DVDs; Televisions; Ethen Allen furnature; etc? His point might be more realistic if the debt was limited to basic food purchases and real necessities. Then his solution was simply "We need change" -- no details added -- and the dumbass crowd of Dummies went nuts. This man needs to be exposed for the empty suit he is.
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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber
Good grief, TnT! Is there
February 28, 2008 - 13:27 ET by motherbeltGood grief, TnT! Is there anything at all that this snake-oil salesman DOESN'T think is the responsibility of the government to fix?
What's he going to do? Abolish credit bureaus? Prohibit credit checks? Declare a moratorium on all credit card cancellations? How about just "forgiving" everyone's debt so they can "start fresh"?
If he gets elected with a Democrat congress that will implement all his proposals, by the end of his term (1) we will be living a third world country with a collapsing economy.
Raise taxes
February 28, 2008 - 14:00 ET by ThisnThatMB, he's going to raise my taxes. After all, someone has to pay for my neighbor's health insurance (and we can't expect him to give up his snowmobiles or new outside deck for that, can we)? When Obama says "Change" he's really talking about taking all of my change; my dollar bills; my 401K; everything.
Obama: "There's no doubt that the tax system has been skewed. And the Bush tax cuts--people didn't need them, and they weren't even asking for them, and that's why they need to be less, so that we can pay for universal health care and other initiatives."
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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber
The issue isn't rising prices so much as it's the falling dollar
February 28, 2008 - 12:52 ET by c5thenIf you look at gasoline prices in terms of gold rather than a national fiat currncy, you will see that we are paying less for gasoline now then we did in the 1970's. The issue is that there are way way too many Federal Reserve Notes (dollars) in circulation so they are worth a lot less than they should be.
If we lived in a world where each country was more or less self suficient and consumed most of it's own products and imported relatively few, then the way they measure "inflation" would be reasonable. But, in the real world (especially for the US) importation of a significant % of the consumed goods and means that currencies have to be valued against one another. The inflation that we have been experiencing for decades is not caused by rising prices, it's caused by the falling value of our national currency.
The Federal Reserve was born with the purpose of defending the US currency in the international markets. But, since their major shareholders are the Bank of England, the Bundesbank, and many other European Central banks, they have not been defending the dollar, instead they have been illegaly trying to "manage the US economy" by use of their interest rate sledghammers and flooding the currency market with Dollars. This has the effect of making everything measured in Dollars go up. So the US economy seems to increase (measured in Dollars) and the inflation rate goes up (measured in Dollars). However, if you look at things with an objective measure (gold) you see a completely different picture. The Dow industrials as measured by the price of gold has been basically stagnate for 20 years. The uS economy hasn't really grown much, it's just that the dollar is worth so much less than it used to be that the value of anything measured in doolars is higher. As measured against the value of Gold, a barrel of oil is actually cheaper today than it was in 1975.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
The problem with the "gold
February 28, 2008 - 13:33 ET by robert108The problem with the "gold approach" is that it's based on a faulty premise: gold has intrinsic value. The truth is that the value of gold is measured in dollars, so its price goes up as the value of the dollar goes down. Gold is the grandaddy of all "hedge funds" in that it's regarded as a hedge against inflation. Contracting the money supply by returning to the gold standard would be a disaster.
Hope.
February 28, 2008 - 13:22 ET by TeamcheeserPeter Maer, CBS Radio: With the prospect of $4 gasoline...What kind of hope can you offer people?
Bush: I hope you have a bike, Peter, with no reflectors and faulty brakes.
I'm surprised no one asked
February 28, 2008 - 13:30 ET by motherbeltI'm surprised no one asked him:
Mr. President, with your approval rating in the toilet, are you advising Senator McCain to distance himself from you as he runs for the Presidency?
It's just so twisted..
February 28, 2008 - 13:59 ET by Gary HallIt's just so twisted..
Fact. The MSM presented the economic news as all negative during the Bush / Clinton election cycle. Actually the economy was already in recovery. The media lied, and Clinton won.
Fact. During the 2000 race, the economy was going into the tank. The media continued to act like everything was rosy and warm. Gore lost anyway -- I think this time the millions of Americans loosing their jobs, their health insurance, and their kids college education funds in the historic crash knew better.
Fact. According to the MSM, that last fact.. that last fact.. that last.. that..
Chris Matthews, trying to keep Al Gore in line with the MSM revisionist history..
Economy started down 7 months prior to the election --- in spite of all the good news??? What good news?
Ya got the question wrong Terrance, it's:
Fact. During the 2000 race,
February 28, 2008 - 21:52 ET by motherbeltFact. During the 2000 race, the economy was going into the tank. The media continued to act like everything was rosy and warm
And don't forget, when GW Bush had the temerity to talk about it, he was chided and reviled by the MSM for "talking down the economy."
Sidebar
February 28, 2008 - 14:28 ET by ChaitealoverWhile Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS, and even PMSNBC showed the President's news conference live, NBC showed an interview with alleged murderer Drew Peterson. So much for getting your priorities straight.
Chai
“...Bury me on my face,” said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, “Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down.”
I watched this... FISA is
February 28, 2008 - 19:45 ET by bigtimerI watched this...
FISA is of the utmost importance...so is drilling here and being self-dependent more refineries ect...
he of course talked about all of this, I was very glad when he talked about gas prices and oil here ect...
BUT....he cannot communicate and make a good point... as in drill it in to the people out here in the real world ...you could of made a very strong point with some fire in your belly and a couple of good sound bites that would of been played tonight...he has no gusto when he speaks which I yearn for ....I cringe when he talks anymore.
Do not get me wrong, I have nothing but the utmost respect when it comes to Pres. Bush and his not backing down against the enemies within and without....he has kept us from having another terrorist attack here...for that I will always respect and thank him, along with the SC Judges...and taxes.