The President and the Press Conference

I don't think that the president thinks too much of press conferences. He winces alot. He laughs inappropriately. But mostly, he squirms. He isn't able have a backdrop of upstanding members of the military; the press room has to work just fine at the White House . His press conference this morning started at 7 a.m., here on the west coast, much too early for me. But I like to hear him lie, oh, alright, I'll go with twisting the truth. I like to watch the president speak, as I have said before. When he doesn't have a quick answer, he squirms, and I find that enjoyable. It also gets my blood pumping, and what's not fun about that?

He said he still believes that victory in Iraq is still possible. If I didn't believe we could succeed, I wouldn't be there. I wouldn't put those kids there. I meet with too many families who's lost a loved one to not be able to look them in the eye and say, we're doing the right thing. Be very sure that he only meets with families who are handpicked to make sure that they agree with the Bush policies. He hasn't met with me and while I know he could not or would not ever tell me anything that would make me accept the fact that my only child, Lt Ken Ballard was killed in his war, I have plenty of questions for him.

When asked if there will be a day when there are no more US Armed Forces in Iraq, The President responded "That, of course, is an objective, and that will be decided by future Presidents and future governments of Iraq." Future Presidents? Not the next one, but future? What kind of mess has this man left us with? He struts out of office with a tiara and a sash that says "war president", as he wanted to be known as and we carry the burden.

How many more will die under his watch? At some point in the history of the Viet Nam war, there were 2321 American casualties as there are in Iraq today. We cannot allow 57,0000+ names to be written on a monument that honors the soldiers who died in Iraq. Where is the outrage? Why are people so complacent?

The President also made the connection between 9/11 and Al Qaeda again, and even though Helen Thomas called him on it, he kept repeating it and repeating in hopes we will believe it.

They (Iraq) didn't do anything to you, or to our country

His rebuke was Look -- excuse me for a second, please. Excuse me for a second. They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where al Qaeda trained ,

and then That's where -- Afghanistan provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where they trained. That's where they plotted. That's where they planned the attacks that killed thousands of innocent Americans. I also saw a threat in Iraq. I was hoping to solve this problem diplomatically. That's why I went to the Security Council; that's why it was important to pass 1441, which was unanimously passed. And the world said, disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences.

We've read the minutes of the Downing Street memos, the President himself admitted his administration spies on American citizens without warrant, I could go on, but why would I when Bush Jr's Skeleton closet has done the homework. (it seems they had an awful lot of time on their hands, but it *is* interesting reading).

My head hurts!