Tom Shales (WP) on Bush's performance last night

[Bumblebee]

It's a hoot:

Determined to sound determined, President Bush addressed the nation on the troublesome subject of Iraq in a 16-minute speech last night from the Oval Office. Grim-faced, yet with a trace of anxiety in his eyes, Bush delivered the remarks seated rigidly at a desk, making a variety of hand gestures as he spoke and wearing one of his traditional baby-blue ties.

Bush apparently wanted to sound firm but compassionate, extending something of an olive branch -- more of an olive twig, really -- to those who have criticized the war in Iraq, yet also insisting that he won't give a proverbial inch until the mission really is accomplished.

...

The climax of the month-long campaign was the brief but punchy address -- long enough to get viewers' attention but not so long as to disrupt Sunday evening viewing habits and possibly anger the folks out there in Television Land. ABC's popular "Desperate Housewives," for instance, aired in its entirety once the speech was over. Watch for one wag or another to say that "Desperate Housewives" followed "Desperate President."


...

Over on the smaller networks that have no news departments, regular programming continued without interruption, since the president's speech was not aired. The WB happened to be showing "The Wizard of Oz," which once aired opposite a speech by Ronald Reagan. Mrs. Reagan later said she enjoyed published comments comparing the president to the wizard. Bush seems less likely to be likened to Oz except to the extent that the wizard is at one point denounced as "a humbug."

Moments later, told he is "a very bad man," the great and powerful Oz says, "Oh no, my dear, I'm a very good man. I'm just a very bad wizard."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/18/AR2005121801439.html

[WI_DEM]

1. Just more of the same, with a different bow on it.

[question everything]

2. Did not watch, but from photos today he looked, again, like a deer

frozen by headlights.

[Cassandra]

3. Good one

"Watch for one wag or another to say that "Desperate Housewives" followed "Desperate President.""
"In his own defense, Bush kept stressing the difficulty of the military effort. "This war, like others in our history, has been difficult," he said fairly early in the speech. Later he said the war in Iraq has been "especially difficult, more difficult than we expected," still later said again "the war is difficult" and near the end of the speech referred to the effort in Iraq as a "difficult, noble and necessary cause."

Apparently, it's difficult."
"Moments later, told he is "a very bad man," the great and powerful Oz says, "Oh no, my dear, I'm a very good man. I'm just a very bad wizard.""

No shortage of quips there.

[Bumblebee]

5. I updated it to include the end too which, I agree, is priceless.

Except he is, of course, both, a bad man and a very bad wizard.

[Democrats_win]

7. Indeed! We are not in Kansas any more! Welcome to bush´s hell on earth.

Where wiretaps, torture and war is the new norm.

[librechik]

4. he looked like a 4-yr old whose mummy won't let him play with Daddy's gun

But he MUST have the gun!!! Tommy in the next block stuck his tongue out at him!!!

YOU ARE MEAN!!!!

[Democrats_win]

6. Good article. Did smirky really quote a xmas song? Here´s the quote

from the WP article:

With a nod to the holiday season, Bush closed with lyrics from the traditional carol "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day": "God is not dead nor does He sleep," Bush said and, finally, "The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on Earth, goodwill to men." The question that will be asked repeatedly in the hours and days ahead is whether the speech resulted in increased goodwill to the president.
---

Isn´t bu$h in fact wrong: illegal wire taps, torture, warmongering resulting in 32,150 deaths? Not to mention the fact that his poppy armed Saddam in the first place.

And what about that "peace" thing? He´s the one who brought war to the world.

[Bumblebee]

8. He did -- and at some point he also talked about the secret prisons and

torture (or was it at today's press conference; it's all a blurr) -- and I thought, oh, boy, is he going to admit a mistake there too? No, he was, as it turned out, talking about Saddam... A more honest man would have choked on that one.