1 Reaction: on message. Hope he can stay on message.

2 Man, is he sure proud that he knows ANWR is in Alaska.

If this PC wasn't like every other Bush public speaking engagement ever, it would be painful to watch.

However, given our familiarity, it's discomfort is oddly comforting. Like athlete's foot, or Will & Grace.

Sheesh.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

3 cbs cut the grilling short by about five min. i watched the remainder on fox while scheffer was analizing the comments ..... anyone else catch this ?

4 Well, I'm pissed. I was expecting to see him pull out bin Laden's bloody severed head & kick it around like a big 'ol hackey sack before tossing it into Helen Thomas' lap.

Other than that, I thought Dubya did a pretty good job. He's focused on personal accounts like a pit bull. Bully for him.

5 How can he be holding a press conference? Doesn't he know THERE'S A WAR ON?! ;-)

6 Not one word about leaky borders. I can't believe the press snoops let that pass.

7 Pretty good press conference. I'm always amazed how well he keeps his composure in the face of "Is it true you don't beat your wife?"-type questions from the press corps.

And he actually said: "There's a war on."

8 We're making progress with the MSM; they only asked him to apologize once (that tool from the LAT) and that was for the political atmosphere and not WMD.

9 it's discomfort is oddly comforting

I couldn't have conjured that expression up if I worked on it for an hour. Spot on Dave.

10 I know there's a war on and all, but has anyone noticed that the current Dusty girl is kind of skanky? She looks like your best friend's kid sister that you told to come back and see you in a couple of years, once she filled out.

Unfortunately, she came back looking like the woman wearing the ACLU shirt at Instapundit and laughed in your face.

11 I like new Dusty. She looks like jailbait, but she's got that two-toned porno hair so you can't really tell, you know? Adds a delightful little frisson of uncertainty to the dirty, dirty rhythms of one's imagination. "I'm committing a felony, I'm not committing a felony. I'm committing a felony...."

12 Sorry Allah, wrong post. You're looking for the next one down. Take care

13 BTW, did anyone notice that Bush called some tall guy "stretch"? That was awesome.

14 I saw some of the ABC commentary afterwards. I couldn't believe that Elizabeth Vargas asked Joe Biden if the Democrats had a plan to reform Social Security. He eventually said 'yes' after bashing President Bush. He never gave a single detail on what those plans might be. As usual, ABC just gave him a pass and didn't press the question. In some ways, Joe Biden reminds me of the Southpark episode with Johnnie Cochran when he holds out his hand and says "my client is innocent...look at this monkey!"

15 If there's a worse public speaker in the world, it's me. I can't speak in front of a crowd without swallowing my own cud. On the other hand, he got his message through. I second the pitbull comment. He might not be Odysseus, but he gets 'er done.

16 i doubt i'll ever see a dime of social security--so i had no plans to watch,,,but i did....and he explained it pretty well.

i could be all wrong about this but...instead of short-changing the rich on beneffits they paid for,
would it seem more fair if well-off retirees who don't need the benefits could be given the choice to refuse any amount of the SSA ck they wish--in exchange for tax breaks
dont rich retirees need tax breaks more than the little benefit ck?

17 The social security issue is another one of those Big Things where the Democrats seem bound and determined to drive the country right off a cliff (the other is national defense). I always pose these questions to Democrats who insist that social security is hunky dory:

1. Can I leave my social security benefit to my children as a legacy? NO!

2. Can I use my social security benefits as collateral for a loan? NO!

3. Can I sign a waiver someplace that says I'll quit paying into social security in return for a promise never to ask the government for a handout when I retire? NO!

The democrats are so deeply meretricious on this issue it's painful to watch. I'm 37 right now, and I have no doubt that I could invest my own savings better than Uncle Sugar ever could, but I'm not given that choice -- the current Geritol generation, and the hordes of Boomers on the cusp of retirement, will move heaven and earth to make sure their entitlements are in place regardless of what it does to my generation. Like any Ponzi scheme, the people on the bottom of the pyramid are the ones who get shafted.

I even hate the terminology. Social security is not a benefit, it's not a fund, and there's no lockbox. There's no f**king money! All there are, are a bunch of government I.O.U.'s with my name on them sitting in some vault along with some vague promise that the gub'mint will -- somehow, someway -- figure out how to make them good by the time I get old enough to collect them.

Call social security what it really is: redistributing money from the young to the old. It's a tax, not a frigging benefit. I'm not deluding myself -- W. has a steep hill to climb, and I doubt he'll be able to beat the lefties, the Boomers, and the Geritol-chuggers all at once. But at least I respect him for trying.

18 I've been telling everybody for years the ultimate resolution of this problem would involve means-testing those of us who have saved right out of our benefits. I never dreamed Bush would actually offer that going in. I thought maybe as part of a compromise. Maybe.

What it comes down to is if you have a choice of buying a fancy boat or going to a "Star Trek" convention in Thailand or socking away the dough for your retirement, you may as well blow the money. Or at least you would have to figure in the SS hit you'll take if you actually handle your money prudently.

Ah, I could just spit on all of them. I've been paying in for 30 years and another 20 awaits. Maybe I'll just go ahead and buy that new air-cooled VW.

19 Monty,

You hit the nail on the head. I'm 43, and wish I could have been investing my SS taxes for most of the past 17 years.

Bush did pretty well last night. He was able to stick to a concise version of his policy for the most part. Maybe Cheney has been giving him briefing tips? Some charts and graphs would actually benn hel;pful in the Social Security discussion. Well, I made SURE my wife (who is 10 years younger than I am and not so politically involved) paid attention.

I was not sure what Bush was getting at with Iran. Maybe he decided not to mention a "big stick" in case the mullahs misbehaved. But it wasn't very heartening, anyway.

Oh, does anyone think, like I do, that the left-wing Washington press corps is pretty humor-impaired?

The ABC spin group after the press conference was pretty pathetic. Yeah, like no one can manage their retirement funds or would take the option. How come Federal employees are able to do it in large numbers, then?

20 On an unrelated Star Wars note, just got sent a link to this blog.

http://darthside.blogspot.com/

Good stuff: "The administrator of the facility was a quaking fool in expensive fabrics, introduced as Lando Calrissian. I took one look at his satin shirt and disco hair and I knew he was a weak specimen, and would prove easy to bend to my will. "

21 Monty: F'n A! I'm 30 and can't wait to start putting my money in some hot private account action. My father is a federal employee and can't say enough good things about the Thrift Savings Plan.

22 I was expecting to see him pull out bin Laden's bloody severed head & kick it around like a big 'ol hackey sack before tossing it into Helen Thomas' lap.

"Looky here! Lookit! Heh heh heh heh!"