Full text posted here: Transcript of President Bush's press conference

Yes, I'm still doing enemy reconnaissance and watching Fox News. And once that demagog Hannity signed off, Greta had Bill Kristol there for a point-counterpoint analysis of the President's Press Conference with a reporter from the Washington Post (and damn me for not remembering her name). I was shocked, I tell you, shocked that the son of the godfather of the neo-con movement actually stated that the president lacked leadership. Yes THAT President, Bush, the Shrub, Jr., Dubya, George Walker Bush (43).

After some discussion of POTUS completely ducking some questions: Would he apologise? What was his biggest mistake? Has he ever admitted a mistake? Who is the ventriloquist and who is the dummy, him or Cheney? What is your favorite color? And Kristol shucks them of as meaningless questions anyway, disregarding totally the idea that POTUS's perceived hubris and arrogance mean anything.

Then comes the clincher, making me again a believer in Kristol's fairness despite his ideology. He tells us that the most disapointing thing about POTUS last night was his lack of portraying "presidential leadership" qualities.

From the transcript to illustrate Kristol's point:

QUESTION: *** it sounds like you will have to add some troops. Is that a fair assessment?

BUSH: *** that's up to General Abizaid,

(He's the Commander in Chief, he's allowed to make these decisions.) More:

QUESTION: Mr. President, why are you and the vice president insisting on appearing together before the 9-11 commission? And, Mr. President, who will we be handing the Iraqi government over to on June 30th?

BUSH: We'll find that out soon. That's what Mr. Brahimi is doing. He's figuring out the nature of the entity we'll be handing sovereignty over.
*** And, secondly, because the 9-11 commission wants to ask us questions, that's why we're meeting.

That's what Brahimi is there for, to tell Shrub what to do, and Dick will be with him at the hearing to do the same.

QUESTION: *** Yet you mentioned yesterday that you think perhaps the time has come for some real intelligence reforms. That can't happen without real leadership from the White House. Will you? And how will you?

BUSH: *** I heard a summary of that from Director Mueller *** I'm open for suggestions. I look forward to seeing what the 9-11 commission comes up with. I look forward to seeing what the Silberman-Robb commission comes up with. I'm confident Congress will have some suggestions.

In other words, I'll let Mueller, the commissions and congress decide. (I'll get back to you).

So, who's actually running this country while Bush rides around in his shiny new pick-up truck? Sounds like General Abizaid, Mr. Brahimi, Dick Cheney, Director Mueller, two commisions, Congress and don't forget Condi and Carl Rove.

BTW, if you get a chance to see the replay, check out Dr. Rice, it's all about body language, but you can tell she was pissed. She's going to end up holding the bag, wait and see. It all comes down to the PDB and she gets stuck with that to keep POTUS blameless for the screw-up. All that work, all that potential, that grand future, all gone with the simple phrase:

BUSH: *** And the other thing I look back on and realize is that we weren't on a war footing. The country was not on a war footing, and yet the enemy was at war with us.

He hangs her out to dry. Remember her sworn testimony last week:

FIELDING: * * * And we've heard testimony about Clarke warning you and the NSC that State and CIA and the Pentagon had concerns and were convinced there was going to be a major terrorist attack.
On July 5th, I believe it was, domestic agencies, including the FBI and the FAA, were briefed by the White House. Alerts were issued. The next day, the CIA told the CSG participants, and I think they said they believed the upcoming attack would be spectacular, something quantitatively different from anything that had been done to date.
So everybody was worried about it. Everybody was concentrating on it. And then later the crescendo ended, and again it abated.
RICE: Of course. * * * And the president of the United States had us at battle station during this period of time. He expected his secretary of state to be locking down embassies. He expected his secretary of defense to be providing force protection.
He expected his FBI director to be tasking his agents and getting people out there. He expected his director of central intelligence to be out and doing what needed to be done in terms of disruption, and he expected his national security advisor to be looking to see that -- or talking to people to see that that was done.

Perjury, no. Political whack job? You bet she was pissed.

Here's where POTUS passes the buck, first to CIA

QUESTION: *** I'd like to ask you about the August 6th PDB *** Did that trigger some specific actions on your part in the administration, since it dealt with potentially hundreds of lives and a blackmail attempt on the United States government?
BUSH: *** All those reports concern me. As a matter of fact, I was dealing with terrorism a lot as the president when George Tenet came in to brief me. I mean, that's where I got my information.
*** I didn't think there was anything new ***

Then to FBI:

What was interesting in there was that there was a report that the FBI was conducting field investigations. And that was good news, that they were doing their job.

But it's not my fault

***But of course I expect to get valid information. I can't make good decisions unless I get valid information.

And of course, someone who is unaccountable to the American People did it, making us all blameless.

QUESTION: *** Do you believe the American people deserve a similar apology from you, and would you prepared to give them one?
BUSH: *** The person responsible for the attacks was Osama bin Laden.

Regrets? Responsibility, Mistakes?

QUESTION: *** Personal responsibility for September 11th?

BUSH: I feel incredibly grieved when I meet with family members, and I do quite frequently. I grieve for, you know, the incredible loss of life that they feel, the emptiness they feel. There are some things I wish we'd have done, when I look back.

LIKE WHAT? Don't just point fingers, give us some constructive plans, other than the knee jerk creation of the Homeland Security Department and sending our men and women out to risk their lives in furtherance of the Imperium. Oh, that's right, your people have to get back to you. Great plan!

OK, just tell us what you "wish we'd have done," or might have done wrong.

QUESTION: *** what would your biggest mistake be, would you say, and what lessons have learned from it?

BUSH: I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it.
John, I'm sure historians will look back and say, gosh, he could've done it better this way or that way. You know, I just - I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hadn't yet. *** See, I'm of the belief that we'll find out the truth on the weapons. *** I hope - I don't want to sound like I have made no mistakes. I'm confident I have. I just haven't -***

Those weapons must be somewhere...

QUESTION: ***you and members of your administration made several claims about Iraq: that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators with sweets and flowers; that Iraqi oil revenue would pay for most of the reconstruction; and that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction but, as Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said, we know where they are.

Still linking the unlinkable:

BUSH: *** First, the lesson of September the 11th is that when this nation sees a threat, a gathering threat, we got to deal with it.

Not under there

QUESTION: *** One of the biggest criticisms of you is that whether it's WMD in Iraq, postwar planning in Iraq, or even the question of whether this administration did enough to ward off 9-11, you never admit a mistake. Is that a fair criticism, and do you believe that there were any errors in judgment that you made

BUSH: *** And, of course, I want to know why we haven't found a weapon yet.

This is Classic, one for the Ages
QUESTION: *** I'd like to know if you feel, in any way, that you have failed as a communicator *** Have you failed in any way to really make the case to the American public?

BUSH: *** maybe I need to learn to communicate better.